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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for “The Labor Question in Europe and the U.S.” Edward Cummings, 1894

 

Edward Cummings, the father of the poet E. E. Cummings, covered the social economics course offerings at Harvard at the end of the 19th century. These included courses in labor economics and social reform movements (esp. “socialism and communism”). The exams for his comparative labor course from 1893-94 mostly consisted of specific unidentified quotations, with students asked to provide explanations or comments. The text-search functions at hathitrust.org, archive.org and google located a dozen of the quotations used by Cummings and links to the texts have been provided below.

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Course Description
(from 1896-97)

The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings and Dr. John Cummings.    (VIII)

Course 9 is a comparative study of the condition and environments of workingmen in the United States and European countries. It is chiefly concerned with problems growing out of the relations of labor and capital. There is careful study of the voluntarily organizations of labor, — trade unions, friendly societies, and the various forms of cooperation; of profit-sharing, sliding scales, and joint standing committees for the settlement of disputes ; of factory legislation, employers’ liability, the legal status of laborers and labor organizations, state courts of arbitration, and compulsory government insurance against the exigencies of sickness, accident, and old age. All these expedients, together with the phenomena of international migration, the questions of a shorter working day and convict labor, are discussed in the light of experience and of economic theory, with a view to determining the merits, defects, and possibilities of existing movements.

The descriptive and theoretical aspects of the course are supplemented by statistical evidence in regard to wages, prices, standards of living, and the social condition of labor in different countries.

Topics will be assigned for special investigation, and students will be expected to participate in the discussion of selections from authors recommended for a systematic course of reading.

The course is open not only for students who have taken Course 1, but to Juniors and Seniors of good rank who are taking Course 1.

 

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 36-37.

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Course Enrollment
1893-94

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 43: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

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Mid-year Examination
ECONOMICS 9
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.)

  1. “It becomes my duty, therefore, in undertaking to interpret the social movement of our own times, to disclose, first, those changes in industrial methods by which harmony in industries has been disturbed, and then to trace the influence of such changes into the structure of society.” State carefully what these changes have been; and trace their influence.
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 33]
  2. Discuss the effect upon wages of machinery, — (a) as a substitute for labor (b) as auxiliary to labor; (c) as affecting division of labor; (d) as concentrating labor and capital; (e) as affecting the nobility[sic, “mobility”] of labor and capital.
  3. “In my opinion, combination among workingmen is a necessary step in the re-crystallization of industrial rights and duties.” State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion. What forms of combination do you include?
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 45]
  4. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America….” In what respects stronger? Why? Contrast briefly the history and present tendencies of the trade-union movement in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy.
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. XIII. §18, p. 404]
  5. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America; and wages have been higher in England than on the Continent, but lower than in America.” “Again, those occupations in which wages have risen most in England happen to be those in which there are no unions.” How far do such facts impeach the effectiveness of trade-unions as a means of raising wages and improving the condition of workingmen? What do you conceive to be the economic limits and the proper sphere of trade-union action?
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. §18, pp. 404-405.]
  6. “We saw at the beginning that in comparatively recent years the difficulties of keeping up a purely offensive and defensive organization had brought many of the unions back nearer their old allies, the friendly societies, and emphasized the friendly benefits in proportion as the expenditure for trade disputes seemed less important.” Explain carefully this earlier and later relation of trade-unions and Friendly Societies in England.
    [Edward Cummings, The English Trades-Unions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. III (July, 1889), p. 432.]
  7. “This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and its disadvantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and we must repeat that up to the present day it still exhibits defects.” Explain and illustrate the progress of the reform and the nature of existing defects. Does English self-help experience suggest the desirability or undesirability of imitating German methods of compulsory insurance?
  8. “Countless[sic, “Doubtless” in original] boards of arbitration and conciliation, the establishment of certain rules of procedure, agreements covering definite periods of time, may aid somewhat in averting causes of dispute or in adjusting disputes as they arise; but if we have these alone to look to, strife will be the rule rather than the exception.” Explain the various methods adopted and the results obtained. What have you to say of “compulsory arbitration?”
    [Francis A. Walker. “What Shall We Tell the Working Classes?” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 2, 1887.  Reprinted in Discussions in Economics and Statistics, edited by Davis R. Dewey. Vol. II. 315-316.]
  9. “The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, that what is desirable is not so much to put a stop to sub-contracting as to put a stop to ‘sweating,’ whether the man who treats the workman in the oppressive manner which the word ‘sweating’ denotes be a sub-contractor, a piece-master, or a contractor.” Indicate briefly some of the principal forms of industrial remuneration, — giving the special merits and defects of each.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 140.]
  10. “Now that I am on piece-work, I am making about double what I used to make when on day-work. I know I am doing wrong. I am taking away the work of another man.” State and criticize the theory involved in this view of production.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 43-44.]

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

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Year-End Examination
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Take the first three questions and four others.)

  1. “As soon, however, as the factory system was established, the inequality of women and children in their struggle with employers attracted the attention of even the most careless observers; and, attention once drawn to this circumstance, it was not long before the inequality of adult men was also brought into prominence.” How far is this true (a) of England, (b) of the United States? Trace briefly the legislative consequences for children and for adults in the two countries.
    [Arnold Toynbee. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century in England (The Humboldt Library of Popular Science Literature, Vol. 13. New York: Humboldt Publishing Co.), p. 17.]
  2. “It will be necessary, in the first place, to distinguish clearly between the failure of Industrial Coöperation and the failure of the coöperative method—a method, as we have seen, adopted, even partially, by only a very small fraction of Industrial Coöperation.” Explain carefully, discussing especially the evidence furnished by France and England.
  3. “These four concerns—the Maison Leclaire, the Godin Foundry, the Coöperative Paper Works of Angoulême and the Bon Marché—are virtually coöperative; certainly they secure to the employers and stockholders the substantial benefits of purely coöperative productive enterprises, while they are still, logically, profit-sharing establishments.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Indicate briefly the characteristic features of each enterprise.
  4. “What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing statistics? Unmistakably this, that the higher daily wages in America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor cost to the manufacturer. But why so?” Discuss the character of available evidence in regard to the United States, Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 41-2.]
  5. “The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-economic status of workmen of different nationalities in the country of their birth and the land of their adoption furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we are able to learn the social effect of economic betterment.” Explain. How do the facts in question affect your attitude toward recent changes in the character and volume of our immigration?
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 35-6.]
  6. “The Senate Finance Committee issued some time ago a comparative exhibit of prices and wages for fifty-two years, from which the conclusion is generally drawn that the condition of the wage earner is better to-day than it was thirty or forty years ago. A conclusion of this kind reveals the weakness of even the best statistics. No one can doubt that the work of the Finance Committee is work of high excellence, but for comparing the economic condition of workers it is of little value.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Indicate briefly the character of the evidence.
  7. What are the principle organizations which may be said to represent the “Labor Movement” in the United States at the present time? How far are they helpful and how far hostile to one another?
  8. “In a preceding chapter I have said that as a moral force and as a system the factory system of industry is superior to the domestic system, which it supplanted.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
    [Carroll D. Wright. Factory Legislation from Vol. II, Tenth Census of the United States, reprinted in First Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York (Albany, 1887), p. 41.]
  9. Contrast the English and the German policy in regard to Government Workingmen’s Insurance.
  10. “Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias towards individualism.” What are they?
  11. Give an imaginary family budget for American, English and German operatives in one of the following industries, — coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, glass, indicating roughly characteristic differences in such items as throw most light on the social condition of labor.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95.pp. 39-41.

Image Source: 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), pp. 155-156.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings, midterm and final exams for economic growth course. Kuznets, 1960-61

 

Simon Kuznets (b. 1901; d. 1985) left Johns Hopkins University to join the Harvard economics faculty beginning with the 1960-61 academic year. This post provides the reading list and exams for Kuznets’ signature course on economic growth from his first year as a Harvard professor. 

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 203 Economic Growth and Comparative Economic Structures. Professor Kuznets. Full course.

(F) Total 23: 12 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Radcliffe, 7 Other Graduate.

(S) Total 22: 12 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Radcliffe, 6 Other Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-1961, p. 77.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 203

Long Term Changes and International Differences—National Income and its Components

GENERAL

  1. Simon Kuznets, “National Income and Industrial Structure,” in Economic Change, Chapter 6, 145-192.
  2. Simon Kuznets, “International Differences in Income Levels,” ibid., pp. 216-252.
  3. Colin Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, 3rd Edition 1957 or any of the earlier editions (for browsing).
  4. M. Gilbert and I.B. Kravis, An International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies, Paris, O.E.E.C., 1954.
    or (Comparative National Products and Price Levels, 1958)

RATES OF GROWTH

  1. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. V, no. 1, October 1956.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, Free Press, 1959, pp. 13-41.

INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE

  1. A.G.B. Fisher, The Class of Progress and Security, London 1935.
  2. E.M. Ojala, Agriculture and Economic Progress, Oxford University Press, 1952.
  3. T.W. Schultz, The Economic Organization of Agriculture, N.Y. 1953, part I.
  4. Hollis B. Chenery, “Patterns of Industrial Growth,” American Economic Review, September 1960, pp. 624-654.
  5. P.T. Bauer and B.S. Yamey, Economic Journal, December 1951, pp. 741-755.
  6. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, (a) Supplement to No. 4, Vol. V, July 1957; (b) Part 2, Vol. VI, July 1958, also Six Lectures on Economic Growth, pp. 43-67.

FACTOR SHARES

  1. R. M. Solow, “The Constancy of Relative Shares,” American Economic Review, September 1952, pp. 618-30.
  2. I. B. Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” American Economic Review, December 1959, pp. 917-947.
  3. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. III, No. 3, Part 2, April 1959.

CAPITAL FORMATION

  1. M. Abramovitz, ed., Capital Formation and Economic Growth, Princeton 1955. Papers by Kuznets, Goldsmith, Usher, MacLaurin, and Rostow.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Economic Development and Cultural Change,
    (a) Vol. VIII, no. 4, Part II, July 1960.
    (b) Vol. IX, no. 3, Part II, April 1961

CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

  1. M. K. Bennett, “International Disparities in Consumption Levels,” American Economic Review, September 1951, pp. 632-649.
  2. Simon Kuznets, Regional Economic Trends and Levels of Living,” in P.M. Hauser, Population and World Politics, Free Press 1958.
  3. International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Income and Wealth Series II, Chapter VI, particularly pp. 167-177. (1953)

INCOME DISTRIBUTION BY SIZE

  1. I. B. Kravis, “International Differences in the Distribution of Income,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1960, pp. 402-416.
  2. Simon Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review, March 1955, pp. 1-28.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (2 of 2)”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 203
Midyear Examination
January 1961

Choose 6 out of the 8 questions, omitting one out of group 2-5 and one out of group 6-8.

Please write clearly and concisely. An outline of the answer rather than a full presentation is also acceptable, provided the outline is sufficiently detailed and informative.

  1. Outline the time pattern of rates of natural increase of population in the transition from the pre-modern period to modern growth, distinguishing movements of birth rates and death rates, separately for the older (European) and younger (overseas) countries. Comment briefly on probable causes.
  2. State the connection between Malthus’ population theory, the theory of differential rent, the law of diminishing returns, the iron law of wages, and the theory of long-term trends in distribution of national product and of the approach to the stationary state.
  3. Outline the types of evidence claimed in support of Pearl’s “law of population growth” and comment on their validity.
  4. What is the general structure of assumptions underlying an empirical projection of population growth? Distinguish the theory of the model from the theory of deviations and comment briefly on each.
  5. Indicate the reasons adduced by Alvin Hansen to demonstrate the depressive effects on economic growth of retardation in the growth of population, and evaluate them.
  6. Outline the major features of trans-ocean trade in the centuries immediately prior to the industrial revolution, and the various contributions made by it to the emergence of modern capitalism.
  7. Why was the industrial revolution concentrated primarily in cotton, iron, steel, and steam power?
  8. Discuss the slackening in the rate of technical change in the cotton textile industry after the mid-nineteenth century, as well as in the economic effects of technical change in the industry. Indicate both the ways of measuring the changes, and the reasons for slackening in the rate of their occurrence.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences, Final Examinations. Vol. 131. January 1961. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. January 1961.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 203
Final Examination
June 6, 1961

Answer at least 4 questions, choosing at least one from each of the four Roman numeral groups. You may answer more if you wish. A detailed outline of an answer, instead of a complete text, is acceptable.

Group I

  1. In what sense is the association between technical changes and scientific discoveries, illustrated by the history of the radio industry, different from that characterizing the inventions of the Industrial Revolution? Discuss.
  2. Outline (and discuss) factors making for a retardation in the rate of growth, observable in most specific industries in the Western European countries and in the United States.

Group II

  1. Indicate properties of national income or product estimates as measures of economic growth. Consider particularly limitations arising out of difficulties as to scope, netness, and valuation.
  2. What are the implications of the rates of growth in per capita product, observed for the past half century or longer for the developed countries, as to the comparative levels of per capita product in underdeveloped countries today and in the presently developed countries just prior to their industrialization? Discuss.

Group III

  1. Discuss the factors involved in the long-term decline, in the process of modern economic growth, in the share of agriculture in national product? In labor force? Distinguish clearly between the trends in the share in product and in the share in labor force.
  2. How do you explain the rise in the shares of labor force attached to the service industries in the course of economic growth? Define the service industries before answering the question.

Group IV

  1. Define various types of proportion of capital formation to aggregate product (gross-net, domestic-national, etc.) that can be calculated; the corresponding types of capital-output ratios; and discuss their possible use in the analysis of economic growth.
  2. Discuss factors that might have made for a rising trend in the proportion of capital formation to national product observed in many (if not all) countries. Distinguish between gross and net capital formation proportions; and between domestic and national.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences, Final Examinations. Vol. 134. June 1961. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. June 1961.

Image Source: National Academy of Sciences. 2001. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 79. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, p. 202.

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Chicago Exam Questions Fields History of Economics

Chicago. History of Economic Thought, Ph.D. preliminary exam. Summer, 1989

 

The previous post provided the transcribed questions for the 1974 version of the Chicago prelim exam for the history of economic thought. Here we have the questions for a fifteen year younger exam Presumably both these sibling exams were authored by George Stigler in whose archived papers they can be found.

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History of Economic Thought Prelim Exam
Summer 1989

Answer Question 1 or Question 2, not both:

  1. Sam Hollander argues that David Ricardo’s Principles is really a neoclassical analysis (such as Marshall’s), although written in a different style and laying different amounts of emphasis upon various parts of the theory (for example, more emphasis on cost, less on demand).
    1. If this is true of Ricardo, why not also of Adam Smith? How do these two differ?
    2. What is neoclassical (Marshallian) or not neoclassical about Ricardo’s treatment of wages on average, or of wages in individual occupations?
  2. In his recent review of Samuel Hollander’s study of J. S. Mill, Pedro Schwartz argued that Hollander failed to see that J.S. Mill had a very different view of the scope of economics than Smith or Ricardo. Mill “treated (economics) as a limited science whose rationale is irreconcilable to the guiding principles of ethics and politics.”

From your knowledge of Mill’s Principles, defend Schwartz or Hollander.

Answer all of the remaining questions:

  1. Do people know what is good for them? Show how Smith and J.S. Mill draw their conclusions on this question.
  2. Arguments have often persisted for long periods over what an economist really meant. Ricardo is a favorite example, but there is hardly an economist of note who has escaped this sort of dispute. Compare the roles of…
    1. …a careful analysis of what the economist meant (relying on his writings, letters, etc.)…
    2. …a careful analysis of what his contemporaries and immediate successors thought he meant…

…in resolving such disputes. Which is the more important basis of judgment, and why? Apply both techniques to Malthus’ use of the arithmetic and geometric ratios.

  1. “Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command…the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society.
    First, every individual endeavors to employ his capital as near home as he can, and consequently as much as he can in the support of domestic industry.
    Thus, upon equal or nearly equal profits, every wholesale merchant naturally prefers the home trade to the foreign trade. …In the home trade his capital is never so long out of his sight as it frequently is in the foreign trade…yet for the sake of having some part of his capital always under his own view and command, he willingly submits to this extraordinary charge (double charge of loading and unloading as well as to the payment of some duties and customs).”

In this passage, famous for arguing free trade, Smith seems to make a case (a) for preferring domestic industry to foreign trade, and (b) to define the advantage of “society” as that of one’s own nation. Is Smith not an advocate of free trade?

  1. Read all the way through this question before beginning your answers.
    1. In explaining the advance of knowledge in a science, one must choose between:
      1. The Kuhnsian view of revolutions, which says that wholly new paradigms (incommensurable with earlier paradigms) work major revolutions such as that of Marginal Utility, and
      2. All science is basically cumulative (which Kuhn believes is true only of “normal” science within a paradigm).
        Appraise these alternatives.
    2. Again, in explaining progress in a science one must choose between:
      1. A “great man” theory, in which a genius (he’s one by definition) makes a fundamental contribution and lesser scholars fill in the details, and
      2. The science has a main direction that is the product of the whole community of scholars. If a theory needs to be invented or discovered, one or more scholars will do so (Robert Merton).
        Again, appraise these alternatives.
    3. In both parts above, try to illustrate your argument by an episode in economics—preferably from this century. Thus, the theory of the firm, statistical study of economic functions, oligopoly theory, Keynes’ General Theory, monetarism, etc., are examples.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Addenda. Box 33 (2005-16), Folder “Misc. Course Materials. History of Economic Th[ought].”

Image Source: Posted by Glory M. Liu on her personal research webpage (next to the abstract for her article “Rethinking the Chicago Smith Problem: Adam Smith and the Chicago School, 1929-1980” published in Modern Intellectual History.

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Chicago Exam Questions Fields History of Economics

Chicago. History of Economic Thought Ph.D Field Exam. Summer, 1974

 

The following examination consisting of six questions (answer five) comes from George Stigler’s papers at the University of Chicago Archives. It is safe to assume that Stigler penned these questions. 

The questions from the 1989 prelim on the History of Economic Thought are found in the following post.

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History of Economic Thought
Summer, 1974

WRITE IN BLACK INK

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON THE FIRST PAGE OF YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

— Your code number and not your name
— Name of examination
— Date of examination

Write only on one side of each page.

Write the following information on each following page of your examination paper:

— Top left: code number
— Top right: number of page

When you fold your paper at the end of the exam, write your code number on the back of the last page, and indicate total number of pages.

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

 

Write on five of the following questions.

  1. John Stuart Mill is undergoing a rehabilitation of reputation after long being viewed as a pallid synthesizer of classical doctrines. Is this improved reputation deserved?
  2. Precisely how is the product-after-deduction-of-rent divided between labor and capital in the Ricardian system? Is the short run division different from the long run division? Is the system in equilibrium?
  3. Jevons is the founder of quantitative economics. What is the basis for this claim? Why did this type of work appear as late (or early?) as the 1860’s?
  4. Smith rated some forms of investment as socially preferable to others. What was his ranking of agriculture, manufactures and trade? Was his analysis valid?
  5. John A. Hobson, N. Lennin [sic], and others have authored theories of imperialism, which, in spite of various differences, have in common the proposition that modern expansionist wars and diplomatic entanglements are a consequence of the economic structure and dynamics of capitalism. Against this point of view, it has been argued that aggressive expansionism is much older than modern capitalism, and that economic interests have been used as a pawn of the political ambitions of statesmen. What kind of evidence would you regard as valid to evaluate the appropriateness of either type of theory on the relationships between economic change and war.
  6. Malthus’ gloomy prediction that the standard of living could not rise above a subsistence level proved wrong with respect to the Western world. List as many reasons as you can to account for this. Also, state as precisely as possible how Western population trends of the past two centuries can be related to (a) the law of diminishing returns and (b) shifts in production-possibility frontiers.

 

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Addenda. Box 33 (2005-16), Folder: “Exams & Prelim Questions.”

Image Source:  George Stigler page at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business website.

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Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Price Theory. Ph.D. Core Examination. Summer, 1975

 

Graduate prelimary examinations for price theory at the University of Chicago for 1964 and 1969 have been transcribed and posted earlier. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror now adds the Summer quarter, 1975 exam to its stock of transcribed Chicago examinations.

__________________________________

Ph.D. Core Examination
PRICE THEORY
Summer, 1975

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

INSTRUCTIONS:

Write in black ink and write only on one side of each page.

Write the following information on the first page of your exam paper:

      • Name of examination
      • Date of examination
      • Your code number and not your name

Write the following information on each page of your examination paper:

      • Upper left: code number
      • Upper right: number of page

When you fold your paper at the end of the exam, write your code number on the back of the last page, and indicate total number of pages.

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter.

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. TIME: 3 HOURS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

  1. (60 minutes, 5 per item) Indicate whether each of the following statements is TRUE, FALSE, or UNCERTAIN. In each case write a few sentences explaining your answer. Your grade will be determined by your explanation.
    1. It is immediately obvious that if the firm has any significant degree of monopoly power, sales maximization would be better for the rest of the economy than profit maximization.
    2. When a firm increases its price because its raw material costs have risen, the buyers accept the price increase more readily.
    3. If A and B are produced in fixed proportions and consumed in fixed proportions, one of the two will be free.
    4. Marshall asserts that the rents of different qualities of agricultural land will approach equality as the economy grows in population and wealth.
    5. An industry whose output is increasing cannot be making negative profits.
    6. The prohibition on environmental pollution by (say) a factory cannot increase national income.
    7. A competitive industry is more likely to cartelize when the probability of expropriation increases.
    8. Regulation of a competitive industry by the government will decrease the probability of cartelization.
    9. In the social security systems of most countries, the age of retirement after which old age pensions are “payable” is lower for women than for men (usually 60 as compared with 65 years of age), even though on the average women live significantly longer than men. This is a clear case of discrimination against men, which should be protested by the Men’s Liberation Movement.
    10. The U.S. personal income tax system allows married couples to “split” their aggregate income equally and pay tax on the results at the same rates as single people would. This is a clear case of discrimination in favor of heterosexuality that should be vigorously protested by the Gay Liberation front.
    11. If the elasticity of supply is less than unity, and the elasticity of substitution in production greater than unity, a fall in the price of a factor must increase the demand for it.
    12. Labor can be “Exploited” only if there is monopoly in the product market.
  2. (25 minutes)
    In most states it is illegal for drug stores to advertise the prices of prescription drugs. A customer can find out the price of a prescription drug only by asking the pharmacist in person. In addition only pharmacists licensed by the state are allowed to dispense drugs and every drug store must employ at least one licensed pharmacist. One can become a licensed pharmacist by passing an examination administered by the state and written by a board of pharmacists. Finally, a pharmacist must fill a prescription exactly as it is written by the physician and may not substitute a generically equivalent drug.

    1. What would happen if pharmacists were allowed to advertise the prices of prescription drugs?
    2. What would happen to the price of drugs if pharmacists were allowed to substitute any drug from a specified list in place of the prescribed drug?
  1. (25 minutes)
    We are presently importing considerable oil at the $10 barrel price, and producing domestically at a free price from new wells and a $5 price from “old” wells (on amounts they produced before the oil price rises).

    1. What would be the effect on domestic price of a higher tariff on imports? On what would the magnitude of the price rise depend?
    2. What would be the effect on domestic price of a removal of the price ceiling on “old” oil? On what would the magnitude of this price effect depend?
  2. (25 minutes)
    Translate into the apparatus of indifference curves and budget lines the following phenomena:

    1. The individual likes good music more, the more he hears.
    2. The individual has monopsonistic power with respect to one commodity.
    3. (a) The consumption of the two commodities (however spaced) is poisonous.
      (b) The consumption of either commodity alone is poisonous.
    4. The individual cannot afford one of the commodities.
    5. (a) One of the commodities yields increasing marginal utility.
      (b) Both do.
  3. (20 minutes)
    1. Assume there is an exhaustible resource that can be extracted at a constant marginal cost c. Assume there is a competitive industry that extracts this resource. Derive the behavior of the equilibrium price over time if the demand schedule for the product remains constant over time.
    2. Under the same demand and cost conditions, derive the equilibrium price if the resource is controlled by a single firm.
  4. (25 minutes)
    Ontario imposes a tax of 30 percent on the sale or bequest of any land to non-Canadians. What are the effects of such a tax on:

    1. Landowners, Canadian and non-Canadian;
    2. Non-landowners, Canadian and non-Canadian.
      What will the effect be if leases are not regulated?

Source:  University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Addenda. Box 33 (2005-16), Folder: “Exams & Prelim Questions.”

Image Source: The Quarter-Centennial Celebration of the University of Chicago (1916).

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Readings and exam questions for fiscal and monetary policy. Domar, 1957

Evsey Domar’s first semester at M.I.T. was as a visiting professor according to the teaching records of the economics department. He taught one seminar on Russian Economics (14.292) and a graduate course with the nominal title “Fiscal Policy”. That course had been taught previously by E. Cary Brown (Spring 1954, 1955) and R. A. Musgrave, visiting Professor (Spring 1956).

Inspection of the ten-page course bibliography and the final examination questions along with two note-cards filed with these course materials, it appears that well over half the course was in all likelihood dedicated to fiscal policy topics with monetary policy for stabilization topics accouting for perhaps one-third of the course. Just as the length of the course bibliography (typical for Domar) is daunting, his use of asterisks to designate recommended reading was exceedingly liberal. An examination of the final examination questions leads me to conclude that it should be rather easy to reduce the course reading list (for examination purposes!) to less than two pages.

___________________________

Course Enrollment
(Second term, 1956-57

Instructor

Domar, E. D.
Rank

Prof. (Visit.)
Subj. No.

14.472
Subj. Title

Fiscal Policy
No. Class Hours/Week

3
No. Students

22

Source: M.I.T. Archives, Department of Economics Records 1947-, Box 3, Folder “Teaching Responsibility”.

___________________________

Typed notecards for an introduction to or a review of course.

The traditional arguments regarding the purposes of Monetary Policy:

  1. Stabilization of general prices or of factor earnings—the Wicksell-Davidson controversy. The instrument was the relation between the natural and the market rates.
  2. Stabilization of prices or of employment. Recent literature is full of this.
  3. Stabilization of the general prices or of prices of Federal securities. See Douglas’s and other reports on this recent controversy.
  4. Stabilization of employment or the achievement of growth. Any conflict?
  5. Discretionary methods or automatic provisions? See Simons’ article in Readings in Monetary Theory.
  6. To provide credit and currency, sound and in sufficient quantity.
  7. To protect the international position of the country.
  8. To have special effects, such as:

a. by region
b. by industry
c. by commodity consumed (such as tobacco) or housing
d. on population (by giving exemptions or subsidies for dependents)

  1. Provide revenue [handwritten addition]
  2. Distribution of income [handwritten addition]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The following limitations, some real, other imaginary, explain why Fiscal Policy is not as simple as Lerner makes it:

Income distribution
Size of the deficit
Size of the budget
Balance of payments
Special regional and industrial effects
Effects on incentives to work (in inflation)
Automaticity of the system (built-in-flexibility)
Monetary effects (on reserves, deposits)
Long-run effects (on growth and development)

Their presence complicates things and explains all the ingenious articles and tax devices frequently suggested. If not for them, fiscal policy would be very simple indeed: cut taxes or increase taxes, and the same with expenditures.

___________________________

READING LIST
14.472 Fiscal Policy
Spring Term 1956-57

Professor E. D. Domar

PART I—MONETARY POLICY

The purpose of this list is to suggest to the student the sources in which the more important topics in Monetary Policy are discussed from many points of view. His objective should be the understanding of these topics and not the memorization of who said what.

Most of the sources listed here, and particularly the Congressional materials, discuss a number of questions not only in Monetary but in Fiscal Policy as well. Hence it is difficult to classify them.

Items marked with an * are strongly recommended. (I don’t like to use the expression “required” in a graduate reading list.)

  1. Factual Materials on Monetary Problems

Federal Reserve Bulletin.

Treasury Bulletin.

Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, and the Continuation to 1952.

Congressional Hearings, Reports and other Materials listed below.

  1. Introduction

Hart, Albert Gailord, Money, Debt and Economic Activity, New York 1948.

Hicks*, J. R., “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Economica, 1935; reprinted in Readings in Monetary Theory.

Lerner*; Abba P., “Functional Finance and the Federal Debt,” Social Research, 1943, and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 468, also Chapter 24 in his Economics of Control, New York, 1944.

Poole, Kenyon E., ed. Fiscal Policies and the American Economy.

Sproul* Allan, “Changing Concepts of Central Banking,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, New York, 1951.

  1. Monetary Theory and Growth

Gurley*, John G. and Shaw, E. S., “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, September 1955, pp. 515-538.

  1. Effectiveness of the Interest Rate

Ebersole*, J. F., “The Influence of Interest Rates,” Harvard Business Review, XVII, i, 1938, pp. 35-39.

Henderson*, R. D., “The Significance of the Rate of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, October 1938, I, pp. 1-13.

*Meade, J. E. and Andrews, P. W. S., “Summary of Replies to Questions on Effects of Interest Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, October 1938, I, pp. 14-31.

Sayers, R. S. “Business Men and the Terms of Borrowing,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb. 1940, III, pp. 23-31.

Andrews, P. W. S., “A Further Inquiry into the Effects of Rates of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb. 1940, III, pp. 32-73.

White*, William H., “Interest Inelasticity of Investment Demand—The Case from Business Attitude Survey Re-Examined,” American Economic Review, September 1956, pp. 565-87.

Lutz, Friedrich A., “The Interest Rate and Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” American Economic Review, Dec. 1945.

  1. General Surveys of Monetary Policy

Federal Reserve Board*, Tenth Annual Report for 1923. See pp. 29-39 particularly.

Chandler*, Lester V., “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, 1949, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 394.

Hardy, Charles O., “Fiscal Operations as Instruments of Economic Stabilization,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1948, pp. 395-403 and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 394.

Hart, Albert Gailord, “Monetary Policy for Income Stabilization,” Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy, ed. by Max F. Millikan, New Haven, 1953.

Williams, John H., “The Implications of Fiscal Policy for Monetary Policy and the Banking System,” AER Proceedings, March 1942; Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 185.

Smith*, Warren L., “On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, September 1956, pp. 588-606.

  1. Suggested Objectives and Policies

Hammarskjold, Dag, “The Swedish Discussion on the Aims of Monetary Policy,” reprinted in International Monetary Papers, No. 5, pp. 145-154.

Simons*, Henry C., “Rule versus Authorities in Monetary Policy,” JPE, 1936, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 337.

Simons, Henry, “On Debt Policy,” JPE, Dec. 1944, and Readings in Fiscal Policy.

Mints*, Lloyd, W., “Monetary Policy,” Review of Econ. and Stat., 1946 and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 344.

Bach*, G. L., “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” JPE, Oct. 1949, and Readings in Fiscal Policy.

Friedman*, Milton, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” American Economic Review, 1949, and Readings in Monetary Theory, p. 369.

*United Nations. National and International Measures for Full Employment. Report by a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General (Lake Success, New York, December 1949).

Viner*, Jacob, “Full Employment at Whatever Cost,” QJE, August 1950, pp. 385-407. Reproduced with omissions in Economic Policy, Readings in Political Economy, edited by William D. Grampp and Emanuel T. Weiler, Homewood, Ill., 1956, pp. 54-65.

Samuelson* Paul A., “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy: A New-Classical Reformulation,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, New York, 1951.

Seltzer* Lawrence H., “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable,” American Economic Review, Dec. 1945; Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 202.

Roosa, Robert V., “Interest Rates and the Central Bank,” Money, Trade and Economic Growth in Honor of John Henry Williams, 1951.

Roosa*, Robert V., “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” American Economic Review, 1952, and Readings in Fiscal Policy, p. 265.

Hansen*, Alvin H., “Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1955, pp. 110-119.

  1. Commodity Money

Graham, Benjamin, World Commodities and World Currency, New York 1944.

Graham*, Frank D., “Full Employment without Public Debt, Without Taxation, Without Public Works, and without Inflation,” Planning and Paying for Full Employment, edited by Abba P. Lerner and Frank D. Graham, 1946.

  1. Congressional Materials

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Money, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 81st Congress, First Session, September 23, November 16,17,18,22,23 and December 1,2,3,5,7, 1949.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. A Collection of Statements Submitted to the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit and Fiscal Policies by Government Officials, Bankers, Economists, and Others. 1949.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report (The Douglas Subcommittee). A Compendium of Materials on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. A Collection of Statements Submitted to the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies by Government Officials, Bankers, Economists, and Others. 81st Congress, 2ndSession, Senate Document No. 132, 1950.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report*. Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies. Report of the Subcommittee on Monetary, Credit, and Fiscal Policies of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 81st Congress, 2ndSession, Senate Document No. 129, 1950.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt Hearings before the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, March 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt. Their Role in Achieving Price Stability and High-Level Employment. Replies to questions and other material for the use of the subcommittee on general credit control and debt management. 82nd Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document No. 123, 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt Report of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1952.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience Hearings before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 83rd Congress, 2nd Session, December 6 and 7, 1954.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report. January 1956 Economic Report of the President. Hearings before the Joint Committee on the Economic Report. 84th Congress, 2nd Session, January 31, February 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,14,15,17 and 28, 1956.

Joint Committee on the Economic Report*. Conflicting Official Views on Monetary Policy; April 1956. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Joint Committee on Economic Report, 84thCongress, 2nd Session, June 12, 1956.

  1. Readings for Amusement

Outside Readings in Economics, second edition. Selected by Hess, Arleigh P. Jr., Gallman, Robert E., Rice, John P., and Stern, Carl, New York, 1956. The “Dialogue on Money,” by D. H. Robertson; “The Island of Stone Money,” by William H. Furness III; “The Paper Money of Kubla Khan,” by Marco Polo; and “The Edict of Diocletian,” by Humphrey Mitchell, pp. 314-335 are very amusing and instructive.

 

PART II—FISCAL POLICY

See the remarks in Part I.

  1. Factual Materials of General Character

Joint Committee on the Economic Report.* The Federal Revenue System: Facts and Problems, 1956

Treasury Bulletin

Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945 (published by the U. S. Bureau of the Census)

U. S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income (an annual publication in two volumes)

U. S. Bureau of the Census, Summary of Governmental Finances (annual series)

The Budget of the U. S. Government

Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Tax Systems

West Publishing Co., Federal Tax Regulations, 1956

Congressional Hearings and Reports, listed in Part I and below

Textbooks on Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

  1. Historical Studies

Ratner, S., American Taxation: Its History as a Social Force in a Democracy, New York, 1942

Fabricant*, S., The Trend of Government Activity in the United States since 1900, New York, 1952, Chapters 1, 6, 7

Studenski, P. and H. E. Kroos, Financial History of the United States, New York, 1952

Musgrave*, R. A. and J. M. Culbertson, “The Growth of Public Expenditures in the United States,” National Tax Journal, June, 1953, pp. 97-115

Paul, R. E., Taxation in the United States, Boston, 1954

  1. Fundamental Assumptions

Hansen*, A. H., “The Stagnation Thesis,” Fiscal Policy and the Business Cycle, New York, 1941, pp. 38-46, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Schumpeter*, J. A., “Economic Possibilities in the United States,” Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 1947, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Domar*, E. D., “The Problem of Capital Accumulation,” The American Economic Review, December, 1948

Fellner*, W., “Relative Emphasis in Tax Policy on Encouragement of Consumption or Investment,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D.C., November 9, 1955, p. 210

Hansen*, A. H., “Economic Stability and Growth,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 14

Smithies*, A., “Economic Growth as a Policy Objective,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 32.

  1. General Objectives and Policies

Keynes* J. M., “An Open Letter,” The New York Times, 1933, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Lerner*, A. P., “Functional Finance and the Federal Debt,” Social Research, 1943, and Readings in Fiscal Policy. Also Chapter 24 in his Economics of Control, New York, 1944

Hart, A. G., “’Model-Building’ and Fiscal Policy,” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Committee for Economic Development, “Taxes and the Budget: A Program for Prosperity in a Free Economy,” Readings in Fiscal Policy, 1947

Colm* G., “The Government Budget and the Nation’s Economic Budget,” Public Finance, 1948, and Readings

Friedman*, M., “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” American Economic Review, 1948, and Readings

National Planning Association, “Federal Expenditure and Revenue Policy for Economic Stability,” 1949, Readings

Bach*, G. L., “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1949, and Readings

United Nations*, National and International Measures for Full Employment (report by a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General), Lake Success, New York, December, 1949

Simons*, H. C., Federal Tax Reform, Chicago, 1950

Viner*, J., “Full Employment at Whatever Cost,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1950

Samuelson*, P. A., “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy; A Neoclassical Reformulation,” Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: in Honor of John H. Williams, New York, 1951

Millikan, M., ed., Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy, Yale, 1953

Rolph, E.R., The Theory of Fiscal Economics, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1954

U. S. Congress, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, December, 1955, Hearings

American Economic Association* Readings in Fiscal Policy, Homewood, Illinois, 1955

National Bureau of Economic Research, Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, 1956

Council of Economic Advisers*, the latest Annual Report

  1. Institutional Factors

Bailey, S. K., Congress Makes a Law: the Story behind the Employment Act of 1946, New York, 1950

Bailey, S. K. and H. D. Samuel, Congress at Work, New York, 1952

Blough, R., The Federal Taxing Process, New York, 1952

Smithies*, A., The Budgetary Process in the United States, Committee for Economic Development, New York, 1955

  1. Tax Incidence

Musgrave*, R. A., et al, “Distribution of Tax Payments by Income Groups,” National Tax Journal, March, 1951

Little, I. M. D., “Direct versus Indirect Taxes, Economic Journal, September, 1951

Musgrave*, R. A., “On Incidence,” Journal of Political Economy, August, 1953

Bach*, G. L., “The Impact of Moderate Inflation on Income and Assets of Economic Groups,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 71

Musgrave*, R.A., “Incidence of the Tax Structure and its Effects on Consumption,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 96

  1. Cyclical Aspects

Slichter*, S. H., “The Economics of Public Works,” American Economics Review, 1934, and Readings in Fiscal Policy

Lutz, H. L., “Federal Depression Financing and its Consequences,” Harvard Business Review, 1938, and Readings

Myrdal* G., “Fiscal Policy in the Business Trade,” American Economic Review Supplement, 1939, and Readings

Hagen, E. E., “Timing and Administering Fiscal Policy,” American Economic Review, May, 1948

Committee on Public Issues of the American Economic Association*, “The Problem of Economic Instability,” American Economic Review, 1950, and Readings

Smithies*, A., “The American Economic Association Committee Report on Economic Instability,” American Economic Review, 1951, and Readings

Phillips, A. W., “Stabilization Policy in a Closed Economy,” The Economic Journal, June, 1954, pp. 290-323

Committee for Economic Development*, Problems in Anti-Recession Policy, September 1954

  1. Alternative Budgets for Full Employment

Kaldor*, N., Appendix C in W. H. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, 1945

Musgrave*, R. A., “Alternative Budget Policies for Full Employment,” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings

Musgrave*, R. A. and M. H. Miller, “Built-In Flexibility,” American Economic Review, 1948 and Readings

Bishop*, R. L., “Alternative Expansionist Policies,” Income, Employment and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen, New York, 1948

Stein, H., “Budget Policy to Maintain Stability,” Problems in Anti-Recession Policy, Committee for Economic Development, September, 1954

Hagen*, E. E., “Federal Taxation and Economic Stabilization,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, November 9, 1955, pp. 58-70

Lusher, D. W., “The Stabilizing Effectiveness of Budget Flexibility,” Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, Princeton, 1956

  1. Balanced Budget Multiplier

Wallich*, H. C., “Income-Generating Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1944

Haavelmo*, T., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, 1945, and Readings

Haberler, G., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, April, 1946

Baumol, W. J. and M. H. Preston, “More on the Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget under Full Employment,” American Economic Review, March, 1955

  1. The National Debt

Studenski, P., “The Limits of Possible Debt Burdens—Federal, State, and Local,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1937

Haley*, R. F., “The Federal Budget: Economic Consequences of Deficit Financing,” American Economic Review, 1941, and Readings

Williams*, H. H., “Deficit Spending,” American Economic Review, February, 1941 and Postwar Monetary Plans and other Essays, 1944

Ratchford, B. U., “The Burden of a Domestic Debt,” American Economic Review, 1942, and Readings

Williams, J. H., “The Implications of Fiscal Policy for Monetary Policy and the Banking System,” Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 1942, and Readings

Domar*, E. D., “The ‘Burden of the Debt’ and the National Income,” American Economic Review, 1944, and Readings

Simons*, H., “On Debt Policy,” Journal of Political Economy, 1944, and Readings

Seltzer, L. H., “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, 1945, and Readings

Wallich, H. C., “Debt Management as an Instrument of Economic Policy,” American Economic Review, June, 1946

Roosa, R. V., “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” American Economic Review, 1952, and Readings

Burkhead*, J., “The Balanced Budget,” Quarterly Journal of Economic, 1954, and Readings

  1. Inflation and War Finance

Sprague, O. M. W., “Loans and Taxes in War Finance,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, 1917, and Readings

Keynes*, J. M., How to Pay for the War, London, 1940

Smithies*, A., “The Behavior of Money National Income under Inflationary Conditions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1942, and Readings

Fellner*, W. J., “Postscript on War Inflation: A Lesson from World War II,” American Economic Review, 1947, and Readings

Fetter*, F., “The Economic Reports of the President and the Problem of Inflation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1949, and Readings

Wald, H. P., “Fiscal Policy, Military Preparedness, and Postwar Inflation,” National Tax Journal, 1949, and Readings

Hart, A. G., Defense Without Inflation, New York, 1951

  1. Effect on Incentives: Incentive Taxation

Domar*, E. D., and R. A. Musgrave, “Proportional Income Taxation and Risk Taking,” Quarterly Journal of Economic, May, 1954

Butters, J. K., and J. Lintner, Effect of Federal Taxes on Growing Enterprises, Boston, 1945

Groves*, H. M., Postwar Taxation and Economic Progress, New York, 1946, Chapter 11

Shelton, J. P., and G. Ohlin, “A Swedish Tax Provision for Stabilizing Business Investment,” American Economic Review, June, 1952

Brown*, R. S., “Techniques for Influencing Private Investment,” Income Stabilization in a Developing Democracy, M. Millikan, ed., 1953, pp. 416-432

Domar*, E. D., “The Case for Accelerated Depreciation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1953

Butters*, J. K., “Taxation, Incentives, and Financial Capacity,” American Economic Review, Supplement, 1954, and Readings

Brown, E. C., “The New Depreciation Policy under the Income Tax: An Economic Analysis,” National Tax Journal, March, 1955

Goode*, R., “Accelerated Depreciation Allowances as a Stimulus to Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1955

Break*, G. F., “Effects of Taxation on Work Incentives,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 192

Brown*, E. C., “Weaknesses of Accelerated Depreciation as an Investment Stimulus,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 495

Butters*, J. K., “Effects of Taxation on the Investment Capacities and Policies of Individuals,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 126

Greenewalt*, C. H., “Effect of High Tax Rates on Executive Incentive,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 185

Long*, C. D., “Impact of Federal Income Tax on Labor Force Participation,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 153

Kaldor*, N., “An Expenditure Tax,” London, 1955

  1. Particular Taxes

Simons, H., Personal Income Taxation, Chicago, 1938

Brown*, E. C., “Analysis of Consumption Taxes in Terms of the Theory of Income Determination,” American Economic Review, March, 1950

Goode*, R., Corporation Income Tax, New York, 1951

Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income, First Report, February, 1953; Second Report, April, 1954; Final Report, June, 1955

Due, J. F., “Economics of Commodity Taxation and the Present Excise Tax System,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 547

Keith*, G., “Economic Impact of the Corporation Income Tax,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 658

Goode, R., “The Corporate Income Tax in a Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression, a conference of the Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, 1956

Merriam, I. C., “Social Security Programs and Economic Stability,” Policies to Combat Depression

Pechman, J. A., “Yield of the Individual Income Tax During A Recession,” Policies to Combat Depression

  1. Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations

Maxwell*, J. A., “Intergovernmental Fiscal Devices for Economic Stabilization,” Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Joint Committee on the Economic Report, Washington, D. C., November 9, 1955, p. 807

Heer*, C., “Stabilizing State and Local Finance,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

U. S. Treasury Department, Committee on Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations, Federal, State, and Local Government Fiscal Relations, 78th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document No. 69, 1943

U. S. Bureau of the Census, Compendium of State Government Finances (an annual series)

Same source, Compendium of City Government Finances (an annual series)

Tax Institute, Federal-State-Local Tax Correlation (A Symposium), December, 1953

The Council of State Governments, Federal Grants-in-Aid, 1949

  1. Growth and Economic Development

Bernstein*, E. M. and I. G. Patel, “Inflation in Relation to Economic Development,” International Monetary Fund, Staff papers, II, 1951-52

United Nations*: Fiscal Division, “Taxation and Economic Development in Asian Countries,” Economic Bulletin for Asia and the Far East, Vol. IV, November, 1953

Gurley, J. A., “Fiscal Policy in a Growing Economy,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1953

Papers and Proceedings of the Conference on Agricultural Taxation and Economic Development, H. P. Wald, and J. N. Froomkin, eds., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1954 (Harvard University Law School, International Program in Taxation)

  1. Special Problems

Clark*, C., “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” The Economic Journal, December, 1945

Clark*, C., “The Danger Point in Taxes,” Harper’s Magazine, December, 1950

Goode*, R., “An Economic Limit on Taxes: Some Recent Discussion,” National Tax Journal, September, 1952

Caplan, B., “A Case Study: The 1948-1949 Recession,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

Fox, K. A., “The Contribution of Farm Price Support Programs to General Economic Stability,” Policies to Combat Depression, 1956

Gordon, R. A., “Types of Depressions and Programs to Combat Them,” Policies to Combat Depression

Grebler, L., “Housing Policies to Comat Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression

Johnson, D. G., “Stabilization of International Commodity Prices,” Policies to Combat Depression

Owen, W., “Self-Liquidating Public Works to Combat Depression,” Policies to Combat Depression

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Box 17, Folder “Fiscal and Monetary Policy”.

___________________________

FINAL EXAMINATION
14.472 Fiscal Policy
Monday, May 20, 1957

E. D. Domar

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. THE QUALITY OF YOUR REASONING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR ANSWERS.

  1. [35%] Compare and contrast monetary and fiscal policies as methods of achieving a steadily expanding economy (without inflation or depression). Include, but don’t limit yourself to, the following points:
      1. The theoretical foundation of each.
      2. Methods used.
      3. Effects on distribution of income and wealth.
      4. Social and political repercussions of each.
      5. The effectiveness and limitations of each.

Do they overlap? Can you work out a synthesis?

  1. [20%] “Government spending tends to be like a drug, in that it takes larger and larger doses to get results, and all the time debt and taxes get higher and higher.”
    Analyze this statement and comment as fully as you can. Compare the effect of government expenditures with that of private.
  2. [15%] “The best cure against inflation is increased production.”
    Analyze this statement and comment on it. Include in your comments the monetary and fiscal implications of this statement.
  3. [15%] What are the so-called “Built-in-Stabilizers?” Discuss fully and indicate how they operate in (a) depression and (b) inflation.
  4. [15%] “The purpose of taxation is never to raise money but to leave less in the hands of the taxpayer.”
    Comment fully and indicate the limitations of this statement. Can you identify the author? (No great penalty if you cannot.)

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Box 16, Folder “Examination. Public Finance and Fiscal Policy”.

Notes on Final Exam:

Question II comes from a review of Stuart Chase, Where’s the Money Coming From? Published in the Monthly Bulletin of the National City Bank of New York that I was fortunate to find inserted into the Congressional Record Volume 93—Part 4 (May 8, 1947, p. 4827);

Question III. Domar liked this question enough to have used it at least twice. See January 23, 1958 Exam at Johns Hopkins; January 26, 1966 at M.I.T.;

Question V. The sentence quoted comes from Abba Lerner’s The Economics of Control, p. 307.

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Image Source: Evsey D. Domar at the MIT Museum legacy website.

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exams for European and U.S. Economic History. Gay and Klein, 1911

This post adds  final examinations for the 1910-11 academic year to previous posts dedicated to two economic history courses taught by Edwin F. Gay during the second decades of the twentieth century at Harvard. 

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Instructors: Edwin F. Gay, Julius Klein

Biographical information

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Reading list: First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

Final exam. First term, 1910-11.
Economics 6a.

[European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century]

  1. (a) “The essence of the industrial revolution is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth….Competition came to be believed in as a gospel.” (Toynbee.)
    Give illustrations of the substitution of competition, and state why, in your opinion, the good rather than the evil of competition was emphasized at this period.
    (b) Toynbee said: “The effects of the industrial revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.” A Boston reformer, speaking of the advent of machinery, says, “The profits from the machine were absorbed by capital,” so that the people did not have their share. Does the economic history of the nineteenth century support these views?
  2. (a) Trace concisely the influence of agricultural interests upon the tariff history of England, France and Germany in the nineteenth century.
    (b) Has England been more affected by the agricultural depression of the last thirty years than other European countries? Why has it not been more influenced by the “protectionist reaction?”
  3. How has the French railroad policy differed from that of Prussia? Which has been the more beneficial? Give reasons.
  4. Do the actual conditions warrant the assertions concerning “the ominous situation of British trade?” Give reasons.
  5. State succinctly the chief facts concerning:—
    (a) Assignats.
    (b) British shipping subsidies.
    (c) Crisis of 1857.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, Mid-years (HUC 7000.55). Box 8, Examination Papers, Mid-years, 1910-11.

cf. Final exam. First term, 1914-15.
Economics 2a.

European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century.

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Reading list: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

Economic and Financial History of the United States.

 

Final exam: Second term, 1910-11.
Economics 6b.

[Economic and Financial History of the United States]

  1. Outline fully the topics you would discuss if you were to write a thesis on the history of the iron and steel industry in the United States.
  2. Comment on the following:—
    1. “We import annually millions of dollars’ worth of tropical products that could be grown in the United States.” (Report of Secretary of Agriculture for 1901.)
    2. “The sum paid by American producers and manufacturers to these foreign bottoms during the past year was $500,000,000, a sum sufficient to dig the Panama Canal and operate it for twenty years. Remember that all this good American money has gone into the pockets of foreigners.” (Admiral Evans in a recent magazine article.)
  3. (a) Outline our tariff history since 1890.
    (b) Comment on Senator Aldrich’s statement: “I do not believe there are any duties levied in this bill [the tariff act of 1909] that are excessive or are prohibitory.”
    (c) The American experience with reciprocity. Are you in favor of the reciprocity treaty with Canada? State your reasons.
  4. Rhodes in his history of the United States says: “This tendency [the accumulation of large fortunes and the development of abject poverty] had begun before the War and has been the result rather of the constantly deteriorating character of the European immigration than of industrial changes on our own soil.”
    Do you agree with this view? Give your reasons.
  5. Comment on the following: “The year 1896 was in fact one of those periods rare in the history of any country of which it could be said that a given chapter had definitely closed and that another was about to open.”
  6. Compare briefly the conditions before and after the Civil War in respect to
    1. The defects of our banking system;
    2. The public land policy;
    3. Governmental assistance to and control of transportation enterprise.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 44. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11.

cf. Final Exam. Second term, 1914-15.

Economics 2b
Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Image Source: Edwin Francis Gay and Julius Klein, respectively, from The World’s Work, Vol. XXVII, No. 5 (March 1914) and Harvard Album 1920.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Readings and Final Exam for Normative Aspects of Economic Policy. Bergson, 1960

 

The reading list and final exam questions from 1959 for Abram Bergson‘s Harvard undergraduate course “Normative Aspects of Economic Policy” have been posted earlier. This post provides material for the same course taught in the spring term of 1960. The reading lists are completely identical, but this time I have gone to the trouble of providing links to most of the course readings.  The exam questions for the 1960 do indeed differ from those of 1959 while covering broadly the same material.

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Enrollment

[Economics] 111a. Normative Aspects of Economic Policy. Professor Bergson. Half course. (Spring)

Total 36: 3 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 3 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1959-1960, p. 82.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Normative Aspects of Economic Policy
Spring Term: 1959-60

  1. The concept of economic efficiency.

Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, Chicago, 1951, Chapter I.

  1. Consumers’ goods distribution and labor recruitment: the efficiency of perfect competition: other forms of market organization.

Scitovsky, Chapters II-V, XVI (pp. 338-41), XVIII, XX (pp. 423-427).
A. P. Lerner, Economics of Control, New York, 1946, Chapter 2.

  1. Conditions for efficiency in production.

Scitovsky, Chapters VI-VIII.
Lerner, Chapter 5.

  1. Production efficiency under perfect competition; monopolistic markets.

See the readings under topic 3.
Scitovsky, Chapter X, XI, XII, XV, XVI (pp. 341-363), XVII, XX (pp. 428-439).
Lerner, Chapters 6, 7.

  1. The optimum rate of investment.

Scitovsky, Chapter IX (pp. 216-228).
A. C. Pigou, Economics of Welfare, fourth ed., London, 1948, pp. 23-30.”Wa

  1. Price policy for a public enterprise.

Lerner, Chapter 15.
I. M. D. Little, A Critique of Welfare Economics, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1957, Chapter XI.
O. Eckstein, Water Resource Development, Cambridge, 1958, pp. 47-70, pp. 81-109.

  1. Socialist economic calculation.

O. Lange, On the Economic Theory of Socialism, Minn., 1938, pp. 55-141.
F. Hayek, Socialist Calculation: Economica, May 1940
A. Bergson, Socialist Economics, in H. Ellis, ed., A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Philadelphia, 1948.
M. Dobb, Economic Theory and Socialism, New York, 1955, pp. 41-92.

  1. Economic calculation in underdeveloped countries.

A. Datta, Welfare versus Growth Economics, Indian Economic Journal, October 1956.
T. Scitovsky, Two Concepts of External Economics, Journal of Political Economy, April 1954.
J. Tinbergen, The Design of Development, Balto., Md., 1958.

  1. The concept of social welfare.

The writings of Bergson and Dobb under topic 7.
Pigou, Economics of Welfare, Chapters I, VIII.
Lerner, Chapter 3.
J. R. Hicks, Foundations of Welfare Economics, Economic Journal, December 1939.
Arthur Smithies, Economic Welfare and Policy, in A. Smithies et al., Economics and Public Policy, Washington, 1955.

 

Other References on the Concept of Social Welfare and Optimum Conditions

M. W. Reder, Studies in the Theory of Welfare Economics, New York 1947.

P. A. Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, Cambridge, 1947, Chapter VIII.

K. Boulding, Welfare Economics, in B. Haley, A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Homewood, Illinois, 1952.

H. Myint, Theories of Welfare Economics, Cambridge, Mass., 1948.

J. A. Hobson, Work and Wealth, London, 1933.

J. M. Clark, Guideposts in Time of Change, New York, 1949.

J. de V. Graaf, Theoretical Welfare Economics, Cambridge, 1957.

F. M. Bator, The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization, American Economic Review, March 1957.

A. Bergson, A Reformulation [of Certain Aspects] of Welfare Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1938.

P. A. Samuelson, Evaluation of Real National Income, Oxford Economic Papers, January 1950.

A. C. Pigou, Some Aspects of Welfare Economics, American Economic Review, June 1951.

T. Scitovsky, The State of Welfare Economics, American Economic Review, June 1951.

J. E. Meade, Trade and Welfare, New York, 1955, Part I.

[Note: no additional assignment for the reading period]

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1959-60”.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 111a
Final Examination

June 2, 1960

Answer four and only four of the following six questions.

  1. Explain the “price-consumption” curve for a single household in a perfectly competitive consumers’ goods market. What determines the shape of the curve? By use of this curve, show how the household’s consumption might be affected by a percentage sales tax on one commodity. What determines the total taxes paid by the household?
  2. In an economy which otherwise is perfectly competitive, a trade union arbitrarily limits entry of workers into a single industry. In equilibrium, what conditions for an economic optimum are violated?
  3. “Under ‘free’ competition it is true that individual firms have monopoly power and hence charge prices above marginal costs. But since there is free entry, there hardly can be any serious economic waste on this account, for prices cannot long exceed average cost.” Discuss.
  4. For purposes of fixing prices for a public enterprise, what arguments might be advanced for and against acceptance of each of the following theoretic principles:
    1. Maximization of profits;
    2. Pricing at average cost, including a “normal” competitive return on invested capital;
    3. Pricing at marginal cost;
    4. Pricing at minimum average costs.
  5. Explain briefly:
    1. Parametric function of prices;
    2. “Technological” versus “pecuniary” external economies;
    3. “Accounting prices” in economics of development;
    4. “Defective telescopic faculty.”
  6. Discuss the different approaches employed in welfare economics to the problem of income distribution.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Naval Science, Air Science. June 1960. In Social Sciences, Final Examinations, June 1960 (HUC 2000.28, No. 128).

Portrait of Abram Bergson. See Paul A. Samuelson, “Abram Bergson, 1914-2003: A Biographical Memoir”, in National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, Volume 84 (Washington, D.C.: 2004).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam Questions. International Monetary Economics. Meyer and Sprague, 1900-1901.

Oliver Sprague

Having just returned from nearly three weeks of travel to visit family in the U.S., I can continue the work of transcribing and posting of artifacts for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. During my trip I was even able to sneak in a few days of work in the Harvard University archive. My first priority now is to supplement earlier posts with complementary material from this last archival visit.

Very recently I posted “Harvard. Final exams for international payments and specie flows. Dunbar and Meyer, 1894,1901“. That post included the mid-year examination for the course taught by Hugo Richard Meyer (International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals) in 1900-1901. This post is able to include the final examination for the second semester course taught by Oliver M. Sprague (Banking and the history of the leading Banking Systems). It does not appear that the courses were conceived as a sequence, but the common course number does reflect the shared substantive content of international payments and finance. 

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About the instructors

Hugo Richard Meyer (b. 1866, d. 1923). Biographical information.

Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague (b. 1873, d. 1953). Biographical Information.

__________________

Enrollments
1900-01

[Economics] 12a1 . Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.

Total 16: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Other.

[Economics 122 hf. Dr. Sprague. — Banking and the History of the Leading Banking Systems.

Total 128: 4 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 16 Sophomores, 14 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 12a1.
Mid-Year Examination. 1901.

Observe strictly the order in which the questions are arranged.

  1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
  2. What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
  3. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered), what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.), page 139.]
  4. The conditions which led to the flow of gold to the United States in the fiscal years 1880 and 1881?
  5. What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point both in domestic and in international finance?

Alternative:

The reasons for the return flow from Europe of American securities in the years 1890-1900?

  1. What sort of wealth did France actually sacrifice in paying the indemnity? What was the process?
  2. Is Mr. Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall”?
  3. Why is it that certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments which have to be made in one direction?

Alternative:

Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

__________________

ECONOMICS 122
Final Examination.

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all the questions under A and two of those under B

A

  1. Explain in detail and under different circumstances the effect of an advance of the rate of discount by the Bank of England upon the money market of London and upon the foreign exchanges.
  2. Taking the separate items of a bank account point out how those of the Bank of Amsterdam differed from those of a modern bank.
  3. Define and explain:—
    1. Bill broker.
    2. Banking Principle.
    3. The State Bank of Indiana.
    4. The banking law of Louisiana.
    5. Clearing House Certificates.
  4. The extent and banking consequences of government control of the Bank of France and the Reichsbank.
  5. How do government receipts and expenditures affect the money market (a) of London, (b) of New York?
  6. Explain with illustrations from the crises of 1857 and 1893 the nature of the demand for cash in time of crisis, and consider how far that demand may be met under a flexible system of note issue.

B

  1. (a) How far and with what qualifications may banking experience in the United States before 1860 be appealed to in the discussion of changes in our banking system? (b) How far, similarly, may Canadian experience be applied?
  2. “Why compel banks to send home for redemption a multitude of notes which can as well be used in payments and are sure to be reissued at once? Why impede the free use of its power of circulation by any enterprising bank by requiring the early redemption of notes which the holder does not in fact care or need to have redeemed?”
    Explain from past experience what regulations may be expected to bring about these results, and give the reasons for demanding them.
  3. Discuss the question of branch banking with reference to the United States, including in your discussion considerations of safety and economy. Would branch banking be more desirable than at present if notes were issued against general banking assets.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College, June, 1901 , pp. 33-35.

Image Source: Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague in Harvard Business School Yearbook, 1930-31, p. 18.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate Economics Exams, 1920

Barnett, Weyforth, Mitchell

 

Even at the Johns Hopkins University, one of the pioneers in academic economics in the United States, there were only six semesters worth of undergraduate economics actually offered in 1919-20. This post provides transcriptions of the six semester final examinations for that year.

The final examinations for the 1922-23 academic year have been transcribed for an earlier post.

Note:

Political Economy 2(b) Money and Banking was scheduled to be taught by Professor Barnett in 1919-20. However in the announcement for 1920-21 Dr. Weyforth was listed as course instructor which is consistent with the ex post report for 1919-20 for instruction in the department of political economy.

Political Economic 4(b) was scheduled as Public Finance to be taught by Professor Hollander in 1919-20, but from the exam below it is clear that the course matches “Corporation Finance” found in the course announcements for 1920-21 which was taught by Professor Barnett.

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Instructors of Undergraduate Courses
1919-20

George Ernest Barnett, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.
A. B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.
Appointment to professor, 1911.

Broadus Mitchell, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.
A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph. D., 1918. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

William Oswald Weyforth, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.
A. B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1919-20

  1. (a) Economic History.
    The economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States are studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Elements of Economics.
    Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
  2. (a) Statistical Methods.
    After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor Barnett.
    (b) Money and Banking.
    The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth.
  3. (a) Insurance.
    The principles of insurance are taught with reference to existing systems of property, personal, and social insurance.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year.
    (b) Transportation.
    The history and theory of transportation are taught with particular reference to conditions in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year.
    [Course 3 will not be given in 1919-1920.]
  4. (a) Labor Problems.
    The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Corporation Finance.
    The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.

NOTE—Undergraduate Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed or are pursuing Course 1: Courses 3, 4, and 5 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, University Register 1918-1919 with Announcements for 1919-20. Circular, Vol. 38, No. 314, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p.222.

Johns Hopkins University, Annual Report of the President 1919-20, Circular, Vol. 39, No. 327, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p. 66.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Economic history]

February 5, 1920, 9 – 12 A.M.

  1. Describe the manor system.
  2. How were the gilds organized, and what were the circumstances of their dissolution? What were the economic consequences of the Black Death?
  3. Discuss the Industrial Revolution, giving its causes and main effects. What results did it have for the manual worker in England?
  4. What is the doctrine of laissez faire, and how did it come to have such vogue, particularly in the first years of the 19th century?
  5. Discuss the Factory Acts. What tendency in social thinking did they represent?
  6. What are chief social and economic advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor?
  7. Do you think our present method of securing entrepreneurs a good one? How might it be improved?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Elements of economics]

June 3, 1920, 9 A.M. – 12 M.

  1. Name and discuss as many theories of wages as you know.
  2. Explain, with the assistance of a diagram, the differential principle of rent. How does the argument of the Single Tax rest on this law?
  3. What is the distinction between interest and profits? Explain the economic justification of each.
  4. Describe the functions of credit. Show how the Federal Reserve System has remedied defects in the National Bank System.
  5. Comment upon the following statement: “We are coming to be more interested in promoting the health of nations than the wealth of nations. The aim of political economy is humanistic.”
  6. Using your economic knowledge, supplemented by conversation with a man of affairs, give an estimate of the present financial and business situation.
  7. What are the theoretical foundations and practical proposals of socialism?
  8. What advantage have you gained from studying political economy?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Statistical methods]

February 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Explain how a “refined” death rate is calculated. Illustrate.
  2. What kinds of questions can not properly be asked in taking a census?
  3. Define “average” and “measure of dispersion.”
  4. Discuss the significance of different averages.
  5. Calculate Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the probable error, and the ratio of variation for the following:

X

 Y
1

2

2

5

3

3

4

 8
5

7
  1. Define an index number.
  2. Discuss the relative advantages of the “aggregate” and the “relative” methods of computing index numbers.
  3. Under what conditions is “weighting” necessary?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Money and banking]

TUESDAY June 1, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Describe the various forms of money in use in the United States.
  2. What are the essential features of a system of bimetallism? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a system.
  3. Give a brief history of the greenbacks.
  4. What is a bill of exchange? An acceptance? A promissory note? What are the advantages of trade acceptances?
  5. What are the principal ways in which deposits originate in commercial banks? Explain the connection between loans and deposits.
  6. Describe the defects of the old national banking system.
  7. Outline the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  8. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect of both money and deposits on prices.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Labor problems]

February 3, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Did trade unionism in England originate in the gilds? Did the American labor movement grow out of gild organizations? Give reasons for your answer.
  2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect British working-men?
  3. Discuss the Combination Acts. Who was Francis Place and what part did he play in the labor movement?
  4. What facts as to the Knights of Labor are indicated by the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all”?
  5. Discuss the closed shop.
  6. Is there any justification for the policy of restriction of output as employed by unions? By employers?
  7. What are the chief causes of strikes? How have unions affected the causes of strikes?
  8. What did you learn from the steel strike and the coal strike?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
[Corporation finance]

June 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Discuss the relative advantages of the various legal forms of the business unit.
  2. Trace briefly the history of the corporation.
  3. Define “preferred stock” and describe the varieties of such stock.
  4. Why are ordinary business corporations frequently over-capitalized? Is this justifiable?
  5. State the principles of capitalization adopted by public service commissions.
  6. Explain the difference between “treasury stock” and “authorized but not issued” stock.
  7. Discuss the legal relations of the persons participating in a syndicate.
  8. How are corporate securities usually marketed? Why?
  9. Explain and discuss the principle of “trading on the equity” as applied in the capitalization of corporations.
  10. Under what conditions would the issue of common stock only be desirable?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Eisenhower Library. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box: 6/1. Folder: Department of Political Economy, Exams, 1907-1924.

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Image Sources: Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

George Ernest Barnett (1873-1938), ca 52 years of age
William Oswald Weyforth (1889-1983), ca 36 years of age
John Broadus Mitchell (1892-1988), ca 30 years of age