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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Final exam for Economic Trends and Fluctuations. Haberler, 1932.

 

Gottfried Haberler taught two courses as a visiting lecturer at Harvard in 1931-32. His mid-year exam for Economics 15 Problems in Economic Theory was transcribed and posted earlier.

I have not (yet) found a syllabus for his one-semester business cycle course, but judging from the titles assigned for the reading period, he was clearly serving a Viennese melange of business cycle theories. 

___________________

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—

III. Applied Economics

[Economics] 37 1hf. Dr. Haberler.Economic Trends and Fluctuations.

Total 7: Graduates 7.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p. 72.

___________________

Reading Period
Jan 4-20, 1932

Economics 37.

Schumpeter, J.: The Explanation of the Business Cycle, in “Economica”, Vol. 7, 1927.

Hayek, F.A.: Prices and Production, London, 1931.

Robertson, D.H.: Banking Policy and the Price Level.

Suggestions for further reading:

Hayek, F.A.: Geldtheorie u. Konjunkturtheorie, Vienna, 1929. [1932 translation by N. Kaldor and H.M. Croome]

Mises, L.: Theorie des Geldes u. der Umlaufmittel, Pt. III, Ch. 5, “Geld, Umlaufmittel u. Zins”.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder: “Economics, 1931-32”.

___________________

1931-32
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 37

Students may use any books or notes they wish.

Answer FIVE of these six questions.

  1. The relation of the rate of interest and prices according to (a) Irving Fisher, (b) Knut Wicksell, and (c) R. G. Hawtrey. State whether these different views are compatible with each other in your opinion.
  2. What is the influence of a credit expansion on the structure of production?
  3. Criticize the “monetary” theory of the business cycle as developed by R. G. Hawtrey.
  4. A. Hayek and J. Schumpeter have the notion that the upward swing of the business cycle is characterized by an increase of the “roundaboutness” of production. What is the difference between their theories and why do they reach different conclusions as to the essence of depression?
  5. What is the difference between D. H. Robertson’s and F. A. Hayek’s theory of the business cycle?
  6. It is frequently said that an individual can use up his capital, but that this is impossible—excepting physical destruction by a war or an earthquake—for a closed economy because, if one person sells a piece of his capital equipment, it necessarily accrues to somebody else. What do you think of this?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 12, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-years, 1931-32.

Image Source: Link to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek record.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exams for History of Economics up through 18th Century. Ashley, 1900.

 

The economic historian William James Ashley was also a historian of economics. As this Harvard course name and its semester exams transcribed for this post indicate, Ashley covered a huge chunk of waterfront–from Plato’s Republic through Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Students were clearly expected to bring a solid reading knowledge of German and French to the course (Latin was probably covered in the entrance exams of the time). Notes and links have been added between square brackets.

___________________

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:

[Economics] 15. Professor Ashley. — The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 11: 6 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 69.

___________________

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 15
[Mid-year Examination]

Not more than eight questions should be attempted, of which the first must be one.

  1. Explain the significance and context of the following passages:
    1. “If you were making a city of pigs, this is the way you would feed them.”
      [Plato, The Republic, Book II]
    2. “If a child be born in their class with an alloy of copper or iron, they are to have no manner of pity upon it.”
      [Plato, The Republic, Book III]
    3. “Each of them is very many cities, – in any case there are two.”
      [Plato, The Republic, Book IV]
    4. “A slave is an animate instrument.”
      [Aristotle. The Politics. Book I, Chapter IV.]
    5. “Every article admits of two uses.”
      [Aristotle. The Politics. Book I, Chapter IX.]
    6. Mutuum date, nihil inde sperantes.”

[“Lend hoping nothing thereby.” Luke 6:35. Originally from the Vulgate, Latin version of the Bible prepared mainly by St. Jerome in the late 4th century.
35 verumtamen diligite inimicos vestros et benefacite et mutuum date nihil inde sperantes et erit merces vestra multa et eritis filii Altissimi quia ipse benignus est super ingratos et malos”
35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”]
cf. Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. Second Division of the Second Part of Question LXXVIII. Of the Sin of Usury That is Committed in Loans.
Also, Théodore Reinach, Mutuum date nihil inde sperantes. Revue des Ètudes Grecques, 1849, pp. 52-48.]

  1. Compare Plato’s conception of the division of labor with that of Adam Smith.
  2. Explain and illustrate the attitude of Aristotle towards the working classes.
  3. It has been remarked that after all Aristotle’s ideal polity is half communistic.
    Criticize this opinion.
  4. Describe the economic organization of the Spartan state. What do you gather from Plato and Aristotle as to the effects of the system?
  5. In one sense, if at all, can the early Christian Church be called communistic? Set forth briefly the nature of the evidence.
  6. Explain what you suppose to be the doctrine of Aquinas as to just price, and then consider whether the idea is in any way practically applicable under modern circumstances.
    [From the Second Division of the Second Part of Summa Theologica. Question LXXVII. Of Fraudulent Dealing in Buying and Selling.]
  7. Wherein did the medieval contract of partnership approach and wherein did it differ from usury?
  8. Distinguish between the various senses attached to the word “Mercantilism”.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1899-1900.

 ___________________

[1899-1900]
ECONOMICS 15
[End-year Examination]

Not more than eight questions should be attempted.

  1. Distinguish between the several lines of thought concerning the causes determining Value to be found in the various writings of John Locke.
  2. The place in economic literature of either Sir Josiah Child or Sir William Petty.
  3. Estimate the influence upon Adam Smith of the economic writings of Hume.
  4. “Es lässt sich ja auch nicht leugnen, dass gerade das Beste an der physiocratischen Theorie: die Darstellung des Wirtschaftlichen Kreislaufs, die Lehre von der Reproduktion der Urstoffe, ihre Formung, Cirkulation und Verteilung, die Berechnung des Kapitalzinses, welchen die Pächter haben muss, und anderes auf einer Beobachtung des wirtschaftlichen Lebens beruhte; kurz sich als eine Beschreibung der französischen Wirtschaft des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts darstellte.”—Hasbach. Translate and comment.
    [Wilhelm Hasbach. Die allgemeinen philosophischen grundlagen der von François Quesnay und Adam Smith begründeten politischen ökonomie, 1890, p. 138]
  5. “La division du travail rend de si grands et si évidents services qu’on les a remarqués dès l’antiquité….Mais personne n’en a tiré parti au point de vue économique avant Adam Smith; aussi le considère-t-on en quelque sort comme l’inventeur de la division du travail.” — Block. Translate and comment.
    [Maurice Block, Les Progrès de la Science Économique depuis Adam Smith. Tome Premier, Chapitre XVII, La Division du Travail, p. 433.]
  6. A rapid sketch of the literary history of the doctrine of the Balance of Trade.
  7. “The Component Parts of Price.” The significance of the phrase.
  8. Compare Adam Smith’s doctrine of Wages with that of Ricardo.
  9. State and criticise Adam Smith’s Canons of Taxation.
  10. “Un autre progrès doctrinal réalisé depuis Ad. Smith…c’est la part faite aux entrepreneurs.” Translate and comment.
    [Maurice Block, Les Progrès de la Science Économique depuis Adam Smith. Revue des Deux Mondes (1890, Vol. 97), p. 940.]
  11. The Historical School: its merits and defects.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1900-01, p. 38.

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

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Mid-year exams for Money, Banking and Commercial Crises. Young, 1921-1927

 

Allyn A. Young taught the course “Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises” from 1920/21 through 1926/27. The final exams from the second semester of the course have been posted earlier. Unfortunately, I probably have overlooked the volumes in the Harvard archives containing the first semester, i.e. mid-year, exams for 1920/21, 1923/24, and 1925/26. Hopefully, I find those exams during my next visit to the Harvard archives. Until then we at least have four of the mid-year exams included in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

________________________

Course Description, 1924-25

[Economics] 3. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2. Professor Young.

In this course money and credit will be studied with special reference to the part they play in the present economic system. The principal problems of public policy with respect to the control of money and banking will be discussed. Foreign exchange, organized speculation in its relation to the money market, and the characteristic phenomena of commercial crises will be considered in some detail. The course will be conducted by means of lectures, discussions, frequent short reports or exercises on assigned topics, and (in the second half-year) a thesis based on work in the library. Certain subjects, such as the monetary and banking history of the United States, will be covered almost wholly by assigned reading, tested by written papers.

Source:  Division of History, Government and Economics 1924-25 published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 21, No. 22 (April 30, 1924), p. 67.

__________________________

1920-21
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1921]

[not (yet) recovered]

__________________________

1921-22
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1922]

  1. What do you understand the “rationalistic series” of the origin of money to be? What other account of the origin of money can you give?
  2. Put the argument for bimetallism into what seems to you the strongest possible form.
  3. For how many years has gold been the monetary standard of the United States? Since 1900? 1879? 1873? 1834? What significance of this connection has each of these dates?
  4. Define the following terms, taken from American or foreign bank statements. Try to be both succinct and accurate in your definitions.
    Deposits, surplus, loans and discounts, reserve, account-current, government debt.
  5. What was the problem with which the Bullion Report dealt? What were its conclusions? And the Bank Act of 1844?
  6. Describe the functions of (a) joint-stock banks, (b) bill brokers, (c) acceptance houses, in the London money market.
  7. In what different ways are clearing-house balances settled? Do all of these methods accomplish the same purpose? What is that purpose?
  8. A writer, quoted by Phillips, holds with respect to the national banking system that “if all other circumstances remained the same, circulation grew less profitable as the current money rate advanced.” On what reasoning is this conclusion based? What is your opinion?
  9. What, in general, is the effect of speculation on price fluctuations? What evidence can you cite? Does short-selling tend to depress prices? Explain.
  10. Explain the effects of rising prices upon (a) profits, (b) interest, (c) wages, (d) long-period debts and credits, (e) industrial enterprise.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 10. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1920-22.

__________________________

1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1923]

  1. Explain the purposes and the provisions of (a) the Sherman Act and (b) the Pittman Act.
  2. In what respect is the case for international bimetallism stronger than the case for national bimetallism?
  3. Describe briefly the effects changes in the purchasing power of money have upon the welfare of (a) creditors, (b) debtors, (c) business man, (d) capitalists, (e) landowners, (f) wage-earners.
  4. “The absence of centralized responsibility for the maintenance of surplus reserves was the chief defect of the old national banking system.”
    Explain.
  5. Contrast the pre-war policy of the Bank of France with respect to its discount rate with that of the Bank of England.
  6. “Scotch banking is so generally regarded as one of the highest achievements of the banking intelligence that some hesitation is natural criticising the system by which, according to its own evidence, it has obtained most of its success. At the same time, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a serious danger lurks in the system which regards a banker’s unissued promise to pay in the light of a banking asset.”– Hartley Withers.
    What is the practice which Mr. Withers deems a danger? Do you agree with him?
  7. “Two powerful forces are constantly at work, one putting notes into circulation, the other retiring them, and the people of Canada always have on hand just the amount of currency they need and no more. It is the people, not the banks, who determine how much the circulation of the banks shall be.”–J. F. Johnson.
    What are the “two powerful forces”?
  8. “The close relation of the so-called regular banking business to that of the floating of enterprises, the trading in and the issue of shares is typical of the organization of the German credit-bank system….There is no doubt that for their policy of furthering the industries, the economic development of Germany would have taken considerably longer than has been the case.”–Robert Franz.
    Discuss this topic with special reference to (a) the soundness or unsoundness of the joining of commercial and investment banking and (b) the judgment expressed by the writer with respect to the effect of the policy of German banks upon the economic progress of Germany.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 10. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1922-24.

__________________________

1923-24
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1924]

[not (yet) recovered]

__________________________

1924-25
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1925]

Answer 8 questions

  1. In what respects is the case for international bimetallism stronger than the case for national bimetallism?
  2. Disregarding legal stipulations, what assets might an individual bank properly regard as constituting its reserve? What assets might the banks of the United States, taken together, regard as their reserves?
  3. Professor Taussig, in discussing Professor Fisher’s equation of exchange, said: “In the end, an increase of deposits finds its limits in the volume of cash held by the banks. But there is some elasticity of adjustment, by which loans and discounts increase as fast as transactions or faster; and this accounts in no small degree for the rise in prices during periods of activity.”
    Discuss.
  4. In what different ways are clearing house balances settled? Why is so much importance attached to the matter?
  5. “The close relation of the so-called regular banking business to that of the floating of enterprises, the trading in and the issue of shares, is typical of the organization of the German credit-bank system.” Explain.
  6. With what problem did the “Bullion Report” deal, and what were the doctrines of its supporters?
  7. What was the issue between the “currency school” and the “banking school,” and what is your own opinion respecting the matter?
  8. What effects do large issues of paper money have on (a) taxation, (b) prices, (c) wages, (d) creditors, and upon (e) the “demand for money”?
  9. Do you or do you not favor Professor Fisher’s plan for a stabilized dollar? Give your principal reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 11. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1925-26.

__________________________

1925-26
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1926]

[not (yet) recovered]

__________________________

1926-27
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year Examination, 1927]

Answer 8 questions

  1. Define deposits, reserve, surplus, discount.
  2. Describe the use of (a) the one-name promissory note, (b) the trade acceptance, (c) the bankers acceptance, in financing trade.
  3. What, in your opinion, what is the chief defect of the old national banking system? Explain.
  4. What was the principal issue in the controversy that preceded the bank-charter act of 1844? Discuss.
  5. What was the principal issue in the debates of the Restriction period? Discuss.
  6. “Germany’s ability to make reparation payments depends upon her ability to maintain a favorable balance of commodity trade.” How far do you agree? Explain.
  7. Under what conditions and why is goal shipped from one country to another?
  8. Explain the meaning of the statement, “London finances the world’s trade.”
  9. On what advantages has London’s position as the world’s central money market rested? Do you think that London is likely to maintain that position?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943, Box 11. (Bound volume) Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1927.

Image Source: Allyn A. Young faculty portrait in the Harvard Class Album, 1925.

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Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Economic Theory Prelim Exam, Friedman (chair), 1955

 

The examination committee for the Economic Theory prelim given in the summer of 1955 consisted of Milton Friedman (chair), W. Allen Wallis, and D.G. Johnson. Besides the questions, we have some of the answers that are transcribed from Milton Friedman’s handwritten notes from his copy of the examination questions.

Previous posts with University of Chicago preliminary examinations for Ph.D. and A.M.  degrees:

Preliminary Exam (Money and Banking) 1956

Preliminary Exam (Money and Banking) 1959

Preliminary Exam (Economic Theory, Old Rules) 1960

Preliminary Exam (Price Theory) 1964

Preliminary Exam (Price Theory) 1969

Preliminary Exam (Macroeconomics) 1969

Preliminary Exam (Money and Banking) 1969

Preliminary Exam (International Trade) 1970

Preliminary Exam (Price Theory) 1975

Preliminary Exam (Industrial Organization) 1977

Preliminary Exam (History of Economic Thought) 1989

________________________

ECONOMIC THEORY I
Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and A.M. Degrees
Summer Quarter 1955

WRITE YOUR NUMBER AND NOT YOUR NAME ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER.

Answer all questions. Time: four hours.

  1. (30 points) Indicate whether each of the following statements is true (T), false (F), or uncertain (U). Give a brief explanation of your answer.
    1. ____ If the income elasticity of demand for a product is greater than unity, the relative price of that product will rise as real per capita incomes increase, i.e., will rise relative to products with income elasticity less than unity.
    2. ____ When a firm is producing in a region of rising marginal cost, that firm is in equilibrium because average costs are increasing also.
    3. ____ The market price of steel and iron scrap fluctuates more than the price of finished steel primarily because the scrap market is competitive while the finished steel market is in the hands of monopolists.
    4. ____If automobile firms overproduce and competition forces down the price of new cars, this harms a car owner who has purchased his car on credit since his mortgaged car has suffered a decline in price.
    5. ____ It is frequently stated that the more disagreeable or dirty a job is the more it will be necessary to pay workers, but this is contradicted by the fact that college professors earn more than foundry workers.
    6. ____ Lowering the support price of wheat in the United States at present would aggravate rather than relieve the problem of surpluses, since farmers would simply produce proportionately more in order to maintain their incomes.
    7. ____ An increase in demand for a commodity increases its price, but an increase in price reduces demand. Increases in demand tend, therefore, to be self-compensating.
    8. ____ Increasing the minimum wage rate to one dollar per hour will have little or no effect outside the South, since most workers now being paid less than one dollar per hour are in the South.
    9. ____ In the absence of factors making for an increase in demand, and other things being equal, a new method will be introduced sooner in a competitive than in a monopolized industry.
    10. ____ Without collective bargaining, the workers’ market disadvantage would enable the owners of other productive agencies to appropriate income that would otherwise go to labor.
    11. With collective bargaining, workers in general can appropriate income from the owners of other agents.
    12. ____ In equilibrium, it is enough to know the marginal factor cost of any one factor and its marginal physical product to know the marginal cost of the product, even though the product is produced by many factors.
    13. ____ The demand for a product at the market price is inelastic. It follows that the product must be produced under conditions of net internal diseconomies.
    14. ____ Under competition, the marginal efficiency of capital is equal to the marginal physical product of a particular kind of capital good times the price of the product.
    15. ____ To assert that the rate at which a consumer is willing to substitute x for y decreases as the quantity of x increases along an indifference curve is equivalent to saying that the indifference curve is concave toward the origin.
  2. (10 points) “East coast gas wars are forcing big producers to chop prices to retailers. With some Manhattan service stations selling gas as low as 15.8¢ per gallon, Socony Mobil, Esso Standard Oil and others have cut wholesale prices up to ½¢ per gallon in most of the seaboard marketing area from Maine to Washington, D.C., the first price reduction in nearly a year” Time, July 25, 1955.
    Explain why this quotation is bad economics.
  3. (10 points) Fair trade is now rapidly disappearing. However, a few firms (Sunbeam, Schaeffer) are actively trying to enforce fair trade pricing.
    • (a) Are these firms just misguided or are there circumstances in which fair trade would help them?
    • (b) If fair trade were generally observed, what would be the effect on return on capital and entrepreneurial effort engaged in retailing?
  4. (15 points) A recent court decree requires a company (The United Shoe Machinery Co.) which heretofore has only leased its machines, for which there are at present no competitors, to offer them for sale at prices which will make it neither more nor less advantageous to buy than to rent the machines. How can such prices be determined, and by what criteria can it be determined whether a given price meets the requirement?
  5. (15 points) Discuss the role of “Euler’s theorem” in distribution theory, and give your own position on the issues.
  6. (20 points)
    1. Define (a) perfect competition, (b) oligopoly, (c) monopoly, (d) monopolistic competition, (e) cartel, (f) monopsony.
    2. State the conditions of maximum return for the individual firm in a form in which they are applicable to all the preceding market conditions. Indicate the special form which these take for each of the preceding market conditions.
    3. Define “length of run” and state is effect on these conditions.

*  * *  *  * *  *  * *  *  * *  *  *

Milton Friedman’s Handwritten Notes for Examination

  1. (30 points)
    1. Uncertain. Depends on conditions of supply
    2. False. (blank)
    3. False. Primarily because supply is more inelastic
    4. True. Applies equally to all car owners, whether mortgaged or not
    5. Uncertain. Must allow for extra costs of becoming college professor
    6. Uncertain. Backward (word illegible) supply curve unlikely for crop like wheat with alternative that can be produced instead
    7. False. Confusion of shift in demand and movement along demand schedule
    8. False. affects complements and substitutes in (letter illegible, possibly “N”)
    9. Uncertain. In competitive industry, only necessary that AC of new be less than AC of old which is equal to MC (word illegible) at margin. In monopoly (word illegible) AC of new must be less than MC of old for (3 words illegible).
    10. False. Under competition, no market disadvantage. But (word illegible) that (4 words illegible) enable workers to get larger total income.
      With collective bargaining, workers in general can appropriate income from the owners of other agents.
    11. Uncertain. Depends on elasticity of demand for labor.
    12. True. (blank)
    13. True. if net internal economies, monopoly, which wouldn’t operate at inelastic demand]
    14. False. (not legible)
    15. True

  1. (10 points) (blank)

 

  1. (10 points)

(a) (comment not legible)
(b) Reduce it

  1. (15 points) (blank)

 

  1. (15 points)

1) Exhaustion of product problem—lh;
2) Proves too much;
3) Condition of equilibrium not result of lh.
(“lh” = “linear homogeneity”?)

  1. (20 points)
    1. Definitions. (6 points)
    2. 11 points

2 points for stating the conditions in form applicable to all the market conditions listed in question 1.

1/MR = MPPa/MFCa= MPPb/MFCb= …. = 1/MC

Special form for conditions for

      1. (2 points, perfect competition) MFCa = pa, MR = px
      2. (1 point, oligopoly) (illegible word) MFCa= pa
      3. (1 point, monopoly) MFCa= pa
      4. (1 point, monopolistic competition) same as c.
      5. (2 points, cartel) MFCa= pa, MR not equal MC
      6. (2 points, monopsony) MR = px
    1. (Definition) 1 point; (Effect) 2 points: MFC = infinity or zero for some factors

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 76, Folder “76.2 University of Chicago Economic Theory”.

Image Source:  Milton Friedman (undated) from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-06230, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Summer School, Syllabus and Exams for Income Distribution. Bronfenbrenner, 1970

 

 

Try to imagine what a summer school student at Harvard might have thought in the summer of 1970 (scarcely a month after the Kent State University shootings) when confronted with the five page reading list in Martin Bronfenbrenner’s economics course on income distribution. Next jump down to the four page final exam and also imagine that summer student’s reaction.  Well, that was exactly a half-century ago and it was still a time when professors could get away with assigning mountains of reading followed by an examination demanding both comprehension and thought. Chapeau!

Worth noting:  Joan Robinson appeared in four of the seven exam questions. 

_______________________

Summer 1970

INCOME DISTRIBUTION—M. Bronfenbrenner

Text:    B.F. Haley and William Fellner (eds.), Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

Note:   Few will have time for even half the materials below. Students should concentrate where their interests are strongest, and/or where class presentation seems weakest.

  1. Introduction
    1. Theoretical

Clark, Distribution of Wealth, Ch. 1.

Galbraith, Affluent Society, Ch. 7.

Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” AER, Mar. 55.
(Reprinted in Kuznets, Economic Growth and Structure.)

Klein, Introduction to Econometrics, Ch. 4.

M. Friedman, “Choice, Chance, and the Personal Distribution of Income,” JPE, Aug. 53.

Mincer, “Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution,” JPE, Aug. 58.

Weintraub, General Theory of the Price Level, Output, Income, and Growth, Ch. 3-4.

Solow, “Constancy of Relative Shares,” AER, Sept. 58, or Bronfenbrenner “Relative Shares and Elasticity of Substitution,” JPE, June 60.

    1. Statistical

Lydall, Structure of Earnings, Ch. 2-4.

Budd, Inequality and Poverty, pp. x-xxviii (Budd), Parts 2-3 (Solow, Goldsmith, Lampman, Projector and Weiss, Stigler, Meade).

Readings, 4 (Bowman) [“A Graphical Analysis of Personal Income Distribution in the United States”]

Kuznets, Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Saving, pp. xxvii-xli.

Lampman, “Recent Changes in Income Inequality,” AER, June 54.

Lebergott, “Factor Shares in the Long Run,” in NBER, Behavior of Income Shares, pp. 53-86, or Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” AER, Dec. 59.

Phillips, “Labor Share and Wage Parity,” R.E.Stat., May 60.

  1. Maldistribution?
    1. General Ethical Issues

Budd, Part 1 (Meade and Hitch, de Jouvenel, Wallich, Tawney, Friedman)

Shaw, Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, Ch. 2-14, 20-23 (skim).

Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 3.

    1. General Economic Issues

Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, Ch. 11.

Durbin, Purchasing Power and Trade Depression, Ch. 1.

Bronfenbrenner, Yamane, and Lee, “Study in Redistribution and Consumption,” R.E.Stat., May 55.

Budd, Part 4 (Meade, Friedman, Simons, Pigou).

    1. American Poverty Program

Budd, Part 5 (Harrington, Miller, Ornati, Lampman, Johnson, Ad Hoc Committee on Triple Revolution, Friedman, Tobin)

R.D. Friedman, Poverty, Definition and Perspective, Ch. 2-3.

Green, Negative Taxes and the Poverty Problem, Ch. 4-6, 8.

Thurow, Poverty and Discrimination, Ch. 3-5, 9.

  1. Demand for Productive Inputs
    1. Marginal Productivity

Hicks, Theory of Wages, Ch. 1.

Ferguson, Neoclassical Theory of Production and Distribution, Ch. 4-6, 9, 12.2.

    1. Complications and Objections

Levinson, Unionism, Wage Trends, and Income Distribution, Ch. 1.

Dobb, Wages, pp. 81-92, Ch. 5.

Weintraub, Approach to the Theory of Income Distribution, Ch. 1.

Readings, 6 (Stigler [“Production and Distribution in the Short Run”]), 8 (Machlup [“On the Meaning of the Marginal Product”]) , 12 (Robertson [“Wage-Grumbles”]), 15 (Rolph [“The Discounted Marginal Productivity Doctrine”]).

The Lester-Machlup-Stigler Controversy: AER, Mar. 46 and Sept. 46, Mar. 47. (Reprinted in Clemence, Readings in Econ. Analysis).

Reder, “Marginal Productivity Reconsidered,” JPE, Oct. 47 (Reprinted in Clemence, Readings in Econ. Analysis.)

    1. Exploitation?

Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Ch. 21-26, or Pigou, pt. III, Ch. 14-19.

Rothschild, Theory of Wages, Ch. 7-8.

Readings 7 (Chamberlin [“Monopolistic Competition and the Productivity Theory of Distribution”]), 14 (Bloom [“A Reconsideration of the Theory of Exploitation”]).

Bronfenbrenner, “Potential Monopsony,” Ind. Labor Rel. Rev., Apr. 56.

    1. Impact of Innovations

Ferguson, Ch. 12.3, 16.

Readings, 9 (Robinson [“The Classification of Inventions”]), 10 (Lange [“A Note on Innovations”])

Stiglitz and Uzawa, Readings in Modern Theory of Economic Growth, 6 (Hicks [“From Theory of Wages”]), 9 (Fellner [“Two Propositions in the Theory of Induced Innovations”]), 10 (Kennedy [“Induced Bias in Innovation and the Theory of Distribution”]).

Seeber, “Classification of Inventions,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 62.

  1. Labor Supply

Rothschild, Ch. 3, or Stigler, Theory of Price (3rd), pp. 194-202.

Readings, 13 (Robbins [“On the Elasticity of Demand for Income in Terms of Effort”]).

Long, The Labor Force Under Changing Income and Employment, Ch. 1.

Break, “Income Taxes, Wage Rates, and Factor Services,” Natl. Tax J., Dec. 53.

  1. Collective Bargaining
    1. Theory and Evidence

Hicks, Ch. 7.

Readings, 19 (Dunlop [Wage Policies of Trade Unions]).

Ross, Trade Union Wage Policy, Ch. 2, 6.

Fellner, Competition Among the Few, Ch. 10.

Rees, Economics of Trade Unions, Ch. 4-5.

Lewis, Unionism and Relative Wages in U.S., Ch. 1, 4-6.

Bronfenbrenner, “Incidence of Collective Bargaining Once More,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 58. (Reprinted in Galenson and Lipset, Labor and Trade Unionism.)

    1. The Labor Monopoly Issue

Simons, Economic Policy for a Free Society, Ch. 6.

Lester, “The Labor Monopoly Issue,” JPE, Dec. 47.

Lindblom, Unions and Capitalism, Ch. 1-3, 14-18.

Lerner, Economics of Employment, Part IV, or Rothschild, Ch. 13.

    1. Wage Difference (Omitted in Class)

Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Bk. II, Ch. 14.

Dobb, Ch. 6.

Mills, White Collar, Ch. 6-7, or Harris, Market for College Graduates, Ch. 3, 3-a.

McCaffree, “Earnings Differential Between White Collar and Manual Occupations,” R.E.Stat., Feb. 53.

Burns, “Comparative Economic Position of Manual and White Collar Employees,” Journ. Of Bus., Oct. 54.

Reder, “Wage Differentials,” in NBER, Aspects of Labor Economics, pp. 257-99.

  1. Wages and Employment

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

Readings, 18 (Tarshis [“Changes in Real and Money Wages”]), 17 (Lerner [“The Relation of Wage Policies and Price Policies”]).

Slichter-Nathan Controversy: “Raising the Price of Labor as a Method of Increasing Employment,” R.E.Stat., Nov. 49.

Bronfenbrenner, “Contribution to Aggregative Theory of Wages,” JPE, Dec. 56.

  1. Theory of Interest
    1. Real Theories

Conard, Introduction to the Theory of Interest, Ch. 3, 4, 7.

Hirschleifer, “Theory of Optimal Investment Decision,” JPE, Aug. 58.

Knight, “Interest,” in Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, or, “Diminishing Returns from Investment,” JPE, Mar. 44.

Patinkin, Money, Interest, and Prices, Ch. 4.

    1. Monetary Theories

Readings, 22 (Keynes [“The Theory of the Rate of Interest”]), 23 (Robertson [“Mr. Keynes and the Rate of Interest”]), 24 (Hicks [“Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation”]).

Harris, (Ed.), New Economics, 43-46 (Lerner).

Lange, “Rate of Interest and Optimum Propensity to Consume,” in AEA, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, 8.

Conard, Ch. 9-10.

Patinkin, Ch. 15.

    1. Rate Differences

Readings, 26 (Lutz [“The Structure of Interest Rates”])

Hicks, Value and Capital (2nd), pp. 144-52.

Conard, Ch. 17.

Kessel, “Cyclical Behavior of Term Structure of Interest Rates,” (NBER Occasional Paper 91), Ch. 1.

  1. Theory of Rent

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, Ch. 2.

George, Progress and Poverty, Bk. III, Ch. 2; also skim Books IV-VI.

Robertson, Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. ii, Ch. 3

Readings, 31 (Buchanan [“The Historical Approach to Rent and Price Theory”]).

Ferguson, Ch. 1.4.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.2, 3.4.3.

  1. Theory of Profit

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Ch. 1-2, 8-9.

Readings, 27 (Knight [“Profit”]), 29 (Gordon [“Enterprise, Profits, and the Modern Corporation”]), 30 (Crum [“Corporate Earnings on Invested Capital”]).

Weston, “Generalized Uncertainty Theory of Profit,” AER, Mar. 50.

Marchal, “New Theory of Profits,” AER, Sept. 51.

Bronfenbrenner, “Rehabilitation of Naïve Profit Theory,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 60 (Reprinted in Brait and Hochman, Readings in Microeconomics).

Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Profits Hearings, Dec. 48. (Testimony of Slichter, Harris, Ruttenberg, Montgomery, and Nixon on definition and measurement).

  1. Aggregative Distribution Theories

Scitovsky, “Some Theories of Income Distribution,” in NBER, Behavior of Income Shares, pp. 15-31.

Davidson, Theories of Aggregate Income Distribution, Ch. 4-8.

Douglas, “Are There Laws of Production?” AER, Mar. 48. (Reprinted in Kelley edition of Douglas, Theory of Wages.)

Ferguson, Ch. 12.4-12.9, 15.

Readings, 11 (Kalecki [“The Distribution of the National Income”]), or Rothschild, Ch. 15.

Boulding, Reconstruction of Economics, Ch. 14.

Stiglitz and Uzawa, 21 (Kaldor [“Alternative Theories of Distribution”]) [Also in Kaldor, Essays in Value and Distribution, no. 10.], 22 (Robinson).

Reder, “Alternative Theories of Labor’s Share,” in Abramovitz, Allocation of Economic Resources.

Source:  Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Martin Bronfenbrenner, Box 25, Folder “Micro-econ + Distribution, 1 of 2, 1966-71, n.d.”

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Economics S-222—Income Distribution
Summer 1970—M. Bronfenbrenner
Final Examination

In a (probably unsuccessful) attempt to make my own position clear on a number of controversial issues, I have perhaps understressed in class certain powerful statements of contrary positions.

For purposes of this examination, please consider any four of the quotations below. Indicate the portions of distribution theory to which they apply. Then comment upon them, indicating why they do (or do not) appear convincing.

  1. Technical conditions and the rate of profit determine the pattern of normal prices, including the price of labour-time in terms of each commodity; money-wage rates determine the corresponding money price level. But what determines the rate of profit?
    Marx closes his system sometimes (following Ricardo) by postulating a real-wage rate governed by the conventional standard of life (the value of labour-time) and sometimes by taking as given the share of net profit in the value of net output (the rate of exploitation). Marshall conceals the problem behind a smoke-screen of moral sentiments. The latter-day neoclassicals are for ever chasing definitions around a circular argument. Sraffa offers no observations on the subject. Von Neumann postulates a real-wage rate which is precisely specified in terms of particular quantities of particular commodities, but leaves us helpless when that assumption is relaxed. The question of what determines the rate of profit, when the real-wage rate is not to be taken as given, is a huge blank in traditional economic teaching.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, p. 11]
  2. Even from the momentary market point of view, the Keynesian formulation tends to obscure unduly the parts played by Productivity and Thrift…While there are hints here and there of a broader treatment, in the main (Mr. Keynes’) plan is to set the rate of interest in a direct functional relation only with that part of the money stock which is held for what he calls “speculative reasons”, i.e., because it is expected that the rate of interest will subsequently rise. Thus the rate of interest is what it is because it is expected to become other than it is; if it is not expected to become other than it is, there is nothing left to tell us why it is what it is. The organ which secretes it has been amputated, and yet it somehow still exists—a grin without a cat. Mr. Plumptre of Toronto…has aptly compared the position of the lenders of money under this theory with that of an insurance company which charges its clients a premium, the only risk against which it insures them being the risk that its premium will be raised.
    [Dennis H. Robertson, “Mr. Keynes and the Rate of Interest” in Essays in Monetary Theory, 1940. Pages 35-36.]

The price of pig
Is something big,
Because its corn, you’ll understand,
Is high-priced too;
Because it grew
Upon the high-priced farming land.

If you’d know why
That land is high,
Consider this: its price is big
Because it pays
Thereon to raise
The costly corn, the high-priced pig!

 [Herbert Joseph Davenport, The Economics of Enterprise, 1913. Pages 107-108]

  1. The level of money-wage rates obtaining at any particular moment is an historical accident. The absolute level of wages in terms of money affects nothing except the words and numbers in which money values are reckoned and the nominal value of the stock of currency. But changes in the level of money-wage rates have important effects upon the behavior of the economy in real terms.
    The causes of movements in money-wage rates are bound up with the competition of different groups of workers to maintain or improve their relative positions, and the consequences of changes in wage levels are most important in connection with the competition in international trade.
    The level of money-wage rates may be continuously rising simply because it is easier for each group of employers to give way to the demands of their workers and recoup themselves by raising prices than to incur the losses and unpleasantness involved in resisting them.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 70-71]
  2. A distinction should be made between primary and secondary distribution of the national income.
    The national income first of all falls into the hands of the capitalists. Primary distribution of the national income consists on its being distributed between capitalists and workers. The workers receive wages, the capitalists surplus value, which is distributed among the industrialists, merchants, bankers, and big landed proprietors.
    After the national income has been distributed among the basic elements of capitalist society, a secondary distribution or redistribution takes place. We have seen that in the non-productive branches of the economy (medical institutions, public services, entertainments, etc.) no national income is created. But the capitalists who control these enterprizes and institutions pay salaries to their employees, cover the cost of maintaining premises, and in addition make a profit. The capitalists cover all these items of expenditure out of the national income created in the sphere of material production by charging for the services provided. These payments produce an average profit for the capitalists in the non-productive sphere. Part of the income of the working people is (also) redistributed through the state budget in the interests of the ruling class. The bourgeois state has its army, police, penal institutions and courts, administrative apparatus and so on. All are maintained out of the state budget, taxes levied upon the population being its main source of revenue. After working people have received wages through the primary distribution on the national income, they have to pay taxes out of them. In this way, the part of the national income put at the disposal of the working people is reduced. (Capitalists, too, pay taxes. But part is returned in the form of extremely high payment for supplies and service to the government. Another part is spent in the upkeep of the state apparatus, army and so on, the chief purpose of which is to defend the interests of these same capitalists.)
    This is why not only the distribution, but also the redistribution of the national income in bourgeois society is effected in the interests of the exploiting classes.
    [P. Nikitin, Fundamentals of Political Economy, trans. Violet Dutt and Murad Saifulin (probably 1966), pp. 133-135 quoted by Martin Bronfenbrenner in Income Distribution Theory, Chapter 2, footnote 12. Cf: 1983 Translation of a later edition by Jane Syer, pp. 151-152.]
  3. The neo-classical model is most at its ease in a stationary state. The amount of capital that capitalists are willing to maintain in being (neither saving nor dissaving) is a function of the rate of interest, or, alternatively, there is one rate of interest at which net saving is zero. The physical stock of capital and the real-wage rate are such as to have brought the rate of profit into equality with the rate of interest. There is then one value of the stock of capital that yields the rate of return (with a given labor force fully employed) which will cause it to be maintained. This is the value of capital that satisfies the conditions of the stationary state.
    When it leaves the stationary state, the neo-classical model is all at sea. With any given value of capital in existence, the amount of saving that the capitalists wish to do to increase it depends upon the rate of interest, which must be equal to the rate of profit, but how can we tell what the rate of profit is till we know the rate of accumulation?
    It is an illusion to suppose that “the marginal productivity of capital” provides an independent determinant of the rate of interest. A “quantity of capital” in terms of value has no meaning in terms of physical productivity until the prices of its physical components are known, and this involves the rate of profit. A “quantity of capital” in terms of a list of physical capital goods appropriate to various kinds of output, if they are taken to be fully utilized, entails the output of investment goods, and so the rate of accumulation, independently of the rate of profit that is supposed to determine it. If they are not necessarily fully utilized, then we have to know the current rate of investment to find out the state of effective demand and current profits. Whatever we do, we are one equation short.
    The reason why the model works all right in the stationary state has nothing to do with its stationariness. It works because the rate of accumulation—zero—is specified. With any specified rate of accumulation, the function connecting saving with the rate of profit determines the position, for it shows what the rate of profit and the value of capital must be to make saving equal to investment at full employment.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 81-82]
  4. The theory of the distribution of the product of industry between wages and profits which is knocking about in current economic teaching consists of a number of propositions, each of which is quite unexceptionable in itself, but none of which bears any relation to the rest…The proposition that the share of profits in income is a function of the ratio of investment to income is perfectly correct, but capacity and the degree of monopoly have to be brought in to determine what income it is that profits are a share of, and investment is related to.
    [Joan Robinson, Collected Economic Papers, II, p. 145]

L’ENVOI

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head.

(Alexander Pope)

 Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Martin Bronfenbrenner, Box 24, Folder “Exams. Micro-econ + distribution. 2 of 2, 1954-66, n.d.”

Image Source: Martin Bronfenbrenner. University of Minnesota Archives/Libraries/Umedia.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course outlines and semester exams in money and banking. Smith and Dorfman, 1958-59

 

I was surprised to find that as late as 1958-59 Harvard had no course on its books that even used the word “macroeconomics” in the title. The door to macroeconomics was instead found in undergraduate, graduate courses that were devoted to money and banking: Economics 141–Money, Banking, and Economic Fluctuations” and Economics 241–“Principles of Money and Banking”. I have to admit that I was somewhat puzzled to see the macroeconomist Warren Smith paired with the microeconomist Robert Dorfman for the graduate sequence. Maybe it was because Keynesian economics attracted the whiz-kids of mathematical economics of the time that the department turned to Robert Dorfman for graduate instruction in Keynesian economics, the main subject covered in his semester of the two semester Economics 241 course.

Before getting to the course outlines and exams, I provide memorial minutes  for Warren Smith, who was a visiting professor at Harvard that year from the University of Michigan, and Robert Dorfman, a member of the Harvard faculty, recently acquired from the Berkeley economics department.

___________________________

University of Michigan, LSA Minutes. Memorial.

WARREN L. SMITH
1914 – 1972

Professor Warren Lounsbury Smith was born in Watertown, New York, on March 23, 1914, He died in Ann Arbor on April 23, 1972, He had come to The University of Michigan as a freshman in 1940, and in 1943 he married fellow student Ann Elizabeth Schwartz of Ann Arbor, His studies were interrupted by military service during World War II, but he continued a brilliant career as a student here, earning the B.A.in 1947, the M.A. in 1949, and the Ph.D. in Economics in 1952.

Warren Smith’s professional life as an economist thus began relatively late, at the age of 38. His accomplishments during the all-too-brief span of only 20 years are, therefore, all the more remarkable. He taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Economics Department at Michigan while still a student. After teaching at the University of Virginia and Ohio State University, he returned to Michigan in 1957 with the rank of Associate Professor of Economics. He was promoted to full professor in 1959, and served as Chairman of the Department of Economics from 1963 to 1967 and again in 1970-71. Professor Smith was regarded by graduate and undergraduate students alike as an absolutely superb teacher. His devotion to his responsibilities to students, both in and out of the classroom, brought him the deepest admiration and respect of all those who were privileged to know him in this capacity.

Excellence in teaching, however, was not gained at the expense of scholarship and service to the Department, the University, and the Nation. As Chairman of the Department Professor Smith was unstinting in the time and energy devoted to the task of finding the means to satisfaction of the needs of the Department. His colleagues are universally agreed that a very large part of the qualities of excellence now found in the Department are attributable to his stewardship.

Professor Smith’s public service contributions were both extensive and highly acclaimed. He served as consultant to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Commission on Money and Credit, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the Council of Economic Advisers, and appeared frequently as a public witness before Congressional Committees. In 1962-63 he served as Senior Economist on the Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and in 1968-69 he was a member of the Council.

But in the world of professional economists Warren Smith’s most magnificent monument, the living testimony to the greatness that he achieved, is to be found in his published articles and monographs and his Macroeconomics. As a scholar Professor Smith won world-wide renown, His work was always relevant, always expressive of the keenest insights, and always lucidly and forcefully presented. Few, if any, American economists have done more to shape current thinking on monetary and fiscal policy and debt management than Warren Smith.

To Ann Achwartz Smith, his wife, and to his children, Andrew, Samuel, and Catherine, we the faculty of the Department of Economics and of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts convey our sense of deepest personal loss. No one in our midst has ever more fully and completely exemplified the finest qualities of friend, colleague, teacher, scholar, and public servant than Warren Lounsbury Smith. The lives of all of us have been enriched because we were privileged to know him.

Peter O. Steiner

Source: Warren Lunsbury Smith Memorial Minute, University of Michigan, Faculty History Project.

___________________________

Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Memorial Minute
Robert [Elihu] Dorfman

Robert Dorfman, the late David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, was a leader in the introduction of mathematical methods to economics in the twentieth century. He died on June 24, 2002, at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Dorfman made important contributions, particularly as a pioneer in the use of linear programming, characterizing production relationships in terms of individual activities with fixed coefficients. He collaborated in 1958 with MIT Professors (and later Nobel laureates) Robert M. Solow and Paul A. Samuelson on the classic Linear Programming and Economic Analysis.

He believed that mathematical methods were key – both as analytical tools and as means of exposition. In this regard, Jerry Green, John Leverett Professor in the University and David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, said at Dorfman’s memorial service in 2002, “He was an ambassador for the future of our field.”

Dorfman wrote in 1954: “Is mathematics necessary in social science? I suppose not. It is quite conceivable that all problems could be solved by verbal means, just as it is possible to find that the square root of CXCVI is XIV. Such methods, though, would be not only painful but fearfully inefficient.”

Dorfman also made significant contributions to environmental economics. Beginning in 1972, he edited with his wife, Nancy S. Dorfman, three editions of Economics of the Environment. Testimony to the lasting value of this work is the fact that it is now in its sixth edition (edited since 2000 by Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at the Kennedy School).

In this realm, Dorfman understood the importance of the underlying natural science. His analysis of water resources in Pakistan, for example, drew on collaborations with engineers and hydrologists. He was for many years an affiliate of Harvard’s Center for Population Studies, where he helped introduce optimization methodologies for resource management to developing countries.

Dorfman’s career at Harvard spanned 32 years. He was Professor of Economics from 1955 to 1972, and then David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy until his retirement in 1987. He was known by junior colleagues as a marvelous mentor. Henry Rosovsky once said that the kindest five words that can be said to a young scholar are, “I have read your thesis.” Jerry Green has observed, “That was exactly what Bob said to me the first time we met. I am sure he said the same to many others.”

From 1976 to 1984, Dorfman served as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Green, an associate editor, observed his style: “I saw how he worked with articles and authors of all kinds. Diamonds in the rough had to be polished.”

Dorfman enjoyed a reputation as a masterful teacher, especially at the graduate level. He taught mathematical economics, microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, and econometrics, and thereby – in the words of Dale Jorgenson, Samuel W. Morris University Professor – “almost single- handedly brought the Harvard graduate program to the level of competing institutions.” Jorgenson recalls the course he took from Dorfman, and counts himself among “the fortunate students who were brought to the frontier of research in economic theory.”

In the 1970s, Dorfman launched a seminar series on the economics of information and organizations with Professor Kenneth Arrow and Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School. Generations of young scholars benefitted from this colloquium, including Green, who later became a co-chair. Zeckhauser recalls that “the most faithful presenter was Eric Maskin (now Professor of Economics), who was then starting to develop his pioneering work in mechanism design that would ultimately win him the Nobel Prize.”

Born on October 27, 1916, in New York City, Dorfman received his B.A. in mathematical statistics from Columbia College in 1936 and an M.A. in economics from Columbia University in 1937. Dorfman was a wartime pioneer in operations research. From 1939 to 1943, he worked as a statistician for the federal government, and then served during World War II as an operations analyst for the U.S. Army Air Force, based in the Southwest Pacific theater and in Washington, D.C.

After the war, Dorfman enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his Ph.D. degree in economics in 1950. He joined the faculty at Berkeley, where he was an associate professor of economics when he moved to Harvard in 1955.

Among his scholarly contributions were four classic articles in the American Economic Review: “Mathematical or ‘Linear’ Programming” (1953), “Operations Research” (1960), “An Economic Interpretation of Optimal Control Theory” (1969), and “Incidence of the Benefits and Costs of Environmental Programs” (1977).

Dorfman was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as vice president of the American Economic Association, and vice president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. In 1972, when Dorfman was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, his citation included this summary: “Robert Dorfman’s characteristic intellectual style is based on a deep and painstaking mastery of the theoretical fundamentals, leading to a clear intuitive grasp of intellectual questions and thence to masterly exposition.”

Thirty years later, his co-author Robert Solow characterized him as “always polite, even self- deprecating, never assertive, he nevertheless stood his ground. If Bob Dorfman mildly and quizzically expressed some hesitation about your pet idea, it was always a good move to look up, just in case a boulder was about to crash down on you—politely, of course.”

According to his wife, Nancy, Dorfman turned to mathematics in college as a substitute for poetry, after concluding that he did not have a future as a poet. But his love of literature was reflected in the clarity and grace with which he explained complex economics in simple terms.

Robert Dorfman is survived by his wife, Nancy, of Lexington; his son, Peter, of Belmont; his daughter, Ann, of Newton; granddaughter, Joni Waldron, of Washington, D.C.; and grandson, Loren Waldron, of Newton.

Respectfully submitted,

Jerry Green
Dale W. Jorgenson Peter P. Rogers
Robert N. Stavins, Chair

SourceThe Harvard Gazette, November 14, 2012.

___________________________

Course Announcement.

Economics 241. Principles of Money and Banking

Full course. M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor Dorfman (spring term) and Associate Professor Warren Smith (University of Michigan).

SourceOfficial Register of Harvard University. Vol. LV, No. 20 (September 3, 1958), p. 95.

___________________________

Course Enrollment.

[Economics] 241 Principles of Money and Banking, (F) Associate Professor Warren Smith (University of Michigan); (S) Professor Dorfman. Full course.

(F) Total 20: 16 Gr., 2 Ra., 2 Others.
(S) Total 18: 16, 1 Ra., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1958-1959, p.73.

___________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Outline and Reading List
Economics 241: Principles of Money and Banking

Fall, 1958-59

  1. Monetary Mechanics
    1. (Sept. 22-29) Determinants of Member Bank Reserves and Money Supply Assignments:

Assignments: W. H. Steiner, E. Shapiro, and E. Solomon, Money and Banking (4th, 1958), Part III; E. S. Shaw, Money, Income, and Monetary Policy (1950), Chaps. II, III, X, XI; Bank Reserves: Some Major Factors Affecting Them (1953); The Treasury and the Money Market (1954).

References: J. P. Powelson, Economic Accounting (1955), Chaps. 13, 25; M.A. Copeland and D.H. Brill, “Banking Assets and Money Supply Since 1929,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Jan. 1948, pp. 24-32; “A Flow-of-Funds System of National Accounts: Annual Estimates,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Oct. 1955, pp. 1085-1124; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Flow of Funds in the United States, 1939-53 (1955); M. A. Copeland, A Study of Moneyflows in the United States (1955); M.A. Copeland, A Study of Moneyflows in the United States (1952).

    1. (Oct. 1-6) Bank Credit Expansion

Assignments: A.G. Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed., 1953), Chap. IV; Shaw, Money, Income, and Monetary Policy, Chaps. VI, VII.

References: J.W. Angell and K. Ficek, “Expansion of Bank Credit,” Journal of Political Economy, XLI, 1933, pp. 1-32, 152-193; W.F. Crick, “The Genesis of Bank Deposits,” Economica, VII, 1927, pp. 191-202, reprinted in F.A. Lutz and L.W. Mints (eds.), Readings in Monetary Theory (1951), pp. 41-53; D. Vining, “A Process Analysis of Bank Credit Expansion,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LIV, 1940, pp. 599-623.

    1. Monetary Policy
      1. (Oct. 8-17) Techniques of Control

Assignments: E.A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy (1951), Chap. V; Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt (Patman Committee Documents), Replies to Questions and Other Material, Part 1, pp. 275-299; R.V. Roosa, Federal Reserve Operations in the Money and Government Securities Markets (1956); W.L. Smith, “The Discount Rate as a Credit-Control Weapon,” Journal of Political Economy, LXVI, April 1958, pp. 171-177.

References: Steiner, Shapiro, and Solomon, Money and Banking (4th), Chaps. 12-14; Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity, Chaps. V, VI; W. W. Riefler, Money Rates and Money Markets in the United States(1930); D.A. Alhadeff, Monopoly and Competition in Banking (1954); G. L. Bach, Federal Reserve Policy Making (1950); L. Currie, The Supply and Control of Money in the United States (1934); C.O. Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System (1932); S.E. Harris, Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy (1933), 2 vols.; Patman Committee Documents (1952).

      1. (Oct. 20-Nov. 5) How Monetary Policy Works

Assignments: Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2nd), Chaps. XVII, XVIII; J. Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, reprinted in A. Smithies and J.K. Butters (eds.) Readings in Fiscal Policy (1955), pp. 233-247; H.S. Ellis, “The Rediscovery of Money,” and R.V. Roosa, “Interest Rates and the Central Bank,” both in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams (1951), pp. 253-269 and 270-295, respectively; “Influence of Credit and Monetary Measures on Economic Stability,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, March 1953, pp. 219-234; J.G. Gurley and E.S. Shaw, “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, XLV, Sept. 1955, pp. 515-538; W.L. Smith, “On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, XLVI, Sept. 1956, pp. 588-606; “Consumer Instalment Credit” (A Review Article), American Economic Review, XLVII, Dec. 1957, pp. 966-984; and “Monetary Policy and the Structure of Markets,” in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth, Compendium of Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee (1958), pp. 493-511; D. Carson, “Recent Open Market Committee Policy and Technique,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIX, Aug. 1955, pp. 321-342; A.H. Hansen, The American Economy (1957), Chaps. 3,4.

References: G.L.S. Shackle, “Interest Rates and the Pace of Investment,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946, pp. 1-17; F.A. Lutz, “The Interest Rate and Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 811-830; T. Wilson and P.W.S. Andrews, Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism (1951), Chap. I; W.H. White, “Interest Inelasticity of Investment Demand—The Case from Business Attitude Surveys Re-examined,” American Economic Review, XLVI, Sept. 1956, pp. 565-587; J.R. Meyer and E. Kuh, The Investment Decision (1957); R.A. Musgrave, “Credit Controls, Interest Rates, and Management of the Public Debt,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen (1948), pp. 221-254; and “Monetary-Debt Policy Revisited,” in C.J. Friedrich and J.K. Galbraith (eds.), Public Policy, Vol. V, 1954; W.L. Smith and R.F. Mikesell, “The Effectiveness of Monetary Policy: Recent British Experience,” Journal of Political Economy, LXV, Feb. 1957, pp. 18-39; H.P. Minsky, “Central Banking and Money Market Changes,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXI, May 1957, pp. 171-187; United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1954); Monetary Policy: 1955-56 (Joint Economic Committee, 1956); E. Miller, “Monetary Policy in a Changing World,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXX, Feb. 1956, pp. 23-43; Symposium on Monetary Policy, Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Statistics, April, May, and August 1952; J. Tobin, “Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt: The Patman Inquiry,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXV, May 1953, pp. 118-127; P.A. Samuelson, “Recent American Monetary Controversy” Three Banks Review, March 1956, pp. 3-21; and statement to the Patman Committee, Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt, Hearings, pp. 691-698; H.G. Johnson, “The Revival of Monetary Policy in Britain,” Three Banks Review, June 1956, pp. 3-20; J.K. Galbraith, “Market Structure and Stabilization Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, May 1957, pp. 124-133; C.R. Whittlesey, “Monetary Policy and Economic Change,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, Feb. 1957, pp. 31-39; A.H. Hansen, “Monetary Policy,” RES, XXXVII, May 1955, pp. 110-119; S. Weintraub, “Monetary Policy: A Comment,” RES, XXXVII, Aug. 1955, pp. 292-296; J.H. Karekin, “Lenders’ Preferences, Credit Rationing, and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” RES, XXXIX, Aug. 1957, pp. 292-301; R.S. Sayers, Central Banking after Bagehot (1957); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Consumer Instalment Credit, 6 vols. (1957); Financing Small Business, Report to the Committees on Banking and Currency and the Select Committees on Small Business by the federal Reserve System, Parts 1 and 2 (1958); Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3 (1957).

  1. Fiscal Policy
    1. (Nov. 7-14) Fiscal Policy and National Income

Assignments: R.L. Bishop, “Alternative Expansionist Fiscal Policies: A Diagrammatic Analysis,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen, pp. 317-340; R.A. Musgrave, “Alternative Budget Policies for Full Employment,” American Economic Review, XXX, June 1945, pp. 387-400, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 291-306; and “Money Liquidity, and the Valuation of Assets,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams(1951), pp. 216-242.

References: J.A. Maxwell, Fiscal Policy, (1955); O.H.Brownlee and E.D. Allen, Economics of Public Finance(2d ed.; 1954), Part II; J.F. Due, Government Finance: An Economic Analysis (1954), Chaps. 25-28; H.M. Somers, Public Finance and National Income (1949), esp. Part VI.

    1. (Nov. 17-19) Automatic Fiscal Stabilizers

Assignments: R.A. Musgrave and M.H. Miller, “Built-In Flexibility,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, March 1948, pp. 122-128, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 379-386; Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed.) Chaps. XXVII and XXVIII; M. Friedman, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” AER, XXXVIII, June 1948, pp. 245-264, reprinted in Lutz and Mints (eds.), Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 369-393; Committee for Economic Development, Taxes and the Budget: A Program for Prosperity in a Free Economy (1947); W.W. Heller, “The CED’s Stabilizing Budget Policy after Ten Years,” AER, XLII, Sept. 1947, pp. 634-651.

References: D.W. Lusher, “The Stabilizing Effectiveness of Budget Flexibility,” together with comments thereon, in Policies to Combat Depression (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1956), pp. 77-122; W. Egle, Economic Stabilization: Objectives, Rules and Mechanisms (1952), Chaps. 3-7; E.C. Brown, “The Static Theory of Automatic Fiscal Stabilization,” Journal of Political Economy, LXIII, Oct. 1955, pp. 427-440.

    1. (Nov. 21-Dec.1) Discretionary Tax and Expenditure Adjustments Assignments:

Assignments: Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed.) Chaps. XXIX and XXX; A. Smithies, “Federal Budgeting and Fiscal Policy,” in H.S. Ellis (ed.), A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. I (1948), pp. 174-209; P.A. Samuelson, “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy: A Neo-Classical Reformulation,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams (1951), pp. 157-176.

References: G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression (3d ed., 1946), Chap. 13; R. Goode, “Anti-Inflationary Implications of Alternative Forms of Taxation,” AER Papers and Proceedings, XLXX (May 1952), pp. 147-160; G. Colm, “The Corporation and the Corporation Income Tax in the American Economy,” J.K. Butters, “Taxation, Incentives, and Financial Capacity” (reprinted in Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 502-520); and J. Lintner, “The Effect of Corporate Income Tax on Real Investment,” all in AER Papers and Proceedings, XLIV, May 1954, pp. 486-503, 504-519, and 520-534, respectively; E.C. Brown, “Consumption Taxes and Income Determination,” AER, XL, March 1950, pp. 74-89; R. Blough, The Federal Taxing Process (1952); A. Smithies, The Budgetary Process in the United States (1955) H.M. Somers, Public Finance and National Income, Part II; Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Subcommittee on Tax Policy of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report (1955); Federal Expenditure Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of the Joint Economic Committee (1957).

    1. (Dec. 3-10) Debt Management

Assignments: E.R. Ralph, “Principles of Debt Management,” AER, XLVII, June 1957, pp. 301-320; R.V.Roosa, “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” AER Papers and Proceedings, XLII, May 1952, pp. 214-235, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 265-288; Committee for Economic Development, Managing the Federal Debt (1954) E.A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy, Chap. III.

References: J.M. Buchanan, Public Principles of Public Debt (1958); H.C. Murphy, The National Debt in War and Transition (1950); L.V. Chandler, Inflation in the United States, 1940-48 (1951); C.C. Abbott, The Federal Debt: Structure and Impact (1953); Patman Committee Documents (1952); General Credit Control, Debt Management and Economic Stabilization (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1951); Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3 (1957); “Proposal for a Special Reserve Requirement against the Time and Demand Deposits of Banks,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Jan. 1948, pp. 14-23; J. Cohen, “A Theoretical Framework for Treasury Debt Management,” American Economic Review, XLV, June 1955, pp. 320-344.

    1. (Dec. 12-19) Co-ordination of Stabilization Policies

Assignments: P.A. Samuelson, “The New Look in Tax and Fiscal Policy,” in Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1955), pp. 229-234; R.A. Musgrave, “The Optimal Mix of Stabilization Policies,” in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth, Compendium of Papers Presented by Panelists Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee (1958), pp. 597-609; W.L. Smith, “Monetary-Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXI, Feb. 1957, pp. 36-55; A. Smithies, “The Control of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, Aug. 1957, pp. 272-283.

References: P.A. Samuelson, “Full Employment versus Progress and other Economic Goals,” in M.F. Milliken (ed.), Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy (1953), pp. 547-580; R.A. Musgrave, “Monetary-Debt Policy Revisited,” in C.J. Friedrich and J.K. Galbraith (eds.), Public Policy, Vol. V, 1954; J. Tobin, “Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt: The Patman Inquiry,” RES, XXV, May 1953, pp. 118-127; G.L. Bach, “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, LVII, Oct. 1949, pp. 383-394, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy (1955), pp. 248-264.

General References

Federal Reserve Bulletin (monthly), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Treasury Bulletin (monthly), U.S. Treasury Department.

Survey of Current Business (monthly), U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Monthly Review of Credit and Business Conditions (monthly), Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Monthly bulletins are also published by the other eleven Federal Reserve banks.

International Financial Statistics (monthly), International Monetary Fund.

Report on Assets, Liabilities, and Capital Accounts—Commercial and Mutual Savings Banks (semiannually), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Federal Reserve Chart Book on Financial and Business Statistics (monthly), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Historical Supplement to Federal Reserve Chart Book (annually in September), Board of Governors of the FRS.

Annual Report, Board of Governors of the FRS.

Annual Report, FRB of New York. The other eleven Federal Reserve Banks also publish annual reports.

Annual Report, Comptroller of the Currency.

Annual Report, Secretary of the Treasury.

Annual Report, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Banking and Monetary Statistics, Board of Governors of the FRS, 1943.

Business Statistics (biennially), U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

National Income Supplement to the Survey of Current Business, latest edition 1954, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Economic Report of the President (annually in January), U.S. Government Printing Office.

Hearings on the Economic Report before the Joint Economic Committee (annually),

Monetary Policy and Management of the Public debt (Patman Committee documents), 3 vols.:

1. Hearings before the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 82d Congress, 1952

2. Replies to Questions and Other Material for the Use of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management, Part I, 82d Congress, 1952.

3. Replies to Questions and Other Material for the Use of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management, Part 2, 82d Congress, 1952.

Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3, 85th Congress, 1957.

United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience. Joint Committee of the Economic Report, 83d Congress, 1954.

Monetary Policy: 1955-56, Joint Economic Committee, 84th Congress, 1956.

Consumer Instalment Credit, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1957.

B.H. Beckhart (ed.) Banking Systems (1955).

P.G. Fousek, Foreign Central Banking: The Instruments of Monetary Policy, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1958.

[Reading Period: Ec. 141 Fall Term. No further assignment]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1958-1959, (1 of 2)”.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 241
Money and Banking

Midterm Examination
January 22, 1959

I.

“At times short-term interest rates have been higher than long-term interest rates, while on other occasions long-term rates have been higher than short-term rates. Moreover, while short- and long-term rates usually move in the same direction, short-term rates ordinarily fluctuate over a wider range than long-term rates, but long-term security prices fluctuate more widely than short-term security prices.” Show how these patterns of behavior can be explained by the so-called expectational theory of the rate structure.

II.

“The sensitivity of output, employment, and prices to changes in the money supply may vary greatly depending upon the reaction coefficients of the economy and on the prevailing conditions.” Discuss.

III.

Proponents of the so-called “new monetary policy” have argued that even though expenditure schedules may be interest inelastic, restrictive monetary policy may be quite potent due to its effects on the supply of funds. Explain and evaluate their arguments, indicating some of the criticisms that have been advanced.

IV.

In principle at least, a given stabilization objective can be achieved by means of various combinations of monetary and fiscal measures. Taking an inflationary situation as your context, discuss the considerations, both theoretical and practical, which should be taken into account in choosing the optimal mix of stabilization policies.

V.

“If markets were reasonably competitive and prices correspondingly flexible, economic stability would be assured.” Discuss.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, Social Sciences, January 1959. (HUC 7000.28) Vol. 122. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, Government, Economics,…, Naval Science, Air Science. January, 1959.

___________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 241

READING LIST NO. 1
Spring, 1959

Framework of Keynesian Analyis

A.P. Lerner, “The General Theory (1),” S.E. Harris, ed., The New Economics, Ch. 11.

J. Lintner, “The Theory of Money and Prices,” S.E. Harris, ibid., Ch. 37.

L. Tarshis, “An Exposition of Keynesian Economics,” R.V. Clemence, ed., Readings in Economic Analysis, Vol. I, pp. 197-208.

L.R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, Chs. 3 and 4.

The Consumption Function

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Book III.
(NOTE: All assignments in the General Theory imply assignment of the corresponding passages in A.H. Hansen, A Guide to Keynes.)

R.P. Mack, “Economics of Consumption,” Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, pp. 39-78.

J.S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior, Ch. 3.

Irwin Friend, Individuals’ Saving, esp. Ch. 8.

M. Friedman, A Theory of the Consumption Function, Ch. 9 at least.

A. Marshall, Principles of Economics (8th edn.), pp. 228-236.

The Multiplier

G. Haberler, “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of the Multiplier,” Readings in the Theory of Business Cycles, Ch. 9.

F. Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” ibid., Ch. 10.

R.M. Goodwin, “The Multiplier,” The New Economics, Ch. 36.

G.L.S. Shackle, “Twenty Years On,” Ec. Journal, 61, June 1951.

Investment

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 11, 12, 16.

A.P. Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 25.

I. Fisher, Theory of Interest, Chs. 5-11.

David Durand, “Costs of Debt and Equity Funds for Business,” Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, ed., Conference on Research in Business Finance, pp. 215-261, 328-330, 333-334.

Interest

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

A.P. Lerner, in The New Economics, Chs. 45, 46.

W. Fellner and H.M. Somers, “Alternative Monetary Approaches to Interest Theory,” Rev. of Ec. Stat., Feb. 1941.

B. Ohlin, “Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Saving and Investment,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 5.

F.A. Lutz, “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion,” ibid. Ch. 6.

J.M. Keynes, Economic Journal, 47 (1937), pp. 241-252, 663-669.

B. Ohlin, Economic Journal, 47 (1937), pp. 423-427.

R.W. Clower, “Productivity, Thrift and the Rate of Interest,” Economic Journal, March 1954.

S.C. Tsiang, “Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds Theories,” American Economic Review, September 1956.

F.A. Lutz, “The Structure of Interest Rates,” Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, Ch. 26.

T. Wilson and P.W.S. Andrews, eds., Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism, Ch. 1

Reading Period: Ec. 141 Spring Term

United States Monetary Policy: Its Contribution to Prosperity without Inflation (The American Assembly, Columbia University, 1958).

___________________________

ECONOMICS 241
Money and Banking

Final Examination
May 28, 1959

READ CAREFULLY: Answer Question 1 (40 points) and any three others (20 points each).

1.

Trace through in detail three of the following economic mechanisms, stating the special assumptions on which they rest:

  1. The manner in which an increase in the level of investment affects the level of income according to the period interpretation of the multiplier.
  2. The manner in which a decrease in wage rates affects the level of employment, according to Keynes.
  3. The manner in which an increase in the money supply leads to an increase in the price level without an increase in the interest rate, according to the “classical” doctrine.
  4. The manner in which an excess of ex ante investment over ex ante saving leads to a cumulative expansion, according to Ohlin and the Swedish school.
  5. The manner in which an excess of the warranted rate of growth over the natural rate of growth leads to chronic depression, according to Harrod.

2.

Explain in some detail the classical theory of investment, as exemplified by Fisher, and then spend most of your time on describing the defects and shortcomings of that theory.

3.

In what way does the theory of income determination employed by Hicks (or Modigliani, if you prefer) differ from Keynes? Explain in full detail the model of income determination used by Hicks or Modigliani, emphasizing (a) the technical devices employed and (b) the deficiencies of the model.

4.

Describe the consumption functions advocated by (a) Duesenberry (early), (b) Friedman, (c) Pigou (late) and discuss the implications of these various consumption functions (as contrasted with Keynes’) for an overall theory of income determination.

5.

Explain the “cost of capital” theory of investment (also called the “corporate investment approach”) and discuss its implications for an overall theory of income determination, as contrasted with the implications of the Fisher-Keynes theory.

6.

Write a belated book review of Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. In the course of it raise the major criticisms and objections that have been advanced by previous reviewers and commentators, and indicate how they affect your appraisal giving, of course, your reasons.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27, Final Exams—Social Sciences-June, 1959. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. June, 1959.

Image Sources: Warren Smith (left) from the University of Michigan Faculty History Project. Robert Dorfman (right). AEA Distinguished Fellow 1992. The American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Jun., 1993).

Categories
Berkeley Exam Questions Problem Sets Suggested Reading Syllabus

Berkeley. Graduate Macroeconomics à la Akerlof, et al. 1992-2007

 

A few days ago, George Akerlof reached the age of 80. I first met George in the summer of 1973 when I was an intern at the Council of Economic Advisers. I worked as a research assistant to two labor economists and George was on university leave to serve a tour of duty as a senior staff economist at the Council. We only overlapped a few weeks but as we both shared a common undergraduate alma mater, Yale College, we were sort of academic siblings. Almost two decades later George and his wife, Janet Yellen, contacted me regarding details of German Democratic Republic economic statistics for their Brookings paper with Andrew K. Rose and Helga Hessenius “East Germany in from the Cold: The Economic Aftermath of Currency Union” (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1:1991). During our long telephone conversation George referred to specific footnotes in my World Bank working paper produced for the project led by Paul Marer that resulted in the book Dollar GNPs of the USSR and Eastern Europe (1985) so naturally I was impressed by his scholarly thoroughness.  There were two other encounters that were roughly a decade apart, the last being a conversation in the lobby of the Mt. Washington Hotel at the Bretton Woods conference of INET in 2011

Like many other economists I have received great inspiration from the work and scientific manner of George Akerlof. So in honor of his eightieth birthday, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror offers this collection of links to internet archived course materials from his graduate macroeconomics course at Berkeley.

P.S. For another shipload of links from the WaybackMachine (not involving George Akerlof), course materials from…

Principles of Macroeconomics at M.I.T. from 1995-2006

Principles of Microeconomics at M.I.T. from 1994-2005

__________________________

Mining the internet archive WaybackMachine

The links to course material for Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory taught at the University of California, Berkeley were assembled from the lists created by  searches using the internet archive WaybackMachine:

54 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu:80/users/akerlof/index.shtml

167 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu:80/users/webfac/akerlof/e202*

83 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/users/webfac/akerlof/e202a

It is of course frustrating to have so much that is yet so incomplete. Still what we have extracted is conveniently displayed below and perhaps others will be successful in filling gaps in the record.

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Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1992
George Akerlof

Final exam (1992)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1993
George Akerlof

Final exam (1993)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1995
George Akerlof / G. Mehrez / P. Ghezzi

Final exam (1995)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1996
George Akerlof / G. Mehrez / P. Ghezzi

Final exam (1996)

Final Questions Version 1
Final Questions Version 2

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Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2000
George Akerlof / Andrea De Michelis / Mar-Andreas Muendler

Midterm 2000

Midterm Exam Questions
Midterm Exam Answers

Final exam (2000)

Final Questions Version 1
Final Questions Version 2

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2001
George Akerlof / Andrea De Michelis

 Course Home page (2001)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Lectures (2001)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Final Exam (2001)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2002
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (S2002)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copies of problems]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (S2002)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/De Michelis (with answers)

Final exam (S2002)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2002
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (F2002)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (F2002)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (F2002)

Lectures 1-5 (GA)Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / Lecture 13 (GA) / Lecture 14 (GA) / Lecture 15 (GA) / Lecture 16 (GA)  / Lecture 17 (GA) / Lecture 18 (GA) / Lecture 19 (GA) / Lecture 20 (GA) / Lecture 21 (GA) / Lecture 22 (GA) / Lecture 23 (GA) / Lecture 24 (GA)

Problem Sets and Solutions (F2002)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

Problem Set 4 and Solutions

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

Problem Set 8 and Solutions

Problem Set 9 and Solutions

Problem Set 10 and Solutions

Problem Set 11 and Solutions

Midterm Q’s and A’s (F2002)

Midterm Examination Questions. Akerlof/De Michelis
Midterm Examination Answers. Akerlof/De Michelis 

Final exam (F2002)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2003
George Akerlof and David Romer

 Course Home page (2003)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2003)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (2003)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2003)

[Could not find an archived copies of problems]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2003)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Goncalves (with answers)

Final exam (2003)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2004
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (2004)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2004)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2004)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / [Could not find notes for Lectures 7-24]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2004)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

[Could not find problem sets and solutions for 4-10]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2004)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Kroft (with answers)

Final exam (2004)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2005
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy]

Syllabus (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy]

Lectures (2005)

[Could not find archived copies of lectures 1-6] / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of lectures 9-15] / Lecture 16 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of lectures 17-?]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2005)

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

 

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2005)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Halac (with answers)

Final exam (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2006
George Akerlof and David Romer

 Course Home page (2006)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2006)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2006)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of Romer’s Lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2006)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

Problem Set 4 and Solutions

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

Problem Set 8 and Solutions

Problem Set 9 and Solutions

Problem Set 10 and Solutions

Problem Set 11 and Solutions

Problem Set 12 and Solutions

Problem Set 13 and Solutions

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2006)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Halac (with answers)

Final exam (2006)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

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Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2007
George Akerlof (first half) and Maurice Obstfeld (second half)

 Course Home page (2007)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2007)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2007)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / Lecture 13 (MO) / Lecture 14 (MO) / Lecture 15 (MO) / Lecture 16 (MO) / Lecture 16a (MO) /Lecture 16b (MO) /  Lecture 17 (MO) / Lecture 18 (MO) / Lecture 19 (MO) / Lecture 20 (MO)

Problem Sets and Solutions (2007)

[Could not find an archived copy of problems or solutions]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2007)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

Final exam (2007)

Final Questions / Final Answers

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Image Source:  George A. Akerlof Facts Page, Nobel Prize Website.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Exam for International Trade and Tariff Policies. Taussig, 1921-22

 

Normally I double check the instructor listed in the course announcements (ex ante) with the instructor named in the Harvard presidential report for the year (ex post). For some reason this information for instruction during the academic year 1921-22 was not published in the annual presidential report. Fortunately Frank Taussig kept a scrap-book of all his course examinations, where we find a copy of the 1922 mid-year exam for Economics 9b. Thus we can be sure International Trade and Tariff Policy was actually taught by the grand old man of the Harvard economics department that year as well.

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Course Announcement
First Half-Year

9b 1hfInternational Trade and Tariff Policies

Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., at 2.30.  Professor Taussig.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1921-22, 3rd edition, p. 110.

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1921-22
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 9b1
[Mid-Year Examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all the questions.

I

One page at most for each of the following; one hour at most for the entire group.

  1. How did the reciprocity treaty with Hawaii affect the price of sugar to the consumer in the United States? the reciprocity treaty with Cuba?
  2. What is meant by the “compensating system” for woolens? Was it applied in 1909? In 1913?
  3. What might the development of the copper industry be supposed to show concerning the effects of the tariff? What does it show in fact?
  4. What do you conceive to be meant by a tariff for revenue with incidental protection? One for protection with incidental revenue?
  5. Explain:
    —comparative advantage,
    —superior advantage,
    —inferior disadvantage.
    Are the effects of the conditions described by these terms, on international trade, essentially similar or essentially different?

II

To be answered more fully.

  1. If there were universal free trade between nations, would there be a tendency toward
    1. Equalization of money wages?;
    2. equalization of “real” wages?;
    3. equalization of the price of commodities?
  2. Is the theory of international trade and international payments verified or not verified by (a) the course of events in Canada 1900-10? (b) the course of imports and exports in the United States 1900-10?
  3. “The real reason why Americans are more likely to hold their own where machinery is much used and where hand labor plays a comparatively small part in the expenses of production is”—what? Answer and explain.
  4. “Would it be a reasonable law to prohibit the importation of all foreign wines merely to encourage the making of claret and burgundy in Scotland? But if there would be a manifest absurdity in turning towards any employment thirty times more of the capital and industry of the country than would be necessary to purchase from foreign countries an equal quantity of the commodities wanted, there must be an absurdity, though not altogether so glaring, yet exactly of the same kind, in turning towards any such employment a thirtieth, or even a three-hundredth part more of either. Whether the advantages which one country has over another be natural or acquired is in this respect of no consequence. As long as the one country has those advantages, and the other wants them, it will always be more advantageous for the latter rather to buy of the former than to make. It is an acquired advantage only, which one artificer has over his neighbor, who exercises another trade; and yet they both find it more advantageous to buy of one another than to make what does not belong to their particular trades.”
    Who wrote this passage? [A. The quote is from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.] Is there a manifest absurdity? Is it of “exactly the same kind” in the second case stated [a thirtieth or three-hundredth part]? Is it of no consequence whether the advantages of a given country be natural or acquired?
  5. In what way, if at all, does the existence of “non-competing groups” within a country operate to make the country’s international trade different from what it would be if there were no such groups?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 10, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1920-22.

Image Source: Frank Taussig, March 22, 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Fields Harvard Sociology

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

 

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

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Previous Division A.B. Exams from Harvard

Division Exams 1916

Division Exams, January 1917

Division Exams 1931

Specific Exam for Money and Government Finance, 1939

Specific Exam Economic History Since 1750, 1939

Specific Exam for Economic Theory, 1939

Specific Exam for Labor and Social Reform, 1939

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DIVISION EXAMINATION

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

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

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

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

Specific field of concentration:

History

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

Government

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

Economics

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

Applied Economics

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

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

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

PART I

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

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

PART II

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

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

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

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

PART III

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

A

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

B

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

C

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

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

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

I

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

II

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

III

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

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

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

I

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

II

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

III

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A

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

B

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

C

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

_______________________

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

Answer six questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_______________________

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

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

A

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

B

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

C

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

 

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

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

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles Suggested Reading Syllabus Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Principles of Economics. Reading assignments, Exams, 1928

 

Partial course outlines from Harvard’s principles of economics course from 1927-28 and 1928-29 were found filed with the economics course outlines for 1938-39 in the Harvard Archives. The principal instructors for the courses in both years were Harold Hitchings Burbank and Edward Hastings Chamberlin, so combining the first semester outline from 1928-29 with the second semester outline from 1927-28 as transcribed below gives us a synthetic syllabus for the 1927-29 years. This post also includes enrollment figures for the two academic years as well as the corresponding semester final exams for the course. Links to the assigned textbooks have been added to complete the package.

____________________________

Course Announcement and Description

ECONOMICS
GENERAL STATEMENT

Course A 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 may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor. Students concentrating in Economics should elect Course A in their Sophomore year, except in unusual cases. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics A…

INTRODUCTORY COURSES
Primarily for Undergraduates

A. Principles of Economics

Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank, Dr. [Edward Hastings] Chamberlin, Dr. [Charles Holt] Taylor, and Messrs. [John Bever] Crane, [Melvin Gardner] de Chazeau, [Edgar Jerome] Johnson, [Delmar] Leighton, [Talcott] Parsons, [Carl Johann] Ratzlaff, [James Harold] Shoemaker, [Samuel Sommerville] Stratton, [John Phillip] Wernette, [Harry Dexter] White and [Earle Micajah] Winslow; with lectures on selected subjects by Professor [Frank William] Taussig and other Members of the Department.

Course A gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes an analysis of the present organization of industry, the mechanism of exchange, the determination of value, and the distribution of wealth.

The course is conducted entirely by oral discussion in sections. Taussig’s Principles of Economics is used as the basis of discussion.

Course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

SourceOfficial Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXV, No. 29 (May 26, 1928). Division of History, Government, and Economics 1928-29, pp. 63-64.

____________________________

Enrollment in Economics A, 1928-29

[Economics] A. Professor Burbank and Dr. Chamberlin, Dr. Taylor and Messrs. Leighton, Stratton, Winslow, O.H. Taylor, E.J. Johnson, de Chazeau, Parsons, Wernette, H.D. White, and Ratzlaff, Crane and Shoemaker. — Principles of Economics.

Total 477: 55 Seniors, 127 Juniors, 242 Sophomores, 26 Freshmen, 27 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1928-29, p. 71.

 

____________________________

EXHIBIT D
First Half

OUTLINE OF STUDY FOR ECONOMICS A
1928-29

Hubert D. Henderson. Supply and Demand. (New York: 1922).

D. H. Robertson. The Control of Industry (London: 1923).

Frank W. Taussig. Principles of Economics, Vol. I, 3rd edition, (New York: 1921).

Sept. 27
Sept. 29
Lecture.
Lecture.
Oct. 1 – 6 Taussig, Principles 1. Wealth and Labor.
2. Labor in Production.
3. Division of Labor and Development of Modern Industry.
Oct. 8 – 13


Robertson
4. Large Scale Production.
5. Capital.
6. Corporate Organization of Industry.
1 – 3. Control of Industry.
Oct. 15 – 20 Taussig

8. Exchange, Value, Price.
9. Value and Utility.
10. Market Value. Demand and Supply.
Oct. 22 – 27

17. Coinage.
18. Quantity.
19. Secs. 2, 3, 4: History of Prices.
Oct. 29 – Nov. 3

20. Bimetallism.
22. Changes in Prices.
23. Government Paper Money
Nov. 5 – 10
24. Banking and Medium of Exchange.
25. Banking Operations.
Nov. 12 – 17

27. Banking System of United States
28. Crises.
29. Panics.
Nov. 19 – 24

Hour Exam
30. Prices.
31. Reform.
Nov. 26 – Dec. 1


Henderson
Review 8, 9, 10.
12. Constant Cost.
13. Diminishing Returns.
Demand and Supply (Nov. 26 to Dec. 15).
Dec. 3 – 8 Taussig
14. Varying Cost.
15. Monopoly.
Dec. 10 – 15
Henderson:
16. Joint Cost and Joint Demand.
Ch. 5. Demand and Supply.
Dec. 17 – 22 Taussig 32. The Foreign Exchanges
RECESS Dec. 23 to Jan. 2
Reading Period Jan. 2 to 16  [No additional reading requirements]
Jan. 2 – 7 Taussig
33. International Payments.
34. International Trade.
Jan. 9 – 14
36. Protection.
37. Free Trade.
MIDYEARS:

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2; Folder “Economics, 1938-1939 [sic].”

____________________________

1928-29
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS A
[Mid-Year Examination, 1929]

  1. Many business men are hoping for a period of rising prices; some financial writers are prophesying that it is inevitable. Assuming no change in our existing monetary and banking laws, what causes might lead to an increase in prices? How would such rising prices tend to affect the holders of various types of securities?
  2. “Some people argue that price is determined by cost of production; and yet they admit that producers with too high costs have to drop out. Thus it is clear that in reality a producer’s cost is determined by the price he can get, consequently price cannot be determined by cost of production.” Comment on this statement.
  3. What influence has the existence of joint cost upon the development of large scale production?
  4. It has been stated that with the Federal Reserve System in operation there will never be a recurrence in the United States of such (a) crises and (b) panics as occurred in 1893 and 1907. Do you agree?
  5. What attitude toward the tariff would you expect to be taken by a banker who has made large loans abroad, by a manufacturer of woolen cloth, by a professor of economics, by a Louisiana politician?
  6. Explain briefly:
    1. The principles of subsidiary coinage.
    2. The relation between markets and the division of labor.
    3. The distinction between consumers’ goods and producers’ goods.
    4. The significance of the following: “The plentifulness of money is in itself a matter of indifference.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-Year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 11, Bound volume: Examination Papers: Mid-Years 1929, Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, New Testament, Government, Economics….Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1929.

____________________________

Enrollment in Economics A, 1927-28

[Economics] A. Professor Burbank and Dr. Chamberlin and Messrs. K.W. Bigelow, [Theodore John] Kreps, Stratton, Winslow, O.H. Taylor, E.J. Johnson, de Chazeau, Parsons, Wernette, H.D. White, and D.V. Brown, with lectures on selected subjects by Professor Taussig and other Members of the Department. — Principles of Economics.

Total 532: 61 Seniors, 165 Juniors, 258 Sophomores, 20 Freshmen, 28 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1927-28, p. 74.

____________________________

OUTLINE OF ASSIGNMENTS FOR ECONOMICS A
1927-28, 2nd. Half year.

Thomas Nixon Carver. The Distribution of Wealth (New York: 1921).

Hubert D. Henderson. Supply and Demand. (New York: 1922).

D. H. Robertson. The Control of Industry (London: 1923).

Frank W. Taussig. Principles of Economics, 3rd edition, (New York: 1921). Volume I, Volume II.

Feb. 6

Feb. 11

Review
Value
Diminishing Returns
Carver:

Distribution of Wealth
Ch. I. Value
Ch. II. Diminishing Returns
Feb. 13

Feb. 18

Rent Carver:
Taussig:
V. Rent
Ch. 44. Rent (esp. Capitalization)
Ch. 43. Urban Site Rent
Feb. 20

Feb. 25

Interest Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. VI. Interest
Ch. 40. Interest
Feb. 27

Mar. 3

Wages Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. IV. Wages
Ch. 47. Social Stratification
Mar. 5

Mar. 10

Profits, Population Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. VII. Profits
Ch. 53. Population
Ch. 54. Population, continued
Mar. 12

Mar. 17

Inequality Taussig:


Ch. 7. Productiveness
Ch. 45. Monopoly
Ch. 51. Great Fortunes
Ch. 55. Inequality
Mar. 19

Mar. 24

Land, Risk, Labor, etc. Henderson:



Ch. VI. Land
Ch. VII. Risk Bearing Enterprise
Ch. VIII. Capital
Ch. IX. Labor
Ch. X. Real Costs of Production
Mar. 26

Mar. 31

Labor Taussig:

Ch. 56. Wages system
Ch. 57. Labor Unions
Ch. 58. Labor Legislation
Apr. 2

Apr. 7

Labor

Ch. 59. Industrial Peace
Ch. 60. Workmen’s Insurance
Ch. 61. Coöperation
RECESS April 8-14
Apr. 16

Apr. 21

Railways
Ch. 62. Railways
Ch. 63. Railway Problems, continued.
Apr. 23

Apr. 28

Public Ownership & Combinations
Ch. 64. Public Ownership & Control
Ch. 65 Combinations & Trusts
Apr. 30

May 5

Industry and Capitalism Robertson:


Review
Ch. V. Capitalism of Industry
Ch. VI. Finance and Industry
Ch. VII. Survey of CapitalismCh. X. Workers’ Control
May 7
READING PERIOD BEGINS
May 12
Socialism Taussig:
Ch. 66. Socialism
Ch. 67. Socialism, continued.
May 14

May 19

Social Reform Robertson:

Ch. IX. Collectivism
Ch. X. Workers Control
Ch. XI. Joint Control
May 21

May 26

Taxation

Taussig:

Ch. 68. Principles Underlying Taxation
Ch. 69 Income and Inheritance Taxes
REVIEW
EXAMINATIONS

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2; Folder “Economics, 1938-1939 [sic].”

____________________________

1927-28
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS A
[Final End-year Examination]

Allow one hour and one-half for the first question.

  1. Explain how the distribution of wealth is affected by the following:
    1. Large and rapid changes in the supply of money.
    2. Labor saving inventions.
    3. A rise in the standard of living of the wage earning classes.
    4. The opening for settlement of new areas of good agricultural land.
    5. The government regulation of public utilities.
  2. Discuss the accuracy of the following statements:
    “Three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves.”
    “The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer.”
    “To abolish wage slavery we must abolish the wages system; only through socialism can the wages system be forced to disappear.”
    “The one way a union can help its members is by limitation of the supply of hands.”
  3. What does each of the following propose: collectivism, single tax, producers’ coöperation, syndicalism?
  4. Explain briefly the case for and against minimum wage laws, unemployment insurance, progressive taxation of incomes, the restriction of immigration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers, Finals (HUC 7000.28). Bound Volume 70 (1928). Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, Church History,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science, June 1928.

Image Source: Harold Hitchings Burbank from Harvard Class Album 1934.