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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate Mathematical Economics. Syllabus and Final Exam. Chipman, 1952

 

 

John S. Chipman was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1926. He received his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1951, and taught at the University of Minnesota from 1955 to his retirement as Regents’ Professor in 2007.

Before going to Minnesota Chipman was assistant professor of economics at Harvard from 1951-55. This post provides a transcription of the course syllabus and final examination for Chipman’s “General Interdependence Systems”, a name he chose for the course he inherited bearing the nominal title of “mathematical economics”.

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Course Announcement

Economics 214b (formerly Economics 204b). Mathematical Economics

Half-course (spring term). Tu., Th., 2:30-4. Assistant Professor Chipman.

General interdependence systems; in particular, Leontief linear systems. Properly qualified undergraduates will be admitted to the course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Courses of Instruction, Box 6. Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1951-52 published in Official Register of Harvard University Vol. XLVIII, No. 21 (September 10, 1951), pp. 80-81 .

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Economics 214b
General Interdependence Systems

Second Semester, 1951-52
Syllabus

*Texts

I STATIC LEONTIEF MODEL

*Wassily W. Leontief: The Structure of American Economy, 1919-1939, New York, Oxford University Press, 1951.

II DYNAMIC MODELS

*John S. Chipman: The Theory of Inter-Sectoral Money Flows and Income Formation, Baltimore, The John Hopkins Press, 1951

Richard M. Goodwin: “The Multiplier as Matrix,” Economic Journal, December 1949

________________: “Does the Matrix Multiplier Oscillate?” December 1950

________________: “Static and Dynamic Linear General Equilibrium Models,” (mimeographed, Littauer Library)

David Hawkins and Herbert A. Simon, “Note: Some Conditions of Macroeconomic Stability,” Econometrica, July-October 1949

Oscar Lange, Price Flexibility and Employment, Bloomington, Indiana, Principia Press, 1944, Appendix.

Lloyd A. Metzler: “Stability of Multiple Markets: The Hicks Conditions,” Econometrica, October 1945

________________: “A Multiple Region Theory of Income and Trade,” Econometrica, October 1950

________________: “A Multiple-Country Theory of Income Transfers,” Journal of Political Economy, February 1951.

Paul A. Samuelson: Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. IX and Appendix B

________________: “A Fundamental Multiplier Identity,” Econometrica, July-October 1943

Arthur Smithies: “The Stability of Competitive Equilibrium,” Econometrica, July-October 1942

Robert Solow: “On the Structure of Linear Models,” Econometrica, January 1952

Frederick V. Waugh: “Inversion of the Leontief Matrix by Power Series,” Econometrica, April 1950

III ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (“LINEAR PROGRAMMING”)

*Tjalling C. Koopmans (ed.): Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1951.

________________: “Efficient Allocation of Resources,” Econometrica, October 1951.

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen: “Leontief’s System in the Light of Recent Result,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1950

John von Neumann: “A Model of General Economic Equilibrium,” Review of Economic Studies, October 1945.

 

MATHEMATICAL REFERENCES

(1) Matrices

R. A. Frazer, W. J. Duncan and A. R. Collar, Elementary Matrices, New York, Macmillan, 1947

C. C. MacDuffee, Vectors and Matrices, Menasha, Wisconsin, 1943

A. C. Aitken, Determinants and Matrices, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1948

(2) Difference and Differential Equations

P. A. Samuelson, “Dynamic Process Analysis,” in A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948

R. G. D. Allen, “Mathematical Foundations of Economic Theory,” Q.J.E. February 1949

F. R. Moulton, Differential Equations, New York, Macmillan, 1930, Ch. XV

W. J. Baumol, Economic Dynamics, New York, Macmillan, 1951.

(3) Set Theory and Abstract Algebra

F. P. Northrup and Associates, Fundamental Mathematics, Vol. I, Chicago, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1948

Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins, What is Mathematics?, New York, Oxford University Press, 1941

Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders MacLane, A Survey of Modern Algebra, New York, Macmillan, 1950

Paul Halmos, Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1948

 

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

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1951-52
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 214b
[Final examination]

Answer both questions

  1. Consider an economy composed of n sectors (say industries and households) and described by the model
    {{y}_{i}}\left( t \right)=\sum\limits_{j=1}^{n}{{{a}_{ij}}{{y}_{j}}\left( t-1 \right)}+\,\,\,\,{{b}_{i}}\,\,\,\,\left( i=1,...,n \right)
    where yi(t) is the output of sector i at time t, of which bi is the exogenous component, and where the input-output coefficients aij are all taken to be non-negative. Assuming the economy to be initially in a state of equilibrium, show under what conditions an autonomous rise in all the bi

    1. implies an increase in the equilibrium values of all the sector outputs;
    2. causes all sector outputs to approach, with time, new equilibrium values.
      Compare and interpret these conditions.
  2. “A possible activity is efficient if and only if there exists a set of positive prices for all commodities, which give rise to zero profits on this activity and non-positive profits on all other possible activities.”
    1. Prove this theorem, keeping in mind the following two properties of convex polyhedral cones:
      1. The negative polar of the intersection of two cones is equal to the sum of their negative polars;
      2. The sum of two cones is equal to the sum of their dimensionality spaces if and only if the relative interior of the one cone intersects the negative of the relative interior of the other.
    2. Indicate a modification of the theorem, with the appropriate modification of the definition of efficiency, when availability limitations are specified on certain primary commodities, which are no longer regarded as “undesirable.”
    3. Outline the properties of the efficient set in (b) when there is only one primary commodity and there is no joint production.
    4. Discuss the usefulness, significance, and validity of the notion of an efficient set of activities as employed in (a), (b), and (c).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,…Economics,…, Air Sciences, Naval Science, June 1952.

Image Source: September 1961 entry card for John Somerset Chipman (b. 28 June 1926 in Montreal).  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, immigration Cards, 1900-1965 at ancestry.com.

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Economics Programs Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Political Economy course enrollments and final exams, 1884-1885

 

Six of eight courses listed in Political Economy were taught during the 1884-85 year at Harvard. This post provides the enrollment information as well as the June final examinations for all of those courses. Mid-year examinations are not included with one exception.

 

Note to self: only the mid-year examination for Taussig’s Political Economy 6 is included below, the others still need to be located.

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Political Economy 1. Profs. Dunbar and Laughlin. 3 hours per week.

Laughlin’s Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on the Financial Legislation of the United States

Total: 166:  18 Seniors, 75 Juniors, 61 Sophomores, 4 Law, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. If a farmer had the alternative of spending a sum of money either for manures, or for the services of useless servants, in which way would he give the greater employment to the laboring class by his expenditure? Explain your answer.
  2. (a) Discuss the causes affecting the efficiency of production; and (b) point out the relation of an increase in production to cost of labor.
  3. Is it strictly true that high wages do not make high prices? What would be the effect on real wages of a considerable increase of money in the community?
  4. Make it clear that, even if the state should take possession of all the land and charge no rent, bread would not be cheapened.
  5. What is the usual relation of a low cost of production in the manufacturing industry to prices? What is the relation of a low cost of production to wages in the same industry? From your two conclusions what inference would you draw as to the effect of high wages in the United States on the ability of Americans to compete with foreigners in a common market?
  6. Give an example illustrating the working of reciprocal demand and supply, and point out its relations to cost of production.
  7. What made the coinage act of 1834 necessary?
  8. On whom does a house-tax fall?
  9. Explain the refunding operations in 1881, and state what has since been done with the bonds in question.
  10. Give the reasons which obliged the banks to suspend specie payments in 1861. In doing so, point out the necessary relation between the items in their accounts which led them to this step.
  11. Describe the two great financial successes of the war period, explain the character of the obligations offered by the Treasury, and state why success was gained.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 9-10.

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Political Economy 2. Prof. Dunbar. 3 hours per week.

History of Economic Theory. — Selections from Leading Writers

Total: 21:  10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. Comment on the following:—

“Do the facts of history bear out the theory [of Ricardo]? If they do we shall find (1) that in any given area the amount of the produce of the land obtained in earlier times is greater in proportion to the number of laborers; (2) that of two countries, or two districts in the same country, if other things be equal, the one that is poorest in people is the one in which the average degree of personal wealth and comfort is the highest; (3) that the share that falls to the landlord increases, and that which falls to the laborer diminishes, as more land is brought under cultivation.” (Thompson’s Social Science, p. 93.)

  1. George says:—

“It is not necessary to the production [even] of things that cannot be used as subsistence, or cannot be immediately utilized, that there should have been a previous production of the wealth required for the maintenance of the laborers while the production is going on. It is only necessary that there should be, somewhere within the circle of exchange, a contemporaneous production of sufficient subsistence for the laborers, and a willingness to exchange this subsistence for the thing on which the labor is being bestowed.”
Is the necessity of previously produced subsistence avoided by the fact of “contemporaneous production,” etc.?

  1. George presents the current statement of the laws of distribution in this form:—

“Rent depends on the margin of cultivation, rising as it falls and falling as it rises.
“Wages depend upon the ratio between the number of laborers and the amount of capital devoted to their employment.
“Interest depends upon the equation between the supply of and demand for capital; or, as is stated of profits, upon wages (or the cost of labor), rising as wages fall, and falling as wages rise.

“In the current statement the laws of distribution have no common centre, no mutual relation; they are not correlating divisions of a whole, but measures of different qualities.”
Can you rewrite this “current statement” so as to present the correlation which Mr. George misses?

  1. Is there in rent any force of its own, enabling it to encroach upon wages and profits, or does it merely fill the space opened before it by other forces? What limit is there to this encroachment or expansion?
  2. Criticise the following as a statement of the Wages Fund theory:—
    “The means of purchase and the motives acting upon the minds of employers jointly determine the effective demand for labor, as the means of purchase and the play of motives determine the effective demand for a commodity.”
  3. Crocker says, p. 7:—
    “Our wealthy classes, wishing to accumulate still greater wealth, sought to use a large portion of their control or power over labor in creating profitable investments for themselves….Comparatively little harm would have been done if the new investments had simply turned out to be unprofitable, and the old ones had continued to supply the rich their accustomed dividends, and to the poor their accustomed wages. The mischief has been that the new investments have, by competition, ruined for the time being the old ones; dividends and wages have stopped, and the income of all, both rich and poor, being cut down, their demands upon labor have been greatly diminished, and the laborer has been left in idleness and without the means of procuring the necessaries of life.”
    Aside from all questions of fact,— what is the flaw in the above if the reasoning is bad, and what is the remedy for the evil if the reasoning is good?
  4. What is Mr. Carey’s theory as to the tendency (1) to decline in the value of commodities, and (2) to rise in the value of land; and how is this reconciled with his principle that the law of value is universal, embracing everything, “whether land, labor, or their products”?
  5. “With every increase in the facility of reproduction, there is a decline in the value of all existing things of a similar kind, attended by a diminution in the price paid for their use. The charge for the use of the existing money tends, therefore, to decline as man acquires control over the great forces provided by the Creator for his service; as is shown by the gradual diminution of the rate of interest in every advancing country.”
    What is the difficulty in this reasoning as to the rate of interest, and how would the reasoning apply in the case of a currency of inconvertible paper?
  6. How far can apparent resulting harmonies in the general working of society (as g. in Carey’s and Bastiat’s law of distribution between capital and labor) be accepted as a test of the truth of an economic proposition?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 10-12.

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Political Economy 3. Prof. Laughlin. 2 hours per week. [Consent of instructor required]

Lectures and Discussion [of Practical Economic Questions]. Subjects: Money, Precious Metals, Bimetallism, American Shipping, History of Note-issues by Government and Banks. — One Thesis by each student on some practical question of the day, intended as an exercise in investigation

Total: 18:  10 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. Explain the proper theory of a subsidiary coinage. How far was this followed by Congress in first establishing our coinage?
  2. Discuss the bearing which by its advocates bimetallism is supposed to have on the stability of a standard of payments. What connection has the theory of a Multiple Standard to this discussion?
  3. How far can you safely reason from comparative tables of prices as to changes in the value of gold or silver?
  4. Discuss the efficacy of a bimetallic league of states in regulating the value of silver relatively to that of gold.
  5. Explain the causes which led to the remarkable fall of silver in 1876.
  6. State the causes which, in your opinion, led to the growth of American shipping to 1856.
  7. How far do you regard it true that the decline in American shipping was due to the consequences arising from the use of steam and iron in ships engaged in the foreign trade?
  8. What measures, if any, would you propose in order to reestablish our shipping?
  9. What is meant by an “elastic currency”? Compare, in this respect, the notes of the National Banks with the legal tender notes of the United States.
  10. Give (a) the reasons for the general adoption of the features of the New York Banking Act of 1838; and (b) the reasons which actually led to the establishment of the National Banking System in 1864.
  11. Discuss carefully some measure for giving security to National Bank notes when United States bonds shall be no longer obtainable for that purpose.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 12-13.

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Political Economy 4. Prof. Dunbar. 3 hours per week.

Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures

Total: 152:  61 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 37 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 2 Law, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

Omit two questions

  1. Why was the repeal of the corn laws decisive as to the adoption of free trade by England?
  2. How did the French and Indian currencies tend to prevent the fall of gold after 1850 from being still heavier?
  3. How important a place among the causes of the decline of American shipping belongs to the civil war?
  4. The effects of the civil war on the system of landholding in the South and its probable ultimate effects on Southern industry.
  5. The steps by which the war determined the subsequent tariff policy of the United States.
  6. The causes of the suddenly increased importance of our trade in breadstuffs in the last ten years.
  7. Why did the payment of the French indemnity of 1871 seriously affect England, Austria and the United States?
  8. The real loss or gain of France and Germany respectively by the payment of the indemnity.
  9. What were the heavy demands for gold from 1871 to 1883, and why did they fail to produce serious financial disturbance?
  10. The difference in the development of city and of country banks respectively, in the United States and in England, and the inference to be drawn as to the future development of the banking systems.
  11. Why is a “triangular trade” between nations convenient and why is England the great centre for such trade?
  12. As the English government does not own nor tax the coal mines, why should fear of increasing cost of extracting coal lead Mr. Gladstone to favor an energetic reduction of the national debt.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, p. 13.

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Political Economy 5. Prof. Laughlin. 1 hour per week. [Consent of instructor required]

Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany

Omitted in 1884-85.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

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Political Economy 6. Dr. Taussig. 1 hour per week. [Consent of instructor required]

History of Tariff Legislation in the United States, with discussion of principles. — Lectures

Total: 40:  1 Graduate, 26 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University.  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[Mid-Year Examination, 1885]

(Omit either question 3 or question 4.)

  1. Comment briefly on the following:—
    “There is not a single great branch of domestic manufactures which had not been established in some form in this country long before a protective tariff had been or could have been imposed. The manufacture of iron is nearly as old as the history of every colony or territory in which there is any iron ore. The manufacture of woolens is as old as the country itself, and was more truly a domestic manufacture when our ancestors were clothed with homespun than now. The manufacture of cotton is almost as old as the production of the fibre on our territory.”
  2. Compare the tariff act of 1816 with that of 1824, noting difference in (1) the general range of duties, (2) the circumstances under which they were passed, (3) the action taken in regard to them by the representatives of New England, the Middle States, and the South. It has been said that “the tariff of 1816 marks the beginning of protection in this country,” and that “the tariff of 1824 was our first tariff worthy of the name of protection.” Which of these statements is true, if either?
  3. Comment on the following:—
    “No protective duty was ever levied on a single article, the home manufacture of which grew to large proportions under that duty, without the price to the consumer growing cheaper, the duty thus being a boon instead of a tax.”
    “A duty on an imported article is invariably added to its price, at the cost of the buyer, and added also to the price of like articles made here.”
  4. State carefully the argument for the protection of young industries and mention the conditions, if any, which might justify the application of such protection.
  5. Give a brief critical statement of the views expressed by Hamilton, Gallatin, Clay, and Webster on the protective controversy.

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

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
[Final Examination, June 1885]

  1. State as nearly as you can the duties on the following articles from 1846 to 1884: pig-iron, steel-rails, wool, woollen cloths, silks, coffee, copper.
    Take any one of the following articles: pig-iron, wool, woollen cloths, silks, copper; and say something as to the economic effect of the duties on that one between 1860 and 1884.
  2. Give an account of the tariff act of 1864. Compare the tariff policy adopted in the United States after the close of the civil war, and with the policy of France after 1815.
  3. What has been the practice in our tariff acts since 1842 as regards the imposition of specific and ad valorem duties? Comment on the following: “It is an economic truth that the ad valorem system is the only equitable rule for assessing duties. With the whole power of a great government behind, there is no reason why the laws of the country should not be enforced. The outcry of undervaluation is simply a trick to blind the people, as it would be impossible to enact a law imposing duties of 80, 100, even 200 per cent. in the plain unvarnished form of ad valorem duties.”
  4. Comment briefly on two of the following:—
    (1)”The fairest and most satisfactory test of the effect of the tariff on prices is to compare prices of the same article under high and low tariffs. The average gold price of pig-iron before 1860 was $28.50 per ton; in recent years it has been $33.70. The average is higher by $5.20 under a high tariff than during the period of low duties.”
    (2) “Nothing can be more false than the claim of free trade advocates than that a duty is a tax that comes out of the farmers and artisans of this country. By far the greater part of the revenue collected on importations is the toll paid by people of other countries for the admission of their goods…I was assured by a score of manufacturers in England that the recent increase in the French tariff came out of their pockets, and not from the consumers in France; that they were compelled to sell their goods in France at the same price as before the increase of duty.”
    (3) “A conclusive answer to the assertion that the protective policy secures high wages to the laborers of this country, is found in the fact that wages are higher in the United States—absolutely and in comparison with the old world rates—in those industries which do not have, or confessedly do not need, protection.”
  5. Compare the grounds on which a policy of protection has been advocated in recent years with the grounds put forward in 1820-30, and give any reasons that may occur to you for changes in the arguments.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, pp. 14-15.

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Political Economy 7. Prof. Dunbar. 1 hour per week. [Consent of instructor required]

Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the United States

Omitted in 1884-85.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

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Political Economy 8. Prof. Dunbar. 1 hour per week. [Consent of instructor required]

History of Financial Legislation in the United States.

Total: 39:  1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1884-85, p. 86.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 8
[Final Examination, June 1885]

[Omit two questions.]

  1. State the circumstances which led to the adoption of the Independent Treasury and hard money as the policy of the Democratic party.
  2. How close an approach had been made to the issue of a government currency, prior to the Act of July 17, 1861?
  3. What has been the legislation since 1861 on the taxation of United States bonds,
    (1) by national authority,
    (2) by State authority,
    and the reasons therefor?
  4. The causes of the failure of the movements for resumption from 1865-70.
  5. The reasons for and against the claim of authority, under which Mr. Richardson increased the outstanding legal tender notes from $356,000,000 to $382,000,000.
  6. Trace the origin of the present three percents of the United States.
  7. Criticise the following extract from Mr Boutwell’s Finance Report of 1872:—
    “As the circulation of a bank is a source of profit, and as the managers are usually disposed to oblige their patrons by loans and accommodations, it can never be wise to allow banks or parties who have pecuniary interests at stake to increase or diminish the volume of currency in the country at their pleasure. Nor do I find in the condition of things a law or rule on which we can safely rely. Upon these views I form the conclusion that the circulation of the banks should be fixed and limited, and that the power to change the volume of paper in circulation, within limits established by law, should remain in the Treasury Department….
    “The problem is to find a way of increasing the currency for moving the crops and diminishing it at once when that work is done. This is a necessary work, and, inasmuch as it cannot be confided to the banks, where, but in the Treasury Department, can the power be reposed?”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College. June, 1885. In bound volume: Examination Papers, 1883-86, p. 15.

Images Source:  Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Charles F. Dunbar (left) and James Laurence Laughlin (middle) and Frank W. Taussig (right).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Readings and Exams. Public Utilities and Transportation. 1935-37.

This post has been assembled around a list of books used in courses on transportation that were taught at Harvard in the mid-1930s. While the courses covered public utility regulation for the most part, I have not yet found complete course outlines or syllabi for the two courses considered. So paired with the final examinations for the course, the partial reading lists are all we can go on for now regarding the course content.

In the following post we meet the economics Ph.D. alumnus (Harvard, 1931), Donald Holmes Wallace who assisted Edward H. Chamberlin in teaching these courses at the time. Wallace put the lists together in response to an inquiry from a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission (see below).

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Related Harvard Course Posts

1931. Economics of Transportation

1934. The Corporation and its Regulation Syllabus

1939-40. Regulation of Public Utilities and Transportation

1940-41.  

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Course Announcements

1935-36

Economics 4c 2hf. Public Utilities (including Transportation)

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Associate Professor Chamberlin and Drs. Wallace and Abbott.

Economics 4a [The Corporation and its Regulation] is a prerequisite for this course.

[Economics 48. Economics of Public Utilities]

Wed., 4 to 6 (and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor). Professor Crum and Associate Professors Mason and Chamberlin.

Omitted in 1935-36.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1935-36, in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 32, No. 7 (March 4, 1935), pp. 135, 139.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

1936-37

Economics 63b 2hf. (formerly 4c). Public Utilities (including Transportation)

Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Associate Professor Chamberlin and Drs. Wallace and Abbott.

Economics 61a [The Corporation and its Regulation] is a prerequisite for this course.

Economics 163. (formerly 48). Economics of Public Utilities

Wed., 4 to 6 (and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor). Professor Crum and Associate Professors Mason and Chamberlin.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1936-37, in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 33, No. 5 (March 2, 1936), pp. 141,145.

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Course Enrollments

[Economics] 4c 2hf. Associate Professor Chamberlin and Drs. Wallace, Abbott and Baker. — Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 74: 2 Graduates, 30 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1935-36, p. 82.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

[Economics] 63b 2hf. (formerly 4c) Associate Professor Chamberlin and Dr. Wallace. — Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 43: 1 Graduate, 25 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Other.

[Economics] 163. (formerly 48). Associate Professors Mason and Chamberlin and Dr. Wallace.—Economics of Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 10: 4 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 2 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1936-37, pp. 92, 94.

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Harvard University
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Department of Government

Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 19, 1936

Miss C. C. Tatnall
Department of Economics
41 Holyoke House
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Miss Tatnall:

Professor [William Y.] Elliott has had an inquiry from a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission about the books which are being used in the courses on transportation in the University. Have you a bibliography, or could a bibliography be prepared, of the material in use in the courses Economics 63b and 163? We shall appreciate any material you are able to collect.

Do you know if there are any other courses in the College which deal with transportation?

Thanks so much for your trouble.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
[first name?] Dolan

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

List of Books used in Economics of Transportation
October, 1936
D. H. Wallace

Undergraduate course entitled Public Utilities including Transportation:

Locklin: Economics of Transportation

Mosher and Crawford: Public Utility Regulation

Daggett: Principles of Inland Transportation

Owen: Highway Economics

Bauer and Gold: Public Utility Valuation for Purposes of Rate Control

Bonbright and Means: The Holding Company

Reports of the Federal Coordinator.

Graduate course students make use of the following

Cunningham: American Railroads

Grodinsky: Railroad Consolidation

Jones: Principles of Railway Transportation

Miller: Inland Transportation

Ripley: Railroads 

Ripley: Report on Consolidation for I.C.C.

Sharfman: American Railway Problem

Sharfman: Interstate Commerce Commission

Simnett: Railway Amalgamation in Great Britain

Vanderblue and Burgess: Railroads

I.C.C.: Annual Reports

I.C.C.: Decisions

Clark: Economics of Overhead Costs

Chamberlin: Theory of Monopolistic Competition (Duopoly and oligopoly)

Pigou: Economics of Welfare (Discrimination)

Robinson: Economics of Imperfect Competition (Discrimination)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 25. Folder “Suggested Readings”.

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Reading Period Assignment
May 4-26, 1936

Economics 4c: Read one of the following:

  1. First Report of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, pp. 1-37.
    Third Report of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, pp. 3-129.
  2. Stuart Daggett, Principles of Inland Transportation (revised edition), Chs. 36-38
    and H.E. Dugall, two articles on French railways, Journal of Political Economy, June, 1933, pp. 289-333 and June, 1934, pp. 385-392.
  3. Bauer, J. and Gold, N., Public Utility Valuation for Purposes of Rate Control, pp. 155-362.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1935-36”.

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1935-36
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4c2
[Final Examination]

Answer questions 1 and 5 and TWO others. All questions are of equal weight.

  1. Answer the question appropriate to your Reading Period choice.
    1. Discuss the alternatives for a national policy toward the transportation problem in this country and explain which measures should in your opinion be included in such a program.
    2. Compare the chief developments in railway regulation in France and the United States during the past fifteen years.
    3. “The concept of ‘present value’ represents an unreal combination of judicial prejudice and economic abstraction.” Discuss.
  2. The economic surgery required by the provisions of the Public Utility Holding Company Act compelling realignment of companies into integrated regional systems is no less deplorable than an appendicitis operation upon a boy who has eaten too many green apples. A much more sensible policy was adopted in the consolidation provisions of the Transportation Act of 1920 which enabled a judicious mixture of private and public planning of combination.” Discuss.
  3. “The original cost method of valuation cannot provide a satisfactory way of determining rate bases in the case of competing railroads built at different times over different terrains. Under such circumstances the use of original cost will result either in robbing the stockholders of one road of the advantages of perspicacious management, or in forcing shippers to reward the stockholders of the other for building an expensive road.” Discuss.
  4. You are asked by one of the political parties to prepare a memorandum to serve as a basis for a plank concerning public utilities. It is requested that you explain specifically: (1) the economic criteria which seem to be the most useful for distinguishing industries which should be subjected to public ownership and operation or public regulation of investment, prices, and earnings; and (2) the legal principles used by the courts in recent cases involving the rights of Federal or state governments to regulate investment, prices, or earnings.
  5. Discuss two of the following quotations.
    1. “The ordinary consumer of utility services is interested only in price and quality of service. His disposition to leave to investors all concern over security structures, holding companies, and service charges finds a sound basis in the fact that these things affect only the division of the profits.”
    2. “Whatever may be urged to the contrary, regulation of transportation agencies in the United States has been imposed as a result of unfair treatment of the shipping public.”
    3. “Personal discrimination is bad enough in that it confers an unwarranted favor upon one of two producers located in the same place; long and short haul discrimination is worse because it gives an undue advantage to the producer who is located farther away from raw materials or markets.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, Finals 1936. (HUC 7000.28, Vol. 78).

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Reading Period Assignment
May 10-June 2, 1937

Economics 63b: Read one of the following:

  1. First Report of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, pp. 1-37,
    and
    Third Report of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, pp. 3-129.
  2. Stuart Daggett, Principles of Inland Transportation (revised edition), Chs. 36-38
    and H.E. Dugall, two articles on French railways, Journal of Political Economy, June, 1933, pp. 289-333 and June, 1934, pp. 385-392.
  3. Bauer, J. and Gold, N., Public Utility Valuation for Purposes of Rate Control, pp. 155-362.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1936-37”.

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1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 63b2
[Final Examination]

Write on four questions, including the first and the last. Divide your time about equally between them.

  1. Choose either (a) or (b):
    1. “The fact that ‘charging what the traffic will bear’ develops under unregulated competition is no excuse for permitting the practice when rates are regulated by public authority. It is simply another form of discrimination which it is the duty of the I.C.C. to put down.” Discuss.
    2. Comment on the following figures for the electrical industry for 1935:

 Customers
Per cent		 Consumption
Per cent		 Revenue
Per cent
Domestic: 82.6 18.0

36.6
Commercial:
   Retail

14.9

 18.3

28.0
   Wholesale

2.0

 53.1

27.5
Municipal, Street railways and miscellaneous

0.5

 10.6

7.0

100.0

 100.0

100.0
  1. “With the Act of 1920 the policy of regulation of railroads reached its highest development. If that policy fails, the only alternative is public ownership.” Discuss.
  2. Discuss the merits and defects of the policies adopted in in this country for public planning of operating systems either in electricity supply or in railroad transportation.
  3. “In the last analysis, it has been the presence or absence of monopoly which determined whether or not an industry was held to be a public utility. Actually, there are several other elements which ought to be given important consideration.” Discuss.
  4. Answer the question appropriate to your reading period choice:
    1. (Eastman report.) Do you think that all agencies of transport should be subjected to the same or to different sorts of regulation? Explain.
    2. (Bauer and Gold.) Explain briefly what you understand by “fair value” according to the law of the land and discuss its significance for the regulation of earnings of public utilities.
    3. (Foreign railways.) What significant comparisons may be made between the post-war railroad problems of France, Germany and England? What light has your reading here thrown upon the problems of this country?

Source: Harvard University, Examination Papers, Finals 1937. (HUC 7000.28, Vol. 79).

_____________________________

Reading Period Assignment
January 4-20, 1937

Economics 163: Read the following:

Bonbright and Means, The Holding Company.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1936-37”.

_____________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 163
[Mid-Year Examination]

All six questions are of equal weight. Answer the first question, the last question, and any two among questions 2 to 5.

  1. The Public Utility Act of 1935 authorizes an examination of holding company systems with a view to determining “the extent to which such holding company systems and the companies therein may be simplified, unnecessary complexities therein eliminated, voting power fairly and equitably distributed among the holders of securities thereof, and the properties and business thereof confined to those necessary or appropriate to the operations of integrated public utility systems.” What facts with respect to these questions would you expect such an examination to disclose?
  2. Discuss either of the following statements by Burns:
    (a) “Vertical integration thus dictated by the opportunity to secure technical economies of production is not directly caused by the decline of price competition although it may contribute to that decline.”
    (b) “In common with all forms of integration, however, this type (of the production of commodities requiring similar selling organizations) hinders the comparison of costs and prices for each separate branch of production.”
  3. Discuss either of the following statements:
    (a) “Closely related and also a chief point of controversy, was the effect of limitation of liability upon the position of the creditor.” Hunt (commenting upon the Royal Commission Report of 1854).
    (b) “It is to be noted that hardly anywhere in these reports (those of 1837, 1850, 1851, and 1854) was a pure measure of limited liability discussed. What was discussed at great length was this mixed form (of the en commandite type) with unlimited and limited partners.” Shannon.
  4. (a) Discuss the significance and usefulness of either ratio analysis, with illustrative comment upon important types of ratios, or analysis by use of so-called statements of source and disposition of funds.
    (b) Outline the major arguments against enforced publicity of corporate accounts.
  5. (a) Discuss the effect of each of the following devices in bringing about separation of control from ownership in corporations: (i) the stockholder’s proxy, (ii) classification of stock.
    (b) Outline the main considerations determining a corporation’s dividend policy.
  6. Write on either (a) or (b):
    (a) What difficulties, if any, are created by the corporate form of organization for the theory of profits?
    (b) What effect do you think a sizeable tax on the transfer of securities (say 1 or 2 per cent of the market price) would have on the behavior of security prices?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 13, Folder “Mid-year examinations, 1936-1937”.

_____________________________

Reading Period Assignment
May 10—June 2, 1937

Economics 163: No additional assignment.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1936-37”.

_____________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 163
[Final Examination]

Write on four questions, including number 6. Divide your time about equally between them.

  1. “To justify the principle of discrimination is not to justify either particular instances or particular types of discrimination.” Discuss.
  2. Discuss the possibilities for regulating the earnings of public utilities either (a) with, or (b) without, valuation.
  3. Discuss the possible effects of regulation upon efficiency. What suggestions as to public policy can you make for strengthening the incentives towards efficient operation?
  4. “The arguments for and against public ownership are the same as the arguments for and against regulation.” Discuss.
  5. Discuss the problems of public planning for the size and structure of operating units and the relations between them, with reference to either (a) railroad transport, or (b) electricity supply.
  6. Write on transport coordination: its meaning, significance and possibilities.

Source: Harvard University, Examination Papers, Finals 1937. (HUC 7000.28, Vol. 79).

Image Source: Cover of the 1946 Harvard Album.

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Monetary International Economics, readings and exam. Metzler, 1967

 

Lloyd Metzler provided a token Keynesian voice with a Harvard accent at post-WWII Chicago. Once the Cowles Commission moved to Yale, Metzler found himself vastly outnumbered. And yet he persisted.

__________________________

Syllabus and readings for Economics 370 in 1950.

Exam for Economics 370 in 1953.

All Economics in the Rear-view Mirror blog-posts with Lloyd Metzler content.

__________________________

Biographical Note

Lloyd Appleton Metzler was born on April 3, 1913 in Lost Springs, Kansas. He attended the University of Kansas, where he studied economics under John Ise and earned a Bachelor’s degree in 1935 and an MBA in 1938. Metzler then entered Harvard University. He served as an instructor and tutor at Harvard and completed a Ph.D. in economics in 1942. His dissertation, “Interregional Income Generation,” earned him the Wells Prize. That same year, Metzler was the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.

From Harvard, Metzler went on to Washington, D.C., where worked for the Office of Strategic Services and several economic policy and planning commissions between 1943 and 1946. Metzler joined the research staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1944. In 1946 he returned to academia when he accepted a teaching position at Yale University. He soon left Yale for the University of Chicago in 1947, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Dr. Metzler survived surgery for a brain tumor in 1952, and with the help of his wife Edith, managed to continue teaching and writing for the next twenty years. He served as Editor of the Journal of Political Economy from 1966 until his retirement in 1971. Metzler made numerous contributions to business cycle literature, macro-monetary theory, tariff theory, mathematical economics, and the field of international trade. The Metzler paradox, Laursen-Metzler effect, and Metzler matrix, all bear his name. He died on October 26, 1980.

Source: University of Chicago Library. Guide to the Lloyd A. Metzler Papers 1941-48. Note: the interesting archival papers containing the following material are found in the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 370
MONETARY ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Major Topics and Reading List

Winter 1967
Lloyd A. Metzler

  1. Mechanism of the Foreign Exchange Market
    1. P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, third edition, New York: Macmillan Company, 1964, Chapter 17.
    2. Alan R. Holmes and Francis Schott, The New York Foreign Exchange Market, New York: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1965, Chapters 1-6.
    3. Frank A. Southard, Jr., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1940.
    4. N. Crump, The ABC of the Foreign Exchanges, London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., 1951.
    5. James E. Meade, Studies in the Theory of International Economic Policy, Vol. I, The Balance of Payments, London: Oxford University Press, 1951, Chapter 1.
  2. The Quantity of Money, the Rate of Interest, and the Price Level
    1. Sub-Committee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Hearings on the Question, What Should our Monetary and Debt Management Policy Be? 82ndCongress of the United States, 1952, pp. 688-7111, 691-698. (These pages include the testimony of Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson.)
    2. James Tobin, “Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt. The Patman Inquiry,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. XXXV, No. 2, May 1953, pp. 118-127.
    3. Robert V. Roosa, “Interest Rates and the Central Bank” in Money, Trade and Economic Growth, in honor of John Henry Williams, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951.
    4. Lloyd A. Metzler, “Wealth, Saving, and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LIX, No. 2, April, 1951, pp. 93-116.
    5. Robert A. Mundell, “The Public Debt, Corporate Income Taxes, and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LXVIII, No. 6, December 1960, pp. 622-626.
    6. George Horwich, “Real Assets and the Theory of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LXX, No. 2, April 1962, pp. 158-169.
    7. Don Patinkin, Money, Interest, and Prices, first edition, Evanston: Row, Peterson and Co., 1956, Part. II.
  3. The Role of Money in International Adjustment: Full Employment and Under-Employment
    1. J. M. Keynes, Treatise on Money, Vol. I, The Pure Theory of Money, London: Macmillan and Company, 1935, Chapter 21.
    2. Lloyd A. Metzler, “The Theory of International Trade,” From A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Howard S. Ellis, editor Homewood, Illinois: R. D. Irwin, Inc., 1948.
  4. Free Market Exchange Rates
    1. A. J. Brown, “The Foreign Exchanges” in Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism, Edited by T. Wilson and P.W. S. Andrews, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1951, Chapters I (i) and II (ii).
    2. S. Alexander, “Effects of A Devaluation on a Trade Balance,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, Vol. II, No. 2, April 1952.
    3. Milton Friedman, “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” in Essays in Positive Economics, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1953, pp. 157-203.
    4. Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Employment, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1947, Part III, “The Foreign Exchanges.”
    5. Lloyd A. Metzler, “Exchange Rates and the International Monetary Fund,” in International Monetary Policies, Postwar Economic Studies No. 7, Washington, D.C.: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September, 1947.
    6. Rudolph R. Rhomberg, “A Model of the Canadian Economy under Fixed and Fluctuating Exchange Rates,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LXXII, No. 1, February 1964, pp. 1-31.
  5. Forward Exchange Rates
    1. Paul Einzig, The Theory of Forward Exchange, London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1937.
    2. Paul Einzig, A Dynamic Theory of Forward Exchange, London, Macmillan and Co., New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1961.
    3. Alan R. Holmes and Francis Schott, The New York Foreign Exchange Market, New York: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1965, Chapters 7-8.
    4. Paul Einzig, “Some Recent Development in Official Forward Exchange Operations,” Economic Journal, Vol. LXXIII, No. 290, June 1963, pp. 241-53.
    5. Paul Einzig, “Some Recent Changes in Forward Exchange Practices,” Economic Journal, Vol. LXX, No. 279, September, 1960, pp. 485-95.
  6. The Balance of Payments and the Concepts of Income
    1. R. F. Bennett, “Significance of International Transactions in National Income”, in Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. VI, New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1943.
    2. U. S. Department of Commerce, Income and Output, 1958 supplement to the Survey of Current Business.
  7. The Theory of Income Transfers
    1. J. M. Keynes, “The Transfer Problem,” Economic Journal, XXXIX, No. 153, March 1929, pp. 1-7.
    2. B. Ohlin, “The Reparation Problem: A Discussion, I. Transfer Difficulties, Real and Imagined,” Economic Journal, Vol. XXXIX, No. 154, June 1929, pp. 172-78.
    3. J. M. Keynes, “The Reparation Problem: A Discussion. II. A Rejoinder” Economic Journal, Vol. XXXIX, no. 154, June 1929, pp. 179-82.
    4. J. Rueff, “Mr. Keynes’ Views on the Transfer Problem, Economic Journal, Vol. XXXIX, No. 155, September 1929, pp. 388-99.
    5. B. Ohlin, “Rejoinder to J. Rueff,” Economic Journal, Vol. XXXIX, No. 155, September 1929, pp. 400-4.
    6. J. M. Keynes, “Reply to J. Rueff,” Economic Journal, Vol. XXXIX, No. 155, September 1929, pp. 404-8.
    7. L. A. Metzler, “The Transfer Problem Re-considered,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. L, No. 2, June 1942.
    8. H. G. Johnson, “The Transfer Problem and Exchange Stability,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LXIV, No. 3, June 1956, pp. 212-25.
  8. Postwar Monetary Conditions and the Position of the U.S. Dollar
    1. R. Hinshaw, Toward Currency Convertibility, Princeton University, Essays in International Finance, No. 31, 1958.
    2. R. Triffin, Europe and the Money Muddle, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957.
    3. C. P. Kindleberger, The Dollar Shortage, Cambridge: Massachusetts [Institute of ] Technology Press, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1950.
    4. R. Triffin, “The International Monetary Position of the United States,” in The Dollar in Crisis, S.E. Harris, editor, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1961.
    5. P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, third edition, New York: The Macmillan Company, Part VI.
    6. H. B. Lary, Problems of the United States as World Trader and Banker, Princeton University Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963.
    7. Triffin, The Evolution of the International Monetary System: Historical Reappraisal and Future Perspectives, Princeton Studies in International Finance, No. 12, International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1964.
    8. International Financial Arrangements: The Problem of Choice, Report on the deliberations of an international study group of 32 economists, International Finance Section, Department of Economics, Princeton University 1964.
    9. New Approach to United States International Economic Policy. Hearing before the subcommittee on international exchange and payments of the joint economic committee, Eighty-ninth Congress of the United States, second session, September 9, 1966.
    10. Ministerial Statement of the Group of Ten and Annex Prepared by Deputies, Statement of M. Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Chairman of the group, August 10, 1964.
    11. American Enterprise Institute, International Payments Problems, a symposium sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C. 1966.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Lloyd A. Metzler

ECONOMICS 370
Course Examination
Winter, 1967

Answer all questions.

  1. Define two concepts of income which arise when one country (A) makes an annual income transfer to another country (B) and indicate the significance of each concept.
  2. Use the concepts above to show why, in a two-country economy, a presumption exists that the transfer will be more difficult if both countries require imported raw materials to produce than if both are self-sufficient in production. Without going into technical details, indicate why the theory for self-sufficient economies is correct despite this presumption.
  3. (a) Derive the conditions of balance in a full-employment open economy for the following markets: (i) the market for goods and services; (ii) the market for newly-issued securities (iii) the market for foreign exchange.
    (b) Show that if the first two markets are in balance, the country has neither a surplus nor a deficit in its balance of payments.
    (c) Show that if there is an excess supply (or deflationary gap) in both new securities and goods and services the country necessarily has a deficit in its balance of payments. Discuss the market mechanism which may eliminate this deficit, assuming full employment and flexible prices.
  4. The table below gives interest rates for 3-months U.S. treasury bills adjusted to an annual basis, as well as the spot rate and the 3-month forward rate on Canadian currency, each rate being defined as the U.S. dollar price of the Canadian dollar:

 

Period 3-month U.S. bills 3-month forward rate Spot Rate
(1) .05 $1.0025 $1.0000
(2) .04 $0.9975 $1.0000
(3) .03 $0.9950 $1.0000
(4) .04 $0.9900 $1.0000
(5) .07 $2.0050 $2.0000

On the basis of this information you are asked to compute, for all periods, the interest rate for Canadian 3-months bills on the assumption that all data lie on the Interest Rate Parity line. Show your computations.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 3, Folder “Econ 370- Course Exams”.

Source Image: Posting by Margie Metzler on the Metzler Family Tree at the genealogical website, ancestry.com.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Analysis and Public Policy, Readings and Exams. Smithies and Baldwin, 1956-57

While Harvard archive’s collection of old course syllabi and reading lists offers a treasure chest of material, there still are plenty of “missing observations” and lost pages between us and a complete record. Fortunately there is often significant inertia in the actual syllabi so that interpolation is less hazardous than one might expect in filling the gaps. As noted below, the reading list for the Spring term was not found in the corresponding folder for Harvard economics course syllabi in the Harvard archives.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Arthur Smithies’ syllabus for this course as taught in 1949-50 has been transcribed and posted.

Robert Baldwin’s reading lists and exams for 1955-56 have been likewise transcribed and posted.

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 206. Economic Analysis and Public Policy. Professor Smithies and Assistant Professor Baldwin. Full course.

(F) Total 49: 9 Graduates, 36 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Radcliffe, 2 Others.
(S) Total 51: 10 Graduates, 37 Other Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Radcliffe, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1956-57, p. 70.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 206
Reading List, Fall 1956

  1. Economic Analysis and Public Policy

F. H. Knight, “Economic Objectives in a Changing World,” Economics and Public Policy, The Brookings Institution, 1955.

A. Smithies, “Economic Welfare and Policy,” Ibid.

  1. The Ricardian System

David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, Chs. 2-6, 21.

W. J. Baumol, Economic Dynamics, Ch. 2.

Suggested:

Ricardo, Chs. 1, 31

G. J. Stigler, “The Ricardian Theory of Value and Distribution,” The Journal of Political Economy, LX, 3 (June 1952).

J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Bk. 3, Ch. 6 and 14;

Mimeographed paper on Smith and Ricardo*

  1. Marxian Dynamics

Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Preface.

M. M. Bober, Karl Marx’s Interpretation of History, Chs. 1-3, 9-13.

Suggested:

Joan Robinson, An Essay on Marxian Economics.

P. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. 4-6, 8, 9,

J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part I.

Mimeographed paper on Marx*

  1. The Neo-classical System

L. Walras, Elements of Pure Economics, Part I.

G. Cassel, The Theory of Social Economy, Ch. 4

W. S. Jevons, The Theory of Political Economy, Introduction.

Suggested:

E. Phelps Brown, Framework of the Pricing System

  1. The Schumpeterian System

J. A. Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Vol. I, Chs. 3, 4.

J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part II

Suggested:

J. A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development.

Mimeographed paper on Schumpeter*.

  1. Keynesian Economics

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Ch. 19.

D. Dillard, The Economics of J. M. Keynes, Chs. 2, 3.

A. Hansen, Business Cycles and National Income, Part II

Suggested:

A. Hansen, A Guide to Keynes

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.

  1. Post-Keynesian Growth Theorists

E. Domar, “Expansion and Employment,” American Economic Review, March 1947.

W. Baumol, op. cit., Ch. 4

Suggested:

R. Harrod, Towards a Dynamic Economics, Ch. 3.

D. Hamberg, Economic Growth and Instability, Ch. 2, 3

*Available in Lamont and Littauer Libraries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 6, Folder: “Economics, 1956-1957 (1 of 2).

________________________

1956-57
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Economics 206
Fall 1956
Final Examination

Answer FIVE of the following seven questions.

  1. What conclusions can be drawn concerning the optimization of resource allocation in a competitive versus a monopolistic economy? Consider the problem under both static and dynamic conditions.
  2. Analyze the possible employment effects of an increase in the money supply in the Keynesian and the neo-classical aggregate models.
  3. Both Ricardo and Marx assert that real wages tend to be driven to a subsistence level in the long-run. Contrast the reasoning of these two writers in reaching this conclusion.
  4. Contrast the reasons why the classical writers were pessimistic about development prospects under capitalism whereas the neo-classical economists were quite optimistic about growth possibilities.
  5. Neo-classical writers claim that long-run equilibrium at a less than full employment level is impossible. Keynesians, on the other hand, assert that less than full employment equilibrium is possible. Carefully explain the reasons why these two groups differ on this point.
  6. What were the major policy recommendations of Ricardo? Analyze how, according to Ricardo, the adoption of these measures would postpone the arrival of the stationary state.
  7. Contrast the role of the interest rate as a determinant of investment in the Schumpeterian, neo-classical, and Keynesian models.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 25, Volume: Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science, January 1957.

________________________

Note: The reading list for Economics 206, Spring Term 1957 was not found in the Harvard archives with the other filed course syllabi from 1956-57.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 206

Spring Examination, 1957

Answer FOUR of SEVEN.

  1. a) Under what conditions could the U.S. economy achieve uninterrupted growth? Do you think these conditions are likely to prevail?
    b) What sort of obstacles to steady growth would you expect to find in the U.S. economy? Are they self-correcting or would you recommend specific policies to overcome them?
  2. Is an equal or unequal distribution of income more compatible with the achievement of steady growth? What are the chief determinants of income distribution in the United States? Would you expect a shift in distribution as the economy grows?
  3. Analyze the causes of inflationary pressure. With our present institutional arrangements, what policy measures would you advocate to alleviate an inflation? Discuss any changes in present institutions that you feel would be desirable for combating inflation. Would your policy measures change if you were operating under changed legal or institutional arrangements? (i.e. Would you use the same instruments in a different way?)
  4. What is the meaning of balance of payments disequilibrium? How would you deal with such a disequilibrium in a country that had a goal of maximizing economic growth?
  5. Do you think there was a fundamental change in the U.S. economy between the prosperous ‘20’s and the depressed ‘30’s or between the ‘30’s and the post World War II era? If so, what were these changes and how do they contribute to an explanation of the behavior of the economy in these periods? If not, how would you explain the mixed performance of the economy?
  6. How can the traditional theory of the firm be used to explain the distribution of income? Would the theory lead you to expect a different distribution in an imperfectly competitive economy than in a purely competitive one?
  7. Are large budgets consistent with equilibrium growth? What effect on growth would an increase in government expenditure have if (a) it is deficit financed, (b) it is tax financed?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Volume 113 (HUC 7000.28) Final Exams—Social Sciences—June 1957: Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science, June 1957.

Image Sources:  (Left) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation website. Arthur Smithies (1955 Fellow); (Right) Robert Baldwin from Selection from photograph (ca. 1975) of Robert E. Baldwin from the University of Wisconsin Archives/The University of Wisconsin Collection/The UW-Madison Collection/UW-Madison Archives Images.

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T.

M.I.T. Comprehensive Theory Exams in Macroeconomics, 1961

 

The Microeconomics examination questions for the economic theory general examinations of May and September at M.I.T. have also been transcribed and posted.

__________________

From the 1961 Economics Graduate Program Broschure
[boldface emphasis added]

Major Program and General Examinations

Work taken in the Department of Economics and Social Science for the doctorate in economics is divided—broadly speaking—into two separate options: economics and industrial relations. But there is considerable overlap between the two.

All students in both options are examined five fields. Among the fields presently available are the following: economic theory, advanced economic theory, monetary and fiscal economics, industrial organization, economic development, international economics, economics of innovation, labor economics and labor relations, personnel administration, human relations in industry, statistical theory and method, and economic history. Each student selects one field as having primary importance for this professional career; ordinarily this is the field in which he writes his dissertation, though exceptions may be made. The remaining four fields are designated secondary fields. One of the five fields must be economic theory.

Students are also required to have at least a minimum knowledge of statistics and economic history. This minimum is presently interpreted to mean one semester of work in each at the graduate level. Candidates who present statistics or economic history as a primary or secondary field normally take two or three semester subjects in the field and automatically satisfy the requirements in that area.

Students may qualify in one of the secondary fields through course work only, provided that they receive a mark of B or better in two subjects. Students are examined in writing in the remaining four fields during an eight-day period (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Monday). The theory examination is four hours long (divided roughly between microeconomics and macroeconomics), while the other three are each three hours long.

Following these written examinations, the student takes a two-hour oral examination which covers theory, his primary field, and one secondary field.

Source: Excerpt from Graduate Economics Program Brochure, 1961. MIT Archives, Department of Economics Records, Box 2, Folder “Department Brochures”.

____________________

GENERAL EXAMINATION IN ECONOMIC THEORY
Macroeconomics—Two Hours
[May 22, 1961]

Answer THREE questions, at least ONE from each part. (Course XV students answer ONE question from each part only.)
USE A SEPARATE EXAMINATION BOOK FOR EACH QUESTION.

Part I.

  1. Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “The Measurement of Economic Growth”. Include in it the description of existing methods, their rationale (the most important part) and your suggestions for improvement.
  2. Write an essay on “The General Theory after Twenty-Five Years”.
  3. (a) Explain the nature and the rationale of the definition of the concept of money in “Price Flexibility and Employment” problems.”
    (b) “If the ‘Balanced-Budget Multiplier’ is correct, isn’t Say’s Law also correct?” Comment fully.

Part II.

  1. “By making existing capital assets obsolete, technological progress is alleged to create new investment opportunities and thus raise the level of income and employment. But to the extent that such obsolescence was foreseen, the assets were depreciated over a shorter period and thus gave rise to larger gross savings. Therefore, expected technological progress fails to stimulate the economy.” Comment fully.
  2. Present your favorite (traditional, eclectic, or original) business cycle theory. Indicate the empirical tests to which it will be subjected.
  3. “In order to prevent a cost-push inflation, wage rates in each firm or industry should not increase faster than its labor productivity price increases will thus be avoided.”
    Comment fully and critically; indicate and justify your wage and price policy.

____________________

GENERAL EXAMINATION IN ECONOMIC THEORY
Macroeconomics—Two Hours
[September 18, 1961]

Answer FOUR questions, TWO from each part. USE A SEPARATE EXAMINATION BOOK FOR EACH QUESTION.

Part I.

  1. State, explain and justify the treatment of government expenditures (Federal, state and local) in the computation of national product and its components. Why is government treated differently from other sectors? What is the logical foundation for such treatment?
  2. Compare and contrast the Keynesian and the so-called Classical systems.
  3. Contrast the investment criteria applicable to (a) an individual firm, (b) the U.S. government, (c) the government of an undeveloped country. Explain clearly your reasons for such differences, if any.
  4. Write an essay on “The History of the Consumption Function.” Indicate and evaluate the major contributions. How significant are they? Which one do you prefer and why?

Part II.

  1. Describe fully the “economic indicator” approach to economic forecasting. Evaluate its performance. Compare it with the use of projected models of GNP.
  2. Describe the long-term trends in (a) population, (b) output, (c) capital, (d) real wage rates, (e) interest, (f) relative shares, (g) capital-output and other important ratios. What constancies have people claimed to observe? What behavior is explicable by a simple neoclassical model? What points to technological change or to various non-neoclassical growth theories? Mention authors as well as theories.
  3. Summarize briefly the historical facts on business cycles or fluctuations here and abroad. What theories have been suggested? Besides naming names, give your own best way of cataloguing the different theories (e.g. non-linear, etc.).
  4. Give the basic facts on “growth” here and abroad, recently and in history. How could America increase its sustained growth rate? Be analytical and specific.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 16, Folder “Ph.D. Examinations, Macroeconomics”.

Image Source: Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass., 1930.

 

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T.

M.I.T. Comprehensive Theory Exams in Microeconomics, 1961

 

The Macroeconomics examination questions for the economic theory general examinations of May and September at M.I.T. have also been transcribed and posted.

Note:  S.I.M. = School of Industrial Management

__________________

From the 1961 Economics Graduate Program Broschure
[boldface emphasis added]

Major Program and General Examinations

Work taken in the Department of Economics and Social Science for the doctorate in economics is divided—broadly speaking—into two separate options: economics and industrial relations. But there is considerable overlap between the two.

All students in both options are examined five fields. Among the fields presently available are the following: economic theory, advanced economic theory, monetary and fiscal economics, industrial organization, economic development, international economics, economics of innovation, labor economics and labor relations, personnel administration, human relations in industry, statistical theory and method, and economic history. Each student selects one field as having primary importance for this professional career; ordinarily this is the field in which he writes his dissertation, though exceptions may be made. The remaining four fields are designated secondary fields. One of the five fields must be economic theory.

Students are also required to have at least a minimum knowledge of statistics and economic history. This minimum is presently interpreted to mean one semester of work in each at the graduate level. Candidates who present statistics or economic history as a primary or secondary field normally take two or three semester subjects in the field and automatically satisfy the requirements in that area.

Students may qualify in one of the secondary fields through course work only, provided that they receive a mark of B or better in two subjects. Students are examined in writing in the remaining four fields during an eight-day period (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Monday). The theory examination is four hours long (divided roughly between microeconomics and macroeconomics), while the other three are each three hours long.

Following these written examinations, the student takes a two-hour oral examination which covers theory, his primary field, and one secondary field.

Source: Excerpt from Graduate Economics Program Brochure, 1961. MIT Archives, Department of Economics Records, Box 2, Folder “Department Brochures”.

__________________

GENERAL EXAMINATION IN ECONOMIC THEORY
Part I—Microeconomics—Two Hours
[May 22, 1961]

Economics Candidates: Answer any FOUR questions (thirty minutes each).
S.I.M. Candidates: Answer any TWO questions (thirty minutes each).

  1. Within the framework of static, partial-equilibrium theory, indicate under what circumstances advertising will reduce product prices in the long run, (a) if the advertiser is a simple monopolist, (b) if the advertisers are members of a large, perfectly symmetrical, Chamberlinian group of suppliers of differentiated products (the number of firms being large enough to rule out oligopolistic relationships, and variable in accordance with a long-run-equilibrium condition of zero profit for all firms).
  2. How is a firm’s demand schedule for a particular factor of production derived (a) when that factor is the only variable one, and (b) when the quantities of all factors are variable? Show which of these demands is, if anything, the more elastic.
  3. The demands for two products are: q1 = q2 = 54 – p1 -p2. How would you characterize their relationship? If they are produced by separate sellers at constant average costs of c1 = 12 and c2 = 6, respectively, calculate each man’s equilibrium price, quantity, and profit under each of the following conditions:
    1. Each seller assumes that the other’s price is a constant;
    2. The second seller behaves that way and the first seller realizes that he does;
    3. Both sellers maximize their joint profit and share it equally.
  4. Two countries can produce food (F) and clothing (C) with labor (L) as the only factor of production. Country A has 20 billion units of L, each of which can produce either 5 units of F or 2 units of C. Country B has 10 billion units of L, each of which can produce either 8 units of F or 6 units of C. Everyone always spends half of his income on F and the other half on C. In a purely competitive equilibrium with balanced trade between the two countries (and no transportation costs), what is the effect on the quantities of F and C produced and consumed in each country? Could either country benefit by imposing a tariff on the imported good?
  5. What are the various reasons why a free-private-enterprise economy may fail to allocate its resources in an optimally efficient way? Explain.
  6. Discuss the roles of “real” and “monetary” elements in a satisfactory theory of interest. Is it logically possible to fashion an interest theory exclusively in terms of one or the other of those elements? Explain.

__________________

GENERAL EXAMINATION IN ECONOMIC THEORY
Part I—Microeconomics—Two Hours
[September 18, 1961]

A. Answer any TWO of the three questions (40 minutes each).

A.1. Choose one theory of oligopoly. State its principal assumptions and conclusions and criticize them.

A.2. “The fact that a position on the contract curve is always better than one off it implies that we should move toward a situation of perfect competition.” Discuss.

A.3. What changes must be introduced into the conventional theory of the household to take account of the fact of capital?

B. Answer all three questions.*

B.1 Suppose that the coal industry is perfectly competitive. A certain coal-mining machine uses coal for fuel physically identical to that which it mines. What is the numerical value in equilibrium of the marginal product of the coal burned in the mining of more coal? Why? Are there any difficulties with the answer if explicit account is taken of the fact that coal production takes time?

B.2 Are demand curves faced by monopolists generally inelastic? Why or why not? How about their supply curves?

B.3 “In long-run equilibrium, a perfectly competitive firm which gives each unit of each factor that factor’s marginal physical product will precisely exhaust its own output.” Comment.

*Hint about the examiner’s preferences: Two carefully thought-out, good answers are better than three hurried, incomplete and sloppy answers. If you give good answers to any two of the three questions in Part B, don’t worry (about Part B).

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Evsey D. Domar Papers, Box 16, Folder “Ph.D. Examinations, Microeconomics”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Comparative Land Tenure Systems, Final Exam. Laughlin, 1884

 

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

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

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

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Political Economy] 5. Prof. Laughlin. Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany.— Lectures and Theses.

Total 5: 1 Graduate, 3 Seniors, 1 Junior.

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

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 5
[Final Examination, June 1884]

  1. What are your conclusions as to the effect of land tenures in England and France upon (1) production, and (2) distribution?
  2. Compare the increase of population in England, France, and Ireland, and indicate what you think to be the chief causes controlling such increase in each country.
  3. How far does the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883 interfere with freedom of contract? What is the present position of English legislation in regard to entailed estates?
  4. It has been stated that the abolition of the Corn Laws by Great Britain would not injure the farmer, but would lower the rent of the landlord. Has this proved true? What are the facts as to changes in agriculture and the amount of rent?
  5. It is said that capital Is more equally distributed in France than in Great Britain. How would you account for it?
  6. Which classes in England and France are the greatest buyers of land? What differences do these facts create in respect to production from land?
  7. Contrast briefly the processes by which out of past conditions France, Germany, and Ireland have reached their present systems of holdings.
  8. Compare the security of tenure to the tenant in England and Ireland. Is it possible to extend the comparison to France?
  9. Discuss the origin and workings of Tenant Right in Ireland. What legislation has been passed affecting it?
  10. Compare the class of agricultural laborers in England and Ireland with the corresponding class in France.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2, Bound volume “Examination Papers, 1883-86”. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1884), pp. 11-12.

Image Source: Portrait (1885-88) of James Lawrence Laughlin. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Transfer from the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Comparative Fiscal Systems. Final examination, Dunbar, 1884.

 

 

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

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

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

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Political Economy] 7. Prof. Dunbar. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the United States.— Lectures.

Total 23: 2 Graduates, 19 Seniors, 2 Juniors.

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

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
[Final examination, June 1884]

  1. Describe the customary methods of issuing loans in England, France, and the United States.
  2. State the conditions under which loans will sell higher or lower by reason of
    1. annual drawings by lot for payment;
    2. reserved right to pay at pleasure;
    3. agreement to pay at or after some distant dates;
    4. arrangement like that of the “Five-twenties.”
  3. Explain the English method of using terminable annuities for the reduction of the public debt, as in 1867 and 1883.
  4. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of the course of the English government in borrowing upon 3 per cents during the war with Napoleon.
  5. How was it that the Sinking Fund during the same war was not only useless but wasteful?
  6. Legal authority for the Sinking Fund of the United States, its establishment and the failure to comply with its strict obligations.
  7. What has been the practice of England, France, and the United States respectively in regard to taxation of the public debt.
  8. Describe the resumption of specie payments by Italy.
  9. Describe the system on which the German banks of issue are arranged.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 2, Bound volume “Examination Papers, 1883-86”. Papers Set for Final Examinations in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1884), p. 13.

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

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

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

 

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

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

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

___________________________

Course Enrollment

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

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

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

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Final Examination, June 1884]

I.

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

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

II.

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

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

III.

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

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

 

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

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