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Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Graduate economics prelim. Theory of income, employment and price level, 1969

 

The price theory prelim for 1969 at Chicago was transcribed for the previous post. Today’s post gives us the 1969 prelim examination questions for core macroeconomics (in Chicago speak of the day: “Theory of Income, Employment and Price Level”).

The M.I.T. general macroeconomic exams for 1959-1971 were transcribed and collected into a single post.

The copy of the exam in Milton Friedman’s papers at the Hoover Institution includes (Warning: Plot-spoiler!) the answers to the True-False-Uncertain questions:    1=F; 2=F; 3=T; 5=T; 5=F; 6=T; 7=T.

_____________

CORE EXAMINATION
Theory of Income, Employment and Price Level
Winter, 1969

Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D.

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your Code Number and NOT your name
Name of Examination
Date of Examination

Results of the Examination will be sent to you by letter

Answer all questions. Time: 3 hours

 

I.

  1. [20] Indicate whether each of the following statements is True (T), False (F), or Uncertain (U), and state briefly your reasons:

____1. If the capital stock is growing, then the marginal efficiency of investment is greater than the marginal product of capital.

____2. In an economy growing at a rate of 4 percent per year in which the income elasticity of demand for money is 2.0, a budget deficit of up to 8 percent of government expenditures can be financed by money creation without producing inflation.

____3. In a simple income determination model, the elasticity of income with respect to changes in the marginal propensity to consume is mpc/(1-mpc).

____4. The instability of the growth equilibrium in Harrod-Domar models can validly be attributed to the particular assumptions made about the production function.

____5. A decline in prices raises real balances for a fixed quantity of money. This is known as the real balance effect.

____6. A real balance effect is compatible with a liquidity trap.

____7. A decrease in rental rates on cars which led to no change in the total number of cars in operation would raise recorded national income.

  1. [20] Fill in the missing numbers and briefly describe how you obtained them. Neglect any effects of the corporation or personal income taxes. Assume all rates are on an annual basis.
Annual interest rate on government consols = 6.5 percent
Annual dividends as a percent of earnings = 25 percent
Dividend yield of common stock = 3 percent
Rate of return on real estate = 5 percent
Annual percentage rate of change of a price index of goods and services =  ______
Percentage rate of change in the price per share of common stock =   ______
  1. [40] Assume that in a closed economy [with flexible prices] tax revenue is proportionate to income, that the government fixes the level of its spending, and that the government finances all budget deficits by money creation. Analyze the consequences of this policy for [What is] the equilibrium level or rate of change of nominal income and show the effect of an increase in the level of government spending from an initial position of equilibrium[?] Discuss separately two cases: (a) the government fixes the nominal level of its spending; (b) the government fixes the real level of its spending.
  2. [30] “It is of no manner of consequence with regard to the domestic happiness of a state whether money be in a greater or less quantity. The good policy of the magistrate consists only in keeping it, if possible, still increasing” (David Hume, 1742). What is the verdict of two centuries of further writing on money on this proposition?
  3. [30] “Many commentators have written as if commercial banks were losing deposits to their non-banking competitors. A closer look, however, shows that this notion is misleading.
    “If a commercial bank depositor writes a check in favor of his mutual savings bank, the savings bank will either re-deposit the check in its own commercial bank account or extend mortgage credit to an individual. The individual, in turn, will either deposit the check in his bank account or turn it over to the seller of the house he is buying. And the seller will either put the check in his bank account or turn it over to his creditors who will put it in theirs….
    “The crucial point is that commercial banks compete for deposits only with other commercial banks. They cannot lose deposits to other financial institutions or financial instruments.”
    Discuss.
  4. [30] Consider the following neo-Keynesian system in which Ctis real consumption, Itis real investment, Ytis real income and Xtis real autonomous expenditures.

{{C}_{t}}-\gamma {{C}_{t-1}}=k\left( 1-\nu \right){{Y}_{t}}
{{I}_{t}}-\delta {{I}_{t-1}}=m\left( 1-\delta \right){{Y}_{t}}+{{X}_{t}}-\delta {{X}_{t-1}}
{{Y}_{t}}={{C}_{t}}+{{I}_{t}}

What are the necessary conditions for stability? If these are satisfied, can the model generate cycles?

  1. [30] Panama has no central bank but uses U. S. currency (plus some coin of its own), relabeling a dollar as a Balboa.
    Netherlands has a central bank, which issues a national currency denominated in guilders.
    The U. S. has a central bank which issues a national currency denominated in dollars.
    The U.S. and Netherlands have fixed exchange rates with other major currencies. Assume that none of the countries has any extensive exchange control.
    The monetary authorities of all three countries proclaim that they cannot control the quantity of money.
    Discuss.

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 77, Folder 8 “University of Chicago , Econ 331”.

Image Source: David Hume’s toe in Edinburgh.

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Chicago Exam Questions

Chicago. Graduate prelim exam questions for price theory, 1969

 

For comparison’s sake, here are the questions for the price theory prelim exam at the University of Chicago in 1964.

_________________

PRICE THEORY
Preliminary Examination for the Ph.D. and the A. M. Degree
Winter Quarter, 1969

WRITE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER:

Your code number and NOT your name
Name of examination
Date of examination

Results of the examination will be sent to you by letter

Answer all questions. Time: 3 hours

I.

  1. A recent survey found that supermarkets in low income areas charge higher average prices than supermarkets in high income areas for many identical items. This is consistent with

_____(a) price discrimination in the sale of groceries

_____(b) no price discrimination

_____(c) lack of competition in the retail grocery market

_____(d) competition in the retail grocery market.

Check those that apply.

 

On the following questions, indicate whether True (T), False (F), or Uncertain (U), with brief explanation.

  1. A firm produces output xusing inputs a1 and a2, which it purchases competitively at prices p1 and p2. Its total cost is given by

C=A{{x}^{\gamma }}p_{1}^{{{a}_{1}}}p_{2}^{{{a}_{2}}}

where A, ?, a1, a2 are constants.

_____(a) The demand for the first factor is given by

{{a}_{1}}=\frac{\partial C}{\partial {{p}_{1}}}=\frac{{{\alpha }_{1}}C}{{{p}_{1}}}

_____(b) The production process of the firm exhibits constant returns to scale.

_____(c) The above cost function corresponds to a Cobb-Douglas production function.

 

  1. Consider a price system involving four commodities, q1, q2, q3, and q4. If the goods are gross substitutes, it can be shown that the equilibrium will

_____(a) Satisfy the Hicks conditions of perfect stability, and

_____(b) Be dynamically stable.

Assume demand shifts from the first commodity to the second commodity. Again, assuming that the commodities are gross substitutes, it can then be demonstrated that:

_____(c) P1/P2falls and P3/P4remains unchanged;

_____(d) P2/P3rises and P1/P4falls;

_____(e) P3/P1rises by a smaller proportion than P2/P1.

 

_____ 4. If the consumer’s utility function is separable, then his marginal utility must be declining for all goods.

_____ 5. In a two good world, consumer indifference curves must be everywhere convex to the origin. Otherwise there is no solution to the consumer’s problem of maximizing his satisfaction subject to his budget constraint.

_____ 6. Three top executives leave company A and join company B. The price of company A’s stock falls and the price of company B’s stock rises. This proves that the executives are being exploited.

 

II.

In Ronald Coase’s celebrated article on the nature of social cost the first example concerns the externality imposed by a cattle ranch that is next to a corn farm. The cattle can wander into the corn farm and eat some of the corn. This increases cost to the corn farmer and imposes an externality on him. Construct a formal analysis of the following situation:

(i) Let there be two firms such that the output of each firm is an “input” in the production function of the other. Let the other inputs be of the same kind, say, labor and capital. Let the output prices be given and let the input prices be given. Derive the profit maximizing solution for the two firms.

(ii) Give a precise measure of the externality and show that the solution in (i) does not depend on who pays whom.

(iii) Under what conditions will the dollar amount of the externality be proportional to the output of the other firm?

 

III.

Consider an economy with two, L and K, factors of production producing goods, X and Y, under conditions of constant returns to scale. Assume that X is relatively L-intensive at all factor prices.

(a) Analyze the effect of an increase in L on the production of X and Y on the assumption that the relative price of X and Y is constant. How would the increase in L affect the share of L in the economy’s income?

(b) Analyze the effect of an increase in the relative price of X on relative and absolute factor rewards, and on the share of L in the economy’s income. Would your answer be altered if both production functions were of Cobb-Douglas type?

(c) Analyze the effect of an increase in K on the relative price of X on the assumption that neither X nor Y is inferior in the community’s consumption.

 

IV.

What effect would you expect the British devaluation of the pound from $2.80 to $2.40 to have had on the dollar price of Rolls Royce cars? Justify your conclusion, preferably by diagrams describing the position of the company, indicating explicitly any assumptions you regard as relevant. Assume that wage rates in Britain in pounds are not affected by the devaluation.

 

V.

The difference between the price of foreign crude oil and the price of domestic crude oil (landed at the same U.S. port) times the quantity of oil consumed in the U.S. is roughly $5 billion. This has been cited as an estimate of the cost to the U.S., in terms of wasted resources, of the whole set of governmental measures special to oil (oil import quotas, percentage depletion allowances, prorationing of oil, etc.). Indicate as specifically as you can the defects, if any, in this measure, and the information needed to set a dollar value on each defect.

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 77, Folder 8 “University of Chicago , Econ 331”.

Image Source: Lecture Hall 1, Social Science Research Building. University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07482, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Undergraduate International Monetary Affairs. Metzler, 1962

 

It is interesting to see that University of Chicago economics undergraduates in 1962 were still expected to learn something about mercantilism and classical international economic theory with a dash of Friedrich List as a chaser in Lloyd Metzler’s course on international monetary relations and policies. Oh yes, and Alfred Marshall gets into the act as well! 

_____________________

Lloyd A. Metzler

ECONOMICS 271
Reading List
Winter, 1962

  1. Mercantilism and the Classical Theory of Comparative Advantage.

P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 2.
Eli Heckscher, “Mercantilism,” in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. X.
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapter 7.
John Stuart Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy, Essay 1.

  1. Mechanism of the Foreign Exchange Market.

Alan R. Holmes, The New York Foreign Exchange Market, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, March 1959.
P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 15.
Frank A. Southard, Jr., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy.
Peter B. Kenen, Giant among Nations, Harcourt Brace, 1958.

  1. National Income and the Balance of Payments.

J. E. Meade, The Theory of International Economic Policy, Vol. I, The Balance of Payments, Oxford University Press, Part I.
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Income and Output, 1958.
R. F. Bennett, “Significance of International Transactions in National Income,” in Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. VI, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Book III, chapters 1-4.

  1. Postwar Monetary Developments.

Randall Hinshaw, “Toward Currency Convertibility,” Princeton University, Essays in International Finance, No. 31, 1958.
Robert Triffin, Europe and the Money Muddle, Yale University Press, 1957.
Alice Bourneuf and E. A. Goldenweiser, “The Bretton Woods Agreements,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1944.

  1. Regional Monetary Arrangements.

Jacob Viner, The Customs Union Issue, Chapter 4.
Committee for Economic Development, The European Common Market and its Meaning to the United States, CED, May, 1959.
James E. Meade, Problems of Economic Union, University of Chicago Press, 1953.

  1. Undeveloped Areas and the Theory of Economic Growth.

Friedrich List, A National System of Political Economy.
Walter W. Rostow, The Process of Economic Growth, chapters 1-4.
Colin Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, chapters 2, 3, 4, 11.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, chapter 1.
A. J. Brown, Introduction to the World Economy, chapters 1-4, chapter 6.

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “271 Class Notes. Win. ‘62”.

_____________________

L. A. Metzler

ECONOMICS 271
COURSE EXAMINATION
Winter, 1962

(1) Outline the principal policies of mercantilist economics and show how these policies were justified as being in the national interest of the country concerned.

(2) How were the mercantilist doctrines refuted by the classical economists, particularly by Ricardo and Mill?

(3) Did the classical economists establish a case for universal free trade? Explain.

(4) What are the main features of an undeveloped or backward country and how can the obstacles to economic development be overcome?

(5) How do you account for the decline in public interest in Malthus’ doctrine of population during the middle of the nineteenth century? What explains the recent revival of interest?

(6) Suppose that England, France and the United States have flexible exchange and that, at a given moment of time, these rates are:

New York—London: $4 = £1.
New York—Paris: $0.25 = F. 1
London—Paris: F12 = £1

If an arbitrageur has bank balances in all these countries, show how he can operate in such a way as to leave all of his foreign balances unchanged and at the same time increase his domestic balances. What effect will these operations have on all three rates?

(7) Demonstrate the conditions under which devaluation will improve a country’s balance of trade. In doing this you should define the balance of trade in both domestic and foreign currencies.

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “Course Exams 270-271”.

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

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Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Mid-year and End-year final exams for business cycles. Domar, 1948-49

 

Copies of the examinations for Evsey Domar’s business cycles course at Johns Hopkins University offered during the 1948-49 academic year can be found in his papers at the Economists’ Papers Archives at Duke University but also in the archived collection of economics exams in the departmental papers at the Johns Hopkins archive. While Domar was fairly reliable in keeping copies of his course outlines and exams, I have yet to discover a course outline for any year. Perhaps he lent his sole copy to a colleague once?

Three sets of examination questions for 1951, 1952, and 1954 are also posted.

____________________

Course Announcement

Business Cycles 617-618. Associate Professor Domar. Two hours weekly through the year.

Statistical descriptions of fluctuations in economic activities and a systematic survey of past and present cycle theory.

 

Source: Catalogue Number of The College of Arts and Sciences; The School of Engineering; The School of Business in Johns Hopkins University Circular. New Series 1948, Number 3. Whole Number 579 (March, 1948) p. 85.

____________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION

Economics 617
Dr. Domar

Wednesday, January 26, 1949—9 a.m. Three hours

ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. THEY CARRY EQUAL WEIGHTS. I AM MOST INTERESTED IN YOUR REASONING.

I.

In the last days of the OPA, it was emphatically asserted by various quarters that the best cure against inflation lay in increased production. Assume than an increase in output was actually possible. Would not increased production, however, result in larger money incomes and thus produce an inflationary effect, or at least counteract the deflationary effect of the increase in output?
Analyse this problem. The quality and depth of your analysis will count more than its quantity.

 

II.

Mr. Ayzenshtadt, whose paper was read in class, has this to say about Keynes’ system:

“Even the greatest admirers of Keynes and of this theory that loan capital is the main propeller of the industrial cycle, do not see anything new in it….Keynes himself thinks that the ‘novelty’ of his system lies in the equilibrium formula of the economic process, in which the independent and dependent variables are arranged as follows:

Independent variables

  1. Propensity to consume
  2. Marginal efficiency of capital
  3. Rate of interest
  4. Liquidity preference

Dependent variables

  1. Saving
  2. Investment
  3. Level of employment.”

Comment. Be specific.

 

III.

“In spite of his claims to the contrary, Keynes did not succeed in proving the possibility of underemployment equilibrium if wages and prices were assumed to be flexible. That a long period of unemployment could persist as a result of wage and price rigidity we had known long before Keynes.”

Comment on this statement and show what effects would flexible prices and wages have on elimination of unemployment (in a depression) and stabilization of the price level (in an inflation). Indicate clearly every step in your analysis. What practical recommendations follow from your discussion?

 

IV.

Write for thirty – forty minutes on any subject covered in the course which is of interest to you, but is not included in the preceding questions and not studied in your term paper. Make sure you have something worthwhile to say.

*  * *  *  *

The Johns Hopkins University
Final Examination

Economics 618
Dr. E. D. Domar

May 25, 1949. Three hours

Answer all questions. They carry equal weight.

I.

The following statement appeared in the National City Bank Monthly Letter (Jan. 1944) regarding government spending as a means of raising the level of income and employment:

“Government spending tends to be like a drug, in that it takes larger and larger doses to get result, and all the time debt and taxes get higher and higher.”

            Can a somewhat similar statement be made regarding private investment as an instrument for achieving and maintaining a high level of employment? Discuss the problem thoroughly.

 

II.

Examine the monetary equations (Nos. 3.10, 3.11, 3.12 in Klein’s Model III. (You should have his paper with you.)

[Klein, Lawrence R. “The Use of Econometric Models as a Guide to Economic Policy.” Econometrica 15, no. 2 (1947): 111-51. ]

  1. Give a thorough analysis of their meaning and structure.
  2. Explain the function which they perform or are supposed to perform in the system taken as a whole.
  3. State your criticism of them and present your positive suggestions.

 

III.

A Congressional Committee is holding hearing to determine (a) the causes of depressions and, (b) the methods for their elimination. Mr. Hayek and Mr. Marx are testifying. (You may use Mr. Paul Sweezy instead of Mr. Marx if you don’t want to get involved with ghosts).

Present:

  1. A brief statement of each witness’ views on points (a) and (b).
  2. Your criticism and evaluation of these statemtns.
  3. Your own statements on points (a) and (b).

Make sure that your position is well taken because both the witnesses and the members of the Committee (not to say anything about your instructor) can attack you on any point. Be precise and specific.

 

IV.

Evaluate critically the present day business cycles theory and research. Present your positive suggestions for their improvement. In what direction should the study of business cycles, in your opinion, develop? Be specific.

 

Source:     Duke University. David M. Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Evsey Domar papers, Box 16, Folder “Final Exams: Johns Hopkins, Stanford, U of Michigan”.

Image Source: College yearbook portrait of Evsey [Domashevitsky] Domar from the 1939 UCLA yearbook.

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Economists Exam Questions M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Advanced Economic Theory. Uncertainty and Capital Theory. Readings and Exam. Solow, 1965

 

Topics in advanced economic theory in 1965 was taught at M.I.T. by Robert Solow. The topics discussed were uncertainty and capital theory. This post provides information that was found stored in three different folders in Robert Solow’s papers at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Together in one place we now have the reading lists for the topics, the final exam questions and even the class list. For the little it is worth knowing, Robert Hall of Stanford and William Nordhaus of Yale were awarded A’s in the course. I certainly hope that their scientific reputations will not be affected by that revelation.

____________________

Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
I. Economics of Uncertainty

K. Arrow, “Alternative Approaches…,” Econometrica, October 1951.
D. Bernoulli, “Exposition of a New Theory…,” Econometrica, January 1954.
M. Friedman and L. J. Savage, “Utility Analysis…,” JPE, August, 1948, also in Readings in Price Theory.
H. Markowitz, “The Utility of Wealth,” JPE, April, 1952.
I. Herstein and J. Milnor, “An Axiomatic Approach…,” Econometrica, April, 1953.
J. Pratt, “Risk Aversion…,” Econometrica, January-April 1964.
H. Latané, “Criteria for Choice Among Risky Ventures,” JPE, April, 1959.
J. Tobin, “Liquidity Preference…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., February, 1958.
K. Arrow, “The Role of Securities…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., April, 1964.
J. Hirschleifer, “Efficient Allocation…,” AER, May, 1964, 77-96 (including relevant discussion)
K. Arrow, “Uncertainty and the Economics of Medical Care,” AER, December, 1963.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

____________________

Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Reading List on Capital Theory

I. Fisher: Theory of Interest, passim.
K. Wicksell: Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. I, Part II and Appendix on Akerman.
O. Lange: “the Place of Interest…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1935-1936.
L. Metzler: “Rate of Interest and…”, JPE 1950, “Corrections”, JPE 1951.
P. Samuelson: “Some Aspects of the Pure Theory…”, QJE 1937
___________: “Rate of Interest under Ideal Conditions”, QJE 1939.
T. Koopmans: Three Essays on the State of Economics, pp. 105-126.
R. Radner: Notes on the Theory of Economic Planning.
E. Malinvaud: “The Analogy between…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1961.
R. Solow: “Substitution and Fixed Proportions…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962
________:  Capital Theory and the Rate of Return, Chapters 1, 2.
E. Phelps: “Substitution, Fixed Proportions,….”, International Economic Review, September 1963.
K. Arrow: “…Learning by Doing”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962.
R. Findlay: “The Robinsonian Model…”, Economica, February 1963 and “Comments” by Robinson and Findlay, Economica, November 1963.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 67, Folder “14.192 Capital Theory”.

____________________

Final Examination
14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Spring 1965

  1. Suppose Caius, a Petersburg merchant, has purchased commodities in Amsterdam which he could sell for 10,000 rubles if he had them in Petersburg. He therefore orders them to be shipped by sea, but is in doubt whether to insure them. He is well aware that at this time of year, of 100 ships which sail from Amsterdam to Petersburg, 5 are usually lost. How much wealth must Caius possess apart from the goods under consideration in order that it be sensible for him to abstain from insuring the shipment at a price of 800 rubles? And what fortune should be possessed by the man who offers to provide this insurance in order for him to be rational in doing so? Work out for an arbitrary utility function and specialize to the logarithmic case.
  2. In a perfectly competitive economy, it requires c (X) many years of labor, and nothing else, to build a machine which requires X men to operate it and has a capacity of one unit of output a year. The wage in terms of output is w and is expected to be constant forever. The market rate of interest is r, also constant. For given w, find the competitive equilibrium values of x and r. How does x change with w?
  3. By investing one unit of labor now (at real wage w) you can start a yoghurt-process. T units of time later, by investing one more unit of labor you can collect f (T) units yoghurt and start another identical yoghurt-process. There is a competitive capital market. You intend this yoghurt business to go on forever at the scale of one process. Discuss the determination of the best T, and implications for r and w.
  4. An investor with wealth W must divide it between holding cash, M, and holding one-year bonds in value B, paying interest at rate r. The return of principal is sure but the interest rate is random. Interest income is subject to a proportional tax at rate t. If the investor is a Bernoullian expected-utility maximizer and a risk-averter, how will his holding of bonds respond to a change in the tax rate? Explain the economics of your answer.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

____________________

From the Final Grade Sheet

Second Term 1964-65
Subject number: 14.192
Subject name: Economics Seminar
Staff member in charge: [signed] R. M. Solow

Graduate students of economics who were awarded grades
[There were 5 A’s and 7 B’s]:

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo [Emeritus Professor,Keio Univ.]
Kheir El Dine, H. Miss
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Nordhaus, William D.
Schulson, Louis J.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

____________________

(Preliminary) Class List

14.192 ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY
W 1:00-3:00
Professor Robert M. Solow

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Chacholiades, Miltiades  LISTENER
DeMenil, George F. DROPPED APRIL 13, 1965
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo
Kheir El Dine, H.
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Schulson, Louis J.
Suva, Felipe
Wales, Terrence J. LISTENER
Cohen, Malcolm S. LISTENER
Stiglitz, Joseph
La Malfa, Giorgio LISTENER

Note:  William Nordhaus who received a grade in the course was not included in this preliminary class list. Felipe Suva and Joseph Stiglitz appear on this list but were not included in the gradesheet.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

Image Source:  Robert Merton Solow at the M.I.T. Museum website.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. International Trade and Finance. Final Exam. Leontief, 1933

 

 

Wassily Leontief’s first appointment at Harvard was at the rank of instructor for the academic year 1932-33. The first course he taught was Economics 18 (Price Analysis) that was taken by two graduate students for credit during the fall semester. Leontief then taught Economics 39 (International Trade and Finance) in the second semester. I have yet to locate a syllabus or reading list for that course, but at least Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is able to provide visitors with the transcript below of what would appear to be Leontief’s earliest recorded examination at Harvard.

_________________

Course Description

[Economics] 39 2hf. International Trade and Finance

Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri. at 3. Dr. Leontief.

Starting with the classical theory of foreign trade, this course will lead to an analysis of modern problems in international economic relations. The movement of capital and labor across national boundaries will be discussed and the general trend in international economic relations and policies will be analyzed in connection with the changing structure of world economies.

Source:  Division of History, Government and Economics, 1932-33. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 29, No. 32 (June 27, 1932), pp. 81-82.

_________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics 39 2hf. Dr. Leontief.—International Trade and Finance.

Total 11: 9 Graduates, 2 Radcliffe.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1932-1933, p. 66.

_________________

Final Examination

1932-33
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 392

(Three hours)

  1. Analyze the theory of costs in its application to the theory of international trade.
  2. “England was losing after the war its exports to other countries because its costs of production were too high.” Is this statement compatible with the theory of comparative costs? Analyze the case.
  3. Can a tariff protect the wage-level of a country?
  4. Under what conditions can a country gain from a protective tariff?
  5. What is dumping? Under what conditions is it most likely to occur?
  6. Analyze the principal items of a typical balance of payments.

Final. 1933.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers. Finals. (HUC 7000.28 vol. 75). Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science January-June, 1933.

Image Source: Wassily Leontief in Harvard Class Album, 1934.

 

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Economics, Summer School. Syllabus and Exams, 1942.

Harvard Commencement, 1943. Military copy work from the Harvard ArchivesHarvard University. . Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

 

 

Harvard University was able to switch into a three semester per year mode in the very first summer after the U.S. entered World War II. There were two versions of the standard Principles of Economics course offered, one which extended over the twelve week summer term and one very intensive version that covered the material of a normal year-long course in just six weeks by having the students in class for two hours per days for five days per week. There was also a Principles “Lite” version that ran for only six weeks and covered just half the material apparently.

The syllabus for the full twelve week version of Economics A lists 2,600 pages of assigned reading for the  course. Nominally there would be five one-hour sessions per week, so on average for the sixty sessions students were expected to read 40-45 pages per day. Call me cynical, but I would be surprised if the average of the distribution were even half that pensum.

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Summer enrollment in Principles of Economics, 1942

“The large number of course enrolments meant that individual classes were very much larger than in preceding years. The largest classes were Mathematics SAa, with 436 students, English SAa, with 347, English SAb, with 329, Mathematics SAb, with 299, and Economics SAa, with 222 students. Enrolment in 22 courses was 100 or more.”

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1941-1942, p. 356.

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Course Announcements for Summer School 1942 

Economics SAa 1hf. Principles of Economics.
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAa may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
SAa and SAb provide an introductory study of the present organization of industry, money and the mechanism of exchange, the theory of value, foreign trade and tariff policy, the distribution of wealth; i.e., the forces governing the incomes of the laboring, land-owning, capitalist and business classes, and the relation of government to industry. The course is conducted entirely by oral discussion.

 

Economics SAb 2hf.Principles of Economics
Half-course (second session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAb may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
Economics SAa is a prerequisite for the course.
For description see SAa.

 

Economics SA1(to count as a whole course in the first session). Principles of Economics
Whole course (first session). Mon. through Fri., 9 to 11.  Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SA1 is identical with SAa and Sab, the two, however, combined and completed in one session. Freshmen will not be admitted to this course. For description see SAa.

 

Economics SB 1hf. Principles of Economics
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Dr. Monroe.

If a Harvard student counts Economics SB for a degree, Economics A may be counted as a half-course only. Ordinarily students concentrating in History, Government, and Economics must take Economics A, SA, or SAa and SAb.
Course SB gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject.

 

Source:   Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered in the Summer Term 1942 published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 16 (April 20, 1942), pp. 21-22.

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ECONOMICS A
Summer Term, 1942

Sources: Arnold, Thurman The Bottlenecks of Business (1940)

*

 Benham and Lutz Economics, American Edition (1941)
Bidwell, P. Economic Defense of Latin America (1941)

**

 Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Charts on Bank Credit, Money Rates and Business (1941)
Garver and Hansen Principles of Economics, Revised Edition (1937)
Golden and Ruttenberg The Dynamics of Industrial Democracy (1942)
Johnson, E.A.J. Some Origins of the Modern Economic World (1936)

**

 Luthringer, Chandler and Cline Money, Credit and Finance (1938)
Meyers, A.L. Elements of Modern Economics (1937)

**

 Neal, A.C., Editor Introduction to War Economics (1942)
Slichter, S.E. Modern Economic Society (1928)

-ditto-

 The Economics of Collective Bargaining (reprint)

-ditto-

 The Period 1919-1936 in the United States, Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory, in Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1937, No. 1, Part I

**

 Staff members Syllabus: Economics A
Taussig, F.W. Principles of Economics, Vol. I Third Edition Revised (1921)

**

 Taylor, H. Main Currents in Modern Economic Life (1941)
T.N.E.C. Price Behavior and Business Policy, Monograph No. 1 (1941)
T.N.E.C. Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, Monograph No. 21 (1940)

** To be purchased by students
* Suggested for purchase

Note:  Essay due at end of eight week.

 

ECONOMICS A
Outline and Reading Assignments
Summer Term, 1942

 

Weeks Pages
1st Part I. EMERGENCE OF MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
The economic problem; historical development of social and legal institutions; their effect on the economic problem.
Johnson,  Ch. 1, Economic Activity and Economic Development 7
_______, Ch. 2, The Late-Medieval Background 21
_______, Ch. 3, The Emergence of Capitalism 34
_______, Ch. 4, The Beginnings of Scientific Technology 32
_______, Ch. 5, The Formulation of Capitalist Theory 23
_______, Ch. 6, Protection and the Transplantation of Industrialism 24
_______, Ch. 7, The Export of Capital and the Genesis of Economic Imperialism 15
156
Part II. MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
A—The economic problem again; how it is solved today; the concept of useful production.
Benham, Ch. 1, General Survey 17
Taussig, Ch. 2, Of Labor in Production 13
30
B—Description of money flows and goods flows in a capitalist society; the relation of the division of labor to these flows; the forms of business organization and their relation to the division of labor.
Taylor, Ch. 6, Vol. I, The National Income and its Distribution 18
2nd _______, Ch. 12, Vol. I, Industrial Techniques 16
Taussig, Ch. 3, Division of Labor 18
_______, Ch. 4, Large Scale Production 15
Slichter, Ch. 8, (M.E.S.) Modern Business Organization 26
93
Part III. THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND MONEY
Division of Labor necessitates exchange; exchange is facilitated by the use of money; digression to explain the working of the monetary system in the United States.
Luthringer, Ch. 1, Functions and Significance of Money 24
_______, Ch. 2, Kinds of Money 23
_______, Ch. 3, Credit and Credit Instruments 15
_______, Ch. 4, Investment Institutions and Commercial Banking 23
Pamphlet, Credit Expansion, in Economics A Syllabus 14
Luthringer, Ch. 5, Central Banking and the Federal Reserve System 20
_______, Ch. 6, The Quantitative Control of Bank Credit 18
3rd _______, Ch. 7, Meaning of the Value of Money 14
_______, Ch. 8, Equation of Exchange and the Quantity of Money 16
_______, Ch. 9, Velocity of Money and the Volume of Trade 17
184
Part IV. THE SOLUTION TO THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A—The Markets for Commodities
Analysis in this section refers only to the determination of prices and quantities of commodities produced by a business firm. No answers are given to the questions: Why are wages, rents, interest high or low?
A.1 The Business Firm vis-à-vis Consumers in an unregulated market
A.1.a Consumer Demand
Why consumers spend their incomes as they do, the process whereby consumer demand is transmitted to the market.
Benham, Ch. 2, Markets 25
_______, Ch. 3, Demand 16
_______, Ch. 4, Prices with a Fixed Demand 10
_______, Ch. 5, Changes in Demand 10
61
A.1.b The Business Firm
The final relationship of cost to price depends on the competitive conditions in each commodity market; the profit motive the main determinant of the firm’s decisions.
Benham, Ch. 12, The Controlling Power of Demand 8
_______, Ch. 13, The Problems of the Firm (omit Sec. 11) 37
_______, Ch. 14, Monopoly 18
Monograph 21, Ch. 1, the Nature and Significance of Competition 18
Monograph 1, Part 1, Ch. 2, Nonprice Competition 53
4th _______, 1, Part 2, Ch. 1, Types of Geographical Price Structures 14
148
A.2 Effect of Government Regulation on the unregulated market
A.2.a Introduction
General analysis of regulation and impediments to free markets. Sections b, c, and d elaborate more completely some issues presented here.
Arnold, Ch. 1, The Basic Problem of Distribution 19
_______, Ch. 2, How Restraints of Trade Affect your Standard of Living 25
_______, Ch. 3, How Restraints of Trade Unbalance the National Budget 13
_______, Ch. 4, A Free market in time of National Emergency or War 30
_______, Ch. 5, An Elastic Procedure…to Prevent…Seizure of…Power… 24
_______, Appendix I and II 20
_______, Ch. 6, The Test is Efficiency and Service—not size 15
_______, Ch. 7, Procedure Under the Sherman Act… 31
5th _______, Ch. 8, The Clarification of Law through public enforcement 26
_______, Ch. 9, Antitrust Enforcement for the Betterment of the Consumer 21
_______, Ch. 10, Bottlenecks between the Farm and the Table 26
_______, Ch. 11, Labor—Restraints of Trade among the Underdogs 19
_______, Ch. 12, The Rise of a Consumer Movement 37
306
A.2.b Regulation and the Consumer
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 37, Consumption Standards 15
____________, Ch. 38, Consumers and the Business System 19
____________, Ch. 39, Consumer Cooperation 20
54
6th A.2.c Regulation and the Business Firm
(1) Monopoly
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 15, The Growth of Big Business 18
___________, Ch. 16, The Trend Toward Monopoly 17
___________, Ch. 17, Monopolies and Public Policy 16
51
(2) Public Utilities
Techniques of regulation different for firms classified as public utilities; the TVA—an example of a new regulatory device.
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 13, pp. 363-364 Introduction 2
____________, Ch. 48, The Nature and Scope of Public Regulation 15
___________, Ch. 49, The Price of Utility Services 16
___________, Ch. 50, Recent Expansion of Federal Control 19
___________, Ch. 51, The State as Operator 17
69
A.2.d Agriculture—a special problem
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 8, Agriculture and the Market 3
____________, Ch. 30, The American Farmers 18
____________, Ch. 31, Farmers in the Market System 19
____________, Ch. 32, Agriculture and Public Policy 24
64
7th B. The Markets for Productive Agents (Factors of Production)
The Analysis in this section refers to the determination of the prices of the factors of production, land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship in the markets where they are bought and sold. The entrepreneur’s reward, profit, is decided for him by the success or failure of his production plan. This market is, of course, not independent of the commodity markets. The unclassified reading discusses the productive agents of the United States:
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 8, How Productive Resources are Used 17
___________, Ch. 9, Population 19
___________, Ch. 10, Land 15
___________, Ch. 11 Localized Natural Resources 21
___________, Ch. 13 Capital 19
91
B.1 The Factors vis-à-vis Firms in an Unregulated Market
B.1.a. The Pricing Process in General
Benham, Ch. 9, Combination of Factors (omit sec’s 5,6) 18
Meyers, Ch. 11, The Distribution of Income 11
29
B.1.b. The Prices of Each Factor of Production
Benham, Ch. 15, The Mobility of Factors of Production 10
_______, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 258-269 20
_______, Ch. 18, Rent 13
Garver and Hansen, Ch. 26, Interest 23
_______________, Ch. 27, Profits 12
78
8th B.2 Effects of Government Regulation and other Institutional Aspects of Distribution on the Markets for Factors.
B.2.a The Labor Market
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 33, The American Labor Market, pp. 75-89 14
___________, Ch. 35, The Labor Movement 24
Slichter (pamphlet). The Economics of Collective Bargaining 23
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 36, Public Policy Regarding Labor 22
Benham, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 269-275 (section 9) 6
Golden, entire book. Write an essay of not more than 1200 words evaluating the ideas in the book. 347
436
9th B.2.b The Market for Savings
It is to be noted that firms and others may secure funds from credit created by commercial banks.
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 23, pp. 431-434 only (self financing by corporations) 4
__________, Ch. 24, Investment Credit Institutions 19
__________, Ch. 25, The Security Markets 17
__________, Ch. 26, Regulation of Securities and Exchanges 18
58
C. Public Finance and the Economic Problem
The State not only regulates markets as described above but also influences the prices of factors and commodities in the process of financing the production of public goods (roads, protection, etc.). The effects of government finance on the level of national income to be postponed to Part VI.
Luthringer,  Ch. 12, The Public Economy 13
_________, Ch. 13, The Revenue System 20
_________, Ch. 14, Tax Incidence 26
_________, Ch. 15, The Income Tax 20
_________, Ch. 16, Property and Other Taxes 18
_________, Ch. 17, Public Credit 14
_________, Ch. 18, Principles of Public Credit 16
127
Part V. INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARKETS AND FINANCE
Analysis of international trade and finance; the free market and the regulated market. Previous analysis emphasized only domestic markets although the principle of international trade is applicable to regions within a country to some extent; Latin America and the War.
10th Benham,  Ch. 25, The Theory of International Trade 22
_______, Ch. 26, Balances of Payments 10
_______, Ch. 27, Free Exchange Rates 10
_______, Ch. 28, The Gold Standard 22
_______, Ch. 29, Exchange Control 8
_______, Ch. 30, Import Duties and Quotas 9
Bidwell, Ch. 1, War and the Monroe Doctrine 16
______, Ch. 2, Propaganda and Politics 13
______, Ch. 3, German Economic Penetration 12
______, Ch. 4, The Weapons of Economic Defense 33
______, Ch. 5, The Fallacy of Hemisphere Self-Sufficiency 14
169
Part VI. PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION
Analysis of the reasons why all prices move together; why all factors tend to become unemployed—hence the emphasis on the movements of national income. Previously, the analysis of prices was chiefly concerned (with the exception of the value of money) with relative prices. Existence of international markets tends to spread the cyclical pattern.
A. Explanation and Verification of Business Cycle Theories
Benham, Ch. 7, The Volume of Production, pp. 113-125 13
Garver and Hansen, Ch. 21, Business Cycles 18
11th Benham, Ch. 20, Economic Progress and the Trade Cycle, pp. 347-356 9
Slichter, R.E.S., The Period 1919-1936 in the U.S. Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory 19
59
B. Governmental Policy and Business Cycles
Taylor, Vol. II,  Ch. 44, Deficit Spending 16
____________, Ch. 12, The State as Provider (Introduction) 2
____________, Ch. 45, Providing Minimum Needs 17
____________, Ch. 46, Social Security 19
____________, Ch. 47, Public Housing 17

71
Part VII. TOTALITARIAN ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM
Analysis of the solution to the economic problem in totalitarian economic systems.
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 14, Totalitarian Alternatives to Free Markets (Introduction) 2
____________, Ch. 52, Economic Basis of Totalitarianism 16
____________, Ch. 53, The Soviet Economy 23
____________, Ch. 54, The Fascist Economy in Italy 19
____________, Ch. 55, The National Socialist Economy in Germany 20
80
12th Part VIII. THE ECONOMICS OF WAR
Neal,  Ch. 1, Basic Economic Problems of War 15
____, Ch. 2, Economic War Potential 23
____, Ch. 3, Problems of War Production 21
____, Ch. 4, War Labor Problems 25
____, Ch. 5, Financing the War Effort 19
____, Ch. 6, Financing the War Effort, Business Finance 27
____, Ch. 7, Wartime Management of the Monetary and Banking System 28
____, Ch. 8, The Control of Individual Prices 31
____, Ch. 9, Economic Warfare 20
____, Ch.10, Post-War International Economics 19
228

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Randall Hinshaw Papers, Box 1, Folder “Schoolwork, 1940s”.

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Final examination first half of course

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAa

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the following in this section:

  1. Analyze carefully the effects of the following on average cost, marginal cost, marginal revenue and price for the individual firm in the short run:
    1. A tax of ten cents per unit of output on a monopolist.
    2. A subsidy of ten cents per unit of output to firms in a purely competitive industry.
  2. Trace the repercussions on member bank reserve balances, Treasury deposits with the Federal Reserve System and reserves of the Federal Reserve System caused by:
    1. The purchase and sterilization of gold by the Treasury.
    2. The purchase of U.S. government bonds by the Federal Reserve System.
    3. A transference of Treasury deposits from the Federal Reserve System to member banks.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the following in this section:

  1. “Regulation of public utility rates may be effected by limiting charges to yield a fair return on a fair value of the property. This will result in prices comparable to competitive conditions. An alternative type of rate regulation may be accomplished by using as a ‘yardstick’ the rates which a government-owned plant could economically charge.”
    1. Does the use of the fair return formula approximate the price which would evolve in a competitive market for the same commodity?
    2. May the rates fixed by the Tennessee Valley Authority be used as a “yardstick” for privately-owned power companies?
  2. “There seems to be a common belief that banks, by some process of sleight of hand, contrive to create a multiple of the amount of money they receive. The truth is that they can lend not more, but less than the amount of money that comes into their hands.”
    Do you agree? Explain fully.
  3. “It is not size in itself that we want to destroy….What ought to be emphasized is…the evil of industries which are not efficient or do not pass (the gains from) efficiency on to consumers.” Arnold.
    Examine the consistency of this statement.
  4. Contrast carefully the industrial economic world of nineteenth century England with the industrial economic world of fourteenth century England.
  5. Write a letter to your congressman briefly explaining what you believe to be the basic American farm problems and critically evaluating the New Deal attempts to alleviate them.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

____________________

Final examination second half of course

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[Second Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAb

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the questions in this section:

  1. “The main fiscal problem of the war is the diversion of a large share of the national income from the private economy to the public fisc for war purposes.” Outline and defend a plan of taxation and borrowing which in your opinion effectively will solve this problem.
  2. Analyze the effects of an increase in the supply of labor on (a) the remuneration of the various productive factors and (b) the changes in output of those industries whose costs are mainly labor and those whose costs are mainly capital.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the questions in this section:

  1. Write an essay on the topic of cyclical unemployment emphasizing (a) the processes by which full employment is supposed to be effected in a free enterprise economy and (b) the reasons why these processes have failed to operate.
  2. What controls are necessary for the orderly and equitable distribution of goods during war time in the markets for factors of production and the markets for consumers’ commodities? Indicate the results likely to follow from partial rather than complete controls in these two major groups of markets.
  3. “Labor unions cannot raise the wages of labor within an occupation without reducing the number employed in that occupation since the entrepreneur cannot afford to pay labor more than the value of its marginal product.” Do you agree? Explain fully.
  4. Discuss carefully three methods of correcting an adverse balance of payments. Indicate the effects of each method on the level of domestic money incomes, the foreign exchange rate, merchandise exports and imports and short-term capital movements.
  5. Explain the chief methods of regulating securities markets in the United States. State concisely the functions of securities markets and evaluate the success of regulation in aiding the orderly functioning of these markets.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

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Final Exam Intensive Course, First Session 1942

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SA1

I

(One hour)

  1. Reply fully to the following questions:
    1. Which are the main problems confronting the economy of this country during the present war?
    2. What measures of economic policy would you propose to cope with them?

II

(About one half hour each)

  1. What are the effects of the practice of self-financing by corporations upon
    1. the rate of interest;
    2. the allocation of the nation’s resources;
    3. the prevalence of competition, or of monopoly, in the economy as a whole?
  2. Let a tax be imposed upon a monopolist and the amount due be determined by either of the following methods:
    1. a fixed percentage of his profits;
    2. a fixed money amount per unit of output;
    3. a fixed percentage of the total money value of his sales;
    4. a global fixed sum, independent of either output or sales.

In which of these cases will he be able to shift the tax forward? Prove your conclusions by a graphical analysis.

  1. Criticize the following statement carefully:
    “The average citizen is inclined to think that there is nothing at all which he himself can do to check inflation. He considers the anti-inflationary fight a task for Uncle Sam only and therefore urges control of prices and labor and the draining off of excessive purchasing power. Actually, the citizen himself can do a great deal, and the efforts of the government will be far less effective unless he does.
    “He can co-operate with the government by putting money in the bank and making it work for him, instead of drawing it out, letting it lie idle and exposing it to the danger of theft, fire and forgetfulness, He can pay his debts. He can discharge his mortgage more rapidly. He can make larger down payments on installment purchases than he has to. He can be more generous to poor relatives. He can see his oculist, dentist or family doctor more often, and pay cash. He can contribute more liberally to local and national charities. He can refuse to hoard goods. He can refrain from rushing to buy the very articles of which there is a shortage….” (The Boston Herald, July 28, 1942, p. 14)
  2. Trace the main effects that the abolition of the tariff on beef (one of the major export articles of Argentina) would, in peacetime, have upon the economies of the United States and of Argentina. Distinguish the short-run and the long-run consequences.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

____________________

Final Examination for Principles of Economics “Lite”

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SB

I

(About one hour)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:
    1. Long-run value under competition,
    2. The rate of wages,
    3. Investment and interest,
    4. Profits

II

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

  1. How should you expect the following to affect the selling price of a farm: an increase in population; a fall in the rate of interest; the opening of a new market for its products; a bad crop failure?
  2. Explain the meaning of the following terms and show how one of them enters into the explanation of economic phenomena: comparative advantage; bank reserves; the gold points; marginal revenue.
  3. What are the principal factors responsible for cyclical fluctuations in business activity?

III

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

  1. Explain the nature and operation of the forces which cause variations in the purchasing power of the dollar.
  2. Outline the principal forms of unemployment and discuss one of them in some detail.
  3. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods available for financing a war.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

Image Source: Harvard’s Commencement in 1943. From The Harvard Gazette, November 10, 2011.

Categories
Exam Questions Toronto

Toronto. Political economy examinations on Smith, Whately, Senior and Mill. 1858

1858. Construction south side of quadrangle. University of Toronto

 

 

Today’s post provides the earliest set of university examination questions thus far at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. The examiners for political economy at the University of Toronto in 1858 were the Reverends James Beaven and George Paxton Young. Two of the exams focus exclusively on political economy as found in texts by Richard Whately and Adam Smith. The other two exams are split equally between political economy  (Nassau Senior and John Stuart Mill) and political philosophy (Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui and Francis Lieber)

Interesting to note are the misspellings of the names of both Richard Whately and John Stuart Mill as well as getting the title incorrect for Nassau Senior’s book.

 

_________________

[Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, 2nded. London: B. Fellowes, 1832.]

University of Toronto
ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS: 1858.
THIRD YEAR.

WHATELEY’S [sic] POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Examiners:  Rev. James Beaven, D.D. and Rev. G.P. Young, M.A.

  1. (a) What is the subject matter of the science of political economy?
    (b) What three other names does Whateley mention as having been applied to
    the science?
    (c) State and illustrate the objections to two of them, and the recommendations
    of the third.
  2. (a) Shew that, even on the supposition that wealth is an evil, it is right to study
    the subject of wealth.
    (b) Show that what may appear an increase of luxury is not necessarily pernicious.
  3. Discuss the question, whether the savage state is the original condition of mankind.
  4. Illustrate the beneficent wisdom of Providence, in directing towards the public
    good the conduct of those who act from selfish motives.
  5. (a) Show that it is most probable a priorithat advancement in national prosperity should be favourable to moral improvement.
    (b) Show that we have no sufficient ground for thinking poverty by itself favourable to moral improvement.
  6. (a) Show the evils of an ill-conducted diffusing of knowledge.
    (b) Explain how they are to be avoided.
  7. (a) Give examples of the need of definition in political economy.

[SECOND PAGE OF EXAM APPARENTLY MISSING]

Source: University of Toronto. Examination papers, 1858. Arts.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086615500?urlappend=%3Bseq=269

_________________

[Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, The Principles of Natural and Politic Law, 1747]
[Nassau W. Senior. An Outline of the Science of Political Economy, 1836.]

University of Toronto
ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS: 1858.
Third Year.

CIVIL POLITY.

BURMALAQUI’S NATURAL LAW, AND SENIOR’S OUTLINES [sic] OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
Honors and Scholarships

Examiners:  Rev. James Beaven, D.D. and Rev. G.P. Young, M.A.

  1. (a) What are the different primitive and original states of man, as set forth by Burmalaqui?
    (b) Why, and under what restrictions, may the adventitious states produced by human consent be considered, for the purposes of argument, as so many natural states?
  2. (a) Explain Burmalaqui’s view of what is implied in the term Obligation.
    (b) How does he discuss the opinion, That the principle of obligation is the will of a superior?
    (c) May obligation be more or less rigorous?
  3. State the principal theories of the origin and foundation of sovereignty. What is Burmalaqui’s view?
  4. (a) What are the conditions, internal and external, requisite to constitute a law?
    (b) Define natural law, and natural jurisprudence.
    (c) Give the leading steps in the argument by which the existence of natural laws is established.
    (d) Enunciate the two propositions laid down by Burmalaqui, as the general foundation of the whole system of natural law.
  5. (a) What is meant by Sociability?
    (b) Mention some of the natural laws which flow from it.
    (c) What place is assigned to this principle in the system of Puffendorf? How far does Burmalaqui agree with, or differ from, Puffendorf? And on what grounds?
  6. (a) Define Imputation
    (b) Distinguish simple from efficacious imputation.
    (c) Notice a difference between the imputation of good and bad actions.
    (d) Can forced actions be imputed? Give Puffendorf’s view.
    (e) What principles does Burmalaqui lay down for determining whether the action of one person be imputable to another?
  7. How can the authority of natural laws be evinced?
  8. What probable arguments does Burmalaqui advance in favour of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul? And in what connexion is the discussion of this doctrine introduced?

*  *  *

  1. (a) What is Value?
    (b) Point out, and illustrate, the intrinsic and extrinsic causes of the value of a commodity.
    (c) Explain what is meant by steadiness of value; shewing how far it depends on intrinsic, and how far on extrinsic, causes.
  2. (a) Define Production.
    (b) What are the instruments of production?
    (c) Classify and describe the parties among whom the results of the different instruments of production are divided.
    (d) How does Senior remark on the doctrine of over-production or universal glut?
  3. (a) What does Senior understand by cost of production?
    (b) Explain his views on the question, whether profit forms a part of the cost of production?
    (c) Show how it happens that the influence of cost of production in regulating price, under free competition, is subject to much occasional interruption.
  4. What are the obstacles which limit the supply of all that is produced? And what is the mode in which these obstacles affect the reciprocal values of all the subjects of exchange?
  5. (a) Trace the progress of a colony, so as to illustrate the view, that, in the absence of counteracting causes, an increase of population would tend to make the obtaining of raw produce a matter of greater difficulty.
    (b) Point out the principal causes which, as the population of a new colony increases, are likely for a period to fully counteract the tendency referred to.
  6. (a) Illustrate the proposition, That additional labour, when employed in manufactures is more, and when employed in agriculture is less, efficient in proportion.
    (b) Point out some of the principal consequences of this proposition.
  7. (a) What does Senior lay down as the proximate cause of the rate of wages?
    (b) Show that his view is inconsistent with the opinion that the general rate of wages can (except in two cases) be diminished by the introduction of machinery?
  8. (a) Mention the causes on which the extent of the fund for the maintenance of labour depends.
    (b) Two parishes contain each twenty-four labouring families. In the one, eighteen families are employed in producing commodities for the whole twenty-four: in the other only twelve are so employed. What, on Senior’s principle, would be the comparative rate of wages in these parishes, first, on the supposition that labour in the two parishes is equally productive; and, next, on the supposition that in the latter parish labour is more productive by one-half than in the former? Point out the reason of the answer.

Source: University of Toronto. Examination papers, 1858. Arts.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086615500?urlappend=%3Bseq=308

_________________

Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations (1776), Cannan Edition.

University of Toronto
ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS: 1858.
FOURTH YEAR.

SMITH’S WEALTH OF NATIONS.

Examiners:  Rev. James Beaven, D.D. and Rev. George Paxton Young, M.A.

  1. Give the general plan of the work.
  2. State and illustrate the causes of the superior productiveness of the division of labour.
  3. (a) Shew that labour is the real measure of the exchangeable value of commodities.
    (b) Shew by what steps money comes to represent such value.
    (c) Illustrate the variableness of the valueof money itself.
  4. (a) What general circumstances regulate the rent of land?
    (b) Shew that it bears very little relation to any outlay of the landlord upon it.
    (c) Of the materials of clothing and the materials of lodging, which commonly first pays rent to the owner of the land on which they are produced? and why?
    (d) Illustrate the variations in the quantity of rent which they yield.
  5. (a) What is the relation of the accumulation of stock to the division of labour? Explain.
    (b) What is capital and its relation to stock?
    (c) Into what two parts is the capital of a community divided? And what does each part consist of?
  6. (a) Give an account of the causes which have retarded the improvement of agriculture in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.
    (b) What state of things in this country resembles the Metayersystem?
  7. (a) What, according to Smith, are the two objects of political economy?
    (b) What relation do the system of commerce and the system of agriculture bear to one of those objects?
    (c) What is the principle of the agricultural system?
    (d) What nations have adopted such a system?
  8. (a) State the principle of bounties?
    (b) To what branch of trade is it proposed to apply them in this country? And on what grounds?
    (c) What is Smith’s opinion of this class of bounties? Explain.
  9. (a) Under what branchof political economy is the subject of the public revenue treated?
    (b) What are the three duties of a sovereign which require that a public revenue should be raised?
  10. (a) Under what four general heads does Smith rank the taxes of a country?
    (b) Under which of these heads does a tax upon consumable commodities come?
    (c) What circumstances render a tax on the interest of money less expedient than a tax upon land?
    (d) In what respect does a tax upon necessaries produce the same effect as a tax upon wages?
  11. (a) Trace the origin and growth of public debts.
    (b) What is Smith’s opinion of the operation?

 

Source: University of Toronto. Examination papers, 1858. Arts.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086615500?urlappend=%3Bseq=292

_________________

[Francis Lieber. Manual of Political Ethics Volume I, Volume II]
[John Stuart Mill. Principles of Political Economy (7th ed.), Ashley edition.]

University of Toronto
ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS: 1858.
Candidates for B.A.

CIVIL POLITY.

LIEBER’S POLITICAL ETHICS.—MILLS’ [sic] POLITICAL ECONOMY
Honors and Scholarships

Examiners:  Rev. James Beaven, D.D. and Rev. G.P. Young, M.A.

  1. (a) What place in the chain of sciences do Political Ethics occupy? And what forms the subject matter of this division of Ethics?
    (b) What historical instances of the pressing necessity of justifying public acts, are brought forward by Lieber, for the purpose of proving that: politics may be treated in an ethic point of view?
    (c) Shew that Ethics cannot be applied to politics precisely as to private relations.
  2. (a) Supposing a society to be defined by the nature of the relation existing between its members, what is the peculiar relation on which the State is founded?
    (b) Distinguish the fundamental idea of the State from that of the family; and illustrate, by reference to a difference between the ancient Areopagites and an English jury, the circumstance that the line of demarcation between the State and the family is less strongly drawn in the early history of nations than at a more advanced period.
    (c) What particulars are included in the protection which the State is bound to afford to each individual?
    (d) “The State has been compared to an insurance company in which property forms the share each citizen holds.” “All the State has to do is to look outthat my neighbourdoes not pick my pocket or boxmy ears.”How doesLieber remark on the views of the State and of its office presented in these quotations?
    (e) Develop [sic] the maxims; “The State exists of necessity.” “The State does not absorb individuality.” “La justice constituée, c’est l’état.”
  3. (a) What is government? Point out a serious misconception which has arisen from confounding Government and State.
    (b) Does Lieber hold that Government has sovereign (as distinguished from supreme) power? What is the distinction referred to? Illustrate by an example from Roman history? Mention an important instrument in British history to which Lieber refers in this connexion; and give the substance of his remarks on the words for everin the instrument in question.
    (c) In what different ways may governments be established?Give an historical example of each kind.
  4. “Hamarchy signifies something entirely different from the ancient synarchy, which merely denoted a government in which the people had a share together with the rulers proper.”
    (a) Describe what Lieber terms hamarchy, pointing out the difference between it and the ancient synarchy.
    (b) What proof does he adduce of the hamacratic character of the English polity? And what historical circumstances contributed to give this character to the English polity?
  5. (a) Mention some of those habits in which it is most important, as respects political ends for the young to be educated.
    (b) How does Lieber shew the importance of the classical department in superior education by a reference to the elements or factors out of which our peculiar civilization arises. Specify the ffactors referred to. What remark does he make in this connexion on Chinese education?
  6. (a) What are the characteristics of a sound political party?
    (b) To what dangers are party organizations exposed?
    (c) When a party is in opposition, what are the rules it ought to follow, in order not to be liable to the charge of factiousness?
  7. Explain and illustrate the following propositions:
    (a) Industry is limited by capital.
    (b) Capital is the result of saving
    (c) Capital, though saved, and the result of saving, is nevertheless consumed.
  8. If one of two things commands on the average a greater value that the other, to what causes must this be attributable? And which of the causes is the most important?
  9. Notice and examine any popular remedies for low wages.
  10. State the true theory of rent by whom was it first propounded, and when? By whom was it rediscovered, after having been for some time neglected?
  11. (a) Explain and prove the following proposition:“The quantity [of money]wanted [in a country] will depend partly on the cost of producing gold, and partly on the rapidity of its circulation.”
    (b) What difference can be pointed out betwixt money and other things in respect of the law, that value conforms to the cost of production?
  12. How does Mill discuss the doctrine of Protection to Native Industry?

 

 Source: University of Toronto. Examination papers, 1858. Arts.

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015086615500?urlappend=%3Bseq=312

 

Image Source: Quadrangle of University College under construction – This view of the south side of the quadrangle, taken in the summer of 1858, show the rafters to the museum partially in place. Construction has begun on the section east of the central tower, the upper floor of which would house the University library. Website: University of Toronto, Heritage. Webpage “Building a College”.  [A1977-0049/001(13)] – Digital I.D.: 2012-02-3MS.jpg]

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Money and Banking. Reading lists and semester exams. Williams and Hansen, 1949-50

 

Money and Banking was a graduate field that John H. Williams and Alvin Hansen dominated for over a decade at mid-20th century Harvard. Reading lists and exams for other years (e.g. 1946-47) have been posted, allowing us gradually to get a real time sense of the evolution of that field. This post was updated March 27, 2020 to include the final exam from the second semester.

Most recently course materials for 1941-42 have been posted as well.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 241 (formerly Economics 141a and 141b). Principles of Money and Banking.

(F) Professor J. H. Williams; (Sp) Professor Hansen.

(F) Total 61:  33 Graduates, 1 Senior, 21 Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Other.
(S) Total 54: 31 Graduates, 18 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

 

Source:  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1949-50, p. 75.

 

_____________________

PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
Economics 241
Fall Term—1949-1950

I. International Monetary Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis and L. A. Metzler, eds.): Readings in the Theory of International Trade.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. Graham, Frank D.: The Theory of International Values. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1948.
  3. Harris, S. E. (ed.): Foreign Economic Policy for the United States. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1948.
  4. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics. New York, Knopf, 1947.
    1. Bloomfield, A. I., “Foreign Exchange Rate Theory and Policy,” Chapter XXII; and
    2. Nurkse, Ragnar, “Domestic and International Equilibrium,” Chapter XXI.
  5. Harrod, Roy F.: Are These Hardships Necessary?London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 2nd, 1947.
  6. Keynes, J. M.: A Treatise on Money. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930, Vol. I, Chapter 21; Vol. II, Chapters 34-38.
  7. Nurkse, Ragnar: International Currency Experience. Geneva, League of Nations, 1944.
  8. Organisation for European Economic Co-operation:Interim Report on the European Recovery Programme.Paris, December 1948.
  9. United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe:
    1. Survey of Economic Situation and Prospects in Europe. Geneva, March 1948.
    2. Economic Survey of Europe in 1948. Geneva, 1949.
  10. Williams, John H.: Post-War Monetary Plans and Other Essays.English edition. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 4th, 1949 (American edition. New York, Knopf, 3rded., 1947).

Articles

  1. Balogh, T.: “The Concept of a Dollar Shortage,” The Manchester School, XVII, May 1949, pp. 186-201.
  2. _______________ “Britain’s Economic Problem,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIII, Feb. 1949, pp. 32-67.
  3. _______________ “Britain, O.E.E.C., and the Restoration of a World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, XI, Feb.-March 1949.
  4. _______________ “Exchange Depreciation and Economic Readjustment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX, Nov. 1948, pp. 276-285.
  5. _______________ “The United States and the World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, VIII, Oct. 1946.
  6. Ellis, H. S.: “The Dollar Shortage in Theory and Fact,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, XIV, Aug. 1948, pp. 358-372.
  7. Graham, F. D.: “The Cause and Cure of ‘Dollar Shortages’,” (Essays in International Finance, No. 10). Princeton, Princeton University Press, Jan. 1949.
  8. Haberler, G.: “Some Economic Problems of the European Recovery Program,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, Sept. 1948, pp. 495-525.
  9. Hawtrey, R. G.: “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, June 1949, pp. 145-56, and “A Comment” by Sir H. D. Henderson, Ibid., pp. 157-158.
  10. Henderson, Sir Hubert D.: “The International Problem,” (Stamp Memorial Lecture). London, Oxford University Press, 1946.
  11. _______________ “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, January 1949.
  12. _______________ “A Criticism of the Havana Charter,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, pp. 605-17.
  13. Keynes, J. M.:“The Balance of Payments of the United States,” Economic Journal, LVI, June 1946, pp. 172-87.
  14. _______________ “National Self-sufficiency,” The Yale Review, XXII, Summer 1933.
  15. MacDougall, D. A.: “Further Notes on Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, Jan. 1949.
  16. _______________ “Britain’s Foreign Trade Problem,” Economic Journal, LVII, March 1947, pp. 69-113; and “A Reply (to T. Balogh), Ibid., LVIII, March 1948, pp. 96-98.
  17. _______________“Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946.
  18. _______________ “Notes on Non-discrimination,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, IX, Nov. 1947.
  19. Meade, J. E.: “National Income, National Expenditure and the Balance of Payments,” Parts I-II, Economic Journal, LVII, Dec. 1948, and LVIII, March 1949.
  20. Metzler, L. A.:“The Theory of International Trade,” Chap. 6 in A Survey of Contemporary Economics(ed. by H. S. Ellis) Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  21. Mikesell, R. F.: “International Disequilibrium,” ,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, ppp. 618-45
  22. Nurkse, Ragnar: “International Monetary Policy and the Search for economic Stability,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, May 1947, pp. 560-80.
  23. Polak, J. J.: “Exchange Depreciation and International Monetary Stability,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Aug. 1947, pp. 173-83.
  24. Robertson, D. H.: “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloyds Bank Review, July 1949, pp. 1-13.
  25. Triffin, Robert: “National Central Banking and the International Economy,”; see also comments by G. Haberler and L. A. Metzler, Postwar Economic Studies, No. 7. Washington, D. C. 1947; and further comments by H. D. Henderson, T. Balogh, R. Harrod, and Joan Robinson, Review of Economic Studies, XIV, 1946-47, pp. 53-97.
  26. Williams, J. H.: “The Task of Economic Recovery,” Foreign Affairs, July 1948.
  27. _______________ “Europe After 1952: The Long-term Problem,” Foreign Affairs, April 1949.
  28. _______________ “The British Crisis. A Problem in Economic Statesmanship,” Foreign Affairs, October 1949.

 

II. Monetary and Fiscal Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis, ed.): A Survey of Contemporary Economics. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. _______________ (W. Fellner and B. F. Haley, eds.): Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946.
  3. _______________ (G. Haberler, ed.): Readings in Business Cycle Theory. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1944.
  4. Fellner, William: Monetary Policies and Full Employment. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2nd, 1947.
  5. Haberler, G.: Prosperity and Depression. Geneva, United Nations, rev. ed., 1946.
  6. Hansen, A. H.: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles. New York, Norton, 1941.
  7. _______________ Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, New York, McGraw Hill, 1949.
  8. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics, New York, Knopf, 1947.
  9. Harrod, R. F.: Towards a Dynamic Econmics, London, Macmillan, 1948.
  10. Hawtrey, R. O.: Currency and Credit, London, Longmans, 3rd, 1928.
  11. _______________ Capital and Employment, London, Longmans, 2nd
  12. _______________ The Art of Central Banking, London, Longmans, 1932.
  13. Hayek, F. A. von: Prices and Production. London, Routledge, 1935.
  14. Keynes, J. M.: A Tract on Monetary Reform, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
  15. _______________ A Treatise on Money(2 vols.). New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930.
  16. _______________ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1936.
  17. Klein, L. R.: The Keynesian Revolution. New York, Macmillan, 1946.
  18. Robertson, D. H.: Essays in Monetary Theroy.London, King, 1940.
  19. _______________ Money. London, Nisbet, rev. ed., 1948.
  20. Simons, H. C.: Economic Policy for a Free Society, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1948.
  21. Terborgh, George: The Bogey of Economic Maturity. Chicago, Machinery and Allied Products Institute, 1945.
  22. Wicksell, Knut: Interest and Prices. London, Macmillan, 1936.
  23. Wright, D. M. The Economics of Disturbance. New York, Macmillan, 1946.

Articles

  1. Burns, Arthur F.: “Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of Our Times,” (26thAnnual Report). New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1947.
  2. _______________ “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Nov. 1947, pp. 252-265.
  3. Clark, Colin: “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” Economic Journal, LV, Dec. 1945, pp. 371-89.
  4. Hayek, F. A. von: “The ‘Paradox’ of Saving,” Economica, XI, March 1931, pp. 125-69. (Reprinted as an Appendix in Profits, Interest and Investment, London, Routledge, 1939).
  5. Hicks, J. R.: “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, V, 1937 (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946).
  6. Kuznets, Simon: Book Review: “Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles” by A. H. Hansen, Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1942, pp. 31-36.
  7. _______________ “Capital Formation, 1879-1938,” in Studies in Economics and Industrial Relations. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
  8. Mints, L. W. and others: “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXVIII, May 1946, pp. 60-84.
  9. Modigliani, F.: “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest,” Econometrica, XII, Jan. 1944, pp. 45-88.
  10. _______________ “Fluctuations in the Saving-income Ratio: A Problem in Economic Forecasting,” Studies in Income and Wealth, XI. New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1949.
  11. Tobin, James: “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, pp. 124-31.
  12. Wallich, H. C.: “Public Debt and Income Flow,” in Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3. Washington, D.C., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Dec. 1945, pp. 84-100.
  13. _______________ “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 761-87.
  14. Williams, John H.: “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Supplement, XXXVIII, May 1948.
  15. Wright, D. M.: “The Future of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, XXXV, June 1945, pp. 284-307.

 

III. Current Problems and Policies—Federal Reserve Policy and Debt Management

Book

  1. Homan, P. T. and F. Machlup (eds.): Financing American Prosperity. New York, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

Articles

  1. Carr, Hobart C.: “The Problem of Bank-held Government Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 833-42.
  2. Chandler, L. V.: “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, March 1949.
  3. Federal Reserve Board:
    1. Annual Reports for the years 1945-48.
    2. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 8, Nov. 1947.
  4. Ratchford, B. U. “The Economic and Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Public Finance, [sic, “The Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Openbare Financiën] No. 4, 1948 and No. 1, 1949.
  5. Seltzer, L. H.: “The Changed Environment of Monetary-banking Policy,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, May 1946.
  6. _______________ “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 831-50.
  7. Sproul, Allan: “Monetary Management and Credit Control,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, June 1947, pp. 339-50.
  8. Symposium: “How to Manage the National Debt,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXI, Feb. 1949.
  9. Whittlesey, C. R.: “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LX, May 1946, pp. 340-50.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

Mid-Year Examination. January, 1950.

(Three Hours)

Discuss ONE question in EACH group.

I

(1) “Hawtrey was never a Keynesian, but Keynes was formerly a Hawtreyan.”
(2) The relation of Keynes’ income theory to the quantity theory of money.
(3) The propensity to consume.

 

II

(1) Fixed versus flexible exchange rates.
(2) Classical international trade theory and the problems of the postwar world.

 

III

(1) The sterling problem since the war.
(2) “Chronic dollar shortage.”
(3) Western European “integration.”
(4) Devaluation and European recovery.
(5) The Intra-European Payments Plan.
(6) Europe after 1952: the long-term recovery problem.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences, etc. Feb. 1950. (HUC 7000.38, 81 of 284).

_____________________

[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING]
Reading List
[Economics 241, Spring 1949-50]
[Professor Hansen]

  1. The Role of Money in Current World Developments
    1. Books
      1. Balogh, T., Dollar Crisis: Causes and Cure, (Blackwell), 1949.
      2. Busschau, W. J., The Measure of Gold, (Central New Agency, Ltd.) South Africa, 1949.
      3. Goldenweiser, E. A., Monetary Management, (McGraw-Hill), N.Y., 1949. Chapters IV and VIII.
      4. Harris, S. E., The New Economics, (Knopf), N.Y. 1947. Chapters 20-29.
      5. Harris, S. E., Foreign Economics Policy of the United States, (Harvard University Press), 1948, Chapters 18-25.
      6. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans, (Knopf), 1947 or English edition (Blackwell), 1949.
    2. Pamphlets
      1. Inflationary and Deflationary Tendencies, 1946-48(United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
      2. International Capital Movements during the Inter-war Period, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
    3. Articles
      1. Burns, A. R., Lutz, F. A., and Clough, S. B., “The European Program in Operation,” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, January 1950.
      2. Robbins, Lionel, “The Sterling Problem,” Lloyds Bank Review, October, 1949.
      3. Robertson, D. H., “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloydds Bank Review, July, 1949.
      4. Sayers, R. S. “Central Banking in the Light of Recent British and American Experience,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1949.
  2. Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest, Wages and Prices
    1. Books
      1. Clark, Kaldor, Smithies, et al., National and International Measures for Full Employment, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, December 1949.
      2. Ellis, H. S., (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, (Blakiston), Philadelphia, 1948, Chapter 2 “Employment Theory”, by Fellner.
      3. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Berkeley, 1946. Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
      4. Hansen, Alvin H.
        1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill), 1947. Chapters 18, 19, and 22, (pp. 202-232, 261-287).
        2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton), 1941. Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
        3. Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, (McGraw-Hill), 1949.
      5. Harris, S. E., (ed.), The New Economics, (Knopf), 1947. Part III (The General Theory: Five Views; Chapters XI-XV).
      6. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt), 1924, pp. 81-95; pp. 152-191.
      7. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt), 1930, Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
      8. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt), 1936, pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
      9. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90) Macmillan, 1947.
      10. Marshall, Alfred, Money, Credit and Commerce, (Macmillan), 1923. Book I, Chapter IX, pp. 38-50.
      11. Robertson, D. H. Essays in Monetary Theory(King), 1940. Chapters 1, 6, 11; (pp. 1-38; 92-97; 113-153).
      12. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices(Macmillan), 1936; Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also Author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11; (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
      13. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan), 1935, Chapter IV (pp. 127-222).
      14. Income, Employment and Public Policy, (Norton), 1948, Chapter VI, “The Simple Mathematics of Income Determination,” by Paul Samuelson.
      15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd., 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11, (pp. 92-105).
      16. The Economic Report of the President, January 1950.
    2. Articles
      1. Hansen, A. H., and Burns, Arthur F., “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics Statistics, Nov. 1947.
      2. Hansen, A. H., “The Robertsonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1950.
      3. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, April 1937.
      4. Lerner, A. P., “Interest and Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1944.
      5. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, January 1944.
      6. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      7. Scott, Ira O. Jr., “Professor Leontief on Lord Keynes,” and “Comments” by Professors Leontief and Haberler, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1949.
      8. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      9. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
      10. Williams, John H., “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1948, pp. 273-290.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination (June, 1950)

(Three Hours)

Answer any FOUR questions.

I.

Discuss:

(a) the causes of the increase in the quantity of money (currency and deposits) in:

(1) the Thirties,
(2) the Second World War; and

(b) appraise the role of this increase:

(1) in the rise in income from 1933 to 1937; and
(2) in war-time financing.

II.

Compare the monetary theories of Wicksell and Marshall (or more broadly the Cambridge cash-balance approach).

III.

“An increase in the quantity of money is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the expansion of income and employment.” Show carefully why you agree, partially agree, or disagree in whole or in part with this statement. Give a technical discussion in terms of modern monetary theory.

IV.

Discuss and evaluate Treasury and Federal Reserve policies after 1945 with respect to

(a) inflation,
(b) interest rates,
(c) debt management,
(d) full employment.

V.

Discuss the changing role of Central Banking:

(a) in the 19th century,
(b) in the nineteen-twenties, and
(c) following the Second World War.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Bound Volume Final Exams—Social Sciences June 1940 (HUC 7000.28, 84 of 284), Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1950.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T.

MIT. Final exam for second term core economic theory, Samuelson 1956

 

 

This post offers two items of interest. The main item is the final examination for Paul Samuelson’s half of the core economic theory course taught at M.I.T. during the 1955-56 academic year.

Years ago I downloaded the slideshow prepared for the April 10, 2010 memorial service held at M.I.T. for Paul Samuelson from which the photo above has been cropped. Below I provide a working link via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to the original photo page from the memorial service so that others can enhance their presentations with a variety of classic photos of Paul Samuelson.

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Enrollments for Economic Analysis

Twenty-two students were enrolled in 14.121 [Fall term, Robert L. Bishop]. Twenty students were enrolled in 14.122 [Spring term, Paul A. Samuelson]

Source:   MIT Archives. Department of Economics Records, Box 3, Folder “Teaching Responsibility”.

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Course Announcement 

14.121 [Bishop], 14.122 [Samuelson]. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (A). Interdependent growth of theory and fact, general theory of equilibrium under competition and monopoly. Findings revalued under conditions which more closely approach reality.

Source:  Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, Catalogue for 1955-56 Session (June 1955), p. 150, 189.

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Tuesday, May 29, 1956
Time 1:30 – 4:30 P.M.

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Scheduled Examination in
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 14.122

NOTE: Students are not permitted to use any books, notebooks, or papers in this examination. If brought into the room, they must not be left on the desks.

Answer any Four

  1. Write a 45 minute essay describing what Hicks does in Books I and II of Value and Capital, relating the parts to each other.
  2. One million exactly identical men start out with identical technological conditions or endowments. How will the resulting competitive equilibrium be defined? Describe some of its properties.
  3. In 45 minutes, state the fundamental problems of bilateral monopoly, duopoly and/or game theory. What solutions have been advanced? Appraise them.
  4. Given a world of 2 men and 2 goods with all production fixed. What can the welfare economist say about the various points of the resulting box diagram? (Distinguish between “Act III” interpersonal aspects and those of “Act II.”)
  5. Two industries produce x and y with constant-returns-to-scale production functions in terms of labor (L) and land (T) alone. Describe the competitive equilibrium that would result when 1 million identical laborers face 1 thousand identical landowners.
  6. In 45 minutes, discuss the principal theories relative to capital and interest. Appraise.

 

Source:   Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “Teaching Exams 1952, 1956”.

Image Source:  Samuelson Memorial Information Page/Photos from Memorial Service.  Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.