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Cornell Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance Williams Wisconsin

Harvard. Public Finance Exams. Charles Jesse Bullock visiting from Williams College, 1901-02

Courses in public finance were not offered in the academic year 1900-01 at Harvard. Those courses had last been taught by Charles F. Dunbar and Frank W. Taussig in 1899-1900. Following Dunbar’s death (January, 29 1900) and Taussig’s leave to recover from a nervous breakdown (1901-03), it was necessary to bring in an outsider to cover the public finance offerings. Charles Jesse Bullock was first appointed as an instructor in economics for the 1901-1902 academic year to fill that gap. He was later to return at the rank of assistant professor beginning with the 1903-04 academic year.

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From the Williams College Yearbook

CHARLES JESSE BULLOCK, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of Political Science.

Graduated from Boston University, 1889, with Commencement appointment, and received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, in 1895. He taught in high schools from 1889 to 1893 and was traveling fellow in Boston University in 1891. In 1895 he was fellow and assistant at the University of Wisconsin and from 1895 to 1899 was instructor in Economics at Cornell University. Dr. Bullock has written: “The Finance of the United States, 1775-1789,” (1895), “Introduction to the Study of Economics,” (1897), and “Essays on the Monetary History of the United States” (in press [1900]). He also edited William Douglass’s “Discourse Concerning the Currencies of the British Plantations in America,” and has contributed various articles to the economic and statistical magazines. He is a member of the American Economic Association and of the American Statistical Association, an associate member of the National Institute of Art, Science and Letters, and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Dr. Bullock is a member of the ΦΔΧ Fraternity.

Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian MCMI, Vol 44 (Williamstown, MA: 1900), p. 23.

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Course Announcements

For Undergraduates and Graduates.

[open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1. Outlines of Economics]

7a1 hf. Financial Administration and Public Debts. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri. at 9. Professor Bullock (Williams College).

7b1 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat. at 10. Professor Bullock (Williams College).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year, 1901-02 (Second ed., 25 June 1901), p.44.

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Course Enrollments

7a 1hf. Professor Bullock (Williams College). — Financial Administration and Public Debts.

Total 26: 2 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

7b 1hf. Professor Bullock (Williams College). — The Theory and Methods of Taxation with special reference to local taxation, in the United States.

Total 26: 2 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 78.

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Course Descriptions

7a1 hf. Financial Administration. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri. at 9. Professor Bullock (Williams College).

This course will deal with the methods by which governments have attempted to adjust expenditures to revenue, and will study the problems arising from the effort to secure popular control over this process. The budget systems of England, France, and Germany will first receive attention; and study will then be concentrated upon the budgetary methods of our federal government. So far as practicable, also, some consideration will be given to State and local budgets in the United States. The history and present form of our federal budget will offer a large field for investigation, and supply subjects for written reports. Students will be encouraged, furthermore, to gather information concerning the methods followed by State and local governments with which they may happen to be familiar. Candidates for Honors in Political Science or for the higher degrees may advantageously use reports thus prepared by them as material for theses.

Course 7a is open to students who have taken Economics 1

7b1 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat. at 10. Professor Bullock (Williams College).

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 Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902, Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901), pp. 43-44.

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Final Examinations

ECONOMICS 7a
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

  1. How is budgetary legislation prepared in France, in England and in the United States? In which country are the best results attained?
  2. At what time of the year is the budget prepared and enacted in France, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Prussia, and the United States? Why is the time of preparation and adoption an important consideration?
  3. Compare methods of budgetary legislation in England with those prevailing in France.
  4. Describe and criticize federal budgetary procedure in the United States?
  5. What part do supplementary, or deficiency, appropriations play in France, in England, and in the United States?
  6. Compare the English and French methods of accounting. What method is followed in the United States?
  7. What are the methods of collecting and issuing public money in England?
  8. What methods of collection and issue are followed in the United States?
  9. Compare the auditing methods of England, France, and the United States?
  10. Why are unity and universality important elements in any good budget system?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-years 1901-1902.
Also included in: Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume Examination Papers, 1902-03.  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy,… in Harvard College(June, 1902), pp. 26-27.

ECONOMICS 7b
TAXATION

  1. Describe the land taxes of France, Prussia, and Great Britain.
  2. Compare the French and the Prussian business taxes.
  3. Discuss the British income tax, giving special consideration to methods of administration and to financial results.
  4. In a similar manner discuss the Prussian income tax.
  5. Discuss briefly the customs taxes of Great Britain, France, and Germany.
  6. Describe the excise taxes of the same countries.
  7. What reasons are there for thinking that a tax on rent can not be shifted? Discuss the incidence of an excise tax on each unit of the product of an industry.
  8. What arguments are advanced for and against progressive taxation?
  9. Discuss the shortcomings of the property tax in the United States: (a) with reference to the taxation of realty; (b) with reference to the taxation of personalty.
  10. Describe the corporation taxes of Massachusetts.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-years 1901-1902.
Also included in: Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume Examination Papers, 1902-03.  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy,… in Harvard College(June, 1902), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Williams College, The Gulielmensian 1902, Vol. 45, p. 26. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. US Economic History. Readings and Exams. Sprague and Patten, 1901-1902

In addition to a course announcement with description, enrollment figures, and the mid-term and/or year-end examination questions, we have a reading list for “reports”, presumably to be written or presented by students, for a course in U.S. economic history jointly taught by O.M.W. Sprague and James Horace Patten (see below) at Harvard during the 1901-1902 academic year.

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JAMES HORACE PATTEN

Born at Spring Hill, Kan., Dec. 23, 1877. Son of Henry Harrison and Gertrude (Pratt) Patten.

School: Paola and Olathe High School; Wentworth Military Academy.

Year in College: 1896-97. A.B.; AM. 1899; LL.B. 1905; A.B. 1896 (Kansas State University).

Married: Olive Young Latimer, Oct. 12, 1909, Belton, S.C.

Occupation: Lawyer.

Address: (business) 204 Second Street, S.E., Washington, D.C.; (home) 1918 S. Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Was Instructor of Economics, Harvard College, 1900-02; Austin Teaching Fellow, Harvard, 1902-03; appointed Professor of Political Science, University of New Brunswick, in May, 1902; resigned in August, 1902, to enter Harvard Law School; admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in June, 1905; South Carolina Bar in 1909; District of Columbia in 1906; resided in Washington, D.C., since 1905, office 204 Second Street, S.E.; residence 1918 S Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. I was general counsel, Farmers’ educational Co-operative Socitey, 1909-16; assistant secretary, Farmers’ National Congress, 1914-18; and secretary, 1918-20; secretary, Immigration Restriction League since 1912; member, Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Theta Pi, Mason, University Club, Washington, D.C.; national vice-president, Patriotic Order Sons of America.

Source: Harvard Class of 1897. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Report 1897-1922, pp. 421-422.

James Horace Patten. “The Immigration Problem and the South” from The American (Raleigh, N.C.: April 1, 1906).

His death

[Died Apr. 25, 1940 (AP) Washington, April 26: “James H. Patten, 62, attorney and publicist, died yesterday from effects of illunitating gas a short time after his wife found him in the kitchen of their home”. 

A certificate of suicide was issued. “Mrs. Patten told police her husband had been in ill health and suffering from a nervous disorder for some time.” The Greenville News, S.C. April 27, 1940, p. 10]

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Course Announcement,
1901-1902.
Economics 6

For Undergraduates and Graduates

  1. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30. Dr. [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague and Mr. [Austin Teaching Fellow, James Horace] Patten.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the close of the eighteenth century to the present time, and aims to show on the one hand the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by American experience and, on the other, the extent to which economic conditions have influenced social and political development. 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; the development of corporations and the formation of industrial combinations; 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, emancipation and the present condition of the Negro, the effects of immigration. Finally, the more important features of our currency and financial history are reviewed. Comparisons will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of Europe.

The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. It is open to students who take Economies 1, and also to Juniors and Seniors who are taking that course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 42.

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Course Enrollment, 1901-02
Economics 6.

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 6. Dr. Sprague and Mr. Patten. — The Economic History of the United States.

Total 125: 7 Graduates, 33 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 13 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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REPORTS IN ECONOMICS 6.

[In pencil: “1901-02 ?”]

COLONIAL TOPICS.

  1. ENGLISH COLONIAL POLICY. — WAS IT BENEFICIAL TO THE COLONIES OR THE MOTHER COUNTRY?

Beer: Commercial Policy of England toward her Colonies, chs. iv-viii.

Rogers: Economical Interpretation of History, 318-340.

Rabbeno: American Commercial Policy, 48-91.

Smith: Wealth of Nations, Bk. IV, ch. vii.

Ricardo: Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, ch. xxv.

Bernard: Select Letters on the Trade Government of America.

  1. SPANISH COLONIES AND COLONIAL POLICY.

Burke: European Settlements in America, Part III, chs. iii-v, viii, ix, xi, xvi.

Robertson: History of America, Bk. VIII.

Lewis: Government of Dependencies, 134-165, 351-9.

Merivale: Colonization and Colonies, I, 1-44.

Moses: The Casa de Contratacion of Seville. — Annual Report of the American Historical Assn., 1894, pp. 93-123.

Winterbotham: History of America, IV, 176-202.

Reynal: History of the Indies, III, 336-426, IV, 275-345.

Humbolt: Political Essays on the Kingdom of New Spain, I, 230-257, III, 231-251, 283-294, 324-3336, 394-418, 490, IV, 27, 55, 92-127.

  1. THE COLONIAL LABOR PROBLEM. — DIFFICULTY OF SECURING A SUPPLY OF LABOR AND THE MEANS USED TO OVERCOME IT.

(a) Transportation of Criminals, and Indentured Servants.

Merivale: Colonization and Colonies, Part III, Lecture ix, xii, xiii.

Brownlow: Slavery and Serfdom in Europe, Lecture v.

Fisk: Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, II, 174-189.

Bruce: Economic History of Virginia, chs. ix, x.

Weeden: Economic and Social History of New England, 83-87, 520-522.

American Husbandry, I, 169-70. (Lib. No. 47.42.)

Lucas: Historical Geography of the British Colonies, II, 47.

(b) The African Slave Trade.

Weston: Progress of Slavery, 153-163, (ch. xi).

Merivale: Colonization and Colonies, Lecture ix-xi.

Lucas: Historical Geography of the British Colonies, III, chs. ii, iii.

DuBois: Suppression of the African Slave Trade, 1-6.

Cobb: Historical Sketch of Slavery, ch. IX.
Bandinel: Some Account of the Trade in Slaves, etc., Part I.
Edwards: History of the West Indies, Bk. IV, chs. ii-v.

Dean: Connection of Massachusetts with Slavery.

Weeden: Economic and Social History of New England, ch. xii.

Bruce: Economic History of Virginia, ch. xi.

  1. COLONIAL CURRENCY. — SCARCITY OF SPECIE CURRENCY AND SOME OF THE SUBSTITUTES FOR IT.

White: Money and Banking, 120-134, 248-258.

Weeden: Economic and Social History of New England, pp. 32-45, 314-336, 473-491, 674-678.

Macfarlane: Pennsylvania Paper Currency. — Publications of American Academy of Pol. and Soc. Science, Vol. VIII, 50.

Bruce: Economic History of Virginia, ch. xix.

Ripley: Financial History of Virginia, ch. xix.

Davis: Currency Discussions in Mass. in the 18th Century. — Quarterly Journal of Economics, XI, 70, 136.

Douglass: A Discourse Concerning the Currencies of the British Plantations in America. — Economic Studies, II, No. 5.

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

  1. COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN 1783-1830. — NAVIGATION ACTS AND THE WEST INDIA TRADE.

Lyman: The Diplomacy of United States, II, chs. ii, iii, xii.

Edwards: History of the West Indies, Bk. VI, ch. iv.

Lindsay: History of Merchant Shipping, II, 250-256, 345-407, III, 53-65.

Jay: Life and Writings of John Jay, I, 330-334.

Sumner: Life of Jackson, 164-170.

Rand: Economic History since 1763. (2d Ed.), 515-517.

Adams: Works, VIII, 241, 241 (sic), 310, 327, 350, (273-466).

Madison: Writings, II, 158, 170, 173, 197, 233. 480-483.

  1. SOME REPRESENTATIVE VIEWS OF TARIFF POLICY.

(a) Webster and the Position of New England.

Webster: Works, III, 94 (1824), 224 (1828), V, 161 (1846).

Taussig: State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, 317-385.

For the votes of each state on each Tariff Act, see Sen. Rept. No. 2130, 2d Sess. 51st Congress, pp. 118-120.

(b) Calhoun and McDuffie. — Opposition of the South. — . Had South Carolina just cause for complaint?

Houston: A [Critical] Study of Nullification in South Carolina, chs. iii, iv.

Calhoun: Works, II, 163-173, VI, 2-34.

McDuffie: In Annals of Congress, 18th Cong., I, 1552, 1677, II, 2402-2425; in Congressional Debates, III, 1003, 1006, 2400-2404, VI, 843-847, VIII, Part III, 3142.

(c) Hamilton and Gallatin.

Gallatin: Report on Manufactures, 26-29 (Lib. No. 7372, 25).

Taussig: State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, 1-62, 109-213.

Rabbeno: American Commercial Policy, 287-324.

(d) List and Carey.

Rabbeno: American Commercial Policy, 325-383.

List: National System of Political Economy, 189-352.

Carey: Principles of Social Science: I, chs. iv, §§1-3, viii, x, xiv, xv, xix, xx. xxvi-xxix.

  1. THE TARIFF POLICY AND THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRY 1846-1860. — HOW DID THE LOW DUTIES AFFECT MANUFACTORIES AND WAGES?

Webster: Works, V, 225-235.

Winthrop: Cong. Globe, 1845-46. Appendix, 972-973.

Taussig: Tariff’ History of the U.S., 109-154.

Bolles; Financial History of the U. S., 449-466

Grosvenor: Does Protection Protect, chs. ix, xi, xvi, xix-xxii, xxiv.

Bishop: History of American Manufactures, II, 505 (483-505).

Wright: Comparative Wages, 23-38, 191-199.

Aldrich: Report on Wholesale Prices, Wages, and Transportation, Part I, 11-16. (Sen. Report, No. 1394, 52d Cong. 2d Sess.)

Compendium of the 7th Census, 178-184.

Compendium of 8th Census, 59-75.

  1. GROWTH AND DECAY OF AMERICAN SHIPPING.

Shaler: The United States of American, I, 518-624.

Kelley: The Question of Ships, ch. i-v, xi.

Bates: American Marine, chs. ii, viii-xii, xxii.

Wells: Decay of Our Ocean Mercantile Marine. (Lib. No. v. 6034).

Lindsay: History of Merchant Shipping, IV, chs. iii, iv.

Lynch: Causes of the Reduction of American Tonnage.

SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST.

  1. SPREAD OF COTTON CULTURE AND ITS EFFECT ON SLAVERY. — HAD SLAVERY A PERMANENT ECONOMIC BASIS IN THE SOUTH?

Hammond: The Cotton Industry, chs. ii, iii.

Merivale: Colonization and Colonies. I, 295-302.

Wakefield: The Public Lands a Mine of Wealth, 44-46.

_________: England and America, ii, 1-17.

Sterling: Letters from the Slave States, 302-322.

Hildreth: Despotism in American, ch. iii.

Weston: Progress of Slavery, chs. i-iv, xii, xiv-xvi.

Cairnes: The Slave Power, chs. ii-v, especially 83-92.

Olmsted: The Cotton Kingdom, I, ch. 1; II, 361-398; or

_________: A Journey in the Back Country, ch. viii.

_________: Seaboard Slave States, chs. iii. iv, viii.

Russell: North America, its Agriculture and Climate, chs. viii-x, (xv-xvi).

  1. IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSPORTATION, AND GROWTH OF INTERNAL COMMERCE AS INDICATED BY LAKE, RIVER, AND CANAL TRAFFIC, 1813-1860.

McMaster: History of United States, III, 459-496, 1V, 381-424.

Million: State Aid to Railways in Missouri, 7-29, 196-229.

Adams: Public Debt, 317-342.

Flagg: Internal Improvements in New York. — Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine, XXIII-XXV. (See also, VI, 439, XVIII, 488.)

Poor: Manual of the Railroads of the U. S., 1868-9, pp. 9-19.

Kettell: In Eighty Years’ Progress, 165-167, 178-190.

U.S. Treas. Dept.: Report on the Internal Commerce of the United States, 178-233.

Andrews: Report on Colonial and Lake Trade.

De Bow: Industrial Resources of the South and West, I, 444-453.

  1. SALE AND SETTLEMENT OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. — PUBLIC LAND POLICY

McMaster: History of U.S., II, 476-482, III, 89-146.

Hart: Practical Essays on American Government, 233-258.

Donaldson: The Public Domain, chs. vii, viii, x, xiii, xx, xxvii.

Gallatin: Writings, III, 209-229.

Colton: Life, Correspondence, and Speeches of Henry Clay. I. ch. xx, VI. 56-85.

American Annual Register, 1829-30, p. 67.

Sato: History of the Land Question in the U.S. — Johns Hopkins University Studies in Hist. and Pol. Sci., IV, Nos. vii-ix.

CURRENCY AND FINANCE

  1. THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED BY HAMILTON AND GALLATIN.

Hildreth: History of U.S., IV, 152-176; 206-220; 252-256; 536-538.

Dunbar: Some Precedents followed by Hamilton, Q.J.E., III, 32-59.

Hamilton: Reports on Public Credit; Works, III, 1-45, 457-529. (Lodge Ed., ii, 97-108; 475-529.)

Adams: Life of Gallatin, 267-274; 292-297

______: History of U.S., I, ch. x.

Howe: Taxation in the U.S. under the Internal Revenue System. chs. i, ii.

  1. BANK NOTES AS DEPRECIATED CURRENCY AND THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND UNITED STATES BANK, 1814-1846.

Hildreth: History of U.S., IV, 256-262.

Bancroft: A Plea for the Constitution, etc., Part iii.

White: Money and Banking, 271-313.

Gallatin: Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of the U.S., 5-6, 19-84. (See also Writings, 235-6; 253-336.)

Sumner: History of American Currency, 59-169; or

______: Life of Jackson, 236-276; 291-342.

McMaster: With the Fathers, 237-252.

  1. THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY AND EFFORTS TO SECURE A SPECIE CURRENCY, 1836-1860.

Bolles: Financial History of the U.S., II, 351-358.

Hildreth: Banks and Banking, 109-113; 170-177.

Gouge: A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the U.S., 103-106: 111-116.

Van Buren: Special Message of 1837, Statesman’s Manual, 1051.

Webster: Works, IV, 312, 324.

Benton: Thirty Years’ View, II, 124, 164.

Kinley: The Independent Treasury of U.S., chs, i-iii, vii.

Sumner: History of American Currency, 161-189.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902”.

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Mid-Year Examination 1901-02
ECONOMICS 6

  1. Define or explain:
    1. Enumerated Commodities.
    2. The Molasses Act.
    3. Specie Circular.
    4. Independent Treasury.
    5. The “National Pike.”
    6. Pre-emption.
    7. The tariff of abominations.
  2. The iron industry in the United States to 1860 and the influence of the tariff upon its development.
  3. Why was protection favorably regarded in the West and South after the War of 1812?
  4. The relation of the public lands to the tariff after 1825.
  5. What economic reasons were advanced against the renewal of the charter of the second bank of the United States? Were they well-founded?
  6. The history of internal improvements in Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, distinguishing carefully important differences.
  7. The connection of the settlement of the Mississippi valley, improvements in transportation facilities, and changes in the nature and relative importance of occupations in different sections of the country. What statistics show the connection?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

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Year-End Examination 1901-02
ECONOMICS 6

  1. Trace with specific illustrations the steps taken for the elimination of railroad competition between 1868 and 1878.
  2. Conditions leading to the greater diversification of agriculture in the United States. What peculiar obstacles present themselves in the South?
  3. Why are duties on raw materials less defensible than those on manufactures? Give specific illustrations.
  4. Why have the silk duties been more successful than the linen duties?
  5. The value of the inductive method in studying the effects of protective duties.
  6. What kinds of money might have increased in quantity under U.S. laws in 1874, in 1885 and in 1901?
  7. Why is the United States acquiring a larger proportion of the current production of gold now than ten or fifteen years ago?
  8. Defects in the fiscal system of the United States. Illustrate from experience during the war of 1812 and the Civil War

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 25.

Image Source: Wikimedia. Muse Clio from the illustrations to Ovid by Virgil Solis (1562).

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Exam Questions Harvard Public Utilities Transportation

Harvard. Railroads and regulation. Exams and enrollment. Ripley and Meyer, 1901-1902

American Railroad Scene

 

The first course dedicated to the economics of railroads at Harvard was offered during the first semester of the 1887-1888 academic year and taught by James Laurence Laughlin. After that the field was handed off to a several different instructors. By 1901-02 the course had been split into one semester dedicated to the management of railroads and one semester to the regulation of railroads and other public works.

51 hf. Railway Economics, with particular reference to the United States. Taught by William Z. Ripley in 1901-1902.

52 hf. Railways and other Public Works (advanced course). Taught by Hugo Richard Meyer in 1901-1902.

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Previous year’s exams
1900-01

Hugo Richard Meyer taught both semesters.

Harvard. Final Exams for Railways and Other Public Works. Meyer, 1901

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Original Course Announcement
Economics 51 hf.

For Undergraduates and Graduates

5 1hf. Railways and other Public Works, under Public and Corporate management. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.

In this course it is proposed to review the history and working of different modes of dealing with railway transportation, and to deal summarily with the questions of street railways, water, gas, and electric light supply. Consideration will be given to the economic characteristics of these industries, the theory and history of railway rates, the effects of railway service and railway changes on other industries, the causes and consequences of monopoly conditions. The history of legislation, in the more important European countries and in Australia will be followed, as well as the different modes in which the countries in question have undertaken the regulation and control of private corporations, or have assumed direct ownership, with or without management and operation. As to the United States, there will be a consideration of the modes of regulation, through legislation and through commissions, at the hands of the several states; and of the course of legislation by the federal government, concluding with a study of the working of the Interstate Commerce Act.

Written work, in the preparation of papers on assigned topics, will be required of all students in the course. Course 5 is open to students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. pp. 41-42.

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Revised Statement Concerning Course 51 hf.

51 hf. Railway Economics, with particular reference to the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley (Mass. Inst. Technology).

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 the railroad system at the present time; with a view of familiarizing the student with the principal sources of information. The four main subdivisions of Rates and Rate-Making, Finance, Traffic Operation, and Legislation, will be considered in turn. The first subdivision deals with the relation of the railroad to the shipper. It will comprehend an analysis of the theory and practice of rate-making, including, for example, freight classification, the nature of railroad competition, the long and short haul principle, pooling, etc. Under the second heading, having reference to the interests of owners and investors, an outline will be given of the nature of railroad securities, such as stocks, bonds, etc., the principles of capitalization, the interpretation of railroad accounts and annual reports, receiverships and reorganizations, etc. Railroad Operation, the third subdivision, 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. In the fourth subdivision, Legislation, the course of state and federal regulation and control will be traced. Discussion will follow concerning the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, judicial interpretation of the law, the relation of the Commission to the Courts, etc.

Written work in the preparation of papers on assigned topics will be required of all students in the course. Course 5 is open to all students who have taken Economics 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”

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Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley. — Railway Economics with particular reference to the United States.

Total 81: 6 Graduates, 40 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Mid-Year Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 5.

  1. State three points of difference between capital stock and bonds, indicating the resultant effect upon American railway management.
  2. Outline the course of state legislation and of judicial decisions, leading to the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce, etc. of 1887.
  3. Describe the present condition of affairs as respects the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to prescribe freight rates; with the nature of the principal suggestions for amendment of the law in this regard.
  4. What principles were involved in the following cases:

(a) Social Circle; (b) Cincinnati and Chicago Freight Bureaus; and (c) Louisville and Nashville.

  1. In what two independent ways has the Long and Short Haul clause been rendered ineffective as originally interpreted. Illustrate by examples.
  2. What is the principal difference between rail and water competition in the case of canals, small rivers, and the Great Lakes?
  3. Discuss the various bases proposed for railroad capitalization, defining that term exactly. What is the policy in Massachusetts in this respect?
  4. Combine and arrange the following items so as to give the best information about the operation and condition of the road.

(Do not rewrite the names but use the corresponding numbers where possible.)

1. Passenger train miles 2,000,000
2. Freight train miles 3,400,000
3. Passenger train earnings $2,400,000
4. Freight train earnings $5,500,000
5. Income from investments $100,000
6. Dividends $500,000
7. Franchises and property $90,400,000
8. Operating expenses $4,700,000
9. Tons freight carried 2,800,000
10. Av. load per car (loaded and empty), tons 8.2
11. Av. no. loaded cars per train 12.3
12. Av. no. empty cars per train 6.7
13. Interest charge for year $2,200,000
14. Due other roads $100,000
15. Stocks and bonds owned $4,900,000
16. Surplus for the year $300,000
17. Profit and loss account $1,000,000
18. Taxes accrued but not due $100,000
19. Capital stock $50,000,000
20. Supplies on hand $500,000
21. Taxes for the year $300,000
22. Accounts receivable $500,000
23. Cash $1,000,000
24. Bonds of the company in its treasury $800,000
25. Accounts payable $1,000,000
26. Interest due $700,000
27. Funded debt $45,000,000
28. Due from other roads $100,000
29. Interest accrued not due $300,000
  1. Describe three methods of treating depreciation and illustrate each in a case for which it is especially serviceable.
  2. Determine whether to charge the following expenditure to capital account or to revenue account. State your reasons fully. If you should charge to operating expenses, state to which general group.
    • A new forty-ton car to replace a thirty-ton car.
    • An expensive new anion station substituted for two small inexpensive stations.
    • Premium paid on purchase of stock in a connecting line.
    • Wages on a train hauling company’s coal for company’s use.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

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Original Course Announcement
Economics 52 hf.

52 hf. Railways and other Public Works (advanced course). Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat, at 1.30. Mr. Meyer.

This course is a continuation of the preceding one. It makes a detailed study of certain of the more important questions discussed in the first half-year. Among those questions are: the accounts and finances of railroads and street railways, as illustrated in the reports and statements of important systems; the development of transportation methods in certain important railroad systems; some State Commissions and their action in specific cases; the decisions rendered by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and some further aspects of public ownership, especially in Germany.

Subjects will be assigned for special examination, and the third hour may be used for the presentation and discussion of the reports upon the subjects examined.

Course 52 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 51.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 42.

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Revised Statement Concerning
Course 52 hf.

51 hf. The problems of public ownership of railways; and the question of the public or the private ownership of street railways, gas, and electric lighting plants. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat, at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.

The problems of the public ownership of railways will be discussed under three headings: the problem of making a railway budget fit into the state budget; the problem of devising a scheme of railway rates that shall meet the demands of ideal justice, and shall at the same time be sufficiently elastic to meet the needs of commerce and industry; and the problem of a large body of civil servants in a self-governing community. The discussion of these questions will be based mainly on the experience of Germany and the Australian Colonies, though some notice will be taken of the experience of France and Italy.

The question of the public or the private ownership of street railways, gas, and electric light plants will be studied by means of a comparison of the working of the so-called American practice of little or no control with the working of the British practice of control by Parliament, supplemented by the policy of municipal ownership.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”

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Course Enrollment
Economics 52 hf.

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 5 2hf. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer. — The Problems of Public Ownership of Railways; and the Question of the Public or the Private Ownership of Street Railways, Gas, and Electric Lighting Plants.

Total 49: 5 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Final Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 52

  1. Railway rates and the utilization of the agricultural resources: in Germany, in Russia, and in the United States. A study of the railway problem as the problem of conflicting local interests.
  2. Is the State, when put in charge of the railways, likely to be in a better position than are corporations to pursue an enlightened policy as to the extension of the railroad net and the reduction of railway charges; is it likely to be more considerate of the interests and the rights of the public than are corporations?
    Base your argument upon the experience of the countries studied in this course.
  3. Has the management of the railways by the State in Germany put the small shipper on a footing of equality with the large shipper?
  4. What is the evidence as to the profitableness of electric street railways in the United States?
  5. In the long run, would it be to the interest of the public, to adopt the policy of securing to the public the profit made by public service corporations in excess of the return obtained from good mortgages on real estate?
  6. The evidence as to the comparative economy of management of private gas plants in England and municipal gas plants; as to the comparative cost of gas to the consumer served by private plants and the consumer served by public plants.
  7. State carefully the body of administrative law to be found in the decisions of the Massachusetts Gas and Electric Light Commissioners upon petitions for reduction in the price of gas and of electric light.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), pp. 24-25.

Image Source: American Railroad Scene: Lightning Express Trains Leaving the Junction. Currier & Ives (1874). Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress …. Washington : Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 39.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Economics Honors Exams, 2002-2016

 

Departmental websites are valuable to visitors for providing up-to-date information but the future needs of historians of economics are of no consequence for the informational calculus of working webmeisters. We all hate it when we encounter dead links in our internet searches. Fortunately, the internet archive WaybackMachine often provides us a time tunnel needed to take on our mission to resuscitate expired web pages for the “old” content we seek. 

Today’s post is a simple listing of archived links to Harvard’s undergraduate honors examinations in economics from the period 2002-2016. The only gap is for the year 2015. Maybe a copy of the 2015 exams has survived as hard-copy in someone’s literal files? Peeps, don’t fail me now!

To see how the honors examinations fit into the economics concentration requirements at Harvard in the early 21st century, I have provided a copy of the 2003/2004 requirements, followed by a link to the requirements 2015/2016.

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Concentration requirements rev. Sept. 2003

COURSES REQUIRED OF ALL ECONOMICS CONCENTRATORS

• Math 1a or equivalent knowledge
• Social Analysis 10
• Econ 970 (Sophomore Tutorial)
• Stat 100 or Stat 104; or both Stat 110 and 111; or both Stat 110 and econometrics
• Econ 1010a or 1011a
• Econ 1010b or 1011b
(except for Math, none of the above may be taken pass/fail)
• 3 related field courses
• (1 econometrics course – Econ 1123 or 1126 – for students entering Harvard in fall 2003 or thereafter)

NON-HONORS REQUIREMENTS

• 4 additional half courses (3, for students entering Harvard in fall 2003 or thereafter) that include:

1 course with a writing requirement
1 course with intermediate theory as prerequisite

HONORS REQUIREMENTS

A. With Thesis: The following are required for Summa or Magna degrees:

• 1 econometrics course (Econ 1123 or 1126)
• 3 additional half courses that include:

1 course with a writing requirement
1 course with intermediate theory as prerequisite

• Econ 985 (Senior Thesis Seminar)
• Successful completion of senior thesis
• Honors general examination

B. Advanced Course Track: Department honors without thesis – cum degree only

• 1 econometrics course (Econ 1123 or 1126)
• 5 additional half courses that include:

2 courses with a writing requirement
2 courses with intermediate theory as prerequisite

• Honors general examination

C. Joint Concentration

• Same as Honors requirements with thesis with one exception:

4 courses in joint field instead of the 3 related field courses

ECONOMICS AS THE ALLIED FIELD

• Social Analysis 10
• 4 additional half courses in economics, including at least one intermediate theory course (1010a, 1011a, 1010b, 1011b – these may not be taken pass/fail)
• Thesis required combining both areas of study
• Honors general examination – answer either the micro, macro, or econometrics question

Note: Courses may count for more than one requirement – one course could satisfy a writing and prerequisite requirement. However, you still must take the required overall number of economics courses.

Source: Oct 9, 2003 capture by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Cf. the economics concentration requirements at Harvard as of October 2015.

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2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

-unavailable-

2016

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Statistics. Course description and semester exams. Ripley, 1901-1902

William Zebina Ripley first came on board the Harvard economics department as a visiting professor from M.I.T. for the academic year 1901-02. There was a screaming need for someone to cover the statistics course that had been taught by John Cummings through 1899-1900 but had been bracketed (i.e. not offered) for 1900-01. From the June announcement of course offerings for 1901-02 we see that the department’s economic historian, William J. Ashley, was originally planned for teaching the statistics course. That plan needed to be scrapped once Ashley announced his resignation to go the University of Birmingham. Down the Charles River at M.I.T. William Z. Ripley, assistant professor of Sociology and Economics, turned out to be a good fit for the department’s instructional program. 

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Related post in the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror archive:

Harvard. Short Bibliography on Social Statistics for “Serious-minded Students”, Ripley, 1910

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Original Course Announcement
(June 1901)

For Undergraduates and Graduates

4 hf. Statistics. — Theory, methods, and practice. Half-course. Fri., at 11. Professor [William J.] Ashley.

After a brief history of statistics, this course will proceed to an exposition of the statistical methods most commonly employed, and a statement of the theoretical considerations most deserving of attention in practical investigation. An account, with running comment, will then be given of the work of government offices; and the latter part of the year will be employed in the disentangling and comparison of the main results of the recent industrial censuses of Germany and France. Two reports on assigned topics will be required during the year, from every student in the course.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economies 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 41.

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Revised Statement
Concerning Course 4 hf.

4 hf. Statistics. — Theory, methods, and practice. Half-course. Tu., at 11. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley (Mass. Inst. Technology).

This course is intended to serve rather as an analysis of methods of research and sources of information than as a description of mere results. A brief history of statistics will be followed by an account of modes of collecting and tabulating census and other statistical material in the United States and abroad; the scientific use and interpretation of results by the mean, the average, seriation, the theory of probability, etc. The main divisions of vital statistics, relating to birth, marriage, morbidity, and mortality, life tables, etc.; the statistics of trade and commerce, such as price indexes, etc.; industrial statistics relating to labor and employment; statistics of agriculture and manufacture; of transportation by means of ton, car, train-mileage, and revenue; will be then considered in order. The principal methods of graphic representation will be comprehended, and laboratory practice in the preparation of charts, maps, and diagrams from original material will be required.

Course 4 is open to students who have taken Economics 1; and it is also open to Juniors and Seniors who are taking Economies 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902.”

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Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 4 hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 5:  2 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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Mid-Year Exam, 1902
ECONOMICS 4

  1. Outline the different tests to be applied to determine in any given population,
    1. the existence of migration,—
    2. its amount and character.
  2. How do still-born and illegitimate births compare with normal and legal ones, in character and frequency?
  3. Compare urban and rural populations from the point of view of births and marriages; giving suitable explanations.
  4. What are the principal errors to be guarded against or corrected in a census enumeration.
  5. Describe three methods of estimating population at intercensal periods, critically comparing their merits.
  6. How might the vital statistics of two American states differ, on account of a wide difference in the proportions of male and female adults?
  7. What is
    1. the expectation of life?
    2. the refined birth rate?
  8. What does a mortality table show. Construct an hypothetical one.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

Year-end Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 4

  1. Explain the construction of a life table and show its uses.
  2. What are the main errors to be avoided in comparison of mortality rates of different countries or groups of population?
  3. Why are index numbers of prices apt to be misleading? Show by an example.
  4. Criticize the Senate Finance Committee Report on Prices and Wages, as to its methods.
  5. In what way may movements of wages be most accurately measured?
  6. To what classes of phenomena may the modulus be best applied, and what is its advantage over the use of averages?
  7. What are the principal defects in statistics as to the movement of imports and exports?
  8. What is the best method of “smoothing curves” in a graphic diagram? Give an example.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 22.

Image Source: M.I.T. yearbook, Technique 1901, p. 26.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Sociology. Enrollment, Readings, Exam Questions. Carver, 1901-1902

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was the second person to teach sociology at Harvard back in the days when sociology was a sub-field of economics. Carver turned out to be sort of a utility-infielder, originally hired as an economic theorist but later tasked with covering sociology, social reform (as in “thou-shalt not interfere…” except for prohibition!), and agricultural economics.

Fun fact: One of Carver’s protégés, Vervon Orval Watts, later worked for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Carver’s wing-nut spawn was responsible for considerably less political damage than the much more recent Harvard economics Ph.D. (1986), Peter Navarro. But I digress…

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Sociology à la Carver,
Other Years

Economics 3. Thomas Nixon Carver and William Z. Ripley, 1902
Economics 8. Thomas Nixon Carver, 1917-18.
Economics 8. Thomas Nixon Carver and Carl Smith Joslyn, 1927-28.

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From Carver’s Autobiography

There was no Department of Sociology at Harvard, but Edward Cummings had given a course on principles of sociology in the Department of Economics. Since I had been giving a course in that subject at Oberlin it was suggested that I continue it at Harvard…

   …The course on the principles of sociology developed into a study of the Darwinian theory as applied to social groups. Variation among the forms of social organization and of moral systems, and the selection or survival of those systems and forms that make for group strength, were considered to constitute the method of social evolution.
The Harvard Illustrated, a student publication, at that time [probably some time after 1911 ] conducted a poll of the senior class, asking the students to name the best courses they had taken. For a number of years Professor Palmer’s course in ethics ranked highest. My course on principles of sociology began to climb until it finally achieved first place. Then the poll was discontinued.

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver, Recollections on an Unplanned Life (Los Angeles, 1949), pp. 132, 172.

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Course Announcement

For Undergraduates and Graduates
  1. Principles of Sociology. – Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor [Thomas Nixon] CARVER.

Course 3 begins with a study of the structure and development of society as outlined in the writings of Comte and Spencer. This is followed by an analysis of the factors and forces which have produced modifications of the social structure and secured a greater degree of adaptation between man and his physical and social surroundings. The relation of property, the family, the competitive system, religion, and legal control to social well-being and progress are studied with reference to the problem of social improvement. Spencer’s Principles of Sociology, Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Ward’s Dynamical Sociology, Giddings’ Principles of Sociology, Patten’s Theory of Social Forces, and Kidd’s Social Evolution are each read in part. Lectures are given at intervals and students are expected to take part in the discussion of the authors read and the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. p. 37.

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Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Carver. — The Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 53: 5 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

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ECONOMICS 3
Topics and references. Starred references are prescribed.

I. SCOPE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY

  1. August Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Chs. 2-4.
  2. Herbert Spencer. Classification of the Sciences, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. II.
  3. *Herbert Spencer. The Study of Sociology. Chs. 1-3.
  4. *Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. Pt. I. Ch. 27. Pt. II.
  5. J. S. Mill. System of Logic. Book VI.
  6. W. S. Jevons. Principles of Science. Ch. 31. Sec. 11.
  7. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. I.
  8. *F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology. Book I.
  9. J. W. H. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Chs. 2 and 3.
  10. Émile Durkheim. Les Regles de la Méthode Sociologique.
  11. Guillaume de Greef. Les Lois Sociologiques.
  12. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Introduction. 

II. THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS

A. Physical and Biological Factors
  1. Herbert Spencer. The Factors of Organic Evolution, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  2. *Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology.  Pt. I. Chs. 1-5.
  3. Herbert Spencer. Progress, its Law and Cause, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  4. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 6.
  5. Lester F. Ward. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 7.
  6. *Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Ch. 1.
  7. *Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics. Chs. 1 and 2.
  8. Geddes and Thompson. The Evolution of Sex. Chs. 1, 2, 19, 21.
  9. *Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
  10. Robert Mackintosh. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd.
  11. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 1-6.
  12. August Weismann. The Germ Plasm: a Theory of Heredity.
  13. George John Romanes. An Examination of Weismannism.
  14. Alfred Russell Wallace. Studies: Scientific and Social.
  15. R. L. Dugdale. The Jukes.
  16. Oscar C. McCulloh. The Tribe of Ishmael.
  17. Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius.
  18. *F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology. Book II. Ch. I. Book III. Ch. 1.
  19. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Pt. III. 
B. Psychic
  1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 5.
  2. *Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 1 and 2.
  3. Lester F. Ward. The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
  4. G. Tarde. Social Laws.
  5. _______. Les Lois de l’Imitation.
  6. _______. La Logique Sociale.
  7. Gustav Le Bon. The Crowd.
  8. _______. The Psychology of Peoples.
  9. J. Mark Baldwin. Social and Ethical Interpretations.
  10. _______. Mental Development in the Child and the Race.
  11. John Fisk. The Destiny of Man.
  12. Henry Drummond. The Ascent of Man.
  13. *Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. Pt. I. Chs. 6-26.
  14. *Simon N. Patten. The Theory of Social Forces. Chs. 2-5.
  15. *F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology. Book II. Ch. 2. 
C. Social and Economic
  1. *Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. Pts. III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII.
  2. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
  3. *_______. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
  4. *Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics. Chs. 3-6.
  5. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
  6. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  7. *A. G. Warner. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
  8. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7-15.
  9. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
  10. H. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
  11. F.W. Saunders. The Standard of Living in its Relation to Economic Theory.
  12. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
  13. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
  14. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
  15. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
  16. E. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
  17. *F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology. Book II. Chs. 3-4. Book III. Chs. 2-4. Book IV.
  18. Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
  19. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
  20. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail Social.
  21. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
  22. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
  23. _______. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6.
  24. E. A. Ross. Social Control.
D. Political and Legal
  1. Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 12-17.
  2. F. M. Taylor. The Right of the State to Be.
  3. *W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice. Chs. 5-9.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  5. W. S. Jevons. The State in Relation to Labor.
  6. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, in Publications Am. Econ. Assoc. Vol. I. No. 6.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003.Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902”.

Cf. The course material for the following academic year.

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Mid-year Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 3

Write out the following topics
  1. Is society an organism?
  2. The relationship among the principal classes of institutions, according to Spencer.
  3. Adaptation as a test of progress.
  4. Antagonism of interests as a basis for social development.
  5. Vice as a factor in human selection.
  6. The function of pleasure and pain.
  7. The influence of density of population upon social development.
  8. The traits of the militant type of society.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

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Final Examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 3

Discuss the following topics
  1. Active and passive adaptation.
  2. Charity as a factor in human selection.
  3. The sanctions for conduct.
  4. Social stratification.
  5. Kidd’s theory of the function of religion in human evolution.
  6. Gidding’s theory of “consciousness of kind,” and its relation to sympathy and imitation.
  7. The storing of social energy.
  8. Tarde’s and Durkheim’s ideas of sociology.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 22.

Image Source: “Thomas Nixon Carver, 1865-1961” link at the History of Economic Thought Website. “Portrait of Carver (as a young man)“.

Detail in the Oberlin College Yearbook 1901 Hi-o-hi (no. 16)

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Theory

Harvard. Economic Theory. Enrollment, Readings, Exams. Carver, 1901-1902.

 

Professor Frank W. Taussig began what was to turn into a two year leave of absence starting with the academic year 1901-02. The previous year, assistant professor Thomas Nixon Carver apparently took over Taussig’s “advanced” theory course sometime late in the academic year and continued to teach it in the latter’s absence.

This post continues our series of Harvard’s economic courses for 1901-02, providing a linked reading list for Carver’s economic theory course along with the semester exams for the year-long course.

Carver’s 1949 autobiography is available at the hathitrust.org web archive. He writes there (p. 132):

At the end of the year, 1900-1901, Professor Taussig’s health failed, probably as the result of some very hard and discouraging work he had done on the State Tax Commission. He therefore took a year’s leave of absence which was lengthened to two years. This necessitated a change in my program.

___________________________________

Course Announcement

For Undergraduates and Graduates
  1. Economic Theory. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Asst. Professor [Thomas Nixon] Carver.

Course 2 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 important writers; and in this discussion the students are expected to take an active part. Lectures are given at intervals outlining the present condition of economic theory and some of the problems which call for theoretical solution. Theories of value, diminishing returns, rent, wages, interest, profits, the incidence of taxation, the value of money, international trade, and monopoly price, will be discussed. Marshall’s Principles of Economics, Böhm-Bawerk’s Positive Theory of Capital, Taussig’s Wages and Capital, and Clark’s Distribution of Wealth will be read and criticised.

Course 2 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. pp. 36-37.

___________________________________

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 2. Asst. Professor Carver. — Economic Theory.

Total 32: 5 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

___________________________________

Course Readings

ECONOMICS 2.
1901-1902

General Reading. Prescribed.

Marshall. Principles of Economics.
Taussig. Wages and Capital.
Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital.
Clark. The Distribution of Wealth.

References for Collateral Reading. Starred references are prescribed.

I. VALUE.

  1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Chs. 5, 6, and 7.
  2. Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 1 and 4.
  3. Mill.    “        “     Book III. Chs. 1-6.
  4. Cairnes.     “        “     Part I.
  5. *Jevons. Theory of Pol. Econ. Chs. 2-4.
  6. Sidgwick. Pol. Econ. Book II. Ch. 2.
  7. Wieser. Natural Value.
  8. *Clark. Philosophy of Wealth. Ch. 5

II. DIMINISHING RETURNS.

  1. Senior. Pol. Econ. Pp. 81-86.
  2. *Commons. The Distribution of Wealth. Ch. 3. 

III. RENT.

  1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nation. Book I. Ch. 2. Pts. 1-3.
  2. *Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 2 and 3.
  3. Sidgwick. “   “       Book II. Ch. 7.
  4. Walker. “     “       Pt. IV. Ch. 2.
  5. Walker. Land and its Rent.
  6. Hyde. The Concept of Price Determining Rent. Jour. Pol. Econ. V.6. p. 368.
  7. Fetter. The Passing of the Old Rent Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 416.

IV. CAPITAL

  1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book II.
  2. Senior. Pol. Econ. P. 58-81.
  3. Mill.      “       “       Book I. Ch. 4-6.
  4. Roscher. “      “       Book I. Ch. 1. Secs. 42-45.
  5. Cannan. Production and Distribution. Ch. 4.
  6. Jevons. Theory of Political Economy Ch. 7.
  7. Fisher. What is Capital? Economic Journal. Vol. VI. P. 509.
  8. Fetter. Recent Discussion of the Capital Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 1.
  9. *Carver. Clark’s Distribution of Wealth. Q.J.E., Aug. 1901. 

V. INTEREST.

  1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 9.
  2. Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 6.
  3. Sidgwick. “     “        Book II. Ch. 6.
  4. *Carver. Abstinence and the Theory of Interest. Q.J.E, Vol. VIII. P. 40.
  5. Mixter. Theory of Saver’s Rent. Q.J.E. Vol. XIII. P. 345.

VI. WAGES.

  1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 8.
  2. *Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 5.
  3. Senior.   “       “      Pp. 141-180 and 200-216.
  4. Senior. Lectures. Pp. 1-62.
  5. Mill. Pol. Econ. Book II. Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14.
  6. Cairnes. Pol. Econ. Part II. Chs. 1 and 2.
  7. Sidgwick. “       “      Book II. Ch. 8.
  8. Walker. “       “      Part IV. Ch. 5.
  9. Hadley. Economics. Ch. 10.
  10. *Carver. Wages and the Theory of Value. Q.J.E. Vol. VIII, P. 377.

VII. PROFITS.

  1. Walker. Pol. Econ. Part IV. Ch. 4.
  2. Hobson. The Law of the Three Rents. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. V. P. 263.
  3. Clark. Insurance and Business Profits. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 40.
  4. *Hawley, F. B. in Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 459; Vol. XV. Pp. 75 and 603.
  5. MacVane, in in Quar. Jour. Econ.,  Vol. II. P. 1.
  6. Haynes, in               “     “       “     Vol. IX, P. 409.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 1 of 10 (Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003). Folder: 1901-1902.

___________________________________

Mid-year examination, 1902
ECONOMICS 2

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The relation of utility to value.
  2. The price of commodities and the price of services.
  3. Various uses of the term “diminishing returns.”
  4. The law of diminishing returns as applied to each of the factors of production.
  5. Prime and supplementary cost: illustrate.
  6. Joint and composite demand and join and composite supply.
  7. Quasi rent.
  8. Real and nominal rent.
  9. Consumer’s rent.
  10. The equilibrium of demand and supply

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

___________________________________

Final examination, June 1902
ECONOMICS 2

  1. State some of the different meanings which have been given to the law of diminishing returns, and define the law as you think it ought to be.
  2. Can you apply the law of joint demand to the wages fund questions?
  3. What is meant by an elastic demand and how does it affect monopoly price.
  4. Discuss Clark’s distinction between capital and capital goods.
  5. Under what conditions would there be no rent, and how would these conditions affect the value of products?
  6. Explain Clark’s theory of Economic Causation.
  7. What is the source of interest?
  8. What is the relation of the standard of living to wages?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 21.

___________________________________

Collection of Carver’s economic theory readings and exams,
1900/01 through 1902/03

Harvard. Core economic theory. Readings and Exams. Carver, 1900/01-1902/03

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Principles of Economics. Description, Enrollment, Exam Questions. Andrew, Mixter, and Sprague. 1901-1902

 

With the expansion of economics course offerings at Harvard going into the 20th century, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror will continue its collection of semester examinations but limiting each post in the series to a single course per year. This post brings together material from four different sources (announcement, enrollment, mid-year exam and final-year exam) for the first course in economics “Outlines of Economics” that was taught in sections by five instructors in 1901-1902. Frank W. Taussig was on leave in Europe that year which is the reason the course was entrusted to the experienced junior hands of Abram Piatt Andrew and Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague.

The complete battery of 1900-01 course exams can be found in a previous post.

The course material for the 1902-03 academic year has been posted too.

______________________________ 

Course Announcement

…Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second or third year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1…

Primarily for Undergraduates

  1. Outlines of Economics. — Lectures on Social Questions and Monetary Legislation. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9.Drs. [Instructor in Political Economy, Abram Piatt] Andrew [Jr.] and [Instructor in Political Economy, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and Messrs. [Instructor in Political Economy, Charles] Beardsley and [Austin Teaching Fellow, James Horace] Patten.

Course 1 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, and international trade. Social questions and the relations of labor and capital, and the recent currency legislation of the United States, will be treated in outline.

Course 1 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. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, of Walker’s Political Economy (advanced course), and of Dunbar’s Theory and History of Banking will be read; and these books must be procured by all members of the Course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901).  Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. pp. 35-36.

______________________________ 

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 1. Drs. [Instructor in Economics, Abram Piatt] Andrew [Jr.], [Assistant in Economics, Charles Whitney] Mixter, and [Instructor in Economics, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and Messrs. [Austin Teaching Fellow, James Horace] Patten and [Assistant in Economics, Gilbert Holland] Montagne. — Outlines of economics.

Total 432: 19 Seniors, 79 Juniors, 239 Sophomores, 37 Freshmen, 58 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.

______________________________ 

Mid-year Examination 1902
ECONOMICS 1

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. A man increases his capital by saving which involves diminution of his consumption, but his capital can be used only by being consumed. Explain.
  2. What is over-population? What is under-population? Some years ago British India had 200 inhabitants to the square mile; Belgium 469; Rhode Island 254. Which came nearer to over-population and which to under-population?
  3. Why are the wages of servants higher in the United States than in England for the same grade of service?
  4. How does Hadley’s justification of rent resemble that of profits? Does Mill differ from Hadley in regard to the “unearned increment”?
  5. To what other conceptions than that of return from land has the notion of “rent” been applied?
    Explain the analogy between these various sorts of “rent.”
  6. Which of Mill’s laws of value is applicable to
    1. iron ore
    2. shoes
    3. typewriters
    4. street railway fares
    5. postage stamps.

State the law of value governing each case.

  1. A member of Congress maintained that there was not money enough in the country, using the following argument: “Our currency must keep pace with our growth as a nation … France has a circulation per capita of thirty dollars: England, of twenty-five: and we with our extent of territory and improvements, certainly require more than either.” State your opinion of this argument.
  2. When it is asserted that the value of gold rose 40% or 50% between 1873 and 1896, what are the various methods by which such a measurement of the amount of appreciation is affected? Point out the limitations of these methods.
  3. Consider the monetary history of the United States since 1860 with reference to the quantity theory?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6. Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1901-02.

______________________________ 

Year-end Examination 1902
ECONOMICS 1

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

I.
Answer two.
  1. Are the private ownership of capital, and the payment of interest on capital justified when it is said that interest is the reward of abstinence? If so, in what manner? If not, why not?
  2. Explain what Hadley means when he says that “economic rent and net profit are differential gains.”Does Mill differ from Hadley in regard to these subjects?
  3. What groups of persons are favored by rising prices? by falling prices?
II.
Answer two.
  1. Suppose that labor became twice as productive as it is in all of our industries, what would be the probable effect upon the prices and values of the articles we import? Distinguish between the immediate and the ultimate effects.
  2. It is frequently urged that the high rate of wages prevailing in the United States disables this country from competing with “the pauper labor” of Europe. Examine the grounds of this statement, and consider how far it forms a justification for protection to American industry.
  3. Suppose the discovery of important gold fields in France. What would be the effect upon her foreign trade?
III.
Answer two.
  1. What is the difference between a commercial bank and a savings bank?
  2. “As the exchange of checks through the Clearing House has had results far beyond the mere gain in convenience and safety to which the practice owes its origin, so the redemption of notes by some corresponding mode has important bearings of much greater scope than the convenience of banks in maintaining their issues, and quite independent of any question as to the security of the currency. (Dunbar, p. 74). Explain the system suggested, and the particular advantage referred to.
  3. “The notion is often entertained that the national banks have some peculiar opportunity for making a double profit, by receiving both interest earned by their bonds, and interest earned by the loan of the notes issued upon the bonds” (Dunbar, p. 180).
    Comment upon this.
IV.
Answer three.
  1. Do prices fluctuate because men speculate, or do men speculate because prices fluctuate?
  2. Would the country gain or lose from the abolition (1) of the “produce exchanges”? (2) of the “stock exchanges”? Give reasons in each case.
  3. Assuming that a combination has secured a monopoly, what influences would tend to check an indefinite increase in prices? Illustrate the varying operation of these influences in the case of diamonds, petroleum, and iron and steel.
  4. Discuss the economic effects of the immigration of unskilled labor to the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics… in Harvard College (June 1902) included in the bound volume: Examination Papers 1902-03.

Image Sources: Abram Piatt Andrew (1920) from Wikimedia Commons. O.M.W. Sprague from Harvard Class Album 1920, p. 25.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Course Outline, Reading Assignments, Semester Exams. Principles of economics. Smithies, 1951-52

The self-confidence of the businessmen appointed to Harvard’s economics department visiting committee at mid-20th-century to weigh-in on all matters related to the scope and method of economics as a science and policy art is breath-taking, and I don’t mean that in a good way. For an earlier post I transcribed the November 1950 report submitted by the visiting committee and the January 1952 response from Harvard President James B. Conant. Reading Keller and Keller’s Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America’s University (2001), I learned that Clarence B. Randall [Chairman of the Economics Visiting Committee] alleged that the economics chairman, Arthur Smithies, ripped off the first page of the syllabus for the principles of economics course to hide the list of main sources of readings for the course, knowing that some of the items would displease Randall.

This was enough to get me to look at the syllabus with assigned readings and the final examinations for Economics 1 “Principles of Economics” for the academic year 1951-52 now transcribed for this post. The first page of the syllabus appears to simply be tables of primary sources for the readings assigned in the fall and spring terms that permit abbreviated reference in the course syllabus. But since he was given the complete list of readings and an outline of the course, I find it more likely that Randall merely saw a tempest in a teapot. Others can examine the artifacts themselves and come to their own conclusions.

If I were in the jury, I would vote to acquit Smithies of the charge of willfully destroying or hiding evidence known to be relevant. Any idiot could figure out Karl Marx made a guest appearance in the Harvard course readings from the course outline and its reading assignments. Smithies provided sufficient evidence as to course content to Randall. Actually I think Smithies should have been awarded damages for having his honor impugned, or even a Purple Heart. Suffering fools has always been a part of the price of departmental service.

__________________________

Cf. An earlier version of the Syllabus for “Principles of Economics”

1949-50.  Economics 1 outline and exams.

__________________________

Smithies’ letter of Oct 31, 1951 to Randall

October 31, 1951

Mr. Clarence B. Randall
38 South Dearborn Street
Chicago 3, Illinois

Dear Mr. Randall:

I was very glad to get your letter and I do wish we had more opportunities to sit down to discuss the affairs of the Department in a more leisurely manner than is usually possible.

We have given a great deal of thought during the fall to the questions about the Department that you have raised with the President. I am afraid it might confuse things if I attempted to discuss those questions by letter so I shall forebear. I would like to say, however, that whether or not I agree with your conclusions I have always found your criticisms of the Department very helpful.

Dave Bailey called and asked us to keep Sunday evening, January thirteenth, free for a meeting with the committee. As you know, I do not think these single evening meetings serve any very useful purpose. They do not enable the Committee to talk at any length with members of the Department or to make any adequate appraisal of the Department’s program. Several members of the Committee have told me that oven the full day we devoted to the purpose last year was too short. Several members of the Department have also indicated to me that they feel that the Sunday evening meeting is to [sic] perfunctory. Therefore, I very much hope we can arrange another program of the kind we had last year.

Things seem to be going quite satisfactorily here. The enrollment has not shrunk to anything like the extent that was anticipated last spring.

This year we have extended tutorial to sophomores in Group III and above so that we have now practically restored the tutorial system that was eliminated during the war.

I am sending you a copy of the outline of Economics 1 which may interest you. I still regard it as by no means perfect but am more satisfied with it than with what we have had before. We are continuing to have occasional lectures in Economics 1 and during the course of the year I hope that most of the senior members of the staff will give at least one lecture.

Our contract with the Business School for Smith and Butters to teach Burbank’s courses is working out quite as well as I expected. I want to make this a permanent arrangement, but I would not be surprised at some time to see some resistance from the Business School. If we need it, I hope we can rely on your Committee’s support to continue this arrangement.

The defense program has made fewer inroads on the Department than we expected. It is absorbing a good deal of Mason’s sabbatical leave; Dunlop is spending a day or two a week with the Wage Stabilization Board; and I go to Washington for a couple of days a week as a consultant to Charles E. Wilson.

If there is any chance of seeing you during the fall, I would very much appreciate the opportunity. I am regularly in Washington on Thursdays — if you can every bring yourself to visit that unholy city.

Yours sincerely,

Arthur Smithies

Enclosure

__________________________

Randall alleges sleight-of-hand by Smithies regarding the Economics 1 reading list.

“Besides their ideological concerns, the Overseers worried about the department’s ability (and desire) to teach undergraduates. [Chairman of the Economics Committee, Clarence B.] Randall fretted that research-obsessed professors were away too much; senior professors avoided teaching lowerclassmen. And he agreed with [President James B.] Conant that the field ‘has reached a point of ethereal content which is as lifeless to me as much…modern poetry. It just doesn’t seem to matter.’ Conant concede that the department ‘has not faced up to the problem of making a real effort ot improve the instruction in the introductory courses in Economics.’ Feeling the pressure, chairman [Professor Arthur] Smithies proposed an extensive plan to strengthen undergraduate teaching. Randall appreciated Conan’s response to his criticisms. He left the visiting committee in the fall of 1952, but not without a final disappointment. He heard that when he asked the chairman for a copy of the Economics A [sic, Principles of Economics last listed as “Economics A” in 1947-48. Beginning 1948-49 it was given the number “Economics 1″ ] reading list, Smithies tore off the first page because he thought that Randall would disapprove of many of the authors (as in all likelihood he would have). ‘I bear no animosity about that,’ Randall told Conant, ‘but it does make me a little heartsick. I am always shocked when I find amongst either professors or preachers ethical practices below the standard prevailing in business.”

Source:  Morton Keller and Phyllis Keller, Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America’s University (Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 84-85.

__________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 1. Principles of Economics

Full course. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. The major part of the course is conducted in sections. However, throughout the year there will be occasional lectures on Wed. at 12. Mon., Wed., and Fri., will be the normal hour for section meetings but sections will be scheduled at other hours. Professor Smithies and other Members of the Department.

Economics 1 may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.

Economics 1 is designed to introduce students to the methods of economic analysis that bear on the issues that confront this country and the world. The course will thus serve the needs both of those students who plan no further work in economics and those who desire to obtain the groundwork for more advanced courses in the field.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, 1951-52 pp.  75-76.

__________________________

Economics 1
Syllabus and Readings
1951-52

[first page begins]

ECONOMICS 1
1951-52
Fall Term

Sources:

Bowman and Bach, Economic Analysis and Public Policy, Second Edition (1949)
** Clark, J.M., Common and Disparate Elements in National Growth and Decline
Daugherty and Daugherty Principles of Political Economy, vol. II
The Midyear Economic Report of the President, July 1951
Editors of Fortune, U.S.A. — The Permanent Revolution
* Gayer, Harriss, and Spencer, Basic Economics, A Book of Readings
Hart, Defense Without Inflation
Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Mill, J. S., Principles of Political Economy
* Morgan, T., Introduction to Economics
Office of Defense Mobilization, Meeting Defense Goals
Ruggles, R., National Income and Income Analysis
Schumpeter, J. A., The Theory of Economic Development
Slichter, S., The American Economy
** Spengler, J. J., Theories of Socio-Economic Growth
[“Baumol Economic Analysis” inserted here]

* To be purchased.
** To be handed out in section meeting.

[end of first page]

ECONOMICS 1
Fall Term

PART I. The American Economy—Its Growth, Complexity, Institutions and Problems
  1. The Growth of the U.S. Economy and Its Present Complexity
    1. Change in productivity and income; the increase in population, capital accumulation, and the supply of natural resources.
    2. The functions of the economy.
    3. The complex division of labor and specialization within the U.S. economy for performing these functions.
    4. The role of the price system and market mechanism — the circular flow of economic activity.

Readings:

Slichter, Ch. 1, The American Economy

Gayer, et al., Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 59

Bowman and Bach, Ch. 3, The Economic System — A Summary View; Chapter 4, Private Enterprise, Profits, the Price System

  1. Prerequisites for a Growing Economy
    1. Climate and natural resources, attitudes of the population, capital and technology, institutional conditions and systems, etc.
    2. Comparisons among different economies

Readings:

Clark, Common and Disparate Elements in National Growth and Decline

Daugherty and Daugherty, Ch. 34, Modern Economic Society

  1. Institutions of an Advanced Industrial Economy
    1. Large scale enterprise — the organization of business
    2. The organization of labor and agriculture
    3. The role of the monetary system and its organization
    4. The role of the government

Readings:

Morgan, [Introduction to Economics]

Ch. 4, The Scale and Location of Production

Ch. 5, The Organization of Business

Ch. 6, The Rise of Labor Unions; Social Legislation of the 1930’s

Ch. 7, The Nature of Money

Ch. 8, The Supply of Money

Ch. 9, The Demand for Money

[“Ch. 28” inserted here]

Ch.10, The Control of Money

Ch. 3, Economic Decisions under Laissez-Faire, a Mixed Economy, and Socialism

Editors of Fortune, Ch. 4, The Transformation of American Capitalism

Gayer, et al., Nos. 51, 54, 65 [“, 12” inserted here]

  1. Some Views on Economic Growth
    1. The classical economists
    2. Schumpeter
    3. Marx
    4. Other socio-economic views

Readings:

Mill, Vol. II, Bk. IV, Ch. 6, Of the Stationary State

Schumpeter, Ch. 2, The Fundamental Phenomenon of Economic Development

Marx, The Communist Manifesto

Spengler, Theories of Socio-Economic Growth

  1. The Problems of a Growing and Complex Economy
    1. Business fluctuations and economic stability
    2. Competition and monopoly
    3. The distribution of income
    4. International problems
    5. Economic Power

Readings:

Morgan, Ch. 1, Economic Problems and Economic Progress, pp. 3-7

Slichter, Ch. 6, How Good is the American Economy

PART II. Fluctuations in National Income — The Problem of Economic Stability
  1. The Measurement of National Income
    1. Components of national income and their statistical measurement.
    2. Correcting national income figures for price changes over time — the real national income.

Readings:

Morgan, [Introduction to Economics]

Ch. 25, The National Income

Ch. 26, Fluctuations in the Real National Income: The Problem of Index Numbers

[“Ch. 27 Production & Employment” inserted here]

  1. The Sources of the Expenditures Determining National Income
    1. Consumption expenditures.
    2. Investment expenditures.
    3. Government expenditures.

Readings:

Morgan, Ch. 31, The Sources of Expenditure

  1. Fluctuations in National Income
    1. The determination of the level of national income.
    2. The effect of changes in spending—the multiplier and acceleration effects.
    3. Business cycle experience of the past.
    4. Counter-cyclical policies
    5. The problem of the national debt

Readings:

Morgan, Ch. 32, Fluctuations in Production and employment

Ruggles, Ch. 12, Economic Policy and the Level of Activity

Morgan, Ch. 36, Part C, The Burden of Public Debt, pp. 685-696

Gayer, et al., Nos. 81, 85

PART III. Economic Mobilization
    1. The pattern of mobilization.
    2. Methods of meeting the defense goals.
    3. The problem of checking inflation in the mobilization period.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[first page begins]

ECONOMICS 1
1951-52
Spring Term

Sources:

Allen and Brownlee, The Economics of Public Finance
Blakiston Company, Readings in the Social Control of Industry
Buchanan and Lutz, Rebuilding the World Economy
Dean, J., Managerial Economics
Ellsworth, P. T. The International Economy
Federal Budget in Brief, latest available
* Gayer, Harriss, and Spencer, Basic Economics, A Book of Readings
Galbraith, J. K., American Capitalism
* Morgan, T., Introduction to Economics
Peterson, S., Economics
Schumpeter, J. A., Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
** Slichter, S., Profits in a Laboristic Society

* To be purchased.
** To be handed out in section meeting.

[end of first page]

ECONOMICS 1
Spring Term

PART IV. Economic Behavior of the Individual
    1. The problem of choice — the manner in which the individual will use his services and property to earn income and the way he will allocate his income among consumer goods.
    2. The factors influencing his decisions — marginal utility, prices and types of products and services, “conspicuous consumption,” technology, advertising, habit, etc.

Readings:

Peterson, ch. 19, pp. 478-488

Gayer, et al., Nos. 15, 18

PART V. Business Behavior in a Dynamic Economy
  1. Profit-making as the main objective of business enterprises.

The relevance of the time period, liquidity and safety, potential competition, the anti-trust laws, etc., for profit maximizing.

  1. The influence of market structure on the range of decisions by the firm.

Pure competition — agriculture;
Oligopoly or monopolistic competition — industry;
Monopoly — a limiting case.

    1. Conditions of product demand — income levels, availability of substitutes, the price and nature of the product, advertising, etc.
    2. Sales promotion plane and product improvement strategy — research.
    3. Investment decisions — choosing the best plant size and operating it in the most efficient manner.
    4. Pricing policies.
    5. Labor relations.
  1. The interactions of such decisions among business firms in a dynamic economy.
  2. The effectiveness of business behavior in satisfying consumer demand, allocating resources, and stimulating growth.

Readings:

Dean, Ch. 1, Sections 1, 2, 4, 5

Morgan, Chs. 12, 11, 15, 16

Dean, Ch. 7

Schumpeter, Ch. 8

Gayer, et al., Nos. 20, 21, 26

  1. Public Programs of Promotion and Control of Business.
    1. The historical development of government regulation.
    2. The anti-trust approach.
    3. Public utility regulation.
    4. Government sponsored restraints of competition.
    5. Evaluation of government regulation.

Readings:

Gayer, et al., No. 35

Morgan, Ch. 17

Readings in the Social Control of Industry, Ch. 1

Gayer, et al., Nos. 34, 38

PART VI. The Division of the National Income among the Major Groups
    1. The facts on distribution — past and present.
    2. The manner in which demand and supply factors affect the income of the means of production.
    3. The study of these elements in the determination of wages, rents, interest, and profits.
    4. Interactions among prices, profits, wages and property incomes in a dynamic, industrial economy.
    5. The influence of the government on the distributive shares.

Readings:

Morgan, Chs. 23, 18-22

Gayer, et al., Nos. 42, 41

Slichter, Profits in a Laboristic Society

Galbraith, Chs. 9-11, 14

Gayer, et al., Nos. 44, 50, 88 (Henry George)

PART VII. The International Economy
    1. The development of the world economy.
    2. The breakdown of the world economy.
    3. Reconstructing the world-economy-post-war problems and policies.

Readings:

Buchanan and Lutz, Ch. 1

Morgan, Ch. 38

Ellsworth, The International Economy, Ch. 5, 111-120 or

International Economics, Ch. 2

Gayer, et al., Nos., 100-102, 104, 105

PART VIII. Government Finance and Fiscal Problems
  1. Revenues and Expenditures of the Government
    1. The historical change in the role of the government.
    2. The structure of the Federal Budget.
    3. Financing expenditures from sources of taxation — types of taxes, who pays them, and their effects on the economy.
    4. The use of government borrowing to finance expenditures. Should we have an annual balanced budget? What is the burden of the National Debt.
    5. The role of the government as a credit agency.

Readings:

Allen and Brownlee, Ch. 1

Morgan, Ch. 24

Federal Budget in Brief.

Gayer, et al., Nos. 89, 90, 92, 95

PART IX. The Prospects and Fundamental Problems of the American Economy
    1. The problems of economic growth, economic stability, competition and monopoly, the distribution of income, and international economic relations.
    2. How can these problems best be met within the framework of democratic capitalism?

Readings:

To be assigned later.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1951-1952 (1 of 2)”.

__________________________

1951-52
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 1
[Mid-Year Examination, January 1952]

(Three hours)

Answer FIVE of the following SEVEN questions. Divide your time equally among each of the FIVE questions.

  1. “Although Schumpeter was influenced to a great extent by Marx’s ideas, his views of capitalistic development differed in many basic respects from those of Marx.”
    Develop the major points of similarity and difference of their theories of the process of capitalistic development.
  2. Define Gross National Product and National Income. Discuss some of the conceptual and statistical problems in measuring these economic aggregates including the difficulty of comparing Gross National Product at different times. Comment upon the usefulness of these concepts as measures of economic growth.
  3. Economic growth in the United States has been accompanied by bigness in business, labor, finance, and government. Should this concentration movement be regarded as inevitable in the process of capitalistic development? In your opinion has this trend towards bigness interfered with economic growth or accelerated it?
  4. (a) What powers does the Federal Reserve System have to combat inflationary and deflationary movements in the level of economic activity? Explain the manner in which the application of each measure is designed to influence the economy.
    (b) How has Treasury financing policy during the last decade interfered with the usefulness of these powers as a means of economic control?
  5. Discuss the behavior and interactions of consumption and investment expenditures as Gross National Product fluctuates over the course of the business cycle.
  6. “The Mobilization People seem to have two main goals – to maintain stability, i.e., prevent prices from rising, and to increase production. They are both laudable objectives by themselves. But those Washington bureaucrats don’t seem to realize they can’t have their cake and eat it too. They try to maintain stability by high taxes plus price and resource controls. Yet these are the very measures which strangle the businessman and take away his incentive to increase production. I say, forget the controls. American production in a free economy will achieve both goals.”
    Discuss the issues raised in this statement and, in so doing, suggest the kind of economic policies that you think will best meet our mobilization needs as presently conceived by the federal government.
  7. What in your opinion are the main factors which account for the different rates of growth in real income per capita at different periods of history and in various areas of the world.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28). Vol. 90 Final Exams [in] Social Sciences, January 1952.

__________________________

 1951-52
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 1
[Year-end Examination, May 1952]

PART I
(One hour)
Answer (a) and (b)

  1. (a) Assuming perfect knowledge and the desire to maintain profits, explain briefly the manner in which the price and output of a commodity are determined (1), under purely competitive conditions and (2) under conditions of pure monopoly.
    (b) How relevant and useful are these theories in adequately explaining business behavior:

(1) under industry conditions in which competitors are few and products differentiated,
(2) when short-run profit maximization may impair the long-run profit position, and
(3) in accounting for the phenomenon of innovation and company policy toward expansion.

PART II
(Two hours)
Answer any FOUR questions. Each will be counted equally.

  1. “The failure of traditional economic analysis to develop a theory of profits which links them to economic growth has in some ways resulted in an unrealistic anti-monopoly program.” Discuss.
  2. In what ways are wages related to the marginal productivity of labor? How does collective bargaining influence wages and employment?
  3. “Equality is a good thing, but so are rising living standards and greater opportunity.”
    To what extent do you think attempts to redistribute income are compatible with policies promoting economic growth? In your answer be careful to distinguish types of redistributive measures and their various effects.
  4. This year every presidential candidate is faced with the need for advancing a tax and expenditure program. As a citizen what economic issues would you want a candidate to cover and what criteria would you employ in evaluating his program?
  5. Answer (a) or (b).

(a) “We shall never have a sound system of international trade until we return to the Gold Standard.” Discuss critically the reasoning underlying this statement, particularly with regard to its implications as to the compatibility of domestic stability and international equilibrium.

(b) “Events in the past fifty years have seen the rise of the United States to a position of dominance in international trade. Yet it may be questioned whether we are willing to accept the responsibilities which our role in the world economy entails.”
Evaluate the statement in the light of the development of United States foreign economic policy in recent years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28). Vol. 93 Final Exams [in] Social Sciences, June 1952.

Images Sources: Smithies from From Harvard Class Album 1952;
Portrait of Trustee of the University of Chicago, Clarence B. Randall, from the University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-03000-082, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Berkeley Economists Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate Public Finance. Syllabus and Exams. Berkeley professor George Break. 1964-1965

The Harvard archives of course syllabi and final examinations include materials for courses taught by visiting professors from other universities. Graduate public finance was a course normally taught by Otto Eckstein, who was appointed to the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in September 1964. To cover that important field course, the Harvard economics department brought in the Berkeley professor of public finance, George Farrington Break for 1964-65. Below you will find Break’s obituary from a University of California (Berkeley) press release, followed by the syllabus and readings for his graduate public finance course at Harvard. Both the mid-year and year-end examinations have been transcribed and can be found at the end of the post. Break’s c.v. can be downloaded at the Wayback Machine internet archive.

 _____________________________

Public finance scholar George F. Break dead at 88

By Kathleen Maclay
30 March 2009

BERKELEY — George F. Break, an emeritus professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and an authority on public finance, died of heart failure at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley on March 13. He was 88.

George Break conducted influential empirical research on the effects of income taxation on work incentives, intergovernmental relations and tax reform in the United States and Canada.
He chaired UC Berkeley’s Department of Economics from 1969 to 1973. Break also served on numerous campus advisory committees and in 1990 was honored with the Berkeley Citation, one of the campus’s highest honors.

He was born June 10, 1920, in the city of London in Southwest Ontario, Canada. From 1942-1945, Break served in a meteorological office attached to the Royal Canadian Air Force and was a flying officer with its Meteorological Division in 1945. He married Helen Dean Schnacke on July 31, 1948.

Break went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics at UC Berkeley in 1951, and joined the economics department as an assistant professor the same year. Among his many students at UC Berkeley was Michael Boskin, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George H.W. Bush. Break retired from the faculty in 1990.

Of the 11 books authored by Break, the best known are “Public Finance” (1961), which he wrote with Earl Rolph, and “Federal Tax Reform: The Impossible Dream?” (1975), authored with Joseph Pechman, which served as a foundation for the U.S. Tax Reform Act of 1986. Break also wrote “Financing Government in a Federal System” (1980), edited two books and wrote 74 articles or book chapters.

He was president of the National Tax Association from 1982 to 1984, and was honored in 1996 with the association’s Daniel M. Holland Medal for outstanding contributions to the study and practice of public finance. Break was a member of the American Economics Association, National Tax Association and Canadian Economics Association.

He was appointed by California Gov. George Deukmejian to the Tax Reform Advisory Commission, whose 1985 report suggested reducing corporate and individual income taxes and broadening the sales tax by including food, medical care and household utilities.

Break also assisted the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis, testified before congressional committees, consulted for various tax agencies within the United States and Canadian governments, and evaluated the tax systems of Greece and Jamaica.

Break was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, who died in 2007. He is survived by several nephews and nieces.

[…]

Source: UCBerkeleyNews. Press Release, 30 March 2009.
_____________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 251. Public Finance
Full course. M., W., (F.), at 10. Professor George Break (University of California).

Public finance in the context of the theory of economic policy; fiscal policy and the theory of output and prices; economics of public expenditure; theory of multi-level finance.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe, 1964-65, p. 117.

_____________________________

Syllabus and Course Readings

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 251
Public Finance

Professor George F. Break

Fall Term 1964

  1. Recommended for purchase: R. A. Musgrave, The Theory of Public Finance (McGraw Hill, 1959)
  2. Henry C. Simons, Personal Income Taxation (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1938)
  3. General Texts and Treatises: Due, John F., Government Finance (Irwin, 1959)
  4. Groves, H. M., Financing Government (5th ed. Holt, 1958)
  5. Schultz, W. J. and Harriss, C. L., American Public Finance (7th ed., Prentice-Hall, 1961)
  6. Buchanan, J. M., The Public Finances (Irwin, 1960)
  7. Rolph, E. R. and Break, G. F., Public Finance (Ronald, 1961)
  8. Hicks, U. K., Public Finance (2nd ed., Cambridge, 1955)
  9. Prest, A. R., Public Finance (Quadrangle, 1960)
  10. Dalton, Hugh, Principles of Public Finance (4th ed., Routledge, 1954)
  11. Pigou, A. C., A Study in Public Finance (3rd ed., Macmillan, 1947)
  12. Colm, Gerhard, Essays in Public Finance and Fiscal Policy (Oxford, 1955)
  13. Rolph, E. R., The Theory of Fiscal Economics (California, 1954)
  14. Blough, Roy, The Federal Taxing Process (Prentice-Hall, 1952)
  15. Universities–National Bureau Conference, The Public Finances (Princeton, 1961)
  16. Musgrave, R. A. and Peacock, A. T. (eds.): Classics in the Theory of Public Finance (Macmillan, 1958)
  17. Musgrave, R. A. and Shoup, C. S., (eds.), Readings in the Economics of Taxation (AEA series, Irwin, 1959)
  18. Hall, Challis A. Jr., Fiscal Policy for Stable Growth (Holt, 1960)
  19. Smithies, A. and Butters, J. K. (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy (AEA series, Irwin, 1955)
  20. Smith, D. T., Federal Tax Reform (McGraw-Hill, 1961)
  21. Smithies, A., The Budgetary System in the United States (McGraw-Hill, 1955)
  22. Burkhead, Jesse, Government Budgeting (Wiley, 1936)
  23. Harvard Law School International Program in Taxation, World Tax Series (volumes on Australia, Brazil, Mexico, India, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, published)
  24. Joint Economic Committee, The Federal Revenue System: Facts and Problems, 1964
  25. Joint Economic Committee, Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, 1955
  26. Joint Economic Committee, Federal Expenditure Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, 1957
  27. Committee on Ways and Means, Tax Revision Compendium (3 vols., 1960)

Serial Publications and Periodicals

U. S. Treasury Department, Treasury Bulletin (monthly)
U. S. Treasury Department, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury
Budget Message of the President
Economic Report of the President
National Tax Association, Annual Proceedings
National Tax Journal
Taxes, The Tax Magazine
Public Finance (Finances Publiques)
Commerce Clearing House, Inc., and Prentice-Hall publish looseleaf tax services (in Law and Business School Libraries)

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1. The Fiscal Setting

7: Chs. 1, 2, 4, 5.

*1: Ch. 9.

21: Chs. 3-4; (5-7); 8-10.

22: Chs. *6-9; (Part III).

Symposium on Budgetary Concept. RES (May 1963):

Bator
Eckstein
*Musgrave
Taylor, Wendell and Brill

Andrew E. Gantt, II., “Central Governments: Cash Deficits and Surpluses, RES (Feb. 1963).

Survey of Current Business (July, 1964), pp. 1823.

Office of Business Economics, Dept. of Commerce, U.S. Income and Output (1958), pp. 55-7 and 164-79.

Joint Economic Committee (Roy Moor), The Federal Budget as an Economic Document (1962), pp. 524; *109-128; 138-148.

Alan T. Peacock and Jack Wiseman, The Growth of Public Expenditure in the United Kingdom (NBER, 1961).

Anthony Downs, “Why the Government Budget is Too Small in a Democracy,” World Politics (July, 1960).

2. Principles of Taxation

*1: Chs. 4, 5.

*2: Ch. 1.

16: Knut Wicksell, pp. 72-118.

17: Elmer D. Fagan No. 3, (JPE, 1938).

11: Part II, Chs. 1, 4-7.

20: Ch. 1.

W. J. Blum and H. Kalven, Jr., The Uneasy Case for Progressive Taxation (Chicago, 1953). Phoenix Paperback Edition, 1963.

Robert J, Lampman, “Recent Thought on Egalitarianism,” QJE (May, 1957).

3. Income, Spending and Net Wealth

*1: pp. 160-64.

2: Ch; pp. 89-100.

17: Robert Murray Haig, No. 4, (The Federal Income Tax, 1921).

*William Vickrey, Agenda for Progressive Taxation (Ronald, 1947), Ch. 1.

Irving Fisher, The Nature of Capital and Income (1906) Chs. 1, 2, 4, 7, 10.

__________, “Income in Theory and Income Taxation in Practice,” Econometrica (January, 1937).

Break, George F., “Capital Maintenance and the Concept of Income,” JPE (February, 1954).

Nicholas Kaldor, An Expenditure Tax (Allen and Unwin, 1955), pp. 21-53.

4. The Scope of Income Taxation

*2: Chs. 5, 7, 8.

*20: Chs. 3, 5.

*Vickrey: Chs. 2, 3, 5-I.

David J. Ott and Allen H. Meltzer, Federal Tax Treatment of State and Local Securities (Brooking, 1963) Chs. 1, 2, 8.

Richard Goode, “Policyholders’ Interest Income from Life Insurance under the Income Tax, Vanderbilt Law Review (Dec. 1962).

C. Harry Kahn, Business and Professional Income Under the Personal Income Tax, NBER, 1964.

5. The Definition of Net Income

*20: Ch. 4.

*Vickrey: Ch. 4.

E. Cary Brown, “The New Depreciation Policy under the Income Tax: an Economic Analysis,” NTJ (March 1955).

Norman B. Ture, “Tax Reform: Depreciation Problems,” AER (May, 1963), pp. 334-53.

Murray Brown, “Depreciation and Corporate Profits,” SCB (Oct. 1963).

Evsey Domar, The Case for Accelerated Depreciation,” QJE (Nov. 1953) and his Essays in The Theory of Economic Growth.

Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Depreciation Guidelines and Rules, Publication No. 456 (7/62).

C. Harry Kahn, Personal Deductions in the Federal Income Tax (NBER, 1960).

*Richard Goode, “Educational Expenditures and the Income Tax,” in Selma Mushkin, ed., Economics of Higher Education (Washington, 1962).

6. The Taxpaying Unit

*Vickrey, Ch. 10-I, III.

*Harold M. Croves, Federal Tax Treatment of the Family (Brookings, 1963).

Reed R. Hansen, “The Diminishing Exemption — a New Look at Equity,” Canadian Tax Journal (July-August, 1963).

Yung-Ping Chen, “Income Tax Exemptions for the Aged as a Policy Instrument,” NTJ (Dec. 1963).

7. Integration of the Personal and Corporate Income Taxes

*2: Ch. 9.

*20: Ch. 7.

*Vickrey, Ch. 5-II.

*Daniel M. Holland, Dividends Under the Income Tax (NBER, 1962), Ch. 4.

Holland, The Income-Tax Burden on Stockholders (NBER, 1958) Chs. 1, 2, 7.

Goode, The Corporation Income Tax (Wiley, 1951) Chs. 2, 3, 10.

Carl S. Shoup, “The Dividend Exclusion and Credit in the Revenue Code of 1954,” NTJ (March, 1955).

8. Income Tax Administration

*M. Farioletti, “Some Results of the First Year’s Audit Control Program of the Bureau of Internal Revenue,” NTJ (March, 1952).

Harold M. Groves, “Empirical Studies of Income-Tax Compliance,” NTJ (Dec. 1958).

W. H. Smith, “Electronic Date Processing in the Internal Revenue Service, NTJ (September, 1961).

Holland, Dividends Under the Income Tax, Ch. 2.

H. H. Hinrichs, “Underreporting of Capital Gains on Tax Returns…,” NTJ (June, 1964).

9. Income Taxation and Work Incentives

1: Ch. 11.

13: Ch. 10.

17: Goode, No. 29 (JPE, 1949).

*Gershon Cooper, No. 30 (QJE, 1952).

7: pp. 153-58.

*Break, “Income Taxes and Incentives to Work,” AER (September, 1957).

Kaldor, Ch. 4.

Break, “Income Taxes, Wage Rates, and the Incentive to Supply Labor Services,” NTJ (Dec. 1953).

10. Income Taxation and Investment Incentives

*1: Ch. 14.

 7: pp. 159-64.

13: Chs. 11, 12.

17: Domar and Musgrave, No. 31 (OJE, 1944).

E. Cary Brown, No. 32 (Income and Employment and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin B. Hansen (Norton, 1948).

Brown, “Mr. Kaldor on Taxation and Risk Bearing,” Rev. of Ec. Studies Vol. XXV:1.

Kaldor, Ch. III.

*Brown, “Tax Incentives for Investment,” AER (May, 1962).

*Goode, “Accelerated Depreciation Allowances as a Stimulus to Investment, QJE (May, 1955).

Goode, “Special Tax Measures to Restrain Investment,” IMF: Staff Papers (February, 1957).

*Sam B. Chase, Jr., “Tax Credits for Investment Spending,” NTJ (March, 1962), and comment by Brown in NTJ (June, 1962).

11. Income Taxation and Corporate Financial Policies

7: pp. 221-2; 229-30; and studies there cited by Lintner, Smith and Darling.

John A. Brittain,”The Tax Structure and Corporate Dividend Policy,” AER (May, 1964).

Miller and Shelton, “Effects of a Shifted Corporate Income Tax on Capital Structure,” NTJ (1955).

12. The Incidence of Sales and Excise Taxes

1: Chs. 15, 16, especially pp. 379-82.

*13: Chs. 6, 7. or JPE (April 1952) and AER (Sept. 1952) for Ch. 6.

17:   Harry Gunnison Brown, No. 21 (JPE 1939)

John F. Due, No. 22 (The Theory of Incidence of Sales Taxation, 1942)

Rolph and Break, No. 7 (JPE, 1949)

*Due, “Toward a General Theory of Sales Tax Incidence,” QJE (May, 1953).

*Due, “Sales Taxation and the Consumer,” AER (December, 1963).

*J. M. Buchanan, Fiscal Theory and Political Economy (Chapel Hill, 1960).

Break, “Excise Tax Burdens and Benefits,” AER (September, 1954).

Break, “Allocation and Excess Burden Effects of Excise and Sales Taxes,” in Committee on Ways and Means, Excise Tax Compendium (Washington, 1964).

*J. A. Stockfisch, “The Capitalization and Investment Aspects of Excise Taxes under Competition,” AER (June, 1954).

Paul Davidson, “Rolph on the Aggregate Effects of a General Excise Tax,” SEJ (July, 1960).

13. Incidence of a Corporation Income Tax

17: Shoup, No. 20 (NTJ 1948).

7: pp. 210-20.

27: Harberger, Volume I, pp. 231-50.

*Arnold C. Harberger, “The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax,” JPE (June 1962)

*Kerzyzaniak and Musgrave, The Shifting of the Corporation Income Tax (Johns Hopkins, 1963).

Diran Bodenhorn, “The Shifting of the Corporation Income Tax in a Growing Economy,” QJE (November, 1956).

*Challis A. Hall, Jr., “Direct Shifting of the Corporation Income Tax in Manufacturing.” AER (May: 1964).

14. Taxation of the Oil and Gas Industry

7: pp. 230-34.

Douglas M. Eldridge, “Tax Incentives for Mineral Enterprises,” JPE (June, 1950).

Stephen L. McDonald, Federal Tax Treatment of Income from Oil and Gas (Brookings, 1963).

McDonald, “Percentage Depletion and the Allocation of Resources: The Case of Oil and Gas,” NTJ (December, 1961); comments by Musgrave and Eldridge in NTJ (June, 1962), and McDonald’s reply in NTJ (September 1962).

Peter O. Steiner, “The Non-Neutrality of Corporate Income Taxation: with and Without Depletion,” NTJ (Sept. 1963), and comments by McDonald and Steiner in NTJ (March, 1964).

Paul Davidson, “Policy Problems of the Crude Oil Industry,” AER (March 1963) and discussion in AER (March, 1964).

A. E. Kahn, “The Depletion Allowance and Cartelization,” AER (June 1964).

15. Taxation of Capital Gains and Losses

25: Walter Heller, pp. 381-94.

2: Ch. 7.

7: pp. 123-29.

Lawrence H. Seltzer, The Nature and Tax Treatment of Capital Gains and Losses (NBER, 1951) Chs. 1, 4-6, 9.

Harold M. Somers, “Reconsideration of the Capital Gains Tax,” NTJ (Dec. 1960).

Martin David, “Economic Effects of the Capital Gains Tax,” AER (May, 1964).

Holt and Shelton, “The Implications of the Capital Gains Tax for Investment Decisions,” JF (Dec. 1961).

Alice J. Vandermeulen, “Capital Gains: Two Tests for the Taxpayer and Proposal for the President,” NTJ (Dec. 1963).

H. H. Hinrichs, “An Empirical Measure of Investors’ Responsiveness to Differentials in Capital Gains Tax Rates Among Income Groups, NTJ (Sept. 1963).

Holt and Shelton, “The Lock-in Effect of the Capital Gains Tax,” NTJ (Dec. 1962).

Lent and Menge, “The Importance of Restricted Stock Options in Executive Compensation, ” Management Record (June, 1962)

Holland and Lewellen, “Probing the Record of Stock Options,” HBR April, 1962).

16. The Redistributive Effects of U. S. Taxation

27:   Pechman, pp. 251-82. (Volume 1)

Hellmuth, pp. 283-316. (Volume 1)

*Musgrave, pp. 2223-2234. (Volume 3)

*Lampman, pp. 2235-2246. (Volume 3)

*Joseph A. Pechman, “Erosion of the Individual Income Tax,” NTJ (March, 1957).

Musgrave and others, “Distribution of Tax Payments by Income Groups: a Case Study for 1948,” NTJ (March, 1951), and discussion in NTJ (Sept.1951) and March, 1952).
Also later computations by Musgrave in No. 25, pp. 96-113.

James R. Beaton, “Family Tax Burdens by Income Levels,” NTJ (March, 1962).

George A. Bishop, “The Tax Burden by Income Class, 1958,” NTJ (March, 1961).

*A. R. Prest, “Statistical Calculations of Tax Burdens,” Economica (Aug. 1955).

Annual articles on the size distribution of income in SCB, e.g. (April, 1964).

17. The Structure of U. S. Taxation

27: Volume 1, pp. 1-250.

*NBER and Brookings, The Role of Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Federal Revenue System (Princeton, 1964), especially papers by Due, Eldridge, Eckstein and Chase.

*Committee on Way and Mean, Excise Tax Compendium (Washington, 1964), especially papers by Due, Eldridge, Shoup, and Stockfisch.

18. The Income Sensitivity of U. S. Taxes

*Pechman, “Yield of the Individual Income Tax During a Recession,” NTJ (March, 1954).

Leo Cohen, “An Empirical Measurement of the Built-in Flexibility of the Individual Income Tax,” AER (May, 1959). See also NTJ (June, 1960).

Paul E. Smith, “Built in Flexibility of the Individual Income Tax: Quarterly Estimates,” NTJ (June, 1962).

Smith, “A Note on the Built-in Flexibility of the Individual Income Tax,” Econometrica (Oct. 1963).

Wilfred Lewis, Jr., Federal Fiscal Policy in the Postwar Recessions (Brookings, 1962) Chs. 2 and 3.

*Groves and Kahn, “The Stability of State and Local Tax Yields,” AER (March, 1952).

*Dick Netzer, “Income Elasticity of the Property Tax: a Post-Mortem Note,” NTJ (June, 1964); also No. 15, pp. 23-40.

D. G. Davies, “The Sensitivity of Consumption Taxes to Fluctuations in Income,” NTJ (Sept. 1962).

Brown and Kruizenga, “Income Sensitivity of a Simple Personal Income Tax, RES (Aug. 1959).

M. O. Clement, “The Quantitative Impact of Automatic Stabilizers,” RES (Feb. 1960).

19. Value Added Taxation

*Shoup, “Theory and Background of the Value-Added Tax,” National Tax Association Proceedings (1955) pp. 6-19.

*Excise Tax Compendium, Papers by Smith and Rolph.

The Role of Direct and Indirect Taxes in the Federal Revenue System. Paper by Musgrave and Richman.

20. Spendings and Net Worth Taxes

7: Chs. 8, 9.

Kaldor, An Expenditure Tax.

Vickrey, Ch. 12.

Katona and Lansing, “The Wealth of the Wealthy,” RES (Feb. 1964).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 9, Folder “Economics, 1964-1965 (2 of 2)”.

_____________________________

Mid-year Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 251
Fall 1964

Answer any three questions

  1. There has been much discussion concerning, the role that the principle of taxation according to benefits received should play in modern fiscal systems. Contrast the views on this subject of Henry Simons and the voluntary exchange theorists. Set forth your own views and justify them.
  2. Discuss the incidence of a property tax levied by a single State (assume, if you like, that one State raises its tax rates while others hold them constant) on the land, buildings, and equipment of businesses operating within its borders. The tax applies both to local retail enterprises and to manufacturing corporations selling in national markets.
  3. “In a rational system of income taxation according to ability to pay there is no place for a separate tax on corporate income.” Discuss.
  4. Each of the following is a controversial aspect of the federal individual income tax:
    1. Employer contributions to the cost of employee life, accident, hospital and medical insurance.
    2. Social security retirement benefits.
    3. Income splitting.
    4. Deductions for state and local taxes and for interest on consumer indebtedness.
    5. Expenditures for higher education.
    6. Travelling and entertainment expenditures by businessmen.
    7. Personal exemptions.
    8. Interest on state and local debt.

Select any four of the above and discuss the problems to which they give rise. Include in your answer your own recommendations as to their treatment for tax purposes.

  1. Many critics of the U.S. tax system feel that it unduly impairs incentives to invest. Discuss this question both in general and with respect to the following specific characteristics of the tax system:
    1. depreciation allowances,
    2. loss carryovers,
    3. progressive individual income tax rates, and
    4. capital gains and losses.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Naval Science, Air Science (January, 1965) in the bound volume Social Sciences: Final Examinations, January 1965 (HUC 7000.28, Vol. 157).

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Year-end Examination

Economics 251
Final Examination
Spring Term, 1965

Part I

Answer both questions.

  1. (25%)
    (a) Compute the built-in flexibility and the yield elasticity of the federal individual income tax from the following data:

Y = 0.6 + 0.38X,

where Y = taxable individual income
and X =  gross national product,
both in billions of dollars

The equation was fitted to the period 1955-1963 during which income tax liabilities were 23 percent of taxable individual incomes in each year, and, on the average over the period, individual income tax liabilities were 7.9 percent of GNP

(b) Are there any reasons to expect the built-in flexibility of the individual income tax to be different in the upswing of the business cycle from what it is in the downswing? In the long run compared to what it is in the short run? Discuss.

(c) What effects, if any, would you expect a reduction in the corporate income tax to have on the built-in flexibility of the individual income tax?

  1. (25%)
    Evaluate each of the following as countercyclical fiscal policies:
    1. changes in excise tax rates
    2. variations in public works spending
    3. public debt operations

Part II

Answer any two questions.

  1. (25%) Write a critical analysis of the balanced budget theorem.
  2. (25%) Evaluate the major ways in which the federal government could increase its financial assistance to state and local governments.
  3. (25%) Discuss the problems involved in estimating social and private rates of return to investment in higher education.
  4. (25%) Discuss the importance of each of the following in benefit-cost analysis as applied to governmental spending programs:
    1. The rate of return on reinvested earnings
    2. Intangible benefits
    3. Pecuniary and technological spillovers
    4. Secondary benefits

Source: Harvard University Archives. Bound volume Social Sciences: Final Examinations, June 1965 (HUC 7000.28, vol. 159).

Image Source: George F. Break’s faculty profile page at the Berkeley economics department website.