Category: Exam Questions

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Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Midyear examination in statistics. Ripley, 1903-1904

Young William Zebina Ripley

 

For some unknown reason the June collection of spring semester exams in 1903-04 for the economics courses in the Harvard economics department does not include the year-end examination for Professor William Z. Ripley’s statistics course. It is for this reason that today’s post is limited to the fall semester final examination questions only. Fortunately the exams for both semesters from 1901-02 and 1902-03 have been posted earlier together with the published course description.

Ripley’s short bibliography for social statistics (1910) with links to all its  items listed has been posted as well, so we have a fairly good idea of the course content for statistics à la Ripley in the first decade of the 20th century.

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ECONOMICS 4
Enrollment, 1903-04

Economics 4. Professor Ripley. — Statistics — Theory, method, and practice.

Total 10: 8 Graduates, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 4
Mid-Year Examination, 1903-04

  1. “After the age of five the ‘expectation’ decreases with advancing years, but even at a very advanced age, the chance of surviving the following year is greater than the probability of dying during the year.” — Mayo Smith, p. 170. What does this mean including definition of “expectation of life”?
  2. In what respects is the census of 1900 a distinct improvement over its predecessor?
  3. What is the relative value of three possible bases for estimation of population in advance of an actual count?
  4. The death rate for urban districts of the U. S. in 1900 was 17.8; while that for rural registration areas was 15.4. What are the main reasons for the difference?
  5. What is a life table; and what does it show?
  6. What is Kuczynski’s main conclusion respecting the fecundity of the Massachusetts population? Wherein lies the remedy?
  7. How may the marriage rate most properly be defined?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

Image Source: MIT Museum website. William Zebina Ripley. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

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Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Examinations for Principles of Sociology. Carver, 1903-1904

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

A book of course readings for Thomas Nixon Carver’s principles of sociology was published about one year later: Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1905.

A linked reading list for the course taught jointly by Carver and Ripley from 1902-03 has been posted earlier along with a course description and semester examination questions.

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ECONOMICS 3
Enrollment, 1903-04

Economics 3. Professor Carver. — Principles of Sociology — Theories of Social Progress.

Total 61: 8 Graduates, 19 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 3
Mid-Year Examination, 1903-04

  1. What does Spencer mean by Super-organic Evolution?
  2. Explain the distinction between active and passive adaptation.
  3. What are the reasons for and against regarding society as an organism?
  4. In what sense are human interests antagonistic, and in what sense are they harmonious?
  5. How is the increase of population limited, and how does the density of population affect social development?
  6. What are the reasons for and against adopting the conception of the social mind?
  7. Contrast Spencer’s militant and industrial types of society; also Patten’s pain and pleasure economy.
  8. What is meant by the “power of idealization,” and how does it affect the process of adaptation?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-End Examination, 1903-04

  1. Explain Spencer’s distinction between the militant and the industrial types of society.
  2. How would you define progress? Defend your definition.
  3. How does the density of population affect the organization of society?
  4. How does Gidding’s ultimate social fact compare with Adam Smith’s theory of sympathy as the basis of the moral sentiments?
  5. What, according to Bagehot, are the principal uses of conflict?
  6. Explain Kidd’s view as to the place of religion in social progress. What do you think of his position?
  7. What are the leading theories as to the basis on which wealth ought to be distributed, and what are the claims of each?
  8. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and what are the principal means by which it can be accomplished?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, June 1904, pp. 27-28.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Examination Questions in Economic Theory. Taussig and Carver, 1903-1904

 

Frank Taussig resumed teaching at Harvard in the fall semester of 1903 following his leave of absence for health reasons. Economic theory was his most important course and it was split between him (first semester) and Thomas Nixon Carver (second term) during 1903-04. It is striking to see how different their examination styles were. Carver appears to have taught a catechism of doctrine in contrast to Taussig’s attempt to teach some economic reasoning. Thereafter Taussig taught his course right up to his retirement.  Joseph Schumpeter then picked up the economic theory mantle in the spring semester of 1935.

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Course Enrollment
Economics 2, 1903-04

Economics 2. Professors Taussig and Carver. — Economic Theory.

Total 23: 9 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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ECONOMICS 2
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.

  1. Do you conceive wages to be determined in amount by capital, or to be paid from capital, in these cases:—
    1. a railway which collects its receipts before pay-day comes around;
    2. a farmer who pays his laborers after the crop has been harvested and sold;
    3. a workingmen’s society for coöperative production which makes advances to members from week to week, and adds a final payment when the season’s or year’s operations have been concluded?
  2. State carefully how you conceive Walker to define the “no-profits” line; how he distinguishes between business profits and wages; and whether there is a vicious circle in his reasoning as to the residual element in distribution.
  3. Suppose a tax to be levied on a commodity subject to the law of diminishing returns, and the proceeds to be used for a bounty on a commodity produced under conditions of increasing return, — how would the welfare of the community presumably be affected?
    Assume now that the first commodity is an article of comfort, the second an article of luxury, — would your conclusion be different?
    Reverse the assumption, and suppose the first commodity to be one of luxury, the second one of comfort, — would your conclusion be still different?
  4. “We might as reasonably dispute whether it is the upper blade of a pair of scissors or the lower that cuts a piece of paper, as whether value is governed by utility or cost of production. It is true that when one blade is held still, and the cutting is effected by moving the other, we may say with careless brevity that the cutting is done by the second; but the statement is not strictly accurate, and is to be excused only so long as it claims to be merely a popular and not a strictly scientific account of what actually happens.”
    Explain, with reference to commodities produced under the conditions of

monopoly;
constant returns;
increasing returns.

  1. Explain prime cost, total cost, supplementary cost; and consider their relation to quasi-rent.
  2. Would Marshall say that there was true rent in the case of, —

a very profitable silver mine;
a valuable site in a town like Pullman;
a successful business man.

Why or why not in each case?

  1. Suppose it were provided by law that the rent of premises used for wholesale or retail trading should not exceed interest on the cost of the buildings (with due allowance for depreciation and the like), what would be the effects on landlords and tenants, and on the prices of the articles sold?
  2. “A rich man abstains from the consumption of his superfluous wealth, and is scarcely conscious, perhaps quite unconscious, of having suffered any deprivation whatever. On the other hand, the same or a much smaller amount of wealth reserved from personal consumption by an artisan or a small tradesman will frequently demand the most rigorous self-denial….And it is similar with labor. The laborious effort fitted to produce a given result does not represent the same sacrifice for different people: it is one thing for the strong, another for the weak; one for the trained workman, another for the raw beginner. This being so, the questions arises — How are such differences to be dealt with in computing cost of production? The answer must be that the sacrifices to be taken account of, and which govern exchange value, are not those undergone by A, B, or C, but the average sacrifices undergone by the class of laborers or capitalists to which the producers of the commodity belong.”— Cairnes. Would you accede to this conclusion as to capitalists? as to laborers?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

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ECONOMICS 2
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

  1. Compare Clark’s theory of business profits with Walker’s.
  2. Compare Clark’s concept of the static state with Marshall’s concept of the equilibrium of demand and supply.
  3. Compare Clark’s theory of the rent of land with the classical theory.
  4. Compare Clark’s definition of capital with Taussig’s.
  5. Compare the doctrine of the wage fund, as stated by J. S. Mill. with Marshall’s theory of “joint demand.”
  6. What are the chief factors which give elasticity to the wage fund?
  7. How does Böhm-Bawerk connect the discounting of the future with the interest of capital?
  8. How does Clark make out that rent and interest are only different aspects of the same income?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, June 1904, p. 27.

Image Source:  Frank W. Taussig (left) and Thomas Nixon Carver (right) from Harvard Class Album 1906. Images colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Principles Undergraduate

Harvard. Exam questions for Principles of Economics. Taussig and Andrew, 1903-1904

Frank W. Taussig & A. Piatt Andrew

After the longest break from posting since I began this blog almost eight years ago, I now return to regular posting for most of the rest of this month (May 2023).

We resume our slow march through the economics exams at Harvard in the first decade of the 20th century with the semester examinations for the undergraduate introductory course in economics for the academic year 1903-04. The division of labor between A. P. Andrew and Frank Taussig appears to have been Taussig being responsible for the first semester with his junior partner Andrew taking over for the second semester. This would be consistent with the fact  that the year-end examination was not included in Taussig’s personal scrapbook of course examinations [Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935  (Scrapbook)]. 

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Course Enrollment, 1903-04

Economics 1. Professor Taussig, Asst. Professor Andrew, and five assistants. — Outlines of Economics.

Total 529: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 108 Juniors, 279 Sophomores, 72 Freshmen, 54 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-1904, p. 66.

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Economics 1
Mid-Year Examination. 1903-04

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer nine questions, and give your reasons for all answers.

  1. Is it advantageous to laborers, temporarily or permanently, that there should be (1) large government expenditures for military purposes; (2) large government expenditures for improvements in transportation; (3) luxurious expenditure by the rich; (4) savings by the rich? (You are free to discuss these separately, or as one general question.)
  2. Which of the following are productive laborers (1) according to Mill’s distinction, (2) in your own opinion:—

an actor;
a grain merchant;
one who engages in “commercial speculation”,
one who engages in “industrial speculation”;
one who engages in stock speculation.

  1. Will the population of a country be able to increase more rapidly when there is immigration than when there is not? Will it probably increase more rapidly?
  2. Suppose the variations in the fertility of land to be offset precisely by disadvantage in situation — the more distant land being the more fertile, the nearer land the less fertile — would there be rent? Would your answer be the same or different, according as you assume the whole of the land to be under cultivation, or some parts of it to be not yet in use?
  3. The significance of the principle of demand and supply, as regards (1) perishable commodities, (2) durable commodities, (3) monopolized commodities, — wherein different, wherein the same?
  4. How far is the proposition that the value of commodities conforms to their cost of production affected by (1) the varying rent of land; (2) the use of fixed capital (plant) on a great scale; (3) the growth of combinations?
  5. Is there a tendency to equality in the return to capital? in net profits (“business profits”)? in gross profits?
  6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the regulation of combinations and monopolies by (1) limitations of profits, (2) fixing of prices charged to the public, (3) enforcement of farsighted management?
  7. Suppose all education and training to be gratuitous, and all obstacles to the free choice of occupations removed: would there be differences of wages? If so, of what sort? If not, why not?
  8. How do you conceive the remuneration for labor to be determined in a socialistic community? Wherein is the underlying principle different from that in existing society? What do you believe to be the essential merit or defect, or both, of the socialist principle?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1903-04.

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Economics 1
Year-End Examination. 1903-04

Write answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Omit one question from each group.

I
  1. Differences of wages are sometimes due to the presence of competition, sometimes to its absence. Give examples of each.
  2. What factors tend to prevent the rate of interest from an excessive rise? from an excessive fall?
  3. What would be the effect upon the wealth of a community
    1. if landlords gave up all claims to rent?
    2. if all production took place upon the margin of cultivation?
    3. if the price of all agricultural produce were legally fixed at the average cost of production?
  4. What influences govern the value on the New York market of
    1. coffee?
    2. structural steel?
    3. hides?
II
  1. Under normal conditions in the United States the par of exchange on London is $4.866, and the value of 23.2 grains of gold is $1.00. Suppose that the market price of gold was quoted at 5 cents per grain, and exchange on London was quoted at $5.65. What would this indicate
    1. as to the balance of trade?
    2. as to the character of the currency?
  2. President Lincoln is reported to have said: “When we buy a ton of steel rails abroad, we get the rails and the foreigner gets the money; but when we buy a ton of steel rails produced at home, we get both the rails and the money.”
    Give your opinion of this statement as an argument for protection.
  3. “The fact that the greenbacks have circulated at par for more than a quarter of a century is a strong guarantee that their retention in limited amount, always promptly redeemable, has not proved a mistake.”
    State briefly the history of the greenbacks, and give your opinion of this statement with reasons.
  4. “They also urge — and this is in some respects their strongest argument — that a slowly depreciating currency is better than a slowly appreciating one.” — Hadley.
    Explain and criticise, stating the effect of a depreciating standard upon each of the four great shares in distribution.

III

  1. Given

Capital, $100.000;
Loans, $250.000;
Deposits, $240.000.

Complete and balance the account to show the condition of a National bank in New York city with a reasonable circulation giving in detail the items concerning the issue and securing of notes. How would the items probably differ, if the bank was located it Yonkers?

  1. Does an increase in bank notes add (1) to the amount, and (2) to the elasticity of the total currency in
    1. the United States?
    2. England?
    3. France?
    4. Germany?
  2. In the present industrial combinations how far have the economies of large scale and centralized production resulted in benefit to consumers? Give reasons.
  3. What four changes in industrial conditions resultant from the introduction of the factory system have influenced the character of modern trade-unionism?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, June 1904, pp. 25-27.

Image Sources:  Frank W. Taussig (Original black and white image from of Frank William Taussig from a cabinet card photograph, 1895, at the Harvard University Archives HUP); Abram Piatt Andrews (Picture from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article about Andrew’s appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51). Images colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Law and Economics

Harvard. Principles of Law for Economics. Course description, enrollment, final exams. Wyman, 1902-1903

 

In addition to a course in accounting that was introduced into the undergraduate curriculum at Harvard for students expecting to go on into business, the following course taught by a young Law School lecturer, Bruce Wyman (b. 15 June 1875; d. 21 June 1926) was offered to provide future businessmen an overview of commercial and trade law. In the announcement for the previous academic year students expecting to go to study law had been explicitly not encouraged to take the course.

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Earlier posts concerning
Prof Bruce Wyman

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-law-and-economics-syllabus-and-exams-wyman-1901-1902/

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-course-with-a-snapper-problem-1910/

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Obituary of Bruce Wyman (1876-1926)

PROF BRUCE WYMAN DIES AT WABAN HOME
Well Known as Authority on Railroad Rates
Taught at Harvard Law and Wrote Many Text Books

NEWTON. June 21—Prof Bruce Wyman, internationally-known authority on public service corporations, railroad rates and restraint of trade, died of heart disease today at his home, 15 Winnetaska road, Waban. He recently had celebrated his 50th birthday anniversary.

Born in Hyde Park, June 15, 1876, the son of Ferdinand A. and Harriet Ann (Bruce) Wyman, he prepared for Harvard at the Chauncy Hall School, Boston, being graduated with the highest possible honors. He was equally distinguished at Harvard, from which he was graduated in 1896. He continued his studies, receiving his master of arts from Harvard the next year and was graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1900.

Prof Wyman made an enviable record during the eight years at Harvard and was once made a member of the faculty of the Law School, making a specialty of public carriers and the laws pertaining to them. He held his position at Harvard until 1914, when he voluntarily resigned following testimony before the Public Service Commission at a railroad hearing that he was retained by the New Haven Railroad.

Wrote Many Books

He did not stop his scholastic work, however, but became a lecturer In the Chicago Law School and Blackstone Institute, and later became affiliated with the Portia Law School of Boston, teaching there for nine years and also serving as its secretary.

His scholarly labors also included the writing of a great mass of papers on his field and he published many books, some of them becoming text books at various schools and universities. Among his books are: “Restraint of Trade,” “Mortgage Securities,” “Administrative Law,” “Railroad Rate Regulation,” “Public Utilities,” “Control of the Market,” “Public Service Corporations.”

Prof Wyman also carried on a considerable practice in Boston and Washington. His office in Boston was at 291 Washington st. From 1900 to 1908, he was engaged in general work, but from then on he entered more and more into a consultive practice. He was retained by the New Haven Railroad for years, having charge of all claims filed before the Interstate Commerce Commission in reference to the road. The New York Central and many other railroads also retained him. He was also counsel for the National Civic Association and an investigator for the Directors of the Port of Boston. As an outstanding authority in his field, Gov Eugene Foss called him into consultation and game him an active part in the framing of the Public Service Commission Act.

Funeral Tomorrow

Prof Wyman was married June 30, 1902, to Ethel Andrews of Cambridge. Before moving to his late home in Waban he lived at 16 Quincy st, Cambridge. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and the Theta Delta Chi Fraternities, was a Republican in politics and an Episcopalian in religion. He was also a member of many social organizations of Boston, Newton, Cambridge, New York and Washington.

He is survived by his wife; a son, Andrews Wyman, who will be graduated from Harvard this week; a daughter, Rosemary Wyman, a student at Wellesley; a sister, Miss Martha A. Wyman of Somerville, and a brother, Walter F. Wyman of Arlington.

Funeral services will be held at the old Wyman home town of Littleton on Wednesday. Services will be conducted at the Littleton Unitarian Church and at Westlawn Cemetery.

Source: The Boston Globe (June 22, 1926), p. 23.

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Course Description
Economics 21
1902-03

  1. *The Principles of Law in their Application to Industrial Problems. — Competition and Combination. , Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri. at 11. Mr. Wyman.

This course considers certain rules of the law governing the course of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. The commercial law is thus taken up at large in its application to the conduct of modern business. The aim of the course is to give to students who mean to enter business life some contact with the law and some understanding of the legal point of view. At the same time the problems brought forward are actual and the rules of law discussed are specific, so that the instruction may prove of service in a business career. As the course deals with adjudication and legislation on questions of first importance in the economic development of modern times, it may also be of advantage to those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of issues having both legal and economic aspects.

In 1902-03 five principal topics will be discussed: Competition — Combination — Incorporation — Consolidation — State Control. In Competition the first issue is the extent to which competition is allowed: in some cases competition is free, in other cases it is unfree. Competition is legal unless there is franchise. The second issue is the methods by which competition is permitted: in some cases competition is fair, in other cases it is unfair. Fraud, Disparagement, and Coercion are not legal. In Combination in Restraint of Trade, the division is between a suppression of competition and a regulation of competition. For example, the railroad pool is illegal, the factors agreement is legal. Thus it is seen that a combination which involves unreasonable restraint and unfair competition is illegal, while if it involves reasonable restraint and fair competition it is legal. Here are examined the corner and the strike. In the Corporation only the main principles involved are taken up: the organization of the corporation and the administration of the corporation. In the treatment of the Consolidation all the previous discussion is summoned up. The public problems presented by the reorganization of the industrial system, now going on so fast, is one question; what regulation of combination there should be, is the other. The most stress is laid upon the last topic — State Control. The proper regulation of the public callings — the railroads and the like — is discussed at much length; so also is the proper police of the private callings — the factories and the like.

The conduct of this course will be by the reading and discussion of cases from the law reports. The cases selected cover the whole field of the industries and the whole course of the trades, so that both fact and law involved are informing. Course 21 is designed for Seniors and graduate students who intend to enter business. If any others wish to take the course they must obtain written consent of the instructor.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment
Economics 21
1902-03

Economics 21. Mr. Wyman. — Principles of Law in their application to Industrial Problems.

Total 58: 4 Gr., 33 Se., 13 Ju., 2 So., 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Course Examinations
Economics 21
1902-03

ECONOMICS 21
Mid-Year Examination
1902-03

Answer eight questions. Give reasons with care.

  1. The Bradford Gas Company was chartered to supply gas in Bradford; the Pudsey Gas Company in a similar way was engaged in the supply of gas in Pudsey. It appeared in evidence that the Bradford Company was about to furnish gas to a large mill inside the city limits of Pudsey. May the Pudsey Company have an injunction?
  2. The makers of Vance’s Infant Food advertise that “Vance’s Food is far more nutritious and healthful than Mellen’s Food; experience shows that babies grow fatter on Vance’s Food than on any other; the analysis by our expert Dr. Muspratt shows that Vance’s Food has 98 per cent. nutritive elements to 78 per cent. such elements in Mellin’s Food.” The proprietors of Mellen’s Food sue the proprietors of Vance’s Food, and in their statement offer to prove the superiority of Mellen’s Food to Vance’s Food in all respects. How will the case probably be decided?
  3. A travelling agent of the Globe Stove Works goes through the Southwest getting small dealers to sign contracts for stoves. The travelling agent of the World Stove Works crosses his track often. In several instances the agent of the World Company, acting under orders from headquarters, makes a special price to dealers that have bought from the Globe Works, and induces them to cancel their orders for Globe stoves and buy the World stoves. Has the Globe Company any remedy against the World Company?
  4. A biscuit company begins the sale of a product which they call the “Uneeda biscuit.” Another company later begins the sale of “Iwanta biscuit.” The makers of the “Uneeda biscuit” bring a bill against the makers of “Iwanta biscuit” for an injunction. They next institute a process to get registration of “Uneeda” as their trademark. What is the probable fate of each proceeding? Can they succeed in both?
  5. The National Harrow Company send broadcast the following circular: “We believe that we have the patents, and we have determined henceforth to sue any dealer handling these infringing harrows wherever they are found.” The infringing harrows referred to were those of the Davison Company. During the year following these circulars the business of the Davison Company fell off 50 per cent. In the year after that the Supreme Court decided in one of the suits which the National Company had prosecuted in good faith that their principal patents were invalid. The Davison Company now sue the National Company for damages done their business by the circulars quoted above. What decision?
  6. There are two ice manufacturing companies in a Southern city. The second makes a lease of all its plant to the first for ten years for a high rental; then the first leases this same plant to third parities to be used only as a storehouse; thereupon the first ice company increases its rate 50 per cent. according to the previous understanding with the second company. This situation lasts for a year, when a new third company constructs a new plant with modern machinery and puts its rates at 50 per cent. below the first company. The first company reduces its rates, and thereupon refuses to pay the full rental to the second company according to the terms of the lease. What rights has the second company against the first company?
  7. The Steel Workers Union declares a strike at the steel mills to get an increase of wages. A picket of six men is placed by the Union, two at each end of the block and two at the mill gate, to persuade new workmen that this is a just strike, and that therefore they should not seek employment. Can the employers have an injunction against their employees?
  8. A retail lumber association agrees not to buy lumber of any wholesale lumber dealer who sells direct to customers. A certain wholesale dealer begins to sell to customers direct in car load lots only. Thereupon the executive committee of the lumber association sends notices to all members, warning them not to buy any lumber of this wholesale dealer upon penalty of a fine to be paid in accordance with the by-laws. May the wholesale dealer sue the members of the association for damages caused thereby to his business?
  9. The makers of the Cow Brand of saleratus make an arrangement with jobbers that if the jobbers will not sell any saleratus below five cents per pound, the makers of the Cow Brand will grant those jobbers a special discount upon settlement of bills. The makers of the Bull Brand, an inferior quality, are thereby damaged, since the jobbers can make no sales of the Bull Brand under those circumstances. May the makers of the Bull Brand sue the makers of the Cow Brand?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

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

ECONOMICS 21
Year-end Examination
1902-03

Answer nine questions.

  1. A, B, and C, who comprise all the stockholders in the Central Mfg. Co., execute a deed to X, in their names, describing themselves as sole owners of all the shares in the Central Mfg. Co., which deed purports to convey to X the mill owned by the corporation. The next day A, B, and C hold a corporation meeting, and vote to sell the same mill to Y; the proper officers of the corporation accordingly execute a deed in the name of the corporation to Y. Who gets the mill, X or Y? Both pay full value and neither has notice of the other.
  2. A general incorporation act provides that seven persons may, by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association, form a corporation. A and six clerks of A sign the memorandum. The capital stock is fixed at $200,000. At the subscription A agrees to take 994 shares and the others one each. The corporation agrees to take the factory of A at a valuation of $150,000, which is not unreasonable. The corporation, in pursuance of the bargain, issues to A $99,400 in paid up shares and $56,000 in first mortgage bonds. The business of the corporation is begun and one B subscribes to $100,000 of the shares, for which he pays $50,000. Later the business incurs debts to the amount of $90,000, which it cannot meet. Finally it fails, with $50,000 assets left. What shall be done?
  3. Bill in equity by a minority stockholder in a cotton manufacturing company, alleging (1) that the majority are about to expend half the capital in purchasing cotton at such a high price that it will be impossible to manufacture it at a profit; (2) that the majority are about to purchase a steamboat to run in opposition to the existing line of freight boats. Will the stockholders get an injunction in either (1) or (2)?
  4. A gets a mining corporation formed to buy of him a certain gold mine which he has bought for $10,000, — that is all he believes it to be worth; but he unloads it upon his dummy corporation for $100,000. The stock in this corporation is sold to the public upon a glowing prospectus. Strangely enough, the gold mine upon working proves to be worth $500,000. Has the corporation any right to sue A now?
  5. The directors in a bank do no more than examine the quarterly summaries of the general manager and compare them with the report of the chief auditor. It turns out that the manager and the auditor have been in collusion all the time for five years to cover up embezzlements and divide the plunder. When the bank fails in consequence the directors are sued by the depositors. What decision?
  6. A partnership pool is formed between four oil corporations that have control of 80% of the product of their district. By the terms of it all expenses and all receipts are to be pooled and the net earnings paid over at the end of every year in proportion to capitalization. At the end of the second year three of the corporations divide up the profits and refuse to give the fourth anything. The fourth brings suit. What will it recover?
  7. A securities corporation is formed under the laws of a State which permits a corporation to hold stock in another corporation. This corporation purchases by exchanges of its stock 90% of the stock of the X railroad and 90% of the stock of the Y railroad. The X railroad and the Y railroad lie in distant States, the laws of which forbid consolidation of competing railroads such as the X and Y railroads are throughout. Is this attempted merger legal?
  8. A railroad corporation refuses to pay its engineers $3.75, an increase of 10% over previous per diem wages. Accordingly the engineers quit work; but, although they watch the situation closely, they offer no show of force. The railroad posts a notice that no more freight will be received until further notice. Have they a legal right to do this?
  9. A gas company publishes a rule that customers who wish gas must deposit $25. However, gas is furnished to a man who lives on X Street for a month on credit. When he moves to Y Street he refuses to pay for gas consumed at X Street, and the company refuses to supply him with gas at Y Street until he does. The man thereupon tenders the company $25 deposit and demands gas in Y Street; he is refused again and now brings suit. What decision?
  10. A telephone company also furnishes a messenger service as a separate part of its business. A company which only furnishes messenger service applies for a telephone. The telephone come refuses on the ground that their messenger business will be injured thereby. Is this refusal justifiable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Course description, enrollment, and final exam. W.M. Cole, 1902-1903

As the course description clearly indicates, this undergraduate accounting course was offered by the economics department for those Harvard students planning a business career. At the time accounting was seen to be a kissing cousin to statistics and both essentially amounted to a hill of bean-counting.

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Description of Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

  1. 1hf. *The Principles of Accounting. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 3.30. Mr. W. M. Cole.

This course is designed primarily for students who expect to enter a business career, and wish to understand the processes by which the earnings and values of industrial properties are computed. It is not intended to afford practice in book-keeping, but to give students a grasp of principles which shall enable them to comprehend the significance of accounts.

In order that students may become familiar with book-keeping terms and methods, a few exercises will be devoted to a brief study of the common systems of recording simple mercantile transactions. The chief work of the course, however, will be a study of the methods of determining profit, loss, and valuation. This will include an analysis of receipts, disbursements, assets, and liabilities, in various kinds of industry, and a consideration of cost of manufacture, cost of service, depreciation and appreciation of stock and of equipment, interest, sinking funds, dividends, and the like. Published accounts of corporations will be studied, and practice in interpretation will be afforded. Attention will also be given to the functions and methods of auditors.

The instruction will be given by lectures, discussions, reading, and written work.

Course 18 is open to Seniors and Graduates who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Enrollment in Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

Economics 18. 1hf. Mr. W. M. Cole. — The Principles of Accounting.

Total 46: 1 Gr., 28 Se., 11 Ju., 3 So., 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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Final Exam in Economics 18
First term, 1902-03

ECONOMICS 18
  1. Under normal conditions, on which side of a ledger — debit or credit — will appear the balance of the following accounts? In each case, state why you think as you do.

Bills Receivable.
Bills Payable.
Capital Stock.
Expense.
Accounts Payable.

  1. What should be debited and what credited after each of the following transactions?
    1. Buying on credit, at the first of the year, stationery expected to last eight months.
    2. Paying for that stationery by issuing a note.
    3. Paying that note.
    4. Exchanging that stationery at cost (none being used) for merchandise.
    5. Selling that merchandise at cost and receiving a note in payment.
    6. Collecting cash for the note.
      Now what is the net result, upon ledger balances, of all these transactions?
  2. Of the following transactions what would be the ultimate effect upon a railroad balance sheet? Designate, in each case, on which side of the balance sheet, and in what items, the change would appear.
    1. The issue of new capital stock and the use of the proceeds for new (additional) equipment.
    2. A conversion of bonds into stock.
    3. A distribution of accumulated profits of the past in the form of a scrip dividend which is converted into stock.
    4. A reduction in the valuation (set by the company in its own books) of stocks and bonds owned.
    5. Watering stock to represent supposed increase in earning capacity.
  3. In the middle of a business year, July 1, the sole proprietor of a store dies suddenly. You, as his executor, must determine the exact worth of his business. The trial balance of July 1 is given you. Can you get all needed information from that trial balance? If not, what is lacking? State just what you would do to determine the worth of the business. If you can explain best by figures, assume arbitrary figures (not necessarily reasonable) and proceed with those as a basis. Processes, rather than results, are to be shown.
  4. In cases of depreciation, one of at least three courses is open to the managers. State what are the three, and show how each is treated in the accounts.
  5. The following is a page of a book:–
Jan. 1 Balance 1,547.30
A. Andrews His invoice, Dec. 1 615.10
Bills receivable No. 127 paid 500.00
Bills payable No. 19 discounted 1,000.00
Merchandise Cash sales 173.28
Jan. 2 Bills receivable No. 116 paid 123.50
Insurance Premium ret’d on policy 73.23
Jan. 3 Bills receivable No. 139 paid 312.26
Bills receivable 935.76 935.76
Cash, Dr. 2,797.37 2,797.37
4,344.67

Explain fully what transactions are here recorded. What postings should be made, and to which side of each account? If any figures are not to be posted, why not?

  1. Can all the accounts of a business be nominal? Why, or why not?
    Can all the accounts of a business be real? Why, or why not?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 16, p. 308. Portrait of William Morse Cole colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Enrollment and Demand for Theory and Methods of Taxation. Durand, 1902-1903

Edward Dana Durand

 

Edward Dana Durand taught at Harvard for only two semesters, he also taught at Stanford for three semesters and later at the University of Minnesota for four years. The rest of his long career was in government service. This post adds the final exam questions from his taxation course taught at Harvard..

Bonus material regarding Durand’s biographical record has been added. He was not a big name in the history of economics, but definitely someone who added significantly to historical government economic statistics. His long years as a U.S. Tariff Commissioner also make him of interest to historians of economic policy.

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Papers of Edward Dana Durand

Given his long professional association with Herbert Hoover, it is appropriate that Durand’s papers are kept at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa.

Archival Tip: Microfilm MF-65/3. Memoirs of Edward Dana Durand, 1954 (438 pages).

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Edward Dana Durand
Timeline

1871. Born October 18 in Romeo, Michigan. Lived there about eleven years.

Ca. 1882. Family moved to Huron, South Dakota where he graduated from high-school.

Freshman year at Yankton College (South Dakota).

1893. A.B., Oberlin College.

1893. Summer. Stenographer to the Secretary of the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago.

1896. Political and municipal legislation in 1895. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 7  (May 1896), p. 411-425.

1896. June, awarded  Ph.D. (assistant to J. W. Jenks. Other instructors of Durand: C. H. Hull,  Walter F. Willcox) from Cornell University. Thesis: “Finances of New York City.”

1896. Political and municipal legislation in 1896. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 9 (March, 1897), pp. 231-245.

1896-97. Legislative librarian, New York State Library at Albany.

1897. Student, University of Berlin. Quit his studies there to take the job at Stanford.

1898-1899. Assistant Professor of Political Economy and Finance at Stanford University. [added to faculty in spring 1897, “began duty” spring term 1898] Courses taught: elementary economics, practical economic questions (e.g. labor movement, labor legislation, corporations, trusts), economic history, socialism and social control, money and banking, public finance, politics and administration, municipal government.

1898. Political and municipal legislation in 1897. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,  Vol. 11 (March, 1898), pp. 174-190.

1899. E. Dana Durand. “Council Government versus Mayor Government,” Political Science Quarterly. Vol. 15, Nos. 3 and 4.

1899-1902. On leave from Stanford to work in Washington, D.C.

1899-1902. Editor for the federal Industrial Commission that produced a report of nineteen volumes. [ Links to all 19 volumes can be found in the following two catalog pages at hathitrust.org: all but vols. 1 and 10 here; vols. 1 and 10 (and 12 other volumes) found here.]

1900. Durand prepared “Topical digest of evidence” in the Industrial Commission’s Preliminary report on trusts and industrial combinations. (In Vol. I of the Commission’s Reports). One of authors of the “Report on labor legislation” (Vol. 5). Washington: 1900.

1902-03. Taught courses on the labor question, problems of industrial organization and theories and methods of taxation at Harvard in the second term of the 1901-02 academic year (see link immediately following)  and in the first term of 1902-03.

Harvard. Exams for labor economics and industrial organization. Durand, 1902

1903. Married Mary Elizabeth Bennett (1871-1943) in New York City on July 15. Three sons and a daughter. (They compiled a Bennett Family History, 1941)

1903. Special Examiner for about four months before being called to the newly created Bureau of Corporations [forerunner of Federal Trade Commission] as Special Examiner.

Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Street and Electric Railways 1902. Washington, 1905. Text prepared by T. Commerford and E. Dana Durand.

Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Beef Industry. Washington, March 3, 1905.
“As Deputy Commissioner of Corporations he gained experience with the report on the Beef Trust, for which report he was chiefly responsible.” [Garfield report]

1904. Recent tendencies in economic legislation. Yale Review, Vol. 12 (Feb., 1904), pp. 409-428.

1905. The beef industry and the government investigation. American Monthly Review of Reviews, Vol. 31 (Apr., 1905), pp. 464-471.

1907-09. Deputy Commissioner of Corporations.

1907. Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Petroleum Industry. Part I, Position of the Standard Oil Company in the Petroleum Industry (May 20, 1907); Part II, Prices and Profits (Aug. 5, 1907).

1909-1913. Director of the Census Bureau (appointed June 16, 1909; resigned June 30, 1913).

1910. Thirteenth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1910.

1913-1917. Professor of Statistics, taught ‘descriptive’ economics, agricultural economics, and statistics at the University of Minnesota. On leave October 1917-1921.

1915. Published The Trust Problem. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

1915. President of the American Statistical Association.

1915. Assessments of Railroads in North Dakota, Report to the North Dakota Tax Commission.

1916. Bulletins from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Minnesota.

Coöperative Livestock Shipping Associations in Minnesota. Bulletin 156, February 1916.
Farmers’ Elevators in Minnesota, 1914-1915 (with J. P. Jensen). Bulletin 164, October 1916.

1917. Bulletins from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Minnesota.

Coöperative Creameries and Cheese Factories in Minnesota, 1914 (with Frank Robotic). Bulletin 166, March 1917.
Coöperative Buying by Farmers’ Clubs in Minnesota (with H. B. Price). Bulletin 167, June 1917.
Coöperative Stores in Minnesota, 1914. Bulletin 171, October 1917.

1917-18. Assistant head of the meat division, Food Administration. Charged by a commission merchant of Chicago with settting prices on the behalf of meat packers. Statement  before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry,  March 21, 1918. (Hearings on Government Control of Meat-Packing Industry) pp. 1661-1676.  The agricultural committee refused to press charges after the investigation.

1918-1919. From May 1 through February 15 in England. From February 15 to July 20 in France.

1919. Resigned professorship at Minnesota and leaves the Food Administration position to represent the Hoover relief Commission in Warsaw and advise the Polish Ministry of Food (leaving France July 20).

1921. Arrived in New York on July 21, returning from Poland.

1921. August. Appointed chief of the newly created eastern European division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce by Secretary Hoover.

1922. Public finance of Poland. Trade Information Bulletin, No. 32 (June 19 1922). Supplement to Commerce Reports published by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, U. S. Department of Commerce.

1924-30. Chief of the Division of Statistics and Research in the Department of Commerce.

1926. Economic and political effects of governmental interference with the free international movement of raw materials. Paper in International Conciliation, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Number 226 (January 1927), pp. 25-34. (Reprinted from Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 12, No. 1 (July, 1926), pp. 135-144).

1928. November. Headed the American delegation at the 1928 International Conference on Economic Statistics.

1929. Free and dutiable imports of the United States in the calendar year 1927. Trade Information Bulletin, no. 626 (1929).

1930. American Industry and Commerce. Boston: Ginn and Company. Durand identified as “Statistical Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce” on the title page.

1930-35. Chief economist for the Tariff Commission. In October 1930, it was announced that he was to take charge of the commission’s statistical work.

1935 to June 1952. Appointment annouced in December 1935 by FDR to fill the Republican vacancy on the Tariff Commission. Durand replaced John Lee Coulter of North Dakota.

1960. Died January 6 in Washington, D.C.

Sources: K. Pribram, “Edward Dana Durand, 1871-1960,” Revue de l’Institut International de Statistique / Review of the International Statistical Institute, Vol. 28, No. 1/2 (1960), pp. 118-120.
The Outing Magazine, Vol. 54, August 1909, pp. 563-564.
Miscellaneous newspaper reports have been useful in filling a few gaps.

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Course Description

7b2 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course (second half-year).

[NOTE:  Listed as omitted in 1902-03 in the announcement of course offerings. However it was indeed offered during the first semester by Durand in 1902-03.]

In this course both the theory and practice of taxation will be studied.

Attention will be given at the outset to the tax systems of England, France, and Germany; and the so-called direct taxes employed in those countries will receive special consideration. After this, the principles of taxation will be examined. This will lead to a study of the position of taxation in the system of economic science, and of such subjects as the classification, the just distribution, and the incidence of taxes. Finally, the existing methods of taxation in the United States will be studied, each tax being treated with reference to its proper place in a rational system of federal, state, and local revenues.

Written work will be required of all students, as well as a systematic course of prescribed reading. Candidates for Honors in Political Science and for the higher degrees will be given the opportunity of preparing theses in substitution for the required written work.

Course 7b is open to students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 7b. 1hf. Dr. Durand. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation, in the United States.

Total 21: 3 Gr., 13 Se., 4 Ju., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68. 

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Over five years ago Economics in the Rear-View Mirror posted some course materials for Durand’s Economics 7b course.

Harvard. Local taxation. Suggested topics and readings. Durand, 1902

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Final Examination
ECONOMICS 7b
1902-1903

  1. Compare England and France as regards:
    1. purpose of customs duties and character of articles taxed;
    2. character and weight of excise taxation;
    3. main forms of direct taxation;
    4. methods of local taxation.
  2. Discuss the correctness and wisdom of the recent Income Tax decision of the Supreme Court.
  3. To what extent would the general property tax, if evasion could be prevented, meet the demand that every citizen be taxed according to his ability?
  4. Mention three ways of adjusting the taxation of mortgages and mortgaged real estate. Which do you think preferable, and why?
  5. A man living in Massachusetts, with no property there of a tangible character, owns land in New York and stock of a corporation whose property is in New York. (a) To what extent is he and his property now legally taxable by each State? (b) To what extent ought he justly to pay taxes to each State, and what would be a feasible method of adjustment?
  6. Compare Pennsylvania and Ohio as regards (a) sources of State, as distinguished from local, revenue; (b) method of taxing intangible personal property.
  7. What would you consider the best method of taxing railroad corporations? Compare this with other methods.
  8. Discuss the justice of taxing the pure economic rent of land to practically its full amount.
  9. State and discuss briefly four rules or principles for the selection of commodities for indirect taxation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
Also included in: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: E. Dana Durand. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Washington, D.C. 20540. Image colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions France Public Finance

France. Public finance exam question. Leroy-Beaulieu, 1878

1878 Written Exam Question
Paul Leroy-Beaulieu

While tracking down an exact reference for the French professor Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, I came across a collection of examination questions for 1873-1884 from the École libre des sciences politiques at archive.com. [Trick: sometimes you need to click the + sign in the archive.com viewer to see an image in that collection]

I offer this post for the 1878 examination as a bookmark for myself and others. Maybe later a few more of the economics questions will get fished out and posted in translation.

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Question de Finances
Cours de M. Leroy Beaulieu

Exposer brièvement les avantages et les inconvénients respectifs des impôts directs et des impôts indirects. Le placer, pour l’étude de cette question, au point de vue d’un pays qui a de très grandes charges, c’est a dire qui est grevé d’une lourde dette et qui entretient un grand état militaire.

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

Question: [Public] Finance
for the course
taught by Mr Leroy Beaulieu

Briefly describe the respective advantages and disadvantages of direct and indirect taxes. Take, in your answer to this question, the point of view of a country which is very heavily burdened, that is to say, having both a heavy [national] debt and a very large military budget.

Source: Ecole libre des sciences politiques (Paris). Examens de 1878: questions envoyées par les professeurs pour les épreuves écrites, questions tirées et questions non tirées…

Image Source:  Paris. Collège de France, M. le Professeur Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, Membre de l’Institut. Wikicommons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.,

Categories
Business Cycles Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam and enrollment for History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Andrew, 1902-1903

Abram Piatt Andrew

Before there were courses on business cycles, courses at Harvard dealt with “commercial crises”. Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. was the young man for the job in 1902-03. His Harvard Ph.D. dissertation’s title was “The ways and means of making payments” (1900) and together with Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague he was an essential member of the post-Dunbar staff to cover the field of money and banking (and monetary macroeconomics).

Oops I did it ago. Almost all of this post had been shared in a collection of all of Andrew’s exams for commercial crises (1903-1908). The colorized and retouched photo from 1909 is new to this post.

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Biography

ABRAM PIATT ANDREW, Jr., was born in La Porte, La Porte County, Ind., February 12, 1873; attended the public schools and the Lawrenceville (N. J.) School; was graduated from Princeton College in 1893; member of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1893-98; pursued postgraduate studies in the Universities of Halle, Berlin, and Paris; moved to Gloucester, Mass,, and was instructor and assistant professor of economics in Harvard University 1900-1909; expert assistant and editor of publications of the National Monetary Commission 1908-11; Director of the Mint 1909 and 1910; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1910-12; served in France continuously for 4-1/2 years, during the World War, first with the French and later with the United States Army; commissioned major, United States National Army, in September 1917 and promoted to lieutenant colonel September 1918; awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor medal by the Republic of France in 1917 and the distinguished service medal by the United States Government in 1918; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Willfred W. Lufkin; reelected to the Sixty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses, and served from September 27, 1921, until his death; delegate to the Republican National Conventions at Cleveland in 1924 and at Kansas City in 1928; member of the board of trustees of Princeton University 1932-36; died in Gloucester, Mass., June 3, 1936; remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from an airplane flying over his estate at Eastern Point, Gloucester, Mass.

Source: Memorial Service Held in the House of Representatives of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Abram Piatt Andrew, Late a Representative from Massachusetts. Seventy-fifth Congress, First Session. Washington, D.C. GPO, 1938. Archived transcription at the American Field Service website.

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Course Description

  1. b2 hf. History and Theory of Commercial Crises. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 9. Dr. Andrew.

Course 12b will be devoted to the study of the more important crises of the past two hundred years. The phenomena of these crises will be described, and the record of events before and after will be examined with the object of disentangling their contributory causes and their consequences. The influence upon commercial fluctuations of the present organization of industry, of government finance, of foreign trade, of the money supply, of speculation, of banking methods, and of other credit institutions will be considered, as well as questions with regard to periodicity, over-production and over-investment. In connection with these subjects attention will be given to the methods actually employed in dealing with crises, and to proposed reforms designed to prevent or relieve them.

Subjects will be assigned for special reports, and these reports will be presented for discussion in class.

Course 12b is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science  [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.

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Course Enrollment, 1902-1903

Economics 12b. 2hf. Dr. Andrew. — History and Theory of Commercial Crises.

Total 37: 2 Gr., 9 Se., 19 Ju., 5 So.,2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 68.

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ECONOMICS 12b
Final Examination, 1903

Omit one question.

  1. “The crisis is practically of nineteenth century origin, and it is an acute malady to which business appears to be increasing subject.”
    Give your opinion of these statements.
  2. In what respects was the English crisis of 1866 peculiar?
  3. “Commercial crises of the earlier type now belong only to history in England.”
    Discuss this statement and explain the situation to which it refers.
  4. Compare the American crises of 1884 and 1893 as regards antecedent conditions, course of events and consequences.
  5. Describe in their mutual connections the fluctuations in exports and imports of commodities, in gold shipments, and in prices which occur in a normal trade cycle.
    Discuss DeLaveleye’s theory of crises.
  6. (a) How far did Jevons succeed in proving a relation between crises and agricultural conditions?
    (b) To what extent can a connection be traced in the United States between trade cycles and crop conditions?
    (c) In the case of which crop is the connection closest?
  7. Explain and discuss Professor Laughlin’s theory as to the relations between “normal” and “abnormal”credit and price movements.
  8. Explain and discuss Rodbertus’ theory of crises.
  9. Explain and discuss Professor Carver’s theory of industrial depressions.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Picture of Abram Piatt Andrew from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article on his appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51. Retouched and colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Money and Banking Princeton

Princeton. Money and Banking exams. Wallich, 1950

Henry C. Wallich

Final examination questions for two courses are followed by the Ph.D. general examination  in money and banking at Princeton from the 1949-50 academic year have been transcribed below. They were found in Martin Shubick’s papers in the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Note that I have yet to determine who taught Economics 305. The other two exams indicate that Henry Wallich was responsible for the exam questions and they are identically structured, somewhat differently from the Economics 305 exam.

An earlier post in Economics of the Rear-View Mirror provided a reading list for a course in money taught by Henry C. Wallich in 1950.

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[Handwritten note: “Wallich”]

Time: 3 hours

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics and Social Institutions
Economics 505
Course examination

Spend about half of your time on Parts 1 and 2, the other half on Part 3.

Part 1 — One of the following two topics:

  1. The desirability of returning to an international gold standard system, such as existed before 1914 and between approximately 1925 and 1931. Discuss.
  2. The monetary powers of the United States Treasury and their impact effect on postwar monetary management. Discuss.

Part 2 — Two of the following four topics:

  1. What are the reasons, if any, for regarding investment as more nearly “independently determined” than consumption?
  2. What effects do you believe to be exerted by consumption upon the rate of investment?
  3. How is the plausibility of Hawtrey’s view of the cycle affected by changes in the economy during the last twenty years?
  4. Do you regard the cash balance version of the quantity theory of money or the transactions version as more closely related to the income theory of the value of money? State your reasons.

Part 3 — One of the following two topics:

  1. “The volume of money is more nearly an effect of the level of prices and incomes than a cause.” Discuss.
  2. What views were expressed during the 1920’a by leading economists about the ways in which interest rates affect investment. and how have these views stood up in the light of the experience of the ‘twenties and ‘thirties?

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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Economics 302 — Money and Banking
Final Examination
January 21, 1950
Time: 2½ hours

The questions can be answered in two hours actual working time, consideration will, therefore, be given organization and relevance of the material.

I

Explain briefly the following:

    1. quantity theory of money.
    2. cash balance equation.
    3. hoarding of bank deposits.
    4. clearing agreements.

II

  1. What are the major factors that can bring about an increase in the velocity of circulation of money?
  2. Is there a limit to a “velocity inflation”, i.e., could prices go on rising due to an increase in V if the volume of money remains constant? Give your reasons.

III

Suppose a country has to pay reparations. The citizens of the country are taxed and the money is turned over in form of a banking deposit to the country which receives the reparations.

  1. Assuming a gold standard, what will be the effect of the transfer of those funds from the paying country to the recipient country on:
    1. the balance between exports and imports of the paying country,
    2. on the foreign exchange rate,
    3. on gold movements.
  2. Can you think of a case where the reparation payments would have no effect on (b) and (c)?

IV

  1. What are the characteristics of the gold standard that account for its decline? Give reasons.
  2. Explain some of the alternativos that have replaced the gold standard (excluding the monetary fund).

“I pledge my honor as a gentleman that, during this examination, I have neither given nor received assistance.”

_______________________

Henry C. Wallich

Ph.D. Examination

Spend about half of your time on Parts 1 and 2, the other half on Part 3.

Part 1 — One of the following two topics:

  1. What are the relative merits of open market operations and changes in reserve requirements as instruments of central bank policy?
  2. Evaluate the contribution of income determination theories to the analysis of balance of payments adjustment.

Part 2 — Two of the following four topics:

  1. “Most theories of the price level can be reinterpreted as theories of income determination”. Discuss.
  2. “Without the stickiness of money wages, the price level would be exposed to almost unlimited fluctuations.” Discuss.
  3. Do you believe that the theory of the long-term interest rate as presented in the “General Theory” leaves that rate “hanging by its own bootstrap”? State your reasons.
  4. How far would you rely upon the acceleration principle in explaining the upper turning points of the cycle?

Part 3 — One of the following two topics:

  1. Discuss the effect upon monetary policy of the rise in our public debt.
  2. Discuss the impact of the depression of the ‘thirties upon monetary theory.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Martin Shubik Papers, Box 2. Folder “Exams, University of Toronto and Princeton 1947-50”.

Image Source: Portrait of Henry Christopher Wallich, 1962 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.