Category: Exam Questions

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Distribution Exam Questions Harvard Theory

Harvard. Final exam for distribution theory. Carver, 1905-1906

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was hired by Harvard based on his work in economic theory. As it turned out theory would only constitute a minor share of his portfolio of courses at Harvard. Here we have the exam for a theoretical course offered in 1905-06 dedicated to the functional distribution of income. This is the second time Thomas Nixon Carver taught this one-semester course at Harvard. (Exam from its initial run in 1904-05).

The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

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Course Enrollment
Distribution of Wealth
1905-06

Economics 14a 1hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 46: 7 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 14a
Distribution of Wealth
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

  1. Why does the value of a consumable commodity fall when its supply increases, — other things remaining the same?
  2. Ditto of a productive factor?
  3. What limits or checks the supply of labor?
  4. Ditto of land?
  5. Ditto of capital?
  6. Fill out the blank columns in the [following] table.

Total Crop, Marginal Product of Labor, Total Wages, and Rent (All in Bushels) from Four Farms of Different Productivity when cultivated by Varying Numbers of Laborers, Capital being left out of account.

Farm A
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 500
2 900
3 1200
4 1400
5 1500
 

Farm B
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 400
2 700
3 900
4 1000
5
 

Farm C
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 300
2 500
3 600
4
5
 

Farm D
Total crop Marginal product Total wages Total rent

Rent per acre
1 200
2 300
3
4
5
  1. In what proportion could six laborers be most advantageously distributed among these farms? Ten laborers? Fourteen laborers?
  2. When there are six laborers employed, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group of farms and laborers be reduced by the removal of one laborer, assuming the laborers all to be of the same efficiency? Ditto when there are ten laborers?
  3. When there are fourteen laborers employed on these farms, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group be increased by the opening up of a new farm of the same grade as farm A, and the transfer to it of four of the laborers?
  4. Compare Clark’s theory of business profits with Walker’s.
  5. State Hollander’s position on the question. Does rent enter into price?
  6. Compare Clark’s definition of capital with Taussig’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver from the Harvard Class Album 1913. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for Medieval and Modern Economic History of Europe. Gay, 1905-1906

For most of the twentieth century you didn’t have a full and complete economics department without significant course offerings in economic history. Needless to say, Harvard has had a full and complete economics department. 

This post contributes an incremental addition to the collection of economics exams with those from Edwin Francis Gay’s European economic history courses at Harvard in 1905-06.

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Related posts

A brief course description for Economics 11 plus the exams from 1902-03.

Exams for 1903-04.

Exams for 1904-05.

A short bibliography for “serious students” of economic history assembled by Gay and published in 1910 has also been posted.

Gay and Usher’s economic history exams from 1930 through 1949.

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Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 10 1hf. Asst. Professor Gay. — Mediaeval Economic History of Europe.

Total 8: 6 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-190 6, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 101
Final Examination
Mid-year 1905-06
  1. Explain briefly:—
    1. gwely.
    2. liti.
    3. molmen.
    4. formariage.
    5. lettre de foire.
    6. mercator.
    7. commenda.
    8. contractus trinius.
    9. droit d’amortissement, droit de régale.
    10. tunnage and poundage.
  2. Outline the estate organization prescribed by the Capitulare de Villis.
  3. “It seems to be almost certain that the ‘hams’ and ‘tuns’ (of England) were, generally speaking, and for the most part from the first, practically manors with communities in serfdom upon them.” Whose view is this? State succinctly the chief arguments for and against.
  4. Enumerate the chief franchises and privileges of a fair. What was the jus fori?

Take one of the following questions:

  1. What were the provisions of the Law Merchant in regard to sales and contracts?
  2. What is the significance of the following passages:—
    1. “ne alienigene opus suum operatum ad forum non deferant, nisi cum omnium eorum voluntate qui juri illo quod inninge appellatur participes existunt.” (Privilege to Magdeburg shoemakers, end of the twelfth century.)
    2. “quod nullus textor potest vel debet in aliqua civitate nullo etiam tempore, ubi non habet consortium mercatorum quod vulgariter ignige appellatur, pannos incidere.” (Halberstadt, 1291.)
    3. “Si aliquis alienus vult societatem pistorum, quod Innunge dicitur, ille dabit duas marcas et due partes spectabunt ad civitatem, una pars ad pistores.” (Neumarkt, 1235.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 35-36. 

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Modern Economic History of Europe

Course Enrollment
Economics 11
1905-06

Economics 11. Asst. Professor Gay. — Modern Economic History of Europe.

Total 10: 8 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 11
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06
  1. Explain briefly:—
    1. purveyance.
    2. staple.
    3. copyhold.
    4. Leibzins.
    5. mainmorte.
    6. mesta.
  2. What were the chief factors in the emancipation of the serf? Compare the history of the movement in England with that in Germany.
  3. The craft gild:
    1. What in general was its object and policy?
    2. What, during the sixteenth century, was the attitude of the national government to the craft gilds in England and in France?
    3. What was the Statute of Artificers?
  4. Outline the history of the trade relations between England and northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, stating the chief facts connected with the decline of the Hanseatic position in England and the rise of the Merchant Adventurers.
  5. Describe succinctly the price movement of the sixteenth century, its extent, character, causes, and results.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 11
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
  1. State briefly the place in English economic history of Gresham, Burleigh, Cromwell, Paterson, Walpole, Bakewell, Arkwright, the younger Pitt.
  2. [Wages]
    1. Describe, stating causes, the growth of the wage-earning class in England.
    2. Summarize the history and results of wage regulation by public authority.
    3. The average daily wage of an English artisan at the close of the sixteenth century was about one shilling. How would you determine the modern equivalent in purchasing power? What other factors should be considered in a comparison of conditions?
  3. Compare the commerce of England with that of France in the eighteenth century. Can the comparative magnitude be statistically measured? If so, with what result? If not, why not?
  4. Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century? What facts of English agricultural history bear upon this question?
  5. Describe the transitions in industrial organization leading up to the domestic system, to the factory system.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 36-37.

Image Source: Image of a page from the Statute of Artificers  in Vimala C. Pasupathi, Shall Strangers Rule the Roast? Migration and Displacement in Sir Thomas More (1600).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Labor

Harvard. Report assignments and final exam for Problems of Labor. Ripley et al., 1905-1906

Professor William Zebina Ripley’s courses at Harvard ranged from economic and social statistics, through transportation economics, industrial organization and regulation, and (as we see in this post) labor economics/industrial relations. Besides the enrollment figures and the final exam questions for the course, we were able to fish copies of the report assignments for 1905-06 from the Harvard archives. This course material has been transcribed and can be found below.

Fun fact: the teaching assistant Mr. Houghton can be identified as William Morris Houghton who received an A.M. from Harvard in 1904 and went off to work as a writer for the New York Herald Tribune, first as a reporter/feature writer and then as an editorial writer (and was included in the 35th anniversary of the Yale Class of 1904 as a member of the class who did not graduate from Yale).

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Other Labor Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Problems of Labor, 1903-1904.

Problems of Labor, 1904-05.

Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism, 1910.

Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts, 1910.

Trade Unionism and Allied Problems, 1914-1915.

Problems of Labor, 1931.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 9a 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Messrs. [Vanderveer] Custis and [William Morris] Houghton. — Problems of Labor.

Total 96: 7 Graduates, 23 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 9a

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

Group A

            Students will report upon the comparative conditions respecting Trade Union organization, functions, and efficiency in corresponding industries in the United States and Great Britain. The particular industry assigned to each man is indicated by a number on the enrolment slip, which refers to the Trade Union number on the appended list of National Labor Organizations.

Group B

            Students will report upon the comparative efficiency of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in the United States. Numbers against the names on the enrolment slip refer to the numbered Trade Union list, appended hereto.

Group C

            Students will report upon the nature of Trade Union organization in two distinct lines of industry in Great Britain. Names on the enrolment slip as numbered refer to the industries concerned in the appended list of Trade Unions.

          → The letters preceding the assignment number against the student’s name refer to the group in which the report is to be made. Thus, for example: “98 A” on the enrolment slip indicates that the student is to report upon the Cotton Spinners’ Unions in the United States and Great Britain; “9 & 98 B,” that a comparison of the Spinners’ and of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ Organizations in the United States is expected; while “9 & 98 C” calls for the same comparison for the two industries in Great Britain.

NATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

*Indicates that the Trade Union journal is in the Library. [Loeb Fund.]

† Reference to Reports, U.S. Industrial Commission, is given within parentheses.

*The KNIGHTS OF LABOR
*THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR

  1. Actors’ International Union.
  2. Asbestos Workers of America.
  3. Bakery and Confectionery Workers.
  4. Barbers’ International Union.
  5. Bill Posters and Billers of America.
  6. International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths.
  7. *Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders of America.
  8. International Brotherhood of Bookbinders.
  9. Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union. († VII, 356; XIV, 333.)
  10. United Brewery Workmen.
  11. *Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Workers’ Alliance.
  12. Bridge and Structural Iron Workers.
  13. Broom and Whisk Makers’ Union.
  14. Brushmakers’ International Union.
  15. *United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
  16. Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.
  17. International Carriage and Wagon Workers.
  18. International Wood Carvers’ Association.
  19. International Association of Car Workers.
  20. Brotherhood of Cement Workers.
  21. Chainmakers’ National Union.
  22. *Cigarmakers’ International Union. († VII, 257, 715.)
  23. Retail Clerks’ International Protective Association.
  24. United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers.
  25. Commercial Telegraphers’ Union of America.
  26. International Compressed Air Workers’ Union.
  27. Coopers’ International Union.
  28. Amalgamated Lace Curtain Operatives.
  29. International Union of Cutting Die and Cutter Makers.
  30. International Union of Electrical Workers. († VII, 375.)
  31. International Union of Elevator Constructors.
  32. International Union of Steam Engineers.
  33. International Association of Watch Case Engravers.
  34. International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen.
  35. International Association of Steam and Hot Water Fitters and Helpers. († VII, 964.)
  36. International Union of Flour and Cereal Mill Employes.
  37. International Brotherhood of Foundry Employes.
  38. International Union of Interior Freight Handlers and Warehousemen.
  39. International Association of Fur Workers.
  40. United Garment Workers of America. († VII, 182.)
  41. International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
  42. Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association. († VII, 102, 920.)
  43. *Glass Workers’ International Association.
  44. International Glove Workers’ Union.
  45. *Granite Cutters’ International Association. († XIV, 422.)
  46. Pocket Knife Blade Grinders’ and Finishers’ National Union.
  47. Table Knife Grinders’ National Union.
  48. United Hatters of North America.
  49. Hod Carriers and Building Laborers’ Union.
  50. International Union of Journeymen Horse-Shoers.
  51. Hotel and Restaurant Employes’ International Alliance and Bartenders’ International League.
  52. Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. († VII, 84.)
  53. International Jewelry Workers’ Union.
  54. International Union of Wood, Wire, and Metal Lathers.
  55. International Union of Shirt, Waist, and Laundry Workers.
  56. United Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods.
  57. Amalgamated Leather Workers’ Union.
  58. International Protective and Beneficial Association of Lithographers.
  59. International Protective Association of Lithographic Press Feeders.
  60. International Longshoremen’s Association.
  61. National Association of Machine Printers and Color Mixers.
  62. *International Association of Machinists.
  63. International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes.
  64. International Association of Marble Workers.
  65. *Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen.
  66. International Union of Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers, and Brass Workers.
  67. International Alliance of Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers.
  68. *United Mine Workers.
  69. International Molders’ Union.
  70. American Federation of Musicians.
  71. Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers.
  72. United Brotherhood of Paper Makers.
  73. Pattern Makers’ League.
  74. International Union of Pavers, Rammermen, Flag Layers, Bridge and Stone Curb Setters.
  75. Paving Cutters’ Union.
  76. International Photo-Engravers’ Union.
  77. *International Piano and Organ Workers’ Union.
  78. International Steel and Copper Plate Printers’ Union.
  79. International Association of Operative Plasterers.
  80. United Association of Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters’ Helpers.
  81. National Federation of Post Office Clerks.
  82. National Brotherhood of Operative Potters. († XIV, 636, 643.)
  83. United Powder and High Explosive Workers.
  84. National Print Cutters’ Association.
  85. International Printing Pressmen’s Union.
  86. International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers.
  87. Quarry Workers’ International Union.
  88. *Order of Railroad Telegraphers. († XVII, 821.)
  89. Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.
  90. Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes. († VII, 205.)
  91. International Brotherhood of Roofers, Composition, Damp and Waterproof Workers.
  92. Saw Smiths’ National Union.
  93. *International Seamen’s Union.
  94. International Shingle Weavers’ Union.
  95. International Union of Shipwrights’ Joiners and Caulkers.
  96. International Slate and Tile Roofers’ Union.
  97. International Union of Slate Workers.
  98. Spinners’ International Union. († XIV, 564, 573, 581.)
  99. Theatrical Stage Employes’ International Alliance.
  100. The Steel Plate Transferers’ Association.
  101. International Stereotypers and Electrotypers’ Union.
  102. Stone Cutters’ Association. († VII, 201.)
  103. Stove Mounters’ International Union. († VII, 860.)
  104. Switchmen’s Union of North America.
  105. *Journeymen Tailors’ Union.
  106. International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
  107. United Textile Workers. († VII, 343.)
  108. International Ceramic, Mosaic and Encaustic Tile Layers and Helpers’ Union.
  109. Tin Plate Workers’ Protective Association.
  110. International Brotherhood of Tip Printers.
  111. *Tobacco Workers’ International Union.
  112. International Union of Travellers’ Goods and Leather Novelty Workers.
  113. *International Typographical Union. († VII, 268.)
  114. Upholsterers’ International Union.
  115. Elastic Goring Weavers’ Amalgamated Association.
  116. American Wire Weavers’ Protective Association.
  117. International Brotherhood of Woodsmen and Saw Mill Workers.
  118. International Union of Amalgamated Wood Workers.
  119. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. († XVII, 821.)
  120. *Order of Railway Conductors of America. († XVII, 821.)
  121. *Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. († XVII, 821.)
  122. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. († XVII, 821.)
  123. Brotherhood of Railway Trackmen.

            The constitutions of most of the Trades Unions for the United States will be found in Vol. XVII, Reports, U. S. Industrial Commission. Similar data for Great Britain is in the Appendix to “Foreign Reports, Vols. 1-2,” Royal Commission on Labour, pp. 15-324. [Volume I, United States; Volume II, Colonies and Indian Empire] [Both reserved in Gore Hall.] For early history of British Unions consult Reports, Royal Commission on Organization and Rules of Trades Unions, 1867-69; Parl. Papers, 1867, Vol. XXXII; 1867-68, Vol. XXXIX; 1868-69, Vol. XXXI. The Annual Report on Trade Unions by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade also contains up-to-date material on English conditions. Additional evidence as to labor conditions in each industry will be found in Vols. VII, VIII, XII, XIV, and XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission (consult Digest and Index in each volume); in the 11th Special Report, U.S. Bureau of Labor, on Restriction of Output; in the annual reports of the state bureaus of labor of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc. [See index under Unions in Special Index published by the U.S. Department of Labor; and in the Reports of the British Royal Commission.] The student should also consult Charles Booth’s Life and Labor of the People;

[(Original) Volume I, East London; (Original) Volume II, London; (Original) Appendix to Volume II; Note: the previous three original volumes were re-printed as four volumes that then were followed by Volume V, Population Classified by Trades; Volume VI, Population Classified by Trades (cont.); Volume VII, Population Classified by Trades; Volume VIII, Population Classified by Trades (cont.); Volume IX, Comparisons, Survey and Conclusions];

Webbs’, Industrial Democracy and History of Trade Unionism; and other books reserved in Gore Hall.

            Data respecting the various unions among railroad employees in the United States will be found in a separate section on Railway Labor, in Vol. XVII, U. S. Industrial Commission: as also in Vols. IV and IX. (See Digests and Indexes.)

            In cases where the American Trade Union journal is not in the library, the student will be expected to procure at least one copy from the Secretary of the Union. [See list of post office addresses posted with the enrolment slip.] These are to be filed with the report.

→ Exact references by title, volume and page must be given in foot-notes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Failure to comply with it will vitiate the entire report.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 9a

ASSIGNMENT OF REPORTS

            → Exact references by title, volume and page must be given in footnotes for all facts cited. This condition is absolutely imperative. Without such foot-notes the report will be rejected. General references listed separately are of no value.

Group F

            Students will prepare a connected and logical statement of the course of a labor dispute, as indicated by number on the appended list. The particular year being given in this reference, proceed at first to fix the date of beginning and close of the contest. Poole’s Index of Periodicals should be carefully searched for references. Note, however, that the more serious studies do not appear until a year or two after the event. A Select List of Books (and periodicals) on Strikes, published by the Library of Congress in 1903, may conveniently be used. The World Almanac often contains data worthy of consideration. Rely upon the Economic journals, where possible, but always seek many different authorities. The various reports of state Bureaus of Labor, which might take cognizance of the strike, should also be examined. Newspapers, to be found at the Boston Public Library, are useful; but statements therein should be carefully weighed. Clearly distinguish among other things: the cause of the strike; the policy of workmen and employers in its conduct; legal processes invoked; and the results to both parties. Summarize your conclusions succinctly at the end.

  1. Pennsylvania Railroad, 1877.
  2. Chicago Printers, 1880.
  3. Railway Telegraphers, 1883.
  4. Southwestern Railways, 1886.
  5. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1887-88.
  6. Homestead Strike, 1890.
  7. Spring Valley, 1890.
  8. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 1891.
  9. Cripple Creek, 1893.
  10. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1893-94.
  11. Northern Pacific Railway, 1894.
  12. Pullman Strike, 1894.
  13. The Army of the Commonweal, 1894.
  14. New York Tailors, 1895.
  15. Bituminous Coal Miners, 1897.
  16. Marlboro, Mass., 1898-99.
  17. Chicago Building Trades, 1900.
  18. New York Cigar Makers, 1900.
  19. Anthracite Coal Workers, 1900.
  20. Steel Workers, 1901.
  21. Louis Street Railway, 1901.
  22. Boston Teamsters, 1901.
  23. Machinists Strike, 1901.
  24. Anthracite Coal Miners, 1902.
  25. Boston Brewery Workmen, 1902.
  26. Pawtucket Weavers, 1902.
  27. New York Building Trades, 1903.
  28. Colorado Miners, 1903-04.
  29. New York Garment Workers, 1903-04.
  30. New York Subway, 1904-05.
  31. Fall River Cotton Mills, 1904-05.
  32. Chicago Butchers, 1904

[Note: nothing listed between items 32 and 51]

  1. London Docks, 1889.
  2. Scottish Railways, 1891.
  3. English Coal Miners, 1893.
  4. Lancashire Cotton Mills, 1900.
  5. English Coal Miners, 1901.
  6. French Coal Miners [Carmaux], 1902.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 9a
Final Examination, 1905-06

  1. Criticise Compulsory Insurance Acts from the distinct points of view of (1) thrift, (2) efficiency, and (3) morality, stating the nature of the evidence in each case.
  2. In what domains of social legislation are the following countries more advanced than the United States: (a) Great Britain, (b) the colony of Victoria, (c) the colony of New Zealand, (d) Germany? In what branches of such legislation does the United States surpass Buropean countries? [Answer by merely naming, without descriptive matter.]
  3. How do the Australian colonies deal with the non-union man in their labor laws?
  4. Defend the Minimum Wage policy from the workman’s point of view, and state the employers’ objections thereto.
  5. In what kinds of social legislation is the Federal character of our government a serious bar to experimentation? Show clearly the reasons why.
  6. What policies in the matter of apprenticeship on the part of employers do the trades unions seek to thwart by their rules on the subject?
  7. How does an injunction differ from an ordinary rule at law; and why is it so commonly used in labor disputes?
  8. What is a Federal Union as distinct from a Trade Union?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 35.

Image Source: Four strikers of the Ladies Tailors union on the picket line during the “Uprising of the 20,000”. Photo dated February 1910. Strike ran from November 1909 to March 1910. From the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Money and Banking

Harvard. Exams for Money and Banking. Andrew, 1905-1906

Abram Piatt Andrew

 

The financial Panic of 1907 was still a few years down the historical road when A. Piatt Andrew picked up the banking semester of the two semester sequence of money and banking at Harvard from O. M. W. Sprague who had left for Japan. This expanded scope in matters monetary no doubt came in handy when Andrew joined the staff of the National Monetary Commission established by Congress in 1908.

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Previous course materials
Money and Banking 

1900-01 (Meyer and Sprague)
1901-02 (Andrew, Sprague, Meyer)
1902-03 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)
1903-04 (Andrew and Sprague)
1904-05 (Andrew’s money exam, Sprague’s banking exam)

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8a 1hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.

Total 50: 5 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 8a
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. Explain and give illustrations of
    1. the double standard;
    2. the parallel standard;
    3. the limping standard;
    4. the single standard;
    5. quasi-redemption;
    6. forced circulation.
  2. State briefly the circumstances which led to the issue and withdrawal of the American trade dollar.
  3. Trace briefly the chronology of the adoption of the gold standard throughout the world. To what extent is the fall in price of silver due to this movement? To what extent has the value of gold been affected by it?
  4. How would the adoption of international bimetallism to-day at the ratio of 32 to 1 affect (a) the circulating medium, (b) the standard of value of different countries? Consider both the immediate and the eventual results.
  5. What arguments advanced in favor of bimetallism ten years ago are inapplicable to-day?
  6. Is there any peculiar significance for the “quantity theory”
    1. of British India between 1893 and 1898;
    2. of Austria between 1878 and 1892;
    3. of Russia between 1878 and 1896;
    4. of Holland between 1873 and 1875.
      When possible give variant opinions.
  7. Would an ideal monetary standard always measure the same quantity of goods?
    1. According to Walker?
    2. According to Darwin?
    3. According to your own opinion?
      Answer both from the points of view of production and distribution.
  8. “Inasmuch as gold (before 1848) was more valuable on the world’s market than at the French mint, relatively to silver, it was impossible that gold should circulate in France.” Is this a necessary conclusion?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06. Also a copy in Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 33.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 8b 2hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems.

Total 105: 7 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 56 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 8b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Explain the system of “cash credits” and the importance of the £1 note in Scotland.
  2. Discuss the following:—
    1. Bank statement based on falling averages.
    2. Five per cent fund with treasurer.
    3. Bonds for circulation.
    4. Bonds for deposits.
  3. Sketch briefly the various stages in the American government’s policy of caring for its funds.
  4. How do state banks compare with national banks in the United States to-day (a) in number, (b) in size, (c) in the kinds of business done? What differences in these regards appear in different parts of the country?
  5. On what grounds is an extension of branch-banking advocated in the United States? What are the objections raised? To what extent does it already exist?
  6. Explain the ways and trace the seasons in which the New York bank reserves are apt to decline. Discuss the means which have recently been employed by the government to strengthen them.
  7. Sight exchange is quoted at 4.8550; 60-day bills at 4.8240; commercial bills at 4.8212. Explain these differences and show how each quotation will be affected, if the Bank of England raises its rate by 1%.
  8. The following are abstracted statements of the New York Associated Banks:
(1)
Aug. 5, ’93		 (2)
Feb. 3, ’94		 (3)
May 20, ’99		 (4)
May 23, ’03
Loans 409 420 763 923
Deposits 373 552 902 914
Capital 129 133 134 224
Circulation 6 13 16 44
Reserve 79 250 260 238

Compare 1 with 2, and 3 with 4, explaining in each case the changes in the relations (a) between loans and deposits, (b) between deposits and reserve.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906),  p. 34.

Image Source: Picture of Abram Piatt Andrew from ca. 1909 used in a magazine article on his appointment to the directorship of the U. S. Mint. Hoover Institution Archives. A. Piatt Andrew Papers, Box 51. Retouched and colorized by Economics in the Rear-View Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Public Finance

Harvard. Exam for undergraduate public finance. Bullock, 1905-1906

Charles Jesse Bullock compressed his two semester public finance sequence at Harvard that was pitched to graduates and advanced undergraduates in 1904-05 into a single semester for undergraduates in the following academic year. This compression and “dumbing down” [?] resulted in a significant increase in enrollment. Who knows, maybe he even lowered the curve for grading?

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Exams from the two semester sequence in public finance (1904-05)

1904-05. Introduction to Public Finance (post includes two obituaries for Bullock)

1904-05. Theory and Methods of Taxation

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 7 2hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 137: 13 Seniors, 54 Juniors, 55 Sophomores, 4 Freshman, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss the history of federal expenditures in the United States since 1860.
  2. Discuss the past and the present policy of the United States with respect to its public lands.
  3. Give an account of the present status of the municipal ownership movement in the United States.
  4. Discuss the proposition that income is the normal source of taxation.
  5. What is your opinion concerning the justice of progressive taxation?
  6. What was decided in the income tax decisions of 1895?
  7. Give a detailed account of the present method of taxing personal property in Massachusetts.
  8. Compare the general corporation tax of Massachusetts with that of Pennsylvania.
  9. Write an account of the present status of the inheritance tax in the American commonwealths.
  10. Write a history of federal taxation in the United States from 1789 to the present day.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 32.

Image Source: Illustration by Louis M. Glackens in Puck, April 8, 1908. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.26261

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and final exam for U.S. economic and financial history. Taussig and Gay, 1905-1906

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan.

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 6 2hf. Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 79: 14 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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READING FOR ECONOMICS 6
(1905-6)

Prescribed reading is indicated by an asterisk (*).

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-30; printed also in Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Schmoller, Mercantile System, pp. 57-80.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 1-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Eggleston, Agriculture and Commerce in the Colonies, The Century Magazine, Jan. and June, 1884, Vol. V, pp. 431-449; Vol. VI, pp. 234-256.

2. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES, 1776-1815.

*Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer Econ. Assn. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the United States, ed. 1835, ch. ix, pp. 368-412.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 287-324, 95-145.

Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-108.

3. REVOLUTIONARY AND NATIONAL FINANCE – WESTWARD MOVEMENT, 1776-1815.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, chs. ii-vi, pp. 33-141.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-78.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. 1, pp. 15-37, 64-67.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assn., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Semple, American History and its Geographical Conditions, chs. iv, v, pp. 52-92.

4. FINANCE AND BANKING, 1815-1860.

*Dewey, Financial History, pp. 223-237, 252-262.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson, ed. 1886, pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, chs. xvi-vviii, pp. 376-403, 430-452.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, ch. xiv, pp. 310-347.

White, Money and Banking, chs. ix-xii, pp. 324-361.

5. TARIFFS AND MANUFACTURES, 1815-1860.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 1-154.

Taussig, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 108-385.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, 146-199, 325-383.

6. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 1815-1860.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162.

Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, chs. vii, xx, xxi, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), Vol. XII, pp. 531-581.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I.

Tanner, Railways and Canals of the United States. See, especially, the map.

7. LAND POLICY AND AGRICULTURE, 1815-1860.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. iii, pp. 67-119.

Donaldson, Public Domain.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, 4th series, nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

8. POPULATION AND SLAVERY, 1815-1860.

*Cairnes, Slave Power, chs. ii, iii, v, pp. 34-93, 120-150.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. ii, pp. 34-60.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, ch. ix, pp. 150-177.

9. FINANCE, BANKING, AND CURRENCY PROBLEMS, 1860-1900.

*Dewey, Financial History, chs. xii, xiii, xx, pp. 271-330, 463-473.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, chs. i, ii, iii, x, pp. 1-72, 234-254.

Taussig, Silver Situation, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-36.

10. TRANSPORTATION; TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-230.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, chs. ii, ii, v, pp. 13-38, 52-68.

Taussig, Contribution to the Theory of Railway Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. V, pp. 438-465.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 24-56.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 230-409.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth United States Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 723-743.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

12. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE FAR WEST.

*Industrial Commission, XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-168.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, Book I, chs. iv-vii, ix, pp. 120-228, 324-356.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CLXXV, pp. 394-424.

13. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Qr., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-209.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, chs. i-v, pp. 1-94.

14. WAGES AND THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor.

Industrial Conciliation, National Civic Federation.

Wright, Industrial History of the United States, Part III, pp. 231-322.

15. IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, chs. iii, iv, pp. 33-78.

Tillinghast, Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-227.

Hoffman, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 141-148, 170-176, 310-329.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 79-167, 227-283.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-434.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in conomics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

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ECONOMICS 6
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe the history of the agitation for “cheap money” in the United States; the forms assumed both before and after 1860, its causes and the probability of its recurrence.
  2. Compare critically the financing of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Spanish War.
  3. (a) Summarize the principal features of our tariff legislation from the close of the Civil War to the Dingley Tariff.
    (b) What has been the effect of the tariffs on the iron and steel industry?
  4. Give the history of the Union Pacific Railroad and its relations to the government.
  5. Account for the changes in the character of the foreign trade of the United States in respect to the excess of imports or of exports.
    Take one of the following questions:
  6. Discuss the significance and causes of the increase of farm tenancy and the rural exodus.
  7. What can you say as to agricultural conditions in the South before and since the Civil War? What about the negro problem?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 31-32.

Image Source: Portraits of Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Transportation

Harvard. Final examination for transportation economics. Ripley, 1905-1906

William Zebina Ripley

Relatively early on transportation economics was recognised as one of the major specialisation fields within applied economics. This can be illustrated with the courses offered by William Zebina Ripley at Harvard that were introduced during the first decade of the twentieth century. Ripley also covered labor relations as well as industrial organisation and regulation. This was still a time when economics faculty members were expected to span several special fields. As Adam Smith had said, “The division of labour is limited by the extent of the market.” The era of the “Universalgenie” [Narrator’s voice: “They only thought they were.”] had not yet been replaced by the era of the “Fachidiot” [The narrator continues, “…ahem, present company excluded”].

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Earlier exams etc. for Economics 5

1900-01 (Hugo Richard Meyer alone)
1901-02 (Ripley with Hugo Richard Meyer)
1903-04 (Ripley alone)
1904-05 (Ripley with Stuart Daggett)

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 5 1hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Mr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Transportation.

Total 138: 10 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 59 Juniors, 28 Sophomores, 9 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 5
Final Examination
1905-06

  1. What is the present legal status of the “Long and Short Haul” clause of the Act to Regulate Commerce? Outline the decisions clearly.
  2. The average length of haul on the St. Paul road is about 185 miles; while on the Union Pacific it is about 386 miles. How would these conditions affect the revenue per ton mile?
  3. What advantages might follow the repeal of the prohibition of pooling, from a railway point of view?
  4. What authority has the Interstate Commerce Commission concerning witnesses and the production of papers? What is the latest decision?
  5. Should the following items of expenditure be charged to capital, improvement, or operating expense account, viz.: (1) cost of abolishing grade crossings; (2) replacement of light rails with heavy ones; and (3) premium on purchase of stock in a subsidiary road? Give your own reasons for whichever course you advocate.
  6. What is the present method of control of the anthracite coal roads?
  7. What are the main inducements for stock watering, as described by Johnson?
  8. What is the nature of the principal bills now before Congress, amending the Act to Regulate Commerce? Describe them separately.

Source:  Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1905-06;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College(June, 1906), p. 31.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives.  William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Final exam questions for principles of sociology. Carver, 1905-1906

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

Excerpts from Thomas Nixon Carvers’s autobiography dealing with sociology, his course reading list and a “thick” course description from the 1904-05 academic year have been transcribed and posted earlier.

Image today having a question like “What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?” standing between you and your final grade in a course.

I wonder when such a question was first able to elicit a consensus cringe among social scientists. 

Likely readings for this course can be found in Sociology and Social Progress, compiled by Thomas Nixon Carver (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1905).

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Course Enrollment

Economics 3. Professor Carver. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 60: 9 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

  1. State and explain briefly, —
    1. Spencer’s position as to the possibility of a science of society.
    2. Bagehot’s conclusion as to verifiable progress.
    3. Kidd’s theory as to the function of religious beliefs in the development of society.
    4. Kidd’s prediction as to the future relation of European races to tropical regions.
  2. What are the chief factors tending to promote the improvement of the race, and what are the chief factors tending to deteriorate it?
  3. Discuss briefly the following topics in their relation to social development:
    1. “The consciousness of kind.”
    2. Imitation
    3. Resentment.
    4. The power of idealization.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 3
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Discuss Kidd’s view that the real drift of society is toward greater equality and that this is accompanied by keener competition.
  2. Can social progress be defined in terms of human well being? Explain.
  3. What is meant by the transition from a pain to a pleasure economy? What corresponding transition does Comte describe?
  4. If we grant that war is primarily due to economic reasons, does the conclusion follow that it is permanent?
  5. What importance attaches to the prolongation of infancy in the human species?
  6. Compare the views of Kidd and Buckle as to the relative importance of the moral and the intellectual factors in social development.
  7. What is meant by the storing of social energy, and what are some of the chief agencies by which it is accomplished?
  8. Compare the prince, as described by Machiavelli, with the modern political boss.
  9. What is meant by the distinction between the repressive and the directive activities of the State? What are the main conditions which justify the latter?
  10. What general principle determines the obligation of the State in the imposition of taxes?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 30.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver, colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Principles of Economics Exam. Taussig et al., 1905-1906

Over the next couple of weeks Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will be posting the printed economics course exams from Harvard for the academic year 1905-06.  Economics in the Rear-View Mirror has already transcribed and posted nearly every economics exam at Harvard University up to this year. You will find links to them in the Catalogue of Artifacts, then use page search for, e.g.,”Exam” to be awed if not shocked by the sheer quantity of material available to you.

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Course Enrollment

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professor [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs. [Silas Wilder] Howland, [Chester Whitney] Wright, [Seldon Osgood] Martin, [William Hyde] Price, [Frank Richardson] Mason, and [Stuart] Daggett. — Principles of Economics.

Total 470: 1 Graduate, 9 Seniors, 87 Juniors, 266 Sophomores, 63 Freshmen, 44 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Answer nine questions, five from Group I, four from Group II.

Group I

  1. Which of the following would you class as capital:—
    1. stocks of goods in retailers’ hands;
    2. a theatre:
    3. the skill, acquired through training and education, of highly efficient workmen;
    4. agricultural land permanently improved by drainage, embankments and the like.
  2. Explain concisely,
    1. the law of diminishing returns;
    2. intensive and extensive margin of cultivation;
    3. marginal utility.
  3. Suppose all agricultural land to be equally fertile and equally distant from the market; suppose all to be under cultivation: would there be rent? If so, why and where? if not, why not?
  4. Explain in what way the value of monopolized commodities is influenced on the one hand by cost of production, on the other hand by marginal utility.
  5. Explain in what way the value of commodities produced at joint cost is influenced on the one hand by cost of production, on the other hand by marginal utility.
  6. State two different ways in which expense of education and training affects variations of wages in different occupations.

Group II

  1. “The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talents for business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent]. . . . All advantages, in fact, which one competitor has over another, whether natural or acquired, whether personal or the result of social arrangements, bring the commodity, so far, into the Third Class, and assimilate the possessor of the advantage to a receiver of rent.” —Mill.
    Explain what is the “third class” of commodities here referred to by Mill; wherein “personal” advantages differ from those which are “the result of social arrangements”; and how far the general doctrine set forth in this extract is found also in Walker and in Seager.
  2. State concisely the residual theory of distribution, as set forth by Walker.
  3. Suppose the number of laborers to increase greatly, the other factors in production (capital, land) remaining unchanged: what changes in wages would ensue, and in what manner would they be brought about, according to Mill? Walker? Seager?
  4. Explain concisely,
    1. the capitalization of rent;
    2. the capitalization of monopoly profits;
    3. the statement that the rate of interest determines the value of land and securities;
    4. innocent investors and acquired rights.
  5. A corporation organized to do a mercantile business buys an expensive city site, erects a building thereon, carries on the operations of buying and selling, and in due time distributes dividends among its stockholders. What is the nature of the return received by the stockholders?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

Omit one question from each group.

I.

  1. Define capital, and mention two articles of wealth which are always capital, two which never are, and two which sometimes are and sometimes are not.
  2. Under what conditions would there be no economic rent?
  3. Explain briefly the salient influences which will determine the value (1) at any given moment, (2) in the long run, of the following:
    1. an uncopyrighted book,
    2. a copyrighted book,
    3. an ounce of gold.
  4. What are the limits to the price-fixing and profit-earning powers of monopolies? Are there any other conditions which will tend to check the indefinite growth of combinations?

II.

  1. Is it true of all commodities that changes in supply affect their value proportionally? Is it true of the commodity money? If in your opinion there is any difference, explain it.
  2. Can a commodity change its value without changing its price? Can it change its price without changing its value? Suppose the commodity were gold bullion, would your answer vary?
  3. Suppose an increase in the volume of our currency, due to a new issue of silver, what would be the effect upon international trade? Would this effect be lasting? Would your answer depend at all upon the condition of our currency at the time the increase occurred?
  4. If the merchandise imports from England to the United States equalled the exports from the United States to England (a) what would be the state of exchange on London? (b) Would there be any greater advantage to either of the countries engaged in trade?

III.

  1. Would a tariff “for revenue only” differ from a protective tariff, the product of which is entirely devoted to revenue? Has either any advantage over the other?
  2. “A man is of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be transported.” What is the bearing of this fact upon the theory of international trade?
  3. (a) How are loans affected when the reserve limit (as established either by law or custom) is reached in England, Germany, and in the United States?
    (b) Show whether a system of “combined reserves” is needed in France, England, or Germany.
  4. Arrange the following items in their proper order as they would appear in the statement of a national bank. What criticisms would a bank examiner make? Would these criticisms vary if the bank were situated in New York, Boston, or the town of Lexington?
Loans,

360 thousands of dollars
Capital,

50      “                “       “
Reserve,

50      “                “       “
Real estate,

28      “                “       “
Deposits,

300    “                “       “
Undivided profits,

3        “                “       “
Notes,

115    “                “       “
Other assets,

20      “                “       “
Bonds and stocks,

40      “                “       “
Surplus,

30      “                “       “

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 26-27.

Image Source: Portrait of Professor Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album 1906.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard International Economics Suggested Reading

Harvard. Undergraduate International Economics. Book list and final exam. Caves, 1963-1964

Harvard Square in February 1964

While the memo to the libraries promises a full reading list for the course on international trade and finance to come as soon as possible, there was no copy of Richard Caves’ full reading list for the first semester of 1963-64 to be found with other economics course syllabi in the Harvard archives. Still the twenty items arranged in approximate order of use together with the final exam questions for the course give us a good idea of the course content.

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Course Announcement

Economics 148. International Trade: Basic Facts and Policies

Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., (S.), at 12. Professor Caves

Treats such problems as the balance of payments, the dollar market, capital movements, exchange rates, exchange control, European integration and the relation of domestic and international policies.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Science. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LX, No. 21 (September 4, 1963) p. 104.

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Book list for Economics 148

September 11, 1963

To: Lamont, Radcliffe, Littauer Libraries
From: Richard E. Caves
Subject: book list for Economics 148, Fall Semester, 1963-64

The following books and other special materials which I plan to assign for Economics 148 (“International Trade: Basic Facts and Policies”) are arranged in the approximate order of use during the term. Heavy assignments will be made in those titles preceded by an asterisk; in general, only relatively short passages will be assigned from other titles.

Students will be urged to purchase as a basic text Charles P. Kindleberger, International Economics, 3rd ed. (Homewood, Ill.: Richard 3 D. Irwin, 1963). I expect an enrollment in the course about the same as last year, 90 to 100.

A full reading list will follow as soon as possible.

Lary, Hal B. Problems of the United States as World Trader and Banker. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963.

Allen, W. R., and Allen, C. L., eds. Foreign Trade and Finance: Essays in International Economic Equilibrium and Adjustment. New York: Macmillan, 1959.

Meier, Gerald M. International Trade and Development. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.

Kenen, Peter B. Giant Among Nations: Problems in United States Foreign Economic Policy. Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1963.

Daedalus, Summer and Fall numbers, 1962.

Vaccara, Beatrice N. Employment and Output in Protected Manufacturing Industries. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1960.

Myrdal, Gunnar. An International Economy: Problems and Prospects. New York: Harper & Bros., 1956.

Triffin, Robert. Europe and the Money Muddle. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957.

*Salant, Walter S. et al. The United States Balance of Payments in 1968, Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution, 1963.
[Note: Chapters 2-9 were the Reading Period assignments]

Harris, Seymour E., ed. The Dollar in Crisis. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961.

*Factors Affecting the United States Balance of Payments, Compilation of Studies, U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Subcommittee on International Exchange and Payments, 87th Congress, 2nd session. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1962.

Tew, Brian. International Monetary Cooperation, 1945-1956. London: Hutchinson’s University Library, 1956.

Tew, Brian, The International Monetary Fund: Its Present Role and Future Prospects. Essays in International Finance, No. 36. Princeton, N.J.: International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1961.

Machlup, Fritz. Plans for Reform of the International Monetary System, Special Papers in International Economics, No. 3. Princeton, N.J.: International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1962.

Tinbergen, Jan. Shaping the World Economy: Suggestions for an International Economic Policy. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1962.

Asher, Robert E. Grants, Loans, and Local Currencies: Their Role In Foreign Aid. Washington, D. C.: Brookings Institution, 1961.

Millikan, M. F., and W. W. Rostow. A Proposal: Key To An Effective Foreign Policy. New York: Harper & Bros., 1957.

Mikesell, R. F. Promoting United States Private Investment Abroad. Washington, D.C. National Planning Association, 1957.

*Balassa, Bela. The Theory of Economic Integration. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1961.

Sannwald, Rolf F., and Jacques Stohler. Economic Integration: Theoretical Assumptions and Consequences of European Integration. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1959.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1963-1964”.

________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 148
Final Examination
January 21, 1964

Answer question No. 1 and three of the remaining five. The answers to all questions will be weighted equally.

  1. Describe the basic model used in the Brookings report (The United States Balance of Payments in 1968) to forecast the balance of payments and evaluate its completeness and correctness in terms of international trade theory.
    (Note: Make sure that you distinguish between the structure of the model and the assumptions made about independent variables used in the model.)
  2. Do underdeveloped countries face a conflict between the “gains from trade” and the “gains from growth”?
    Discuss critically the arguments which have been advanced for the restriction of imports by developing countries, distinguishing between arguments for across-the-board restrictions and those for restricting the inflow of particular types of commodities.
  3. A country devalues its currency. Show how the price and income adjustment mechanisms respond to affect the balance of payments. Would you normally expect the balance to improve? Is it possible for no net improvement to occur, although the price effect is favorable?
  4. Discuss the elements of the “international liquidity problem.” Would the problem disappear if the United States balance of payments (miraculously) returned to equilibrium? Appraise the extent to which at least two of the proposals for dealing with the liquidity problem would solve the essential elements of that problem, as you see them.
  5. A country forms a customs union with another. Illustrate the following effects for any one traded commodity, using diagrams, and assuming that the world’s and the partner country’s supply functions are perfectly elastic, while the domestic supply and demand functions are neither perfectly elastic nor perfectly inelastic:
    1. Tariff revenue foregone
    2. Transfer from the government to the consumers
    3. Transfer from domestic producers to consumers
    4. Change in consumers’ surplus
    5. Trade creation
    6. Trade diversion
      Briefly, how might the net effect (gain or loss) of the union on the country’s welfare be measured?
  6. Can industrialized countries increase their rates of economic growth by forming customs unions? Appraise the possible gains from faster growth in the setting of Western European economies. Could some of the effects of a customs union hamper growth, either among members or in excluded countries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences. Final Examinations January 1964 (HUC 7000.28, vol. 150).

Image Source: Harvard Square Snowstorm, February 1964. Boston Public Library, Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue Collection. Copy downloaded from the Digital Commonwealth website.