Category: Harvard

Harvard. Introduction to Quantitative Methods. Joint Economics and Graduate School of Public Administration. Bolton, 1964

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-05-09

Roger E. Bolton received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1964. His dissertation adviser was Otto Eckstein and according to his c.v. (May 2019) Roger Bolton was an Instructor in Economics and nonresident Tutor in Adams House at Harvard at the time he taught the economics course “Introduction to Quantitative Methods” to students of the Graduate School of Public Administration.

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From GSPA report

…Dr. Roger E. Bolton, Instructor in Economics, was asked to continue his course, Introduction to Quantitative Methods, which was established particularly for the benefit of students in this School who, without previous mathematical training, needed an introduction to modern methods of economic measurement and projection.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1964-1965, p. 376.

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Course Announcement

Economics 168. Introduction to Quantitative Methods (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Public Administration). Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., S., at 9. Dr. Bolton

An introduction to national income accounts, input-output tables, index numbers, capital coefficients, and other methods of economic measurement and projection. This course assumes no previous mathematical or statistical training.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe1964-1965, p. 111.

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Economics 168
Harvard University
Fall Term, 1964

Dr Roger E. Bolton
Littauer 322

There will be no hour examination. Each student will write a 15 page paper, due about midway in the reading period. The paper is to be some sort of “quantitative” analysis of an important policy problem facing the country of the student, if sufficient data are available for that country. The student will be given considerable latitude in selecting a topic but must confer with the instructor about it in advance. The paper must use extensively some body of statistical data, and include some commentary on the data and their reliability, suitability for the analysis. etc.

In addition to the paper and the final exam, there will be a number of problem sets to be worked during the term. The primary purpose of the problems is learning, not testing, but students’ performance on them will be weighed in determining the final grade. The final exam grade will be weighted 60 per cent, the paper grade 25 per cent, and the problems 15 per cent.

Outline and Readings

Students are expected to do at least some of the suggested readings during the term. There will be no special reading period assignment.

I. Introduction to Important Kinds of Economic Quantities (September 29-October 1)

Ackley, Macroeconomic Theory, pp. 78-88.

Freund and Williams, Modern Business Statistics, 1958, chs. 15-10.

II. Basic Statistical Inference (October 3-8)

Beach, Economic Models, pp. 113-171.

Dixon and Massey, Introduction to Statistical Analysis, ch. 3, pp. 11-23; ch. 5, pp.48-54; ch. 6, pp. 76-82, and all of chs. 8 and 9.

III. National Income and Product: Concept and Measurement (October 10-29)

A. Purposes and uses

Kuznets, Economic Change, Ch. 7.

Kuznets, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, pp. 13-18 and all of Lecture 4.

Suggested: Hitch and McKean, The Economics of Defense in the Nuclear Age, Ch. 3.

B. History

Rosen, National Income, ch. 1

Suggested: Studenski, The Income of Nations, Part 1.

C. Basic Concepts

Harvard Business School, Notes on National Accounting.

Rosen, National Income, chs, 4-5.

Suggested: Ackley, Macroeconomic Theory, chs. 2-3.

D. United States Practices

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, National Income, 1954 ed., pp. 27-60.

U. S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business July 1964 issue, tables giving data on the national accounts.

E. The United Nations System

United Nations Statistical Office, A System of National Accounts and Supporting Tables (Studies in Methods, series F, no. 2, Rev. 2 — second revision).

Suggested:

Organization for European Economic Co-operation, A Standardized System of National Accounts, 1958, pp. 31-49, and Systems of National Accounts in Africa, 1960, pp. 9-63.

Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Canada, National Accounts Income and Expenditure, 1926-1956, pp. 103-176.

Central Statistical Office, Great Britain, National Income Statistics: Sources and Methods, 1956, chs. 1-3.

F. Real Output, Deflation Principles, Various Price Indexes

Ackley, Macroeconomic Theory, pp. 88-99.

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, National Income 1954 ed., pp. 153-158.

U. S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 1168, Techniques of Preparing Major BLS Series, chs. 9-10.

Suggested: U. S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Hearings on Government Price Statistics, 87th Congress, 1961, especially pp. 9-78 of the report presented by the National Bureau of Economic Research

G. Other Common Indexes

No assigned readings

H. Intertemporal and International Comparisons

Bornstein, “A Comparison of Soviet and United States National Product,” in U. S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Comparisons of the United States and Soviet Economies, 1959.

Suggested: Gilbert and Kravis, An International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies.

I. Sources of Data

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, National Income 1954 ed., pp. 68-72, 76-86.

Ruggles and Ruggles, National Income Accounts and Income Analysis, ch. 8 and appendix to ch. 8.

United Nations Statistical Office, Methods of National Income Estimation (Series F, No. 8, of Studies in Methods).

J. Issues in National Income Accounting; Reliability of Data

Rosen, National Income, chs. 8-9.

Schelling, “National Income, 1954 edition,” in Review of Economics and Statistics, November 1955.

Schelling, essay in National Bureau of Economic Research, A Critique of the National Income and Product Accounts.

Jaszi, “The Statistical Foundations of the Gross National Product” in Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1956.

Suggested: Musgrave, The Theory of Public Finance, ch.8

IV. Other Summary Accounts and their Relation to the National Income Accounts (October 31-November 3)

A. The Balance of Payments

Kindleberger, International Economics, Ch. 2

U. S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, July 1964 issue, tables.

Suggested:

“The Bookkeeping of the Balance of Payments,” Morgan Guaranty Survey, May 1962.

Badger, “The Balance of Payments: A Tool of Economics Analysis,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, September 1951.

B. The Government Budget

U. S. Bureau of the Budget, The Budget of the United States, Special Analysis A.

U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, July 1964 issue, tables.

Suggested: U. S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, The Budget as an Economic Document, a report by R. Moor (not the hearings of the same title).

V. Models of National Output Determination (November 5-19)

A. The Distinction between Potential and Actual Output

Schultze, National Income Analysis, ch. 6.

Suggested: Hamberg, Principles of a Growing Economy, ch. 7.

B. Potential Output Models

Kindleberger, Economic Development, ch. 4.

Higgins, Economic Development, 642-653.

Hamberg, Principles of a Growing Economy, ch. 8.

Suggested: Knowles,The Potential Economic Growth of the United States, Study Paper 20 of: U. S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Employment, Growth and Price Levels, 1960.

C. Actual Output Models

Hamberg, Principles of a Growing Economy, chs. 9-13.

Schelling, National Income Behavior, chs. 13-14.

Suggested:

Schelling, National Income Behavior, the remainder of book, but especially chs. 9-11.

Polak, “Monetary Analysis of Income Formation and Payments Problems, International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, November 1957.

VI. Input-Output Models (November 21-December 5)

A. Purposes and Uses

Chenery and Clark, Interindustry Economics, ch. 1.

B. Principles

Chenery and Clark, Interindustry Economics, chs. 2,3,5,6.

Suggested: Chenery and Clark, ch. 4.

Stone, Input-Output and National Accounts.

Bruno, Interdependence, Resource Use and Structural Change in Israel, chs. 1-3, Appendices A-1, B-2, and B-3.

C. Applications

Leontief, “The Structure of Development,” in Scientific American, September 1963.

Wonnacott, Canadian-American Interdependence, chs. 1-3, 5-7.

One of these three:

Meyer, “An Input-Output Approach to Evaluating the Influence of Exports on British Industrial Production in the Late 19th Century,” in Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, Volume 8, number 1.

Hirsch, “Interindustry Relations of a Metropolitan Area,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1959.

Leontief and Hoffenberg, “The Economic Effects of Disarmament,” Scientific American, April 1961.

Suggested: Wonnacott, the remainder of the assigned book. The other two of the above articles by Meyer, Hirsch, and Leontief and Hoffenberg.

D. Evaluation

Dorfman, “The Nature and Significance of Input-Output,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1954.

Seers, “The Role of National Income Estimates in the Statistical Policy of an Underdeveloped Area,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 20, pp. 159-168, and his rejoinder in the same journal, Vol. 21, pp. 229-231.

Prest, “Comment” (on Seers), Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 21, pp. 223-228.

Peacock and Dosser, “Input-Output Analysis in an Underdeveloped Country,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, pp. 21-24.

Suggested: Arrow and Hoffenberg, A Time-Series Analysis of Inter-Industry Demands, especially chs. 1-2, appendix to ch. 2, ch. 3, ch. 7, pp. 117-126, 132-133.

VII. Aspects of Development Planning (December 8-19)

A. General

Chenery and Clark, Interindustry Economics, chs. 7, 9, 10.

Bruno, Interdependence, Resource Use, and Structural Change in Israel chs. 4-6.

Tinbergen, The Design of Development.

Rosenstein-Rodan, ed. Formation and Economic Development, pp. 11-32, 68-82.

Suggested:

Rosenstein-Rodan, ed. remainder of book.

Chenery and Clark, ch. 11.

B. Cases

India, Planning Commission, Third Five-Year Plan, 1961; skim enough to get the flavor.

Pakistan, Planning Commission, The Second Five-Year Plan; skim enough to get the flavor.

Mahalanobis, The Approach of Operational Research to Planning in India, 1955, ch. 1, 3, 4, appendix to ch. 4, chs. 5-7, and the three chapters in Appendix II.

C. Investment Criteria

Chenery, “Comparative Advantage and Development Policy, American Economic Review, March 1961.

Suggested:

Galenson and Leibenstein, “Investment Criteria, Productivity, and Economic Development” Quarterly Journal of Economics. August 1955.

Eckstein, “Investment Criteria for Economic Development and the Theory of Intertemporal Welfare Economics.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1957.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1964-1965 (1 of 2)”.

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Final Examination

ECONOMICS 168
FINAL EXAMINATION
Dr. Bolton
January 26, 1965

DO ALL 5 QUESTIONS.
Read each question carefully before beginning it. Please write legibly

Briefly explain each of these terms: (30 minutes)

a. Net National Income at Factor Cost
b. Unbiased estimate (in statistical inference)
c. Commodity Flow Method
d. Statistical Discrepancy (in national income accounting)
e. “Accounting Prices”
f. Participation Rate

Explain how you would use each of the following numbers in making economic policy decisions: (30 minutes)
1. The number in row i and column j of an input-output “inverse”
2. The “standard error of estimate” of a regression estimate of the marginal propensity to import
3. The amount of planned saving which would occur when actual output is equal to potential output.
4. The income-elasticity of consumption of a specific product
Do three of the following four short problems: (30 minutes)
1. Explain what amounts must be added to or subtracted from Gross Domestic Product to calculate Personal Disposable Income
2. In regard to the change from 1963 to 1964 in a certain country, the income-elasticity of total consumption was 1.10, measuring both income and consumption in current prices. The rate of growth of income, in current prices, was 6 per cent. The consumer price index increased by 5 per cent. What was the rate of growth of real consumption between 1963 and 1964?
3. Which of the following items are included in Gross National Product as calculated in the in the United States:

(1) State and local government interest
(2) Government purchase of land
(3) The level of inventories at the end of the year
(4) The net profit of a government enterprise
(5) Consumers’ repayment of debt
(6) Government sale of gold, from the monetary stock to foreigners
(7) Pensions paid to former government employees
(8) Purchase of repairs to old consumer durable goods
(9) Receipt by U.S. residents of dividends from foreign corporation
(10) Goods produced on government order but not yet paid for by the government

1. The following values from the Gross National Product accounts of a certain country are available for a certain year. Calculate the government surplus or deficit for the year.

Personal disposable income	400
Personal consumption	360
Residential construction	60
Inventory investment	10
Business Fixed Investment	30
Exports	40
Imports	35
Depreciation allowances	30
Corporate profits taxes	30
Retained corporate earnings	30
Dividends	20

Write an essay on input-output analysis, including a brief explanation of each of the following points: (45 minutes)
1. The purposes and assumptions of the analysis
2. The nature of the variables the analysis predicts
3. The kinds of forecasts which must be made before the analysis can be used
4. The differences between “open” and “closed” systems
5. The way in which total Gross National Product is predicted
6. The kinds of data needed to apply the analysis
7. The relevance of input-output analysis to underdeveloped countries
  You may use mathematical notation and examples if you choose, but it is not necessary to do so.

(45 Minutes)

In 1964, actual and potential GNP in the country of Karicutta were both $1,000 million, and the capital stock was $3,000 million. Potential GNP in this country can be exactly predicted by this Cobb-Douglas function:

O = A L^3/4K^1/4

It is known that in 1965 the rate of growth of A will be 1 per cent, and the rate of growth of L will be 2 percent. All capital in the country is created by investment by corporations, and information about their investment plans for 1965 is given later in the problem.

Actual GNP can be exactly predicted by this model: (all dollar amounts are in millions)

Consumption = C = 50 + .8(1-t)Y
Investment = I = an exogenous variable
Government Purchases = G = an exogenous variable
Exports = X = an exogenous variable
Imports = M = .03Y
GNP = Y = C + I + G + X – M

In 1964, the variables had the following values:

T= .40
I= 250
G = 200
X = 50

The variable t represents the sum of:

.10 = the share of total GNP which is retained corporate earnings (“undistributed profits”)
.30 = the share of total GNP which is taxes

In 1965 it is known that exports will rise to 60. On the last day of 1964, all corporations in the country made the the following joint announcement to their shareholders: “It is necessary to increase our annual investment to 300 million dollars, and we shall do this beginning in 1965. To finance this added expenditure we will retain more profits and reduce dividends. Assuming that GNP will be 1,000 million in 1965 as it was 1964, we can raise the extra 50 million by raising the share of GNP retained by us from .10 to .15. Therefore, during the year 1965 we shall retain 15 per cent of GNP instead of 10 per cent, and we shall invest 300 million dollars.

What will be potential output in 1965? What must government purchases be in order to make actual output equal to potential? The tax rate is not to be changed. Show your calculations clearly in order to receive partial credit if your final answer is not correct.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Social Sciences. Final Examinations. January 1965 (HUC 7000.28, vol. 157). Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Naval Science, Air Science, January 1965.

Image Source: Roger E. Bolton in the Williams College Yearbook, Gulielmensian 1977, p. 18.

Tags BoltonRE

Chicago Funny Business Harvard M.I.T.

Chicago. Lyrics from “With a Little Bit of Luck”, ca. 1962

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-05-08

The following number comes as the last sheet of a stapled collection of skit numbers, beginning with an economics version of “Dear Officer Krupke” from West Side Story, already posted. That number was written about 1962 and My Fair Lady ran on Broadway from 1956 through 1962, so this too could have been written sometime around 1962 as well.

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FINALE
(To the tune of “With a Little Bit of Luck”
from My Fair Lady)

Oh we are all perpetually students
Because the army we would like to shirk
Oh we are all perpetually students
But with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
We will never have to go to work

With a little bit, with a little bit
With a little bit of bloomin’ luck

The men upstairs harass us with their prelims
To write the answers always makes us fret
The men upstairs harass us with their prelims
But with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
We will pass them all without a sweat

(Repeat Chorus)

Ingersoll and Earhart pay us money
And the reason we don’t understand
Oh Ingersoll and Earhart pay us money
But with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
They’ll increase it by another grand

(Repeat Chorus)

Oh we have spent long years in these damn workshops
Hearing all the young professors shout
Oh we have spent long years in these damn workshops
But with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
They’ll have pity and they’ll let us out

(Repeat Chorus)

The MIT men get the best job offers
The Harvard men get all the business dough
The MIT men get the best job offers
But we just never get the luck, we just never get the luck
All that’s left for us is Chicago

We just never get, we just never get
We just never get the bloomin’ luck

Oh everybody thinks that we are madmen
And we have no say in policy
Oh everybody thinks that we are madmen
But with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck
We will publish in the J-P-E.

No final Chorus

Source: Harvard University Archive. Papers of Zvi Griliches. Box 129, Folder “Faculty Skits, ca. 1960s.”

Image Source: Stanley Holloway (center) as Alfred P. Doolittle from the Broadway presentation of My Fair Lady. At left is Gordon Dillworth and at right, Rod McLennan. From Wikimedia Commons.

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Mid-year and Final Exams for Economics courses, 1899-1900

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-05-07

With this post the Harvard economics exam collection of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror enters the 20th century.

All the printed exams for the academic year 1899-1900 have been transcribed for the digitized record.

Economics 1. Outlines of Economics
Economics 2. Economic Theory of the 19th Century
Economics 3. Principles of Sociology
Economics 4. Statistics
Economics 5. Railways and Other Public Works
Economics 6. Economic History of the U.S.
Economics 7a. Financial Administration and Public Debts
Economics 7b. Theory and Methods of Taxation
Economics 8. Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects
Economics 9. [Labor Question in Europe and the U.S.]
Economics 10. [European Mediaeval Economic History]
Economics 11. Modern Economic History of Europe
Economics 12. [Banking and Leading Banking Systems]
Economics 12a. [International Payments and Gold/Silver Flows]
Economics 13. [Methods of Economic Investigation]
Economics 14. Socialism and Communism
Economics 15. The History of Economics to close of the 18th Century
Economics 16. Financial History of the U.S.
Economics 20a. Economics of Ancient World
Economics 20b. Commercial Crises
Economics 20c. Tariff History of the U.S.
Economics 20e. Ethnology Applied to Economics

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Economics 1.
Outlines of Economics

Course Announcement

[Economics] 1. Outlines of Economics. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor [Frank William] Taussig, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, Dr. John Cummings, Dr. [Guy Stevens] Callender, Dr. [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, Messrs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew and [Edward Henry] Warren.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment
1899-1900

Primarily for Undergraduates:—
[Economics] 1. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, Dr. John Cummings, Dr. Callender, Dr. Sprague, Messrs. Andrew and Warren. — Outlines of Economics. Lectures and recitations (3 hours); prescribed reading. Recitations in 12 sections.

Total 461: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 85 Juniors, 277 Sophomores, 23 Freshmen, 60 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 68.

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 1
[Mid-year examination]

One question may be omitted from each of the two groups.
Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Explain what is meant by

positive and preventive checks;
effective desire of accumulation;
margin of cultivation.

In what manner the investment of capital is promoted

by the payment of interest;
by corporations or joint stock companies;
by private ownership of land.

Are there differences between the conclusions of Mill and Hadley on these subjects?

Does Mill believe there is an “unearned increment”? does Hadley?
“Profits are neither more nor less than the selling price of the products of industry above the amount advanced in wages.” Hadley
“Profits do not depend on prices, nor on purchase and sale.” Mill
Can you reconcile these two statements? and how is either of them to be reconciled with the expenditure incurred by capitalists for materials and machinery ?
“The separation of interest from net profit and rent results in a separation of the reward for waiting from the rewards for rent and foresight.” Explain wherein this separation at the hands of Hadley is different from the treatment of the same subject by Mill.

II.

Mention special circumstances which act on the remuneration of (take three),

domestic servants;
physicians;
artists of eminence;
business men.

For each of the three groups into which Mill divides commodities according to the laws of value governing them, mention an example, giving your reasons for the classification.
Suppose two kinds of shoes, one made chiefly by hand, the other made chiefly in factories where much machinery is used. How will a general rise in wages affect their relative value?
Explain what is meant by commercial speculation; by industrial speculation; and set forth (as to one) the advantages and disadvantages.
Wherein is Mill’s attitude toward socialism more or less sympathetic than Hadley’s?
“Coöperation is often confounded with profit-sharing, but the two things are radically distinct in their nature.”
Would Mill’s discussion of these subjects lead you to think him likely to accede to this statement of Hadley’s? What is your own opinion?

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 1
[Year-end examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

I
Three questions from this group.

Is rent a return different in kind from interest? Is interest a return different in kind from profits? Do Hadley and Mill differ as to these distinctions?
Is the stock of money in a country, metallic and paper, part of its capital? Why, or why not?
A large increase in population has taken place in most countries during this century; and the well-being of laborers has advanced. Are these facts inconsistent with the principles that there is a law of diminishing returns from land, and that a rapid increase of population causes wages to be low?
If the efficiency of labor in a given community were suddenly doubled as to all commodities, how would their values be affected? their prices? How would international trade be affected?

II.
Three questions from this group.

Explain what is meant by (a) index numbers, (b) tabular standard. Would the adoption of a tabular standard make the adjustment of relations between debtor and creditor more equitable? more convenient?
What would you expect to be the effect of a great increase in the exports of a given country on the foreign exchanges, on the movement of specie, on the rate of discount, on prices?
Is there any ground for the feeling of apprehension often expressed when gold is exported from a country?
Can you reconcile the statement that a country’s exports tend usually to be equal in money value to its imports, with the statement that the country may gain more from the exchange than do the countries with which it trades?

III.
Four questions from this group.

“The distinctive function of the banker begins as soon as he uses the money of others.”
“Banks make the larger portion of their profits, not from their capital, but from the use of money furnished them by their customers.”
Should you accede to these statements?
To what peculiar expedients do banks resort in time of crisis in (a) England, (b) Germany, (c) the United States?
The provisions of the acts of 1878 and 1892. Why did the one cause much embarassment, the other little?
Points of resemblance, points of difference, between the Issue Department of the Bank of England, and the Division of Issue and Redemption established by the act of 1900 in the Treasury of the United States.
In view of what you learned about credit and banking, do you believe that the general range of prices depends on the plentifulness of specie? If so, how? if not, why not?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, bound volume Examination Papers 1900-01, pp. 27-28.

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Economics 2
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century

Course Announcement

[Economics] 2. Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professor Taussig.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. Lectures and discussions (3 hours); required reading.

Total 65: 8 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 9 Others.

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

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-year examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.

“That high wages make high prices, is a popular and widely-spread opinion. The whole amount of error involved in this proposition can only be seen thoroughly when we come to the theory of money.”“It is another common notion that high prices make high wages; because the producers or dealers, being better off, can afford to pay more to their labourers.”What would Cairnes say was the “amount of error” in the opinions here stated by Mill?
“What was Cairnes’s answer to the question put by him: “Are these grounds for a separate theory of international trade?”
Suppose country A to have to remit regularly a tribute to country B: trace the effects on imports and exports, on the usual rates of foreign exchange, on the level of prices in the two countries.
Is Cairnes’s reasoning as to the effect which trade unions may exercise on wages consistent with his reasoning as to “a certain proportion of the sums invested, which must go to the payment of wages”?
(a) “The tiller of the soil must abide in faith of a harvest, through months of ploughing, sowing, and cultivating; and his industry is only possible as food has been stored up from the crop of the previous year . . . To the extent of a year’s subsistence, then, it is necessary that some one should stand ready to make advances to the wage-laborer out of the products of past industry. All sums so advanced came out of capital.”(b) ”But how largely, in fact, are wages advanced out of capital?. . . In some exceptional industries [e.g. transportation companies] it happens that the employer realizes on his product in a shorter time than once a week, so that the labourer is not only paid out of the product of his industry, but actually advances to the employer a portion of the capital on which he operates.”(c) “In new countries . . . the wages of labor are paid only partially out of capital . . . A collection of accounts from the books of farmers in different sections before 1851 shows the hands charged with advances of the most miscellaneous character. Yet in general the amount of such advances does not exceed one third, and it rarely reaches one half, of the stipulated wages of the year. Now it is idle to speak of wages thus paid as coming out of capital. At the time these contracts were made the wealth which was to pay those wages was not in existence.”Consider whether an advance from capital, or the absence of an advance, is made out in the cases here described by Walker.
How far you regard wages and other incomes as predetermined, — i.e. determined by causes that have operated in the past; and how far your conclusion is affected by the saving and investment of a part of current money income.
Your conclusion as to what share in distribution is “residual” (a) over short periods, (b) over long periods.
Is the doctrine of a rigid and predetermined wages-fund set forth by Ricardo? By Mill?
The “laissez-faire” and “natural rights” theory at the hands of Adam Smith, of Bastiat, of John Stuart Mill.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also in Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, containing the volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1899-1900.

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 2.
[Year-end examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

a) “The analysis of consumer’s surplus, or rent, gives definite expression to familiar notions, but introduces to new subtlety.”Explain.b) Consider qualifications to be borne in mind in measuring consumer’s surplus; and give your conclusion as to helpfulness of the doctrine thus qualified.
“When we speak of the national dividend, or distributable net income of the whole nation, as divided into the shares of land, labour, capital, we must be clear as to what things we are including, and what things we are excluding . . . The labour and capital of the country, acting on its natural resources, produce annually a certain net aggregate of commodities, material and immaterial, including services of all kinds. This is the true net annual income, or revenue, of the country; or, the national dividend.”“It is to be understood that the share of the national dividend, which any particular class receives during the year, consists either of things that were made during the year, or the equivalents of those things. For many of the things made, or partly made, during the year are likely to remain in the possession of capitalists and undertakers of industry and to be added to the stock of capital; while in return they, directly or indirectly, hand over to the working classes some things that had been made in previous years.“Consider as to these passages, (1) their relation to the doctrine of total utility and consumer’s rent, (2) whether you would accede to either statement, or to both.
Define monopoly revenue; and consider the effect on monopoly and on the prices of the monopolized article of (1) a tax proportional to monopoly revenue, (2) a tax fixed in total amount, (3) a tax proportional to quantity produced.
“We might reasonably dispute whether it is the upper blade of a pair of scissors or the lower that cuts a piece of paper, as whether value is governed by utility or cost of production. It is true that when one blade is held still, and the cutting is effected by moving the other, we may say with careless brevity that the cutting is done by the second; but the statement is not strictly accurate, and is to be excused only so long as it claims to be merely a popular and not a strictly scientific account of what actually happens.” Explain; and consider whether Mill or Cairnes would have accepted this conclusion.

5, 6, 7 (answer separately, or as one question, at your pleasure).

Rent and quasi-rent;
Producer’s rent and saver’s rent;
Producer’s rent and business profits, —

wherein like, wherein unlike; with a consideration of the helpfulness of the distinctions for the solution of economic problems.

Compare the conclusions of Mill, Cairnes, Marshall, as to the causes of the differences in remuneration in different social strata.
Suppose France, Germany, and the United States had not legislated as they did in 1873-75, what would have been, in your opinion, the course of the price of silver?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also in Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, bound volume Examination Papers 1900-01, pp. 28-29.

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Economics 3
Principles of Sociology

Course Announcement

[Economics] 3. The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. Lectures (3 hours); excursions; 6 reports or theses.

Total 105: 7 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 16 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year examination]

In discussing these topics, indicate so far as you can in each case the views held by the several authors read and discussed during the half-year; and state clearly your own conclusions.

The peculiar relations of man to his environment:—
1. The relative importance of human, or non-human elements of environment at different stages of progress.
2. The ideal adjustment of man to the several elements of his environment.
a) The Biological conditions of progress; b) the Economic conditions; c) the Ethical conditions.How related; and how reconcilable?
The family and progress
Reason and progress.
Religion and progress.
Imitation and “consciousness of kind.”

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 3
[Year-end examination]

State the subject of your final report, and the amount of reading or other work done in preparation of it.
The Social Contract:(a) Origin and successive phases of the theory; comparing the views of its chief expounders and critics.(b) Bearing of the Social Contract theory upon recent speculations in regard to the nature and origin of social and political institutions.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Explain carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with these statements.
(a) Spencer’s theory as to the origin and development of political forms and forces;(b) The value of his practical conclusions in regard to the legitimate function of the modern State;(c) Laissez-faire and the survival of the unfit.
The conditions making for race progress and for race deterioration:(a) Analyse Haycraft’s Evidence and his conclusions;(b) Analyse Kelly’s evidence and his conclusions.
Tarde’s laws of Repetition, Opposition, Adaptation: explain and illustrate their sociological significance.
The curve of social progress.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, bound volume Examination Papers 1900-01, p. 30.

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Biographical information for John Cummings has been posted earlier:

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-semester-exams-for-statistics-john-cummings-1896-1900/

Economics 4.
Statistics

Course Announcement

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. — Studies in Demography. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Dr. John Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment 1899-1900
(Year-course)

[Economics] 4. Dr. John Cummings. — Statistics. — Theory, method, and practice. — Studies in Demography. Lectures (3 hours) and conferences; 2 reports; theses.

Total 10: 1 Graduate, 2 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.

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

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 4.
[Mid-year examination]

Devote one hour to A and the remainder of your time to B.

Urban growth and migration. Consider the sex and age distribution of migrants, the natural increase of urban and rural populations, and the causes of migration into urban centres. Illustrate by considering the actual conditions and movement in some one country or important urban centre.
The data of criminal statistics as an index of amount of criminality. Consider the tables relating to crime in the United States census; the several statistical methods of dealing with crime and with the criminal classes; age, sex, and civil status as a factor in criminality; and the law of criminal saturation.

B.
Elect ten, and answer concisely.

1 and 2. [counts as two questions]. Statistical measurements of agglomeration. Consider statistical methods of determining degree of concentration, also definition of the urban unit.

2 and 4. [counts as two questions]. Causes tending to make the rate of mortality lower for urban than for rural populations? Causes tending to make it higher? The rate of natality?

5. Methods of estimating population for intercensal years.

6. Statistical laws and freedom of the will

7. Define “life-table population.”

8. Define carefully the following terms: “birth rate,” “rate of natality”; “rate of mortality”; death rate”; “rate of nuptialité”; “marriage rate”; index of mortality.”

9. What do you understand by normal distribution of population by sex? By age? By civil status?

10. Economic value of a population as effected by its age and sex distribution? By movement? by immigration?

11. Of what statistical significance is the doubling period for any population?

12. Can you account for the retardation in the rate of movement of population during this century?

13. Tell when, if ever, the following terms are identical:—

(a) mean age at death.
(b) mean age of living.
(c) mean duration of life.
(d) expectation of life.

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

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 4.
[Year-end examination]

Divide your time equally between A and B.

Statistical methods of estimating wealth accumulated.Comment critically upon the census statistics of wealth accumulated in the United States.
Statistical evidences of the progress of the working classes in the last half-century. Discuss the movement of wages and prices.What do you understand by “index figures,” “average wages,” “average prices,” “weighted averages”? Explain methods of weighting.
The growth of cities and social election.

B.
Two questions may be omitted.

How far are social conditions in a community revealed in the birth rate? the death rate? by the “index of mortality”? What do you understand by “movement of population”?
In constructing a life table what correction must be made for abnormal age and sex distribution? Define “mortality,” “natality,” “expectation of life.” How should you calculate the “mean duration of life” from the census returns?
The limit to the increase of population in the food supply? In other forms of wealth?
Can you formulate any laws which will be true in general of the migrations of population?
Methods of estimating population for intercensal years.
Statistics of manufacturers in the United States census.
How should you calculate the economic value of a population?
Take one:—The rate of suicide as evidence of degeneration.The tables relating to crime in the Federal census of the United States.
How far is it possible to give to moral and social facts a quantitative statement?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, p. 31.

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Economics 5
Railways and other Public Works

Course Announcement

[Economics] 5. Railways and other Public Works, under Public and Corporate Management. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Mr. Meyer.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment
(Year-course)

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 5. Mr. Meyer. Railways and other Public Works, under Public and Corporate Management. Lectures (2 or 3 hours); prescribed reading.

Total 62: 3 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 7 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 5
[Mid-year examination]

Illustrate by means of such leading facts as you have at your command the statement that the railway problem is the problem of the adjustment of
1. The claims of rival railways occupying the same territory;
2. The claims of railways occupying widely separated sections of the country but competing for a “common market”;
3. The claims of rival producing and distributing centres.

“Had [railroad] building been checked by the censorship of a board of commissioners, and charters granted by the State only upon a showing of necessity, to be determined by the population, density of traffic, and like warrantable reasons, a large percentage of the roads which today constitute the disturbing element of interstate commerce, would never have been built.” — Clark: State Railroad Commissions.Give your reasons for accepting or rejecting the statement that the control here suggested could not have been exercised.
Alternative:
The working in Massachusetts of the practice of incorporating railway companies by special charter only.
The working of the New York legislation of 1892 and 1895 enacting that no new railroad or street railway shall be built in New York State unless the Board of Railroad Commissioners shall certify that public convenience and necessity require the construction.
The analysis of the expense account of railways upon which is based the “joint cost of production” theory of railway rates.
The nature of the statistics used in illustrating in a general way the statement that railway charges are based upon what the traffic will bear: in discussing the bearing of stock-watering upon railway rates.
Pools under the common law: in England; in the United States.
Alternative:
The effect upon the railway rate situation at the north-west of the railroad building of 1886 to 1888, and the federal prohibition of pooling, together with the enactment of the “long and short haul” principle.
The decision of the court in Munn v. Illinois; Brass v. North Dakota; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul v. Minnesota; and Smythe, Attorney-general. v. Ames.
What were the causes of the so-called granger agitation of 1871-74; of the reappearance of this agitation in 1886-88?
The two currents of thought in the Interstate Commerce Act.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 5
[Year-end examination]

Discuss questions 1 and 2 as thoroughly as you can, and give to question 3 whatever time remains.

Transportation by rail and by water in Prussia and the Prussian Provinces. — A critical account of the working of the Prussian scheme of railway charges.
Should the Interstate Commerce Commission have power to fix railway rates; or should the adjustment of railway rates be left to pools?
The history of electric street railway traction in the United States, and of electric street railway traction and electric lighting in Great Britain. — A critical discussion of the American policy of little or no restriction upon the industries in question, and the British policy of severe restriction coupled with a tendency to municipal ownership and municipal operation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, p. 32.

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Economics 6.
Economic History
of the United States

Biographical Note for Guy Stevens Callender: https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-final-examination-u-s-economic-history-callender-1899-1900/

Course Description
1897-98

[Economics] 6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Mr. Callender.

Course 6 gives a general survey of the economic history of the United States from the formation of the Union to the present time, and considers also the mode in which economic principles are illustrated by the experience so surveyed. A review is made of the financial history of the United States, including Hamilton’s financial system, the second bank of the United States and the banking systems of the period preceding the Civil War, coinage history, the finances of the Civil War, and the banking and currency history of the period since the Civil War. The history of manufacturing industries is taken up in connection with the course of international trade and of tariff legislation, the successive tariffs being followed and their economic effects considered. The land policy of the United States is examined partly in its relation to the growth of population and the inflow of immigrants, and partly in its relation to the history of transportation, including the movement for internal improvements, the beginnings of the railway system, the land grants and subsidies, and the successive bursts of activity in railway building. Comparison will be made from time to time with the contemporary economic history of European countries.

Written work will be required of all students, and a course of reading will be prescribed, and tested by examination. The course is taken advantageously with or after History 13. While an acquaintance with economic principles is not indispensable, students are strongly advised to take the course after having taken Economics 1, or, if this be not easy to arrange, at the same time with that course.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1897-98, pp. 32-33.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30. Dr. Callender.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 6. Dr. [Guy Stevens] Callender.—The Economic History of the United States. Lectures (2 hours); discussions of assigned topics (1 hour); 2 theses.

Total: 163. 11 Graduates, 64 Seniors, 58 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 11 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Mid-Year Examination]

Answer ten questions, including 5, 6, 7, and 8.

“The English commercial legislation; I conclude, did the colonies no harm prior to 1760; and the English connection did them much good.” — Ashley, in Quarterly Journal of Economies, November 1899.
Do you agree with this conclusion? Be careful to explain why various features of English colonial policy were, or were not, burdensome to the colonies.
Do you consider the following extract a sufficient explanation of the great prosperity of the colonies in the eighteenth century, or the new states of the West during the fifty years before the Civil War? If not point out the neglected factor.“The colony of a civilized nation which takes possession of a waste country … advances more rapidly to wealth and greatness than any other human society.The colonists carry with them a knowledge of agriculture and of other useful arts. … Every colonist gets more land than he can possibly cultivate. He has no rent and scarce any taxes to pay. No landlord shares with him in its produce, and the share of the sovereign is commonly but a trifle. He has every motive to render as great as possible a produce, which is thus to be almost entirely his own. … He is eager, therefore, to collect labourers from all quarters, and to reward them with the most liberal wares. … The liberal reward of labour encourages marriage. The children, during the tender age of infancy are well fed and properly taken care of, and when they are grown up, the value of their labour greatly overpays their maintenance. When arrived at maturity, the high price of labour and the low price of land, enables them to establish themselves in the same manner as their fathers did before them.”“Plenty of good land, and liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, seems to be the two great causes of the prosperity of all new colonies.” — Wealth of Nations.
Briefly describe the experience of the American people with paper currency prior to the formation of the federal constitution, noting the different kinds of paper money used.
In what respect did the revenue system of the United States in 1830 differ from that in operation in 1800? Do you think the change was a change for the better?
“It is now proper to proceed a step further, and to enumerate the principal circumstances from which it may be inferred that manufacturing establishments not only occasion a positive augmentation of the produce and revenues of the society, but that they contribute essentially to render them greater than they could possibly be without such establishments.” — Hamilton, Report on Manufactures.
Enumerate as many of these “circumstances” as you can and discuss the one which seems to you to furnish the strongest argument for the Protective policy.
“…The Protective policy of the United States has had unexpected successes and surprising failures. By successes, here I mean that sometimes the duties have brought about a considerable development of the protected industry; while by failures, I would describe those cases in which there has been an absence of such development…” — Taussig, Tariff History.
Mention several cases of each and point out the causes for success or failure in every case.
What were the principal features of our tariff legislation from the close of the Civil War to 1883?
“There seem, however, to be two cases in which it will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign, for the encouragement of domestic industry.” — Wealth of Nations.
What are these two exceptions to Adam Smith’s free trade principles? Has either of them ever had any influence in determining American tariff policy?
“It is not uncommon to meet with an opinion, that though the promoting of manufactures may be the interest of a part of the Union, it is contrary to that of another part. The northern and southern regions are sometimes represented as having adverse interests in this respect. These are called manufacturing; those agricultural states; and a species of opposition is imagined to subsist between the manufacturing and agricultural interests. …” — Hamilton, Report on Manufactures.
How far had this supposed opposition of interest between the North and South respecting the tariff a real basis? Was there not the same opposition of interest between the East and West?
“The material progress during 1850-60 was greater than that of any preceding decade. To excel it, we must look forward to the time intervening between the end of the Civil War and the present. …”— Rhodes, History of United States.
What were the principal causes of this prosperity?
Does the experience of the United States at any period of its history confirm or refute the following proposition?
“…The inevitable consequence of free trade and constantly increasing commercial intercourse between the two countries (e. United States and Great Britain) must be, to establish among the inhabitants of both of them the same standard of material well being, the same measure and distribution of individual prosperity. Great Britain is now (1855) pouring upon us in a full tide both the surplus of her population and the products of her over-tasked manufacturing industry. … To expect that, in two countries thus situated, without any special direction of public policy toward maintaining some barrier between them, the pressure of population, the profits of capital. And the wages of labor can long remain very unequal, would be as idle as to believe that, without the erection of a dam. Water could be maintained at two different levels in the same pond ….” — Bowen, American Political Economy, p. 216.
How would you explain the prevalence of public enterprises in transportation and banking in the United States between 1815 and 1850?
In what respects should conclusions, drawn from the experiences of European countries, regarding the effects of a Protective Tariff, be modified, when applied to the United States?
Compare the main features of the commercial policy of Europe and America at the present time with the mercantile system of the eighteenth century.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Final examination, 1900]

Into what periods may the economic history of the United States be properly divided? Give your reasons for making such a division, pointing out the chief characteristic of each period.
“A monopoly may be either legal, natural, or industrial.”—Distinguish each of these from the others by examples, and explain at length what is the character of an “industrial monopoly.”
What legislation, if any, do you think is needed for the control of trusts? Give in full the reasons for your opinion.
What features of American railway legislation do you consider open to criticism?
“…As has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, cotton culture offered many and great advantages over other crops for the use of slave labor; but slavery had few, if any advantages over free labor for the cultivation of cotton….”—(a) Point out some of the advantages of cotton over other crops for the use of slave labor. (b) How do you reconcile the last part of the statement with the fact that cotton was produced chiefly by slave, instead of free, labor?
Considering the conditions prevailing among the negroes in the South as well as in the West Indies since emancipation, what criticism, if any, would you make upon the policy of emancipation as actually carried out by the federal government during and after the war?
What influences can you mention which have contributed to the recent depressed condition of cotton producers? (Do not confine your attention to the “credit system.”)
What were the principal provisions of the resumption act? Explain the conditions under which it was carried into effect.
Explain the conditions which led to the crisis or 1893.
What reasons can you give to support the proposition that immigration has increased the population of the United States but little, if any?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Folder “Final examinations, 1899-1900”.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, pp. 32-33.

_______________________

Economics 7a
Financial Administration and Public Debts

Course Announcement

[Economics] 7a¹ hf. Financial Administration and Public Debts. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) at 11. Professor Dunbar.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 7a¹ hf. Professor Dunbar. — Financial Administration and Public Debts. Lectures (2 or 3 hours); prescribed reading; report.

Total 36: 7 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 7 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 7a
[Mid-year examination]

Divide your time equally between A and B.

A.
Question A.2 may be omitted and your time devoted to Question A.1; or A.1 and A.2 may be treated together as forming one question.

Give some account of English sinking fund provisions enacted since 1860, and of operations looking toward reduction of the English debt during that period. If you prefer, take instead the period 1790-1820.
What determines the present worth of government securities in general? and in particular, of the following sorts of securities at the date of their issue:—
1. a terminable annuity?
2. a perpetual annuity?
3. a life or a tontine annuity?
4. a five-twenty bond? an English consol? of the French rentes?
5. of paper currency?

What effect upon the present worth of a public security has lengthening the term for which it is to run? Consider inconvertible paper currency

B.
Take six.

What do you understand by “floating debt”? by “funded debt”? “unliquidated debt”? “credit supplementaire”?
Discuss the “use and disuse of ‘relishes,’ gambling risks which are added in order to commend a public loan to the taste of creditors,” as a factor in the development of public credit
Compare the development of public credit in Prussia with that in Great Britain at the beginning of this century.
and 5. [counts as two questions] Compare the manner of making up estimates of public income and expenditures, and the responsibility of the finance minister in England, France and the United States. The manner of appropriating funds out of the treasury in these several countries.

How far, if at all, is a government justified in pledging itself to any fixed policy of debt payment? How may a policy of conversion conflict with a policy of payment?
Give an account of any important refunding operation with which you are familiar.
Examine and criticise the following selection: “As regards the relation of public control to public credit, there is obviously a long step taken in advance when the public control comes to be so employed as to not discriminate in its own favor.”
Criticise the opinions set forth in the following selections:—“A large national debt is a ‘canker which consumes the political energy and the wealth of a nation’ and will sooner or later destroy it.”“Public debt is debt only in form; in point of substantial fact every loan is an independent method of taxing the future for all those government expenses which go to build up permanent government establishments for the benefit of the future by means of advances furnished by the present.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, containing the volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1899-1900.
Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, p. 34.

________________________

Economics 7b
The Theory and
Methods of Taxation

Course Announcement

[Economics] 7b² hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Half-course(second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) at 8. Professor Taussig.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 7b² hf. Professor Taussig. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. Lectures and discussions (hours); required reading.

Total 73: 6 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 10 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 7b
[Year-end examination]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Give your reasons in all cases.

How far something analogous to the end which is proposed by the “single tax” is attained by (1) the French impôt foncier, (2) the English Land Tax, (3) local taxes on urban realty in the United States.
“(1) It is maintained by some economists that the taxes on rented real estate are shifted entirely to the tenants, and result by just so much in an increase of rents. (2) It is maintained by others that, when land has a considerable value, the taxes are shifted to tenants only in part, and in part have the effect of lessening the selling price of site on which the buildings stand. … (3) But in either case the investment price of the property has long since been adjusted to the tax.”Explain which among these three statements, if any, you think accurate, giving your reasons.
The relation of local taxes on real property to central taxes thereon, in France, in England, in American states?
Are there features in the Prussian tax reforms of 1891-93 which may be commended for imitation in American states?
The nature of the advantages secured by the combination of local with central administration in the income tax legislation of England and of Prussia.
“Is it quite honest for a government to keep back part of what it has promised to pay a pensioner, an annuitant, or the holder of public obligations? Is it reasonable to tax public salaries when the result of such a tax is to increase the expense of administration without increasing by one penny the clear income to the government? Can a man who knows how contracts are drawn between debtors and creditors be convinced that equity is the result of attempting to tax a money-lender through the agency of the borrower? Can it be denied that the application of the principle of “tapping” at their source the incomes which, unfortunately for the recipients, are recorded, while permitting other incomes to pay on the basis of self- assessment by the individual, is to perpetuate one of the worst features of the general property tax, namely, inequality of assessments as between individuals?”
Answer these questions, separately or as a whole, with regard to the tax system which is referred to by the writer.
Is the Massachusetts system of taxing corporations and corporate securities open to the charge of leading to double taxation?
The reasons for and against the establishment of an income tax by the United States.
Do you believe the principle of progression in taxation to be sound?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, pp. 35-36.

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Economics 8²
Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects

Course Announcement

8²hf. Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects. (Mediaeval and Modern.) Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12.Dr. Cunningham (Trinity College, Cambridge, England).

Source: Harvard University, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1898-1899.Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1898, p. 41.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 8²hf. Dr. Cunnningham.— Western Civilization, mediaeval and modern, in its Economic Aspects. Lectures (3 hours). 4 reports.

Total 105: 13 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 23 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 12 Others

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1898-99, p. 72.

Reading List transcribed at: Harvard. Economic Aspects of Western Civilization. Cunningham, 1899

Note: no examinations found.

_______________________

Economics 9
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

[The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. The Social And Economic Condiditon of Workingmen. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.]

_______________________

Economics 10
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

[The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe. Tu., Thu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat. at 12. Professor Ashley.]

_______________________

Economics 11
Modern European and American Economic History

Course Description (from 1897-98)

[Economics] 11. The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

This course, — which will usually alternate with Course 10 [The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe] in successive years, — while intended to form a sequel to Course 10, will nevertheless be independent, and may usefully be taken by those who have not followed the history of the earlier period. The main thread of connection will be found in the history of trade; but the outlines of the history of agriculture and industry will also be set forth, and the forms of social organization dependent upon them. England, as the first home of the “great industry,” will demand a large share of attention; but the parallel or divergent economic history of the United States, and of the great countries of western Europe, will be considered side by side with it.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. [Announcement of the] Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1897-98, pp. 31-32.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 11. The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor)Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 11. Professor Ashley.—The Modern Economic History of Europe. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 76: 15 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 8 Others.

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

Course Readings

Harvard. Readings for Modern Economic History. Ashley, 1899-1900

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 11.
[Mid-year examination]

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

Comment upon, and (where the text is not English) translate,the following passages:—
1. Exemplar bullae seu donationis auctoritate cujus episcopus Romanus Alexander, ejus nominis sextus, concessit et donavit Castellae recibus et suis successoribus regiones et insulas novi orbis in Oceano occidentali Hispanorum navigationibus repertas.
2. Ibi enim tanta copia navigantium est cum mercimoniis ut in toto reliquo orbe non sint sicuti in uno portu nobilissimo vocato Zaitun. Asserunt enim centum naves pipis magnae in eo portu singulis annis deferri, sine aliis navibus portantibus alia aromata.
3. The Flemings there sometimes had a house of merchandise, but by reason that they used the like ill-dealing there which they did with us, they lost their privileges.
4. There is good hope that the same law being duly executed should yield unto the hired person both in the time of scarcity and in the time of plenty a convenient proportion of wages.
5. Wo jetzt eine grosse Gesellschaft ist, da nährten sich sonst wohl 20 oder mehr.

Give some account of the Portuguese policy in Asia during the sixteenth century.
Trace the origin and development of the class of English farmers up to the middle of the seventeenth century.
Compare the industrial conditions indicated by the craft ordinances of the later Middle Ages with those described in Defoe’s Tour.
Explain the importance of the statute of 1536 in the history of the English Poor Law.
Give some account, and explain the significance, of the statutes of Edward VI and of Mary touching the manufacture of cloth.
“The popular fears of engrossing and forestalling may be compared to the popular terror of witchcraft.” Criticise this dictum of Adam Smith in relation to (a) the Middle Ages; (b) the Age of Elizabeth; (c) our own time.
What is meant by a national economy, as contrasted with a town economy? Illustrate from European conditions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Indicate the points of contact between the life of Sir Thomas Gresham and the economic movements of his time.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 11
[Year-end examination]

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

Explain briefly the significance of the following passages:—
1. 1. No sugars, tobacco, cotton wool, indigoes, ginger, fustic or other dyeing wood, of the growth, production or manufacture of any English plantations in America, Asia or Africa shall be shipped, carried, conveyed or transported from any of the said English plantations to any land . . . or place whatsoever, other than to such English plantations as do belong to His Majesty or to the Kingdom of England or Ireland or principality of Wales, &c.
  2. The churchwardens of every parish and four substantial householders there … shall take order from time to time … for setting to work of the children whose parents … shall not be able to keep and maintain their children, and also all such persons as, having no means to maintain them, use no ordinary and daily trade of life to get their living by.
Compare the industrial and political life of one of the larger cities of the 15th century — say London or Norwich — with that of a great American city to-day.
State and criticise Seeler’s view of the meaning of English history in the 17th and 18th centuries.
What were the features common to the South Sea Company and the Mississippi Scheme, and wherein did they differ?
Discuss the question as to the practical effect of the Justices’ Assessment of Wages.
What suggestions or warnings for the U. S. in their treatment of the Philippine Islands may be derived them the history of English or Dutch experience in the East?
“It is in the highest degree improbable that the industrial system, which has been gradually superseded in the last 150 years, over had those pleasing characteristics which have been attributed to it.” Consider this.
“The historical method not always conservative — Changes commonly attributed to natural law are sometimes shown by it to be due to human injustice — The decay of the Yeomanry a case in point.” Is it a case in point or no? Explain your judgment, in either event.
Consider either Sir Josiah Child or the first Sir Robert Peel as typical merchants of their times.
Describe briefly the agrarian measures of Stein, and compare them with any other agrarian legislation in other countries and other times that may be familiar to you.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, pp. 35-36.

_______________________

Economics 12¹
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

[Banking and the history of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course (first half-year) Tu., Thu., Sat. at 11.Professor Dunbar.]

Economics 12²
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

[International payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. Half-course (second half-year) Tu., Thu., Sat. at 11. Professor Dunbar.]

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

_______________________

Economics 13
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

[Methods of Economic Investigations. — English Writers. — German Writers. Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Taussig.]

Courses 15 and 13 are usually given in alternate years.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

_______________________

Economics 14
Communism and Socialism.
History and Literature.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 14. Socialism and Communism. — History and Literature. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9.Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 367.

Course Enrollment

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.—Communism and Socialism.—History and Literature. Lectures (3 hours); 6 reports or theses.

Total 22: 2 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 14
[Mid-year examination]

How, according to Plato, are economic organization, and the problems of production and distribution related (a) to social development; (b) to social and political degeneration?
What do you conceive to be his most permanent contribution to social philosophy? What his chief defect?
How far do the teachings of the Christian church and the Canon Law throw light on the gradual development of our fundamental economic ideas in regard to wealth, capital, trade, commerce?
How far is there ground for the contention that the writings of Rousseau have been the chief arsenal of social and political revolutionists?
“The right to the whole produce of labor—to subsistence—to labor:”What, according to Menger, have been the most important contributions to the successive phases of this discussion?

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 14
[Year-end examination]

The subject of your last report, and the authors read in preparation; summarize briefly your conclusions.
Socialistic and communistic experiments in America:
1. Character and chronological sequence of the several groups, and their relation to special phases of socialistic thought in other countries;
2. Name and location of typical communities;
3. The practical and the theoretical significance of such experiments.
Recent American socialism:
1. Successive phases and present aspects;
2. Impressions derived from the propagandist press.
Recent English socialism:
1. Attitude toward Trade Unionism; toward “ unearned increment”;
2. Toward the doctrines of the classic economists;
3. Toward the doctrines of Karl Marx.
The psychology of socialism:
1. Summarize the main conclusions of Le Bon;
2. Discuss critically the evidence on which these conclusions rest.
The economic lessons of socialism: Analyze Sidgwick’s conclusions; state your own opinions.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers 1900-01. June 1900, p. 37.

_______________________

Economics 15
History of Economics to the Close of the 18^th Century

Course Announcement

[Economics] 15. The History and Literature of Economics to the close of the Eighteenth Century. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Professor Ashley.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment

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

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

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 15
[Mid-year examination]

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

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

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

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

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 15
[Year-end examination]

Not more than eight questions should be attempted.

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

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

_______________________

Economics 16
Financial History
of the United States

Course Announcement

[Economics] 16. Financial History of the United States. First half-year: from 1789 to the Civil War. Second half-year: from 1860 to the present time. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor. Professor Dunbar.

Course 16 may be taken as a half-course during either half-year.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment
(First half-year)

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 16¹ hf. Professor Dunbar. Financial History of the United States from 1789 to the Civil War. Lectures (2 hours); prescribed reading; thesis.

Total 22: 7 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 3 Others.

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

Course Enrollment 1899-1900
(Second half-year)

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—
[Economics] 16² hf. Mr. E. H. Warren. Financial History of the United States from 1860 to the present time.Lectures; prescribed reading; thesis.

Total 25: 5 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 5 Others.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 16.
[Mid-year examination]

Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.

Omit at least one question; and omit others in addition if your essay under Part II gives the answers.

Wherein Hamilton and Gallatin differed as to the principles on which federal taxes should be levied; and how far legislation during their respective terms in the Treasury differed.
At what time before 1860 did the United States most nearly approach the issue of Treasury Notes designed to circulate money? Give the grounds of your opinion.
The changes introduced in the sinking fund policy of the United States in 1802.
The causes of the suspension of specie payments in 1814.
When and how the removal of the deposits by Jackson was brought about; and its effect on the Bank.
What do you find noteworthy in the relation of the United States to the banking system of the country in 1837? in 1847? in 1857?

II.

Write an essay on one of the following subjects:

(a) The history of the debt of the United States from 1789 to 1836.

(b) The advantages and disadvantages which experience shown to inhere in the establishment of has a great Bank of the United States; with a final statement of your opinion as to expediency of such an institution.

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 16
[Year-end examination]

In what were duties on imports into the U. S. payable in 1860? 1862? 1878? 1880? 1891? What were the people of the northern states using as currency in 1860? 1865? 1879? 1893?
What caused the suspension of specie payments by the banks of New York in December 1861?
State seven different ways in which the U. S. borrowed during the Civil War, and the effect of each upon the currency.
Why was the Civil War indebtedness rapidly reduced down to 1891? For what purposes since 1865 has the U. S. incurred additional indebtedness?
Trace briefly the changes in the volume of U. S. Notes outstanding from 1865 to the present day. What do you think would have been the fate of the U. S. Notes if the act of May 31, 1878, had not been passed?
How do you account for the fact that silver certificates are at a par with gold?
What are the provisions of the act of March 14, 1900, as to the Treasury Notes of 1890? What will eventually be the effect upon the currency of the issue of these Notes?
Which notes are better protected, those issued by the U. S. or those issued by national banks?
Does the act of March 14, 1900, “break the endless chain”?
What effect will this act probably have upon the bonded indebtedness of the U. S.?

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

_______________________

Note: “Competent students will be guided in independent investigation, and the results of work done in Courses 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 20e, will be presented for discussion [in Economics 20 Seminary in Economics, meeting Mondays at 4.30]

Economics 20a
The Economic Life and Thought of the Ancient World

Course Announcement

[Economics] 20a hf. The Economic Life and Thought of the Ancient World. Half-course. Once a week. Professor Ashley.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 368.

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—
[Economics] 20a hf. Professor Ashley. — The Economic Life and Thought of the Ancient World. Lectures (1 hour) and conferences (monthly).

Total 2: 2 Graduates.

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

_______________________

Economics 20b
Commercial Crises

Course Announcement

[Economics] 20b hf. Commercial Crises. Half-course. Once a week. Professor Dunbar.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 369.

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—
[Economics] 20b hf. Professor Dunbar. — Commercial Crises. Thesis.

Total 1: 2 Graduate.

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

_______________________

Economics 20c
The Tariff History
of the United States

Course Announcement

[Economics] 20c¹ hf. The Tariff History of the United States. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Th., at 1.30. Professor Taussig.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 369.

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—
[Economics] 20c hf. Professor Taussig. — The Tariff History of the United States. Lectures (1 hour); required reading; thesis

Total 8: 4 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 70.

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 20c.
[Mid-year examination]

I.
Two questions from this group.

“The difference between the price at which a manufacturer can afford to sell the whole amount of the commodities produced by him in one year, and that at which the same quantity of the same articles may be, or might have been, purchased from others [abroad], is therefore equal to the annual profit or loss resulting from his application of capital and labor to that instead of another branch of industry.” — Gallatin.The reasoning on which this conclusion rests; and your own opinion.
Mill’s reasoning as to the effects of import duties, for revenue or for protection, on the terms of international exchange; your own opinion thereon; and Mill’s probable opinion on Gallatin’s conclusion as quoted in question l.
The export-tax theory; the soundness of the reasoning on which it rested; how far it held good under the conditions of 1830; how far such reasoning would hold good in 1900.

II.
Three questions from this group.

The arguments for (a) protection to young industries (b) the creation of a home market; how far tenable in theory, how far applicable to the conditions of the United States in 1820-30.
The tariff act of 1833; the wisdom of its general plan (assume that a reduction of duties was called for); whether well framed in its details; how far it achieved the results aimed at.
The duties on wool and woolens since 1867; the theory on which they are framed, and the degree of success with which that theory is carried out.
“The phenomena described in the preceding pages [as to flax, silks, glassware…] reduce themselves, in the last analysis, to illustrations of the doctrine of comparative costs.” — Taussig. Why?

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

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 20c
[Year-end examination]

I.
Two questions from this group.

“The difference between the price at which a manufacturer can afford to sell the whole amount of the commodities produced by him in one year, and that at which the same quantity of the same articles may be, or might have been, purchased from others [abroad], is therefore equal to the annual profit or loss resulting from his application of capital and labor to that instead of another branch of industry.” — Gallatin.The reasoning on which this conclusion rests; and your own opinion.
Mill’s reasoning as to the effects of import duties, for revenue or for protection, on the terms of international exchange; your own opinion thereon: and Mill’s probable opinion on Gallatin’s conclusion as quoted in question 1.
The export-tax theory; the soundness of the reasoning on which it rested; how far it held good under the conditions of 1830; how far such reasoning would hold good in 1900.

II.
Three questions from this group.

The arguments for (a) protection to young industries (b) the creation of a home market; how far tenable in theory, how far applicable to the conditions of the United States in 1820-30.
The tariff act of 1833; the wisdom of its general plan (assume that a reduction of duties was called for); whether well framed in its details; how far it achieved the results aimed at.
The duties on wool and woolens since 1867; the theory on which they are framed, and the degree of success with which that theory is carried out.
“The phenomena described in the preceding pages [as to flax, silks, glassware …] reduce themselves, in the last analysis, to illustrations of the doctrine of comparative costs.” —Taussig. Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1900-01, pp. 39-40.

_______________________

Economics 20d
Workingmen’s Organizations
in the United States

Course Announcement

Primarily for Graduates:
[Economics] 20d hf. Workingmen’s Organizations in the United States. Half-course. Once a week. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 369.

[Apparently zero student enrollment in 1899-1900: see Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 70.]

_______________________

Economics 20e
Ethnology in its Applications
to Economic and
Social Problems

Course Announcement

Primarily for Graduates:—
[Economics] 20e² hf. Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems. Half-course (second half-year) Tu., Th., at 9. Dr. John Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1899-1900, p. 369.

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—
[Economics] 20e². Dr. John Cummings. — Ethnology in its applications to Economic and Social Problems.

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

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1899-1900, p. 70.

___________________________

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. Hollis Images. College Yard, ca. 1900.

Tags AndrewAP, Callender, CummingsEdward, CummingsJohn, Sprague, Taussig, WarrenEH

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final exam questions for statistics and insurance/speculation. Allyn Young, 1911

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-22

If you were an important enough economist in your time, even shards of your course content are worthy of transcription and preservation as artifacts at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Allyn Young was a visiting professor of economics at Harvard from Stanford during the academic year 1910-11. According to the course announcements for the year, he was to teach a two-term statistics course and two one-term courses, mathematical economics (fall term) and insurance and speculation (spring term). It doesn’t look like the mathematical economics course was actually held (no enrollment figures were reported nor could I find a final exam for that course). Maybe the course was still unofficially still taught to auditors anyway, or maybe it was withdrawn due to lack of student interest, who knows?

The jewel of the post is the final exam for Young’s course on insurance and speculation. It appears to have been a one-off offering, but nonetheless an early attempt to bring risk/uncertainty into the finance curriculum. The year-end examination in Statistics has been transcribed and included below.

____________________________

Economics 4. Statistics.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 4. Statistics. Tu., Th., at 11. Professor Young (Leland Stanford Jr. University).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1910-11, p. 63.

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 4. Professor Young (Leland Stanford Jr. University. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice.

Total 26: 5 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Freshmen, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-11, p. 49.

Economics 4
[Mid-Year Examination, 1911]

[Note: no printed copy was found in the Harvard Archives collection of Mid-Year Examinations.]

Economics 4
[Year-End Examination, 1911]

Answer eight questions.

In what ways did (1) “German university statistics” and (2) “political arithmetic” differ from modern “statistics”?
What errors are found in age statistics?
In what ways may the death rates of two or more cities be accurately compared?
What are the best methods of measuring the change in the length of human life? What different things may be meant by the “length of human life”?
Discuss census statistics of manufactures, with special reference to the definitions of (1) “manufactures,” and (2) “capital.”
What are the chief uses of price statistics? How are the problems of (1) choosing quotations, and (2) weighting, affected by the intended use?
What different methods of “smoothing” a statistical diagram can you suggest? When should diagrams be “smoothed” and when not?
What refinements of method should be observed in making comparisons of the birth rate at different periods or for different classes of the population?
May it be expected that most frequency curves will approximate the normal curve of error? Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,… in Harvard College, June 1911 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1910-11), p. 42.

____________________________

Economics 27. Mathematical Economics.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 27 ¹hf. Mathematical Economics. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Young (Leland Stanford Jr. University).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1910-11, p. 64.

[No enrollment data were reported in the Report of the President of Harvard College 1910-11. A printed copy of the semester final examination was not included in the Mid-Year Examinations 1911 volume in the Harvard Archives. It appears that the course was in fact not offered during the first term of 1910-11 as originally planned.]

____________________________

Economics 28. Insurance and Speculation.

Course Announcement

[Economics] 28 ²hf. Insurance and Speculation. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Young (Leland Stanford Jr. University).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1910-11, p. 65.

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 28 ²hf. Professor Young (Leland Stanford Jr. University. — Insurance and Speculation.

Total 84: 3 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 35 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-11, p. 50.

* * * * * * * *

Note: Allyn A. Young published an article “Insurance and Speculation” in the Grolier series The Book of Popular Science (1924 edition, vol. 12) which was reprinted in the valuable collection edited by Perry G. Mehrling and Roger J. Sandilands, Money and Growth: Selected Papers of Allyn Abbott Young. Routledge, 1999.

* * * * * * * *

Economics 28
[Final Examination, 1911]

Answer eight questions.

What is self-insurance? What are its possibilities and its limitations?
Discuss briefly the advisability and the possibility of federal control of insurance.
What are “deferred dividend policies”? In what ways were they found to be objectionable?
Explain briefly the effects of speculation upon price fluctuations.
Describe the methods of a typical “hedging” operation on the part of the seller or buyer of an actual commodity.
What are “options”? Why are they discountenanced by the American exchanges?
What would be the probably economic effects of a prohibition of short-selling?
What do you consider to be the real evils of speculation? Suggest remedies.
Explain briefly the essential features of the methods of the New York Stock Exchange clearing house.

Image Source: The 1918 Cornell yearbook, The Cornellian (vol. 50), p. 18.

Tags Young

Economics Programs Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Economics Department Reports to the Dean, 1946-47 to 1949-50

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-18

This post adds the Chair’s annual reports on the Harvard Economics Department for the early post-WW II years to previously posted reports for 1932-33 through 1945-46.

Reports to the Dean of Harvard
from the Department of Economics.

1932-1941

1941-1946

___________________________

1946-1947

September 29, 1947

Dear Dean Buck:

You have requested a brief report on the work of the Department of Economies for the academic year 1946-47.

This report necessarily follows much the same pattern as the report for last year. Again our work has been dominated by the number of students, undergraduate and graduate, and the lack of a trained junior staff.

The number of undergraduates of course is entirely so beyond our control. In Economies A and in most of our “middle group” courses, the elections taxed our capacity for effective instruction. Under the most propitious conditions the crowded classrooms would have presented many problems but with a dearth of trained teaching fellows and annual instructors the load carried by the senior staff was unduly heavy. Foreseeing this range of problems, the Department voted on February 19, 1946 [sic, 1947 probably correct. In December 1946 departments wereallowed to withdraw from offering tutorials] to suspend tutorial instruction for a period of two years. It may be stated here that this was probably a wise decision. Concentration in Economics appears to have resumed the trend apparent before the war. In the current year the number of concentrators will approach, or perhaps exceed 800. Even should no consideration be given to the expenditure involved, the possibility of finding and training effective tutors even for honors candidates seems somewhat remote.

On the graduate level the problems of instruction were even more difficult. During the year the number of graduate students receiving instruction was approximately 286. Our course offering on this level is large. Nevertheless, the principal graduate courses were crowded to a point where the maintenance of standards was difficult. After the graduate student has completed his preliminary program and has been accepted as a candidate for the Ph.D, degree, the instruction is largely individual. In the last year we were just coming into the situation where a considerable proportion of the students were receiving such instruction. The full impact of this situation will be felt in the current year. Most members of the senior staff will be directing the theses of some 10 to 15 students. Some officers will be responsible for even larger numbers. With the numbers we are attempting to handle on the graduate level the single task of examining candidates in the general and special examinations becomes a major consideration. During the last academic year the staff conducted general and special examinations. Such an amount of examining and of individual instruction on the graduate level has its bearing on tutorial instruction for undergraduates.

The Department voted to accept the large number of graduate students now on our rolls only after considerable investigation and discussion. It is my own personal opinion that we have set our limit altogether too high. However, the pressure upon us for admission has been very strong and our obligations to the Littauer School, where the pressure is hardly less, just be observed.

This matter of the size of the Graduate School in the immediate future is one of our most difficult problems. It will receive our attention in the current year.

In the last two or three years these reports have noted certain experiments in instruction, especially in connection with Economics A. Such experiments are dependent upon the presence of a considerable number of able and mature young men with adequate teaching experience, as well as upon a margin of free time. Both of these factors are lacking to such a degree that substantial and outstanding progress could not be expected but the plans were active and some progress was made.

If full tutorial instruction is not resumed by the Department, experimentation in undergraduate courses is imperative and this we have planned. It is our expectation that a good deal in the way of individual guidance can be accomplished in connection with Economics A and some of our middle group courses. We believe that we can make our instruction more efficient with a much smaller personnel and at much less expense than the tutorial system would involve. However, a definitive decision has not been reached on all of these matters.

It is hardly necessary to emphasize that the heavy instructional demands discussed above affected our research projects. Furthermore, the officers of this Department are severely handicapped by the lack of research funds. This dearth of research funds is a question which has been placed before our Visiting Committee.

In spite of the difficulties involved, the contributions of the members of the Department were substantial. The following books were published:

Teoria de la Competencie Monopolica, by E. H. Chamberlin, Mexico, 1946. (Spanish translation of The Theory of Monopolistic Competition)

Economic Policy and Full Employment, by A. H. Hansen. McGraw-Hill. 1947.

The New Economics, S. B. Harris, editor and contributor Knopf. 1947.

The National Debt and the New Economics, by S. E. Harris. 1947.

Income and Employment, by T. Morgan. Prentice-Hall. 1947.

New enlarged edition of Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, by J. A. Schumpeter.

The Challenge of Industrial Relations, by S. H. Slichter, Cornell University Press, 1947.

Postwar Monetary Plans and other Essays, by J. Williams. Knopf, 3rd edition. 1947.

articles were published.

Although we are able to record only one new volume and one republication of an older volume in the Harvard Economic Series for the past year, four other volumes are in the hands of the printer and will appear in the current year.

In the area of distinctions or honors, I believe the only items to be noted concern Dean Edward S. Mason. Last spring he was appointed Economic Advisor to Secretary of State Marshall at the Moscow Conference. In July he was appointed a member of President Truman’s Committee on Foreign Aid.

Sincerely yours,
H. H. Burbank

Dean Paul H. Buck

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers (UAV 349.11), Box 2, Folder “Provost Buck—Annual Report of Dept.”

___________________________

1947-1948

September 30, 1948

Dear Provost Buck:

You have requested a brief report on the work of the Department of Economics for the academic year 1947-48.

The report on the work of the Department for the last year can be given in part in the same terms that have been employed in the last three reports. Our major problems have been quantitative and have presented the same difficulties that were emphasized in the other post-war reports. However, we believe that the last year did reach the peak of the load and that the pressure of numbers will abate steadily. The problem of building and maintaining an effective junior staff was hardly less than in the preceding years. Crowded classrooms and insufficiently trained assistants imposed unduly severe burdens upon the senior teachers responsible for course instruction. Some improvement, especially in the middle group courses, is in prospect for the coming year but it is probable that two to three years more will be necessary before these courses will be adequately staffed. In the introductory course which relies heavily upon a large number of young instructors and teaching fellows, the situation is still serious but latterly we have been able to utilize young men with more satisfactory preparation and training. Because of the heavy demands for the services of these young men by other institutions, the turnover is large leaving us each year with a relatively inexperienced staff.

Graduate instruction continues to make unusual demands upon the time and energy of the senior staff. During the past year we conducted 109 general examinations and 26 special examinations. Examining and the related task of directing the research of candidates for the higher degrees undoubtedly have an incidence upon undergraduate instruction which raises questions of fundamental importance. It is encouraging that the number of graduate students is, through the action of the Department, declining.

In spite of the difficulties presented by the numbers of undergraduates and graduates, the Department, perhaps belatedly, has given particular consideration to its commitments in the Areas and in General Education. A report on General Education is enclosed.

Also, the Department has considered at length and in detail various problems of instruction, particularly undergraduate instruction. These considerations will be continued in the current year. By completely revising the content of our basic courses it may be possible to increase the effectiveness of our instruction and reduce somewhat the number of courses offered. A preliminary report on this aspect of our work is included.

A year ago I noted that many of our senior officers were handicapped severely by the lack of research funds. As you know, it can now be recorded with sincere satisfaction that a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and that several projects under the auspices of the Research Marketing Act, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Charles H. Hood Dairy Foundation, the Ferguson Foundation Fund, and the Carnegie Corporation Fund, meet the situation effectively for some of our officers. The set-up of these projects promises not only to be of great value to the professors in charge of the research but it contributes heavily to the training of our most promising graduate students and younger officers.

The following books were published by members of the Department:

How Shall We Pay for Education? by Seymour Harris. Harpers.

Stabilization Subsidies by Seymour Harris. Historical Report Series, U.S. Gov’t.

Price Control of International Commodities by Seymour Harris. Archives Volume, Historical Records Office.

International Monetary Policies, by Gottfried Haberler (with Lloyd Metzler and Robert Triffin). Postwar Economic Series, Federal Reserve System Board of Governors.

Problemas de Conjuntura e de Politica Economica, by Gottfried Haberler. Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janiero.

Production in the United States, 1866-1914, by Edwin Frickey. Harvard University Press.

Seventy-eight articles have been published. Three books were published in the Harvard Economic Series during the past year. Five volumes are in the hands of the Press to be published later this year.

Professor Edward H. Chamberlin has been appointed to succeed Dr. Arthur B. Monroe as Managing Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Both the Quarterly Journal of Economies and the Review of Economic Statistics are well established intellectually and financially. With the demands of instruction and research, the editing of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics, as well as the direction of the Harvard Economic Series, raises questions regarding the adequacy of the manpower within the Department.

In the area of distinctions or honors, Professor Joseph A. Schumpeter was chosen to be President of the American Economic Association for 1948. Dean Edward S. Mason was awarded an honorary degree, D. Litt, from Williams College, June, 1948.

Very sincerely,
H. H. Burbank

Provost Paul H. Buck
5 University Hall

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers (UAV 349.11), Box 2, Folder “Provost Buck—Annual Report of Dept.”

___________________________

1948-1949

September 28, 1949

Dear Provost Buck:

The pattern of the report of the Department of Economics on the work of the last year is essentially the same as the other reports for the post-war years. Indeed, not a little of the introduction to the report of a year ago could be utilized in the current report. The quantitative side of our work has been among our major problems. I think I was correct in predicting that the peak of the load would be passed in 1948-49. For the year 1949-50, numbers, particularly on the graduate level, will be approximately less although the total is still beyond the capacities of our senior staff.

Again I can repeat that the problem of building and maintaining a junior staff presents great difficulties. We have strengthened our position on the level of the assistant professor but we are unable to hold our most promising young Ph.D’s for appointment at the instructor level. All of our undergraduate instruction suffers because of this factor, but Economics 1 (the introductory course) is affected particularly. The demand for these young men by other institutions continues at a high level resulting in a high rate of turnover and leaving us sech year with a relatively inexperienced staff. [end of p. 1]

[Note: need to replace unfocussed image of page 2]

[p. 3 begins ] …expectation that we will be able to revise our general examination effectively.

In the post-war years the Department has been striving to meet its obligations to General Education and to the areas. We believe that we have made an excellent beginning in both General Education and in the Russian Area. We are still actively engaged in the attempt to strengthen our position in the Chinese Area. This is exceedingly difficult but I believe that some progress is being made.

Last year we were able to record with great satisfaction that some research projects were being established satisfactorily. These projects under the auspices of the Rockefeller Foundation and under the auspices of various groups interested in agriculture and marketing are now going forward successfully and up proving to be important for us not only as research projects but also because of their general effect upon a relatively large group of our graduate students. We can now give a type of training to our most promising men which would have been impossible without such projects. It should be emphasized at this point that other areas of interest need research funds.

The following books were published:

Collective Bargaining: Principles and Cases, Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1949, by John I. Dunlop.

Labor in Norway by Walter Galenson. Harvard University Press, 1949.

Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, by Alvin Hansen McGraw-Hill, 1949.

The European Recovery Program, by Seymour E. Harris. Harvard University Press.

Foreign Economic Policy for the U.S., edited by Seymour E. Harris, Harvard University Press.

Price Control of International Commodities, by Seymour E. Harris. Archives Volume for Historical Records Office.

Saving American Capitalism, edited by Seymour E. Harris. Knopf.

Economic Planning, by Seymour E. Harris. Knopf.

Post-war Monetary Plans and Other Essays, by John H. Williams. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

The American Economy, Its Problems and Prospects, by Sumner H. Slichter. Knopf.

There were 62 articles published by members of the Department during the past year. Five books were published in the Harvard Economic Studies and two volumes are in the hands of the Press to be published later this year. There has been a total of 86 books published in the Harvard Economic Studies to this date.

It should be recorded that both the Quarterly Journal of Economics under the editorship of Professor Chamberlin and the Review of Economics and Statistics have prospered during the year. Again I do feel it necessary to refer to the fact that editing the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics and the carrying forward of the Harvard Economic Studies continues to raise questions regarding the adequacy of the manpower within the Department.

In the area of distinctions and honors, Professor Slichter was awarded honorary degrees (LL.D.) from the following universities: Lehigh University, Harvard University, University of Rochester, University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University. Professor

Haberler was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Economics (“Doktor der Wirtschaftswissenschaft honoris causa”) from Handelshochschule, St. Gallen, Switzerland. Dr. Galbraith was awarded the President’s Certificate of Merit, Medal of Merit Board, for services in Price Control and Economic Stabilization during the war.

Sincerely
[Harold H. Burbank]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers (UAV 349.11), Box 2, Folder “Departmental Annual Reports to the Dean 1948-54”.

___________________________

1949-1950

[Draft] Report to Dean, October 2, 1950
Professor Burbank

In each of the reports for the last three years, emphasis has been placed upon two matters; our efforts to handle the increased numbers incident to the war, particularly on the graduate level, and our attempts to revise and improve our instruction, particularly on the undergraduate level.

With a good deal of satisfaction we are able to report that for the last year substantial progress has been made in each of these areas. Immediately after the war the number of our graduate students increased from approximately 100 to nearly 300. By raising the standards of admission and giving the most careful scrutiny to applications, the numbers on the graduate level are now well under 200, and will be reduced somewhat more for 1950-51.

The work of supervising and directing graduate students falls very unevenly upon the various members of the senior staff. Even with not over 150 graduate students some members of the staff will carry an inordinate part of individual instruction and of examining for the higher degrees. Further, large graduate classes tend to dilute the instruction.

On the undergraduate level the Department has revised its requirements for concentration, including the content of many of our key courses. This plan has been accepted by the Faculty and is now in operation. It is an ambitious scheme that involves not only a change in the content and coverage of our key courses but it also involves the strengthening the staff in these courses and an integration of course work with tutorial work. Undoubtedly it will take some years to complete this plan. Much depends upon our ability to build a strong junior staff, especially on the annual instructor level. When this reorganized instruction is in full operation it is expected that a number of courses now offered for undergraduates may be deleted.

Also it is with a good deal of satisfaction that after a period of suspension tutorial instruction has been reestablished and is developing steadily. The period of suspension was unfortunate but probably inevitable. We are now approaching a position with respect to both graduate and undergraduate instruction that at least approximates a normal situation, with a possibility of a carefully planned and well integrated system of undergraduate instruction. As a part of this plan increased attention has been given to reestablishing the General Examinations on something approximating the level of earlier years. Since we are lacking experienced tutors the establishment of tutorial instruction is a very real task but it is believed it can be done successfully.

We have been fortunate to have been able to attract to the Graduate School a group of unusually able young men. The very top of this group represents ability of the very highest order. Unfortunately only rarely can we retain the services of these young men even on the assistant professor level. However, the Department is keenly aware of the difficulties it faces in recruitment and every effort is being made to follow the progress of the product of other schools as well as the progress of our own young scholars.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers (UAV 349.11), Box 2, Folder “Provost Buck—Annual Report of Dept.”

___________________________

1949-1950

January 5, 1951

Provost Paul H. Buck
5 University Hall
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dear Provost Buck:

I am now somewhat belatedly submitting the report of the Department of Economics for 1949-50.

I. Undergraduate Instruction

Four hundred eighty-two Harvard and Radcliffe students concentrated in economics in 1949-50 as compared with 608 in the previous year. The enrolment in Economics 1 was 402 as compared with 546 in the previous year. Seventy-seven students graduated with honors; 20 obtaining magna cum laude and 57 cum laude.

The entire senior staff gave courses at the undergraduate level— a practice that distinguishes Harvard sharply from institutions such as Columbia and Chicago which restrict the activities of some of the most talented members of the staff to graduate instruction. Nevertheless, the strength of our undergraduate teaching has depended very largely on the unusually fine group of assistant professors we now have on our staff.

During the past couple of years the Department has been gradually moving toward restoration of the tutorial system and last spring it decided finally to give tutorial instruction to all honors students in their junior and senior years,

II. Graduate Instruction

Two hundred graduate students in economics were in residence last year as compared with 234 the previous year. The Department gave 58 general examinations for the Ph.D. and 47 special examinations.

The number of graduate students is still too large to handle effectively with the present staff. The students themselves justifiably complain that they cannot see enough of the members of the faculty. However if they did see as much of the faculty as they wanted to, the faculty would have little time for reading and research and the quality of instruction would decline. We are planning to deal with this problem as far as possible by making sure that more graduate students attend reasonably small seminars and do have an opportunity to get to know at least one faculty member reasonably well.

I believe that the quality of our graduate work has suffered through overemphasis on course work and preoccupation with grades. We tend to make graduate instruction too much of a prolongation of undergraduate instruction. We also tend too much in the direction of specialization and provide too little encouragement for students to become coordinated in the whole economic field. The remedy for this state of affairs depends more upon the general attitude of the Department rather than any specific measures of reorganization. We shall do whatever is possible to encourage students in the feeling that their main function here is to acquire the maturity that is essential for scholarship rather than to accumulate a collection of pieces of isolated information.

III. Research

Professors Mason, Leontief, Black, Galbraith and Dunlop are all conducting organized research projects within the Department. Apart from their substantive value, these projects give a considerable number of graduate students an opportunity to take part in organized research activity. I believe these projects have an important part to play in the future of the Department as a whole rather than as special interests of individual members. However, I do not share the view that most of our intellectual activities should be directed towards organized research. There is danger that we may become a research bureaucracy and that the merits of individual scholarship may achieve less recognition than they deserve. While the research project is invaluable in training the students in specialized activity, it does little to cultivate the maturity that should be one of the most important products of our graduate training.

IV. The Staff of the Department

Professor Schumpeter’s death has meant a loss to the Department that cannot be covered by any individual that we now have on the staff or could get from the outside. The only way to make up for his absence is for the present members of the faculty to direct part of their attention to the aspects of economic thought in which Schumpeter was particularly interested. This has in part been done. I think it is true to say that since Schumpeter’s death his own work has received more attention in Harvard classrooms than it received while he was alive.

The only new additions to the to the staff at the professorial level in 1949-50 were assistant professors Orcutt and Sawyer. Orcutt is giving a course at the graduate level and the undergraduate level on empirical economies in which he stresses the quantitative aspects of economic theory. He is also a first-class statistician. Since the resignation of Professor Crum we have had only one professional statistician in the Department, and it seems highly desirable to have at least two. Sawyer will add considerable strength to the Department’s work in economic history although he will spend half of his time in the General Education program.

**VI. [sic] Distinctions**

Members of the Department received the following distinctions:

Professor Edward Chamberlin — An honorary degree (Dr.) awarded by the Universita Catholica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. December 1949.

Professor Sumner Slichter — President, Industrial Relations Research Association.

Professor Gottfried Haberler — President, International Economic Association for 1950 (held by Professor Schumpeter at the time of his death).

I am attaching a bibliography of the writings of the members of the Department. [not included in this folder]

Sincerely yours,
Arthur Smithies

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers (UAV 349.11), Box 2, Folder “Departmental Annual Reports to the Dean 1948-54”.

Images Source: Burbank (left) from the Harvard Class Album 1946, Smithies (right) from the Harvard Class Album 1952.

Tags BlackJD, Burbank, Chamberlin, Crum, Dunlop, Frickey, Galbraith, Haberler, Hansen, Harris, Leontief, Mason, Metzler, Monroe, Orcutt, SawyerJ, Schumpeter, Slichter, Smithies, Triffin, WilliamsJH

Harvard Undergraduate

Harvard. Student Class Debate on Impact of Protection on Wages. Taussig, 1889

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-15

From the Harvard Crimson archive a chance discovery of the student debate briefs on whether a protective tariff would raise wages. This debate took place in a senior course jointly supervised by Frank Taussig during the first term of the 1889-90 academic year. I had never thought of checking whether Taussig ever taught an English Course.

Expanded versions of these briefs were later published (1908) in a collection of economic policy debates that have been transcribed for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror earlier.

I tried to track down all the literature cited but was unable to find a few items (e.g. Walker’s Pamphlet, Seank’s [sic] International Trade Report). Nonetheless most of the items have a link.

______________________________

Course Announcement

[English] 6. Oral Discussion of Topics in Political Economy and History. Half-course. Th., from 3-5. Asst. Professors Taussig and Hart, and Mr. Hayes.

Course 6 is open to Seniors only.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Harvard College for the Academic Year 1889-90 (May, 1889), p. 11.

______________________________

Debate of October 10, 1889.

Question: Resolved, That a high protective tariff raises wages.

Brief for the Affirmative.
R. D. [Reynolds Driver] Brown ‘90, and E. S. [Edward Stetson] Griffing ‘90.

Best general references.— Taussig, Forum VI. p 169; Thompson’s Ireland and Free Trade.

The United States is the best example of the effect of the tariff on wages.
Money wages are higher in the United States than in Europe — Walker’s Pamphlet, esp. pp. 4-5.
Real wages are also higher in the United States — Consular Report 40, p 304, et seq; 42, pp. 12-14; and 15; 45, pp. 117-118.
1. 1. Proven directly by the amount an American workman can save.
  2. Proven indirectly by his higher standard of living.
High authorities hold that a high protective tariff raises wages. — Thompson’s Pol. Econ., Carey’s Pol. Econ., International Review XIII, p. 455.
1. 1. Opinion of writers.
  2. Opinion of manufacturers.
It is shown historically that a high protective tariff raises wages —
1. 1. Effect of tariff in England and Ireland.
  2. Effect of tariff in Germany and United States — Porter’s “Bread Winners Abroad;” Seank’s [sic, possibly James Moore Swank, Our Bessemer Steel Industry, p. 23] International Trade Report.

Brief for the Negative.
F. F. [Francis Frederick] Causey [‘90] and F. L. [Frank LaMont] DeLong [‘90].

Best general reference: Professor F. W. Taussig’s article in Forum for October, 1888. Evils of the Tariff System, in North American Review, September 8, 1884; Sumner on Protective Taxes and Wages, in Fortnightly Review, vol. 37, p. 272.

Loose comparisons are untrustworthy.
1. 1. There is no uniform rate of wages in any country;
  2. Such comparisons prove too much — American Almanac for 1889, p. 103; Schoenhof’s, The Industrial Situation, p. 124; Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 137;
  3. There are many local causes which must necessarily make wages higher in one country than in another.
    1. 1. Natural advantages — D. A. Wells, Relation of Tariff to Wages, p. 2;
      2. Standing service — Wells as above;
      3. Question of unoccupied land — Sumner, Protective Taxes and Wages; North American Review, vol. 136, p. 270.
Careful use of statistics show higher relative wages under a low tariff.
1. 1. High wages in the United States are set by unprotected industries. Laughlin’s note to Mill, p. 619.
  2. Compare wages in protected industries in the United States and wages in those same industries in England — Report of J. G. Blaine, secretary of state, on the Button Goods Trade of the World, published by Department of State, Washington, June 25, 1881, (cited in Wells’, Relation of the Tariff to Wages); Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 143.
  3. Wages in United States higher than abroad before there was any protection in the United States — Nation, October 25, 1888.
  4. New South Wales is more prosperous than Victoria: The Results of Protection in Young Communities. — Fortnightly Review for March, 1882.
In a given country, changes in the rate of wages can only be produced by changes in the amount of capital distributed in wages, or by changes in the number of persons competing for work-Sumner, Protective Taxes.
1. 1. But since the number of persons competing for work is not changed by high protection, if high protection affects wages at all it must affect them through the amount of capital distributed in wages.
  2. Yet protection diminishes the amount of capital distributed in wages for two reasons:
    1. 1. The productiveness of industry being less, the product to be divided between capital and labor is less Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 135;
      2. and also the proportion in which that produced is divided is less favorable to labor.
  3. Evil effect of limiting the sale of commodities to a domestic market — Wells’ Practical Economics, p. 139.
The tariff increases the price of commodities, and thus puts them out of the reach of the poorer classes. Their real wages thus become less — Sumner, Protective Taxes and Wages.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, October 8, 1889.

______________________________

Links to many of the authorities cited by the students

American Almanac and Treasury of Facts. Statistical, Financial and Political, 1889. P. 103.

Carey, Henry Charles. Principles of Political Economy. Philadelphia: Carea, Lea & Blanchard, 1837.

Evils of the Tariff System. Essays by David Ames Wells, Thomas G. Shearman. J.B. Sargent, and W.G. Sumner. North American Review, vol. 139, No. 334 (September 1884), pp. 274-299.

Mill, John Stuart. Principles of Political Economy, abridged with commentary by J. L. Laughlin. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1884 , p. 619.

Porter, Robert P. Bread-Winners Abroad. New York: J.S. Ogilvie & Company, 1885.

Powell, G. Baden. Protection in Young Communities. The Fortnightly Review, vol. 31. New Series, March 1882.p. 369-379.

Roach, John. What the Tariff Laws have Done for Us. International Review, vol. 13 (November 1882) pp. 455-477.

Schoenhof, Jacob. The Industrial Situation and the Question of Wages. A Study in Social Physiology. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1885.

Sumner, W. G. Protective Taxes and Wages. North American Review, vol. 136, No. 316 (March 1883), pp. 270-276.

Swank, James Moore. Our Bessemer Steel Industry. Philadelphia, 1882.

Taussig, Frank W. How the Tariff Affects Wages. Forum, v. VI (October, 1888), pp. 167-175.

Thompson, Robert Ellis. Political Economy with especial Reference to the Industrial History of Nations (3^rd, revised edition) Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1882.

Thompson, Robert Ellis. Ireland and Free Trade: An Object Lesson in National Economy. Advertised as a tract that can had free from The American: A National Journal (September 8, 1888) vol. 16, No. 422.

Cf. Thompson’s contribution to the discussion “Irish Comments on an English Text” published in The North American Review, vol. 147 (September 1888), pp. 297-301

Wells, David Ames. Relation of the Tariff to Wages. (Questions of the Day, No. LIV). New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1888.

Wells, David Ames. Practical Economics. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1885.

The Evolution of the Wages Argument. The Nation October 25, 1888. Number 1217. Pp. 327-328.

United States Department of State. Reports from the Consuls of the United States on the Commerce, Manufactures, etc., of their Consular Districts.

Labor, Wages, and Living in Germany, in Vol. 12, No. 40 (April 1884), p. 304 ff.

Proposed Increase of the import Duties in Germany in Vol. 13, No. 42 (June 1884), pp. 12-14

The Effect of Protection on Labor in Germany, in Vol. 13, No. 42 (June 1884), p. 15.

An Industry Created by the New Protective Tariff of Germany, in Vol. 14, No. 45 (September 1884), pp. 117-118

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig ca 1885-1890. Harvard University Hollis Images.

Tags Taussig

Economists Gender Harvard Health Radcliffe

Radcliffe. Economics Ph.D. alumna, later pioneer health economist Mary Lee Ingbar, 1953

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-13

In this post we meet the economics Ph.D. alumna Mary Lee Gimbel Mack Ingbar (b. 18 May 1926; d. 18 September 2009). She and Lester Taylor wrote Hospital Costs in Massachusetts (Harvard University Press, 1968), a pioneering econometric study of hospital costs.

From the biography in the guide to her papers archived at the Harvard Medical School library:

She received an SB cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1946, an AM from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1948, and an PhD from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1953. She then received an MPH, cum laude, from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) as a member of the class of 1956. She was the first social scientist to be allowed to matriculate for the MPH degree.

MLI has remained professionally associated with Harvard during most of her career. She was Lecturer on Medical Economics at the HSPH’s Department of Public Health Practice from 1957 to 1961, and Research Associate at the Graduate School of Public Administration from 1961 to 1966…

Add a fun fact: Mary Lee Ingbar was the daughter of NBER staff economist Ruth Prince Mack (1903-2002).

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From Wedding Announcement

Mary Mack graduated from the Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University and Radcliffe College.

Source: Mary Mack, Radcliffe Graduate Student, Married to Dr. Sidney Ingbar at Sherry’s,” The New York Times, May 29, 1950, p. 10.

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Awarded Bachelor of Science cum laude, June 1946

Mary Lee Gimbel Mack, in Economics

Source: Radcliffe College, Reports of Officers Issue, 1945-46 published in Official Register of Radcliffe College, Vol. XII, No. 7 (December 1946), p. 38.
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Awarded Master of Arts 1948

Mary Lee Gimbel Mack

Source: Radcliffe College, Reports of Officers Issue, 1947-48 published in Official Register of Radcliffe College, Vol. XIV, No. 6 (December 1948), p. 21.

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Awarded Ph.D. in Economics 1953

Mary Lee Gimbel Mack Ingbar, A.M.
Subject, Economics.
Special Field, Labor Problems
Dissertation, “The Factors Underlying the Relationship between Cost and Price: A Case Study of a Textile Firm”

Source: Radcliffe College, Reports of Officers Issue, 1952-53 published in Official Register of Radcliffe College, Vol. XIX, No. 5 (December 1953), p. 21.

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Mary Lee Ingbar,
pioneer in field of health economics, dies at 83
October 15, 2009

Mary Lee Ingbar, Radcliffe ’46, Ph.D. ’53, M.P.H. ’56, who was a pioneer in applying quantitative and sophisticated computer analysis to the developing field of health economics in the 1950s and 1960s, died in Cambridge, on Sept. 18.

Ingbar was especially interested in the relationships between cost, quality, and outcomes of medical care. She brought insights from the fields of econometrics and operations research to bear upon the variability of the costs of medical care from one health care setting to another; to this end, she developed what in all likelihood was the first comprehensive statistical and econometric computer software program for analyzing hospital costs. In this work, she collaborated closely with Professor John Dunlop of Harvard (later U.S. secretary of labor) and Lester D. Taylor. She and Taylor wrote “Hospital Costs in Massachusetts” (Harvard University Press, 1968), one of the first econometric studies of hospital costs ever to be published.

In the early 1970s, while associate professor of health economics at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical School, Ingbar was a member of the California Hospital Commission, where she participated in the design and implementation of an innovative program for detailed reporting of hospital expenses and health outcomes, which allowed comparisons of costs and efficiencies of care, and helped to establish the oversight of then-emerging forms of health care delivery, such as health maintenance organizations.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Ingbar worked to advance the use of computerized databases to track health care events, costs, and outcomes in medical care delivery systems that were growing increasingly large and complex. During these years, she held professorships at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Ingbar remained a principal research associate of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School for the remainder of her life. She served as an Overseer for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as a member of the Corporation of Partners Healthcare System. Ingbar was very active in the American Public Health Association (APHA); she was a member of the APHA Governing Council and a chairperson of the APHA Medical Care Section. She was consultant on health economics to many organizations, and in recent years served on the Council of the Alumni Association of the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Ingbar was born and raised in New York City. Her mother, Ruth P. Mack, was a noted economist. Her stepfather, Edward C. Mack, was a professor of English literature at the City College of New York. John E. Mack, her stepbrother, was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and received the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for his biography of T.E. Lawrence

Mary Lee Ingbar was married to Sidney H. Ingbar, an internationally recognized expert on thyroid gland disease and William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is survived by her three sons, David Ingbar, M.D. ’78, of Minneapolis; Eric Ingbar of Carson City, Nev.; and Jonathan Ingbar of Portland, Ore.

Donations in honor of Mary Lee Ingbar may be made to the Lung Cancer Alliance and High Horses Therapeutic Riding Program. A memorial will be held at a later date.

Source: The Harvard Gazette (October 15, 2009).

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Biography from Mary Lee Ingbar papers, 1946-2008
Harvard University Medical School, Countway Library.

Mary Lee Ingbar (MLI), PhD, MPH, is a health economist who developed theories concerning interaction between managerial structures of health care programs, and their effectiveness in meeting constituency needs. She received an SB cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1946, an AM from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1948, and an PhD from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1953. She then received an MPH, cum laude, from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) as a member of the class of 1956. She was the first social scientist to be allowed to matriculate for the MPH degree.

MLI has remained professionally associated with Harvard during most of her career. She was Lecturer on Medical Economics at the HSPH’s Department of Public Health Practice from 1957 to 1961, and Research Associate at the Graduate School of Public Administration from 1961 to 1966, where with Lester Taylor, she undertook the first econometric study of hospital costs using United States data. Subsequently, she worked for several years on many national and regional committees, addressing such issues as medical costs, hospital planning, day care organization, and alcoholism.

In 1972, MLI relocated to San Francisco. There she served as Associate Professor of Health in the Division of Ambulatory and Community Medicine at University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine from 1972 to 1975. From 1974 to 1975, she was also Associate Program Director of The Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Program at UCSF.

In 1976 MLI returned east, joining HMS as a Principle Research Associate in Preventive and Social Medicine. Simultaneously, she took a one year post as Visiting Professor of Health Economics at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and the Department of Community Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. In 1977, MLI became Professor of Family and Community Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, remaining until 1982. She became Principle Research Associate in Social Medicine and Health Policy at HMS in 1980, and Principal Associate in Medicine and Health Policy in 1985, a post she held until 2003.

Throughout her career, MLI consulted on government projects concerning economic aspects of health care policy. She has held many city, state, and federal directorships and consultancies, including: Director of Program Development for the Department of Health, Hospital and Welfare of the City of Cambridge, MA, 1968-1972; Director of Research for the Office of Comprehensive Planning of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1970-1971; Regional Consultant for Health Economics and Public Health Advisor, US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Region I, Division of Finance and Health Economics, 1975-1976; and Consultant at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital in 1986.

MLI has directed or consulted on several specifically contracted, grant-funded projects, which have been the basis of much of her research and publications. These contracts include such research topics as: Economics and the Administration of Medical Care Programs, 1961-1966; Identification of the Data and Development if the Record-Keeping System Necessary to Evaluate the Cost-Benefit and/or Cost Effectiveness of Ambulatory Health Services Provided to Residents of Low Income Areas in Cambridge, MA, 1970-1972; Innovative Methods of Pricing Ambulatory Care Treatment (IMPACT) for Patients with Hypertension: A Means of Enhancing Positive Health Outcomes for Long-Term Care, 1980-1982; and Health Services Utilization and Cost Pre and Post Mental Health Treatment in Organized Fee for Service Health Care Settings: The Bunker Hill Health Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 1980-1982.

MLI has authored, co-authored, and edited dozens of articles, original reports, and monographs for professional publication, primarily hospital costs. Topics include a range of interests pertinent to a health economist, including efficient record-keeping, cost of nursing services, and teaching cost containment in medical schools. In 1990, MLI contributed to the inaugural issue of Thyroid, a tribute to her late husband, Sidney H. Ingbar, MD.

MLI maintains active memberships in many professional societies, including the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, Academy Health, the International Health Economies Association, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and the American Public Health Association, in which she has held many chairmanships and served on the Governing Council.

Source: From the Collection overview to the Papers, 1946-2008, (Harvard University. Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.)

Image Source: 1946 Radcliffe Yearbook, Forty and Six, p. 92.

Tags Dunlop, Ingbar, MackRP, TaylorLD

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics Course Examinations, 1898-99

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-12

Another year of staffing, enrollments and semester examinations for the economics department at Harvard has been transcribed for the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror test-bank.

Worth noting is that half of the questions in the second semester exam for Frank Taussig’s advanced course on methodology (Economics 13) were in German. John Cummings’ course “Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems” (Economics 17) was entirely what one would expect from a turn-of-the-century course of racist anthropology — e.g. “What do you understand by ‘cephalic index’? of what is it an index? Consider its validity as a test of (a) race origin, (b) of individual capacity”

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Outlines of Economics.

[Economics] 1. Outlines of Economics. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor [Frank William] Taussig, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, Dr. John Cummings, Dr. [Morton Arnold] Aldrich, Mr. [Edward Henry] Warren, and Mr. [Charles] Beardsley.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 351.

1898-99 Enrollment
Outlines of Economics.

[Economics] 1. [Outlines of Economics] — Professor [Frank William] Taussig, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, Dr. John Cummings, Dr. [Morton Arnold] Aldrich, Dr. [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, Mr. [Edward Henry] Warren, and Mr. [Charles] Beardsley. Lectures (2 hours); recitations and conferences (1 hour) in 14 sections.

Total 443: 26 Seniors, 88 Juniors, 259 Sophomores, 13 Freshmen, 57 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

1898-99.
Economics 1.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

It has been said that “the laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths.” Do you believe this to be true of the “laws and conditions” which Mill sets forth as to the accumulation of capital? as to the increase of production from land?
Suppose greater and greater amounts of capital to be saved and invested, other things remaining the same: would wages rise or fall? profits? Would there be a limit to the rise or fall in either case?
If all landlords owning advantageous sites remitted to tenants all economic rent, would the prices of commodities produced on those sites be affected? If so, how? If not, why not?
Would you expect wages in agreeable occupations to be high or low? Why? Are they in fact high or low? Why?
“The value or purchasing power of money depends, in the first instance, on demand and supply. But demand and supply, in relation to money, present themselves in a somewhat different shape from the demand and supply of other things.” Wherein different, and why?
“The sequel of our investigation will point out many qualifications with which the proposition must be received, that the value of the circulating medium depends on the demand and supply, and is in the inverse ratio of the quantity; qualifications which prove the proposition an extremely incorrect expression of the fact.” What are the qualifications? and how far do they make the proposition incorrect?
Wherein do the causes determining the level of prices remain the same, wherein become different, when specie has been displaced by inconvertible paper money?
What determines the exchange value of
an ounce of gold bullion,
a bale of wool,
English wheat in England,
Dakota wheat in Dakota,
Dakota wheat in England.
If American shoes sell at the same price in New York and in Mexico (allowance being made for cost of transportation) can it be said that their value in the one case is determined by cost of production, in the other case not?
What do you say to the common opinion that it is to a country’s advantage to dispose of an increasing quantity of exported goods?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99
Economics 1.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions,
Answer concisely.
Take nine questions, and from each group at least two.

Does the rate of interest depend on the abundance of money? does the rate of discount? If so, how? if not, why not?
Is the exportation of specie from a country to be regarded with apprehension?
In what way is the price of landed property likely to be affected by a rise in the rate of interest? by an increase in the quantity of money? by a growth of population?

II.

Assuming Mill’s theory as to the causes determining the rate of wages to be sound, how far can trade union action influence the rate? State concisely whether you accede to Mill’s theory, and why or why not.
What light does the experience of English coöperators throw on the contention that the discontent of the workingmen would cease if coöperative organization were extended to all branches of industry?
Brentano’s reasoning as to the nature of the bargaining between employer and workman, and the policy therefore necessary on the workman’s part; and your own opinion as to his conclusion.

III.

(a) In what manner the exigencies of a commercial crisis are best met by banking institutions; (b) how far the legislation of England and the United States aids, in a time of crisis, in the pursuance of the best policy by the banking institutions of these countries.
Does the mode of regulating the issue of bank-notes in Germany proceed on a principal essentially different from that in England? Does the mode of regulation under the National Bank system?
Arrange in their proper order the following items:

Capital	$1,000,000
Specie	$1,100,000
Notes	$ 400,000
Surplus	$ 200,000
Securities	$ 450,000
Loans	$4,200,000
Deposits	$4,100,000
Undivided Profits	$ 100,000
Expenses	$ 50,000

Consider how the account would stand if the bank sold $100,000 of securities for cash, and with the proceeds met demands by depositors for the like sum; and whether the bank, before or after this operation, could carry on its operations as a National Bank?

IV.

How the resumption of specie payments in the United States was promoted by the condition of international trade and by the course of prices in the years preceding resumption.
Are there important differences between the modes in which the functions of money are fulfilled in the United States by National Bank notes, deposits in National Banks, legal tender notes, silver certificates?
Explain to whom and in what manner what manner the changes in general prices during the last twenty years have been harmful.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899) in bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99, pp. 26-27.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century

[Economics] 2. Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30. Professor Taussig.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century.

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century. Discussion of selected passages from leading writers. The history of theory. Lectures and recitations (3 hours).

Total 67: 5 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

1898-99.
Economics 2.
[Mid-Year Exam, 1899]

Are the high wages earned by some kinds of skilled laborers cause or effect of high prices of commodities made by them?
Many Americans annually visit European countries, and there spend freely. Supposing this to be the only cause, beside the imports and exports of merchandise, affecting the international trade of the United States, what would you expect the usual relation of its imports and exports to be? and what the usual flow of specie to or from the country?
“What a nation is interested in is, not in having its prices high or low, but in having its gold cheap — understanding by cheapness not low value, butlow cost — a small sacrifice of ease and comfort; and it generally happens that cheap gold is accompanied by a high scale of prices.”
How does a country gain from having its gold cheap? and why need cheap gold not be accompanied by a high scale of prices?
“The distinction, then, between capital and non-capital does not lie in the kind of commodities, but in the mind of the capitalist — in his will to employ them for one purpose rather than another; and all property, however ill adapted in itself for the use of laborers, is a part of capital, so soon as it, or the value to be received from it, is set apart for productive reinvestment.” Is this true?
“The multitudes who compose the working class are too numerous and too widely scattered to combine at all, much more to combine effectually. If they could do so, they might doubtless succeed in diminishing the hours of labor, and obtaining the same wages for less work. But if they aimed at obtaining actually higher wages than the rate fixed by demand and supply — the rate which distributed the whole circulating capital of the country among the working population — this could only be accomplished by keeping a part of their number permanently out of employment. . . . The workpeople collectively would be no better off than before, having to support the same numbers out of the same aggregate wages.”
Whom do you suppose to be the writer of this passage? What would Cairnes say to it? Professor Taussig?
“If the efficiency of labor could be suddenly doubled, whilst the capital of the country remained stationary, there would be a great and immediate rise in real wages. The supplies of capital already in existence would be distributed among the laborers more rapidly than would otherwise be the case, and the increased efficiency of labor would soon make good the diminished supplies. The fact is that an increase in the efficiency of labor would bring about an increase in the supply of capital.” — Marshall.
Why? or why not?
Do you believe Walker’s discussion of the theory of wages has promoted the better understanding of the causes affecting the welfare of laborers? If so, how? If not, why not?
“The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talents for business, or superior business arrangements, are very much a similar kind [to rent]. If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to their customers, through the diminished value of the article: he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher. All advantages, in fact, which one competitor has over another, whether natural or acquired, whether personal or the result of social arrangements . . . . assimilate the possessor of the advantage to a receiver of rent.” — Mill.
Wherein does Walker’s doctrine differ from this?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 2.
[Year-end Exam, 1899.]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Three questions from this group.

J. S. Mill’s contributions to economic theory, and his position as regards the development of theory.
“Cost of production” and “expenses of production”: what Marshall designates by these phrases; whether he believes that “expenses” measure “cost”; and how far Cairnes and Mill believed “expenses” to measure “cost.”
It has been said that the wages-fund doctrine grew out of the industrial conditions of England during the Napoleonic wars, — capital having then been accumulated to such an extent as to enable employers to pay their laborers by the month, week, or day, without waiting for the marketing of the product. It has been said also that its general acceptance was favored by the fact that it afforded a complete justification, as to wages, for the existing order of things. — Give your opinion as to the historical accuracy of these statements as to the origin and the ready acceptance of the doctrine.
Marshall’s conclusions on the relation of cost and of utility to the value of a commodity, —

(a) for long periods, if it be subject to the law of constant returns;
(b) for short periods, if it be subject to the law of constant returns;
(c) for long periods, if it be subject to the law of increasing returns.

Which among these conclusions has been heretofore most dwelt on by economists? and which is applicable to the greatest range of phenomena?

II.

Three questions from this group.

Explain “consumers’ rent” (or “surplus,”) “producers’ rent,” “savers’ rent,” “quasi-rent”; and consider how far any or all of these conceptions are analogous to the traditional one of “economic rent.”
The effect on consumers’ rent of a tax on a commodity subject to the law of diminishing returns; and the mode in which the reasoning would be affected according as the commodity were tobacco or diamonds.
Admitting that interest is the reward of “abstinence,” does it follow that the rate of interest is a measure of the “abstinence” undergone by the several receivers of interest? Why or why not?
The rent of rare natural abilities may be regarded as a specially important element in the income of business men, so long as we consider them as individuals. In relation to normal value, the earnings even of rare abilities are, as we have seen, to be regarded rather as a quasi rent than as a rent proper.” Is the rent of rare abilities specially important in the case of business men? if so, why? and why not to be regarded as rent in relation to normal value?

III.

Two questions in this group.

“ The instructed man of today desires that the world generally and all other countries should have a full circulation, while he would like for his own country, if that were possible, a trifle less than its distributive share of that supply, so that it may be a good country to buy in and not a very good country to sell in. He desires to have prices everywhere sustained, in order that trade may be good. He would like, if that were possible, to have prices in his own country permanently lower, though only a shade lower, than anywhere else, in order that his countrymen may get the largest share of that trade.’ Walker
Would you agree?
Your conclusion as to whether in general a régime of falling prices is a cause of depression and an obstacle to prosperity; and whether the actual fall in prices during the past generation has had ill effects of this sort.
The compensatory action of bimetallism, in regard to the ratio between the metals, and in regard to their stability in value: is it made out in either way? in both ways?

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1898-99 Course Announcement
The Principles of Sociology

[Economics] 3. The Principles of Sociology. —Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Asst. Professor E. Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Principles of Sociology.

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. Lectures (2 or 3 hours) and conferences. 4 reports or theses.

Total 83: 4 Graduates, 42 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

1898-99.
Economics 3.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Answer the questions in the order in which they stand.

What as a matter of history, has been the contribution of the family to
a) Social organization?
b) Social ideals?
What does Spencer mean by saying, The Salvation of every society, as of every species, depends on the maintenance of an absolute opposition between the regime of the family and the regime of the State?
a) Does Haycraft agree?
b) Does Kidd?
c) Does Plato?

II.

“Man has been supposed to be a ‘free agent,’ which meant that there were no laws to which his activities were subject. There could be no science of man and hence no science of society.
a) What do the authors we have examined think?
b) What do you think about it?

III.

“In his Social Evolution he makes religion the mainspring of human progress and charges reason with anti-social and anti-progressive tendencies.”
“Religion is rational through and through.”
a) Expound and discuss these views.
b) Do you see any way of reconciling the demands of Biology and Ethics. — progress and justice?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 3.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

“The whole history of the world bears witness to the different endowments of races, and even to the unequal capacity of the nations which have grown out of them.” (Explain and illustrate.)
State some of the theoretical consequences drawn from these alleged differences.
How far can you trace the influence, good or bad, of biological conceptions in Bluntschli’s theory of the State? For example, in his analysis of sovereignty, division of powers, and the like.
“Another error, which is almost childish, is that which treads the organism of the State as a logical syllogism.” Discuss.
Contrast Tarde’s analysis of Social phenomena with the legal and biological conceptions of other writers with whom you are familiar.
The modern conception of the State and of its relation to the individual, contrasted with the ancient and the mediaeval.
State briefly the work done on your last report and the conclusions you reached.
Does the realization of social justice make for “equality” or the reverse? Why?
Does social progress call for the sacrifice of the weak to the strong or of the strong to the weak? Why?

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Statistics.

[Economics] 4. Statistics. — Theory, Method, and Practice. — Studies in Demography. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 11. Dr. J. Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Statistics.

[Economics] 4. Dr. John Cummings. — Statistics. Theory, method, and practice. Studies in Demography. Lectures (3 hours) and conferences; 2 reports; theses.

Total 19: 10 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 4.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Devote one hour to A and the remainder of your time to B.

A.
Take two.

The growth of modern cities and the laws governing the migrations of population as illustrated in the growth and constitution of the populations of London, Berlin, and other large cities.
Define fully a “normal or life-table population,” considering its age and sex constitution and its movement.
Discuss the development and predominance of the statistical method, and the gradual limitation of the field of statistical science.

B.
Take six.

What do you understand by the “law of large numbers”? Discuss some of the principles which should govern the formation of statistical judgments.
The “new law of population.”
The value of criminal statistics and the nature of the statistical proofs that the value of punishments is over-estimated.
“Several tests are employed to measure the duration of human life, and we are at present concerned to determine their precise value, and the relationship existing between them.” What are some of these tests, their precise value and inter-relationship?
What is the nature of the statistical evidence that the “influx of the population from the country into London is in the main an economic movement”?
The rate of mortality in urban and in rural populations.
Decline in the rates of natality in the populations of Europe and the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99
Economics 4.
[Year-end Exam, 1899.]

Devote at least one hour, but not more than one hour and a half, to A, and the remainder of your time to B.

Statistics of wages, manufactures, and capital in the eleventh census of the United States.
Movement of population and the standard of living. Consider in connection with the growth of population the movement of wages, prices, efficiency of labor and capital, the exploitation of new natural sources of power and wealth, and the relative movements of industrial groups.

B.
Take six.

Average wages as an index of social condition.
Statistical indexes of pauperism.
What is the statistical basis for calculating the doubling period of a population and of what is that period an index?
Define normal distribution of population (a) by sex, (b) by age.
Show how the economic value of a population is affected by its age and sex distribution.
To what extent may the prison population of the United States as given in the eleventh census be accepted as an index of criminality for the population of the United States?
The growth of cities and the movement of population. Consider the effect of “urbanization” upon rates of criminality, natality, and mortality.

_______________________

1898-99 Course Announcement
Railways and Other Public Works.

[Economics] 5¹ hf. Railways and other Public Works under Public and Corporate management. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Mr. [Hugo Richard] Meyer.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Railways and Other Public Works.

[Economics] 5¹ hf. Mr. Meyer. — Railways and other Public Works under Public and Corporate Management. Lectures (3 or 2 hours).

Total 85: 1 Graduate, 49 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 12 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 5¹.
[Mid-year (Final) Exam, 1899]

Omit one of the last four questions.

“And the Commission elsewhere says that the question of rates is not so much one between the railroads and the body of shippers, as between different classes of shippers, or rival localities.” — Railroad Gazette, June 22, 1888.
Illustrate by means of the following complaints brought before the Interstate Commerce Commission:

- - Rates on sugar from Pacific Coast points to Fargo and St. Paul; V. 234.
  - Relative rates on wheat from certain “common territory” to Minneapolis and Duluth; V, 571.
  - Relative rates on salt from Hutchinson and St. Louis to certain “common points” in Texas; V, 299.
  - Export rates on wheat: III, 137.
  - Relative rates from Atlantic sea-board points to the interior on imported commodities and domestic; IV, 448.
  - Group rates on vegetables shipped from points between Mobile and East St. Louis; VII, 43.
  - Group rates on milk shipped from points in New York State to Jersey City; VII, 93.
  - Relative rates on hogs, dressed pork, and dressed beef: IV, 611.

To what extent have Germany, France, and the Australian Colonies been able to enforce their rigid schemes of railroad charges? What is the nature of the evidence that such enforcement has prevented the railroads from fully developing traffic? Why has not enforcement of these schemes worked with greater friction?
“Had [railroad] building been checked by the censorship of a board of commissioners, and charters granted by the State only upon a showing of necessity, to be determined by the population, density of traffic, and like warrantable reasons, a large percentage of the roads which to-day constitute the disturbing element of interstate commerce, would never have been built.” — Clark: State Railroad Commissions.
Give your reasons for accepting or rejecting the statement that the control here suggested could not possibly have been exercised.
State Railroad Control and Politics in California.
Why was the Interstate Commerce Commission unable to enforce the prohibition of special rates?
Contrast the working of the state ownership of railways in Prussia with the working of the state ownership of railways in Australia.
The Massachusetts Gas and Electric Light Commission.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899) in bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

_______________________

1898-99 Course Announcement
Economic History of the U.S.

[Economics] 6. The Economic History of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor. Dr. [Guy Stevens] Callender.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Economic History of the U.S.

[Economics] 6. Dr. Callender. — The Economic History of the United States. Lectures (2 hours) and discussions of assigned reading (1 hour). 2 theses.

Total 122: 6 Graduates, 60 Seniors, 38 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 6.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

“Between England and the American Colonies there was a real interchange of services. England gave defence in return for trade privileges. In the middle of the last century, at the time when the American quarrel began, it was perhaps rather the colonies than the mother country that had fallen into arrears.” — Seeley.
Do you agree with this view of English Colonial Policy?
Compare the following statement, with what you know of the views of commercial policy entertained by leading American statesmen during and after the Revolution:
“From all this (i.e. the tariff acts passed by the various States between 1783 and 1789) it is clear enough that the States sought protection for the sake of building up manufactures. It was natural that they should. To suppose that they had any special predilection for free trade, at a time when restriction was the policy of the world, and while the mercantile system had not yet lost its grip save among a few economists, is to suppose them far ahead of their time.
“Nor would their policy have been different if England had practiced perfect reciprocity with them at the beginning.” — Kelley. Quarterly Journal of Economics II, 481.
What were the “Great Inventions” and how did they chiefly influence the economic growth of the United States down to 1860?
How would you explain the absence of commercial banks in America in Colonial times?
According to Adam Smith “there seems to be two cases in which it will generally be advantageous to lay some burden upon foreign for the encouragement of domestic industry.” Do you think the tariff act of 1816 could be fairly considered as coming under either of his exceptions to general free trade principles?
“It is now proper to proceed a step further, and to enumerate the principal circumstances from which it may be inferred that manufacturing establishments not only occasion a positive augmentation of the produce and revenue of the society, but that they contribute essentially to render them greater than they could possibly be without such establishments.” — Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures.
Mention as many of these “circumstances” as you can, and discuss one.
How do you explain the prevalence of much higher protective duties since the civil war than before it?
Mention three cases in which high duties have failed to cause any considerable growth of the industries affected, and compare these with any others in which the high duties did cause a growth of industry, pointing out a reason for the difference in result.
Compare the conditions which gave rise to the trade on the western rivers between 1815 and 1845 with the conditions which caused the growth of trade in the English colonies between 1700 and 1760.
To what extent have the people of the United States relied upon the assistance of government to supply transportation facilities? How would you explain the tendency to state intervention in this industry in the United States before 1850?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 6.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

Select at least eight questions and answer them concisely.

“The Southern States, then, are reduced to the very same relation to the tariff states, in point of principle, as that in which all the colonies formerly stood to Great Britain….
I confidently assert that the restrictions imposed by the tariff states upon the commerce of the planting states, are more injurious and oppressive than all the colonial restrictions and taxes which Great Britain ever imposed upon the commerce of our forefathers…” — McDuffie.
Do you think there is any grounds for such a comparison as this?
“It is sometimes loosely said, that America has been settled by the European races, and different portions are distinguished, as settled by the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The truth really is, that America, including its islands, has been settled chiefly from Africa, and by negroes….” — Weston.
How did African slavery affect the settlement and growth of the thirteen continental colonies?
How far has the United States applied the protective system to agriculture? Compare its policy in this respect with that of Continental Europe.
Point out the main causes of agricultural discontent in the following sections of the country: the South; the northern states east of the Mississippi River; the northern states west of the Mississippi River.
“Trusts have not yet been properly discriminated, and such a discrimination is necessary to a correct understanding of them. Some of the trusts have in them permanently vicious elements, whilst others, although not by any means harmless in their effect on political right, are so incapable of working prolonger and serious mischief that they may be left to the usual methods of relief or to their own inevitable dissolution.” — Bonham.
Discuss this proposition, pointing out the circumstances which render the power of a trust formidable to competitors, and how far all trusts are in possession of such advantages.
What reasons can you give for the failure of competition to regulate railway rates so as to secure justice to both buyer and seller of transportation? How far does the same reasoning apply to such industries as the manufacture of steel rails, and coal mining?
“Before inquiring as to general changes in our national condition which may justify a change of opinion and policy in this respect (i.e. restriction of immigration), let us deal briefly with two opinions regarding the immigration of the past, which stand in the war of any fair consideration of the subject. These two opinions were, first, that immigration constituted a net reinforcement of our population: and secondly, that, in addition to this, or irrespective of this, immigration was necessary, in order to supply the laborers who should do certain kinds of work, imperatively demanded for the building up of our industrial and social structure, which natives of the soil were unwilling to undertake.” — Walker. Discuss one of these opinions.
“In the early days of cotton growing it had been supposed that the cultivation of this staple would be carried on by white labor… It was a misfortune for Southern agriculture that slave labor was ever applied to the cultivation of the cotton plant. As has been pointed out in the preceding chapter, cotton culture offered many and great advantages over other crops for the use of slave labor; but slavery had few, if any, advantages over free labor for the cultivation of cotton…” — Hammond.
“Taking infants, aged, invalid, and vicious and knavish slaves into account, the ordinary and average cost of a certain task of labor is more than double in Virginia what it is in the adjoining free states.” — Olmsted.
Granting the truth of these statements how would you explain the growth of slavery in the United States after 1790? Compare these conditions with those existing in Virginia one hundred years earlier.
Sketch briefly the history of the legal tenders from the close of the civil war to the resumption of specie payments.
Compare the condition of the United States Treasury so far as its ability to maintain gold payments was concerned, in the years 1884-1885 and 1891-1893.
“…Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the great West. The existence of an area of free land, its constant recession, and the advance of American settlements westward, explain American development.” — Turner.
What features of American social and political development have been influenced or determined by the conditions here referred to?
Describe what you consider to be the most important change which has taken place in the South as a result of Emancipation.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), pp. 32-34. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects

[Economics] 8² hf. Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects. (Mediaeval and Modern.) Half-course(second half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 12. Dr. [William] Cunningham (Trinity College, Cambridge, England).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects.

[Economics] 8² hf. Dr. Cunningham. — Western Civilization, mediaeval and modern, in its Economic Aspects. Lectures (3 hours). 4 reports.

Total 105: 13 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 23 Sophomores, 1 Freshmen, 12 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

Course Reading List (1899)

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-economic-aspects-of-western-civilization-cunningham-1899/

1898-99.
Economics 8².
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

Answer the first 3 questions and any 3 of the later questions.

“In any community where there is wealth to spare, which can be sunk in magnificent buildings or other public works, there is a permanent record of its greatness or of the riches of its rulers. On the whole, when the characteristic buildings of each civilization were erected was the time of its greatest material prosperity; this gives us the means of gauging most definitely the precise nature of its contribution to the growth of Western Civilization as a whole.”
Explain and criticise.
Take any two of the evils of which complaint is made in the “Common Weal of the Realm.” What were the causes of those evils given in the dialogues? Were they, in your opinion, the real causes?
Why can we obtain a greater knowledge of medieval Europe generally through the study of a single country than we could obtain for modern Europe by the use of a similar method?
Trace the change from a natural to a money economy in agriculture, and in taxation.
Compare the policy of a medieval town with the national policy of European States which followed.
In what new direction and with what results was capital invested at the close of the Middle Ages?
Compare the commercial policies of Portugal, Holland, and England with reference to the East India trade.
(Take one.) For what is Western Civilization indebted to:

(a) The monastery.
(b) The crusades.
(c) The craft guild.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), p. 34. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Labor Question in Europe and the U.S.

[Economics] 9. The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Asst. Professor E. Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Labor Question in Europe and the U.S.

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Edward Cummings. — The Labor Question in Europe and the United States. The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen. Lectures (3 hours) and conferences; 2 reports; thesis.

Total 129: 2 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 42 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 12 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 9.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

So far as possible discuss both the historical and the theoretical aspects of the questions.

Is the principle of coöperation capable of indefinite extension and application? If not what are its limits?
Compare the English Trade Union congress with the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor.
Is the programme of trade unionism inconsistent with the coöperative ideal?
What do you understand by the English working classes; and what proportion do they bear to other classes in the community?
Indicate the manner in which English working people have met the exigencies of sickness, accident, old age, out of work.
What proportion of the working classes is identified with

a) the coöperative movement?
b) trade unionism?
c) the various forms of insurance?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 9.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

On what elements does the strength of a trade union depend? In what directions does it seem to you that American trade unions most need to develop in the future? In what specific respects may they profit by the policy and experience of European organizations?
“The workers should certainly not fail to realize how important is the recognition by them that only by unity and solidarity is there any hope for protection and progress.” — President Gompers.
Do the various forms of workingmen’s organizations give evidence of any distinctly differentiated wages class in the United States? Discuss carefully the evidence as to the extent and the limitations of class feeling among American workingmen.
“If unemployment insurance should follow trade lines, every argument would seem to indicate that such efforts should be made through existing organizations of workingmen.” Discuss the various forms of insurance against unemployment, and indicate the advantages and disadvantages of each form.
“France has joined Germany, Austria, Great Britain and Norway in the indorsement of the principles so boldly inaugurated by the first of these countries, — that the compensation of injured workmen should be compulsory upon their employers.”

(a) Explain the differences between the systems adopted in the countries named.
(b) Discuss the present status of employers’ liability and of accident insurance in the United States.

Contrast the condition of workmen in the United States, England, and on the Continent as regards earnings, conditions of employment, cost of living, and effectiveness of organization, — taking the condition of railway labor as the basis of your comparison.
Discuss the relative merits of the form which government interference on behalf of working people has taken in the United States and in European countries.
State briefly the most important conclusions which you have arrived at regarding the subject assigned you for special investigation

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), p. 35. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Industrial Revolution in England

[Economics] 11² hf. The Industrial Revolution in England. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Dr. [William] Cunningham (Trinity College, Cambridge, England).

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Industrial Revolution in England.

[Economics] 11² hf. Dr. Cunningham. — The Industrial Revolution in England. Lectures (2 hours) and conferences. 6 reports.

Total 98: 8 Graduates, 30 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 21 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

1898-99.
Economics 11².
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Take the first 2 and any 3 of the later questions.

(Devote at least one third of your time to this question.) Compare industry before and after the Industrial Revolution with reference to —
1. The function of capital.
2. The control of the capitalist or entrepreneur over production.
3. Status of the artisan, which should include discussion of mobility of labor, stability of employment, and extent and objects of associated activity.
Give some account of Francis Place and his importance as a social reformer.
An account of the silk industry in England. Show how it illustrates the economic policy of England during the 17^th and 18^th century?
Why was the mercantile policy ultimately given up? Was that policy, in your opinion, advantageous to England during the 18^th century?
Arrange in order of importance causes of distress in the factory towns during the first quarter of this century. To what causes may the subsequent improvement be ascribed?
Discuss distress among the agricultural population in the same way.
Contrast the English Corn Laws of the 18^th century with the law of 1815 with special reference to its results on different elements in the agricultural interest.
Describe the chief improvements which have been introduced into English mines with special reference to the work of Alexander Macdonald.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), p. 36. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems

[Economics] 12¹ hf. Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Half-course (first half-year).Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Banking and the History of the Leading Banking Systems.

[Economics] 12¹ hf. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. Lectures (3 hours).

Total 61: 2 Graduates, 41 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 12¹.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Reserve ONE THIRD of your time for questions under section B. Answer ALL the questions under A, and TWO of those under B.

Explain carefully the following terms:

(a) Safety or Guaranty Fund;
(b) Free banking;
(c) Reserve;
(d) Surplus;
(e) Daily Redemption;
(f) Clearing House Loan Certificates.

Compare Ricardo’s scheme for a national bank with the existing law for the bank of England.
What are the most striking advantages of the Scotch system of note issue?
Why is the Bank of France able to maintain a more uniform rate of discount than the Bank of England?
What provisions are made by the German bank law protecting, or tending to protect,

(a) notes;
(b) deposits?

White says [Money and Banking, p. 327], “In 1845 the State of Massachusetts passed a law providing that no bank should pay out over its counter any notes but its own.”
Was this law necessary for the working of the Suffolk Bank System?
What are the chief arguments for and against a system of banking with a central reserve as in England?

Discuss the following extract, and its consistency with the author’s aphorism that “money is that money does”:—
“Bankers’ deposits or liabilities are not money. Inscribed on the books of the bank itself, divided into no definite parts, constituting no tangible thing, having no outside course to run, with no separate identifiable existence, they are not money: they are simply an instrumentality for saving the use of money.” [Walker, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, October, 1893, p. 69.]
In what ways, if any, do the different proposals for modifying our present banking system appear to fall short of a theoretically perfect system of banking for the United States?
What are the circumstances which, beginning with 1865, have caused and kept up the great inequality observed in the distribution of national banks among the different sections of the Union?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Methods of Economic Investigation

[Economics] 13. Methods of Economic Investigation. — English Writers. — German Writers. Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Taussig.

Course 13 may also be taken in either half-year as a half-course.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 352.

1898-99 Enrollment
Methods of Economic Investigation.

[Economics] 13. Professor Taussig. — Methods of Economic Investigation. Rapid reading in English and German books, and discussion of questions of method and scope. Lectures and conferences. 2 hours.

Total 5: 2 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 72.

1898-99.
Economics 13.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Point out, as to one of the subjects named below, the nature of the problems in economics according as its scope is believed to be that of a positive science, a normative science, an art formulating precepts:

Bimetallism.
Economic Rent and the “nationalization” of land.
Wages and Trade Unions.

The nature and extent of the aid given by statistical and historical inquiry in solving the problems of international trade and of tariff legislation.
Adam Smith’s and Ricardo’s methods of reasoning on wages and profits.
“The method by which Economic Science should be carried into regions never penetrated by Ricardo was simple. It was only necessary to draw from the actual observation of affairs fresh premises relating to forces of what we have called the secondary order.”
Consider how far this general proposition is illustrated or confirmed by (1) Cairnes’s reasoning on the relation between cost, value, wages in different occupations; (2) Marshall’s reasoning as to demand-schedules, supply-schedules, and the theory of value and distribution.
The questions of definition arising as to the terms capital, rent, money; and your grounds for believing one or another use of these terms to be advantageous.
Keynes’s conclusions as to the mode in which economic history bears on economic theory; and your own.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 13.
[Year-End Exam, 1899]

“Alle konkreten volkswirthschaftliche Organisationsfragen sind also bedingt durch die Vorfrage, wie die psychologischen Grundtriebe bei dem fraglichen Volke durch Sitte und Recht modifiziert sind. Darum ist mir auch die Lehre von dem Egoismus oder dem Interesse, als dem psychologischen steten und gleichmässigen Ausgangspunkt aller wirthschaftlichen Handlungen nichts als eine bodenlose Oberflächlichkeit.” — Schmoller.
Explain; and give your own opinion.
“Die Geschichte bietet den Wissenschaften vom Staate und von der Volkswirthschaft . . . ein Erfahrungsmaterial ohne gleichen. Dieses Erfahrungsmaterial dient nun, wie jede gute Beobachtung und Beschreibung, dazu [1] theoretische Sätze zu illustrieren und zu verifiziren, die Grenzen nachzuweisen innerhalb deren bestimmte Wahrheiten gültig sind, [2] noch mehr aber neue Wahrheiten induktiv zu gewinnen. [3] Zumal in den komplizierteren Gebieten der Volkswirthschaftslehre ist nur auf Boden historischer Forschung voranzukommen; z. B. über die Wirkung der Maschineneinführung auf die Löhne, der Edelmetallproduktion auf den Geldwert, ist jedes bloss abstrakte Argumentieren wertlos. [4] Noch mehr gilt dies in Bezug auf die Entwickelung der volkswirthschaftlichen Institutionen und Theorien, sowie auf die Frage des allgemeinen wirthschaftlichen Fortschrittes.” – Schmoller.
Explain; and give your opinion as to the several conclusions as numbered.
“Das ist das Dilemma, vor welchem der Socialismus steht. Gelingt es ihm nicht, dem ersten Motiv noch eine genügende Wirksamkeit für die Arbeitsleistungen, für den technischen Fortschritt zu belassen, was nicht unmöglich, aber schwer, wen überhaupt mit den sonstigen Principien des Socialismus … in Einklang zu setzen ist; vermag er nicht das dritte, vierte, und vor Allem das fünfte Motiv in seinem System zu ordentlicher, mächtiger, wiederum mit seinen Principien aber noch vereinbarer Function zu setzen … was wen möglich, jedenfalls wieder ausserordentlich schwierig ist … so bleibt eben nichts Anderes übrig, als auf Zwang, Strafandrohung, kurz auf das zweite Motiv zurückzugreifen.”
Explain; and consider whether the difficulties and inconsistencies which Socialism must face are equally strong with the first motive as with the others referred to.
“Die Ergebnisse jedes der beiden Verfahren [Deduktion und Induktion] für sich allein haben hiernach ohne oder vor der Prüfung mittelst des anderen Verfahrens in Bezug auf die Wirklichkeit der Erscheinungen und auf deren Erklärung stets nur einen solch hypothetischen Werth.” — Wagner.
The reasoning which led to this conclusion; and your own opinion.

Answer summarily as many of the following as time permits.

Schmoller’s and Wagner’s statements of the ideal which the theory of distribution should set forth.
How far the scope of economics is differently defined by Cairnes, by Schmoller, by Wagner; and how far their conclusions as to methods of investigation rest on their demarcation of the science.
Schmoller’s views as to the nature of the services rendered by Adam Smith for economic theory; and your opinion as to the justice of these views.
The mode in which Wagner thinks the development of motives was affected by the system of restriction (e.g. guild system) and has been affected by the modern system of free competition.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), pp. 38-39. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

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1898-99 Course Announcement
Selected Topics in U.S. Financial Legislation

[Economics] 16. Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States. Tu., Th., at 2.30, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructor. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar.

Course 16 may be taken as a half-course during either half-year.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Selected Topics in U.S. Financial Legislation.

[Economics] 16. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — Selected Topics in the Financial Legislation of the United States. Lectures (2 hours). 4 reports.

Total 22: 4 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Sophomore, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 16.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

Give one half of the time allowed for this examination to the discussion under Section B.

Give the reasons which would lead you to justify, or reject, the following sentence:
“It is sometimes said that Mr. Hamilton believed in a perpetual debt, and when one notices the form into which he threw the obligations of the United States, the only escape from this conclusion is to say that he was ignorant of the true meaning of the contracts which he created.” [H. C. Adams, Public Debts, p. 161.]
What is the historical value of Jefferson’s account of the adopting of the funding and assumption measure, given in his Ana?
The plan on which the first Bank of the United States was organized has been criticised as unsound,
(a) because subscriptions for stock could be paid in part in “public debt” instead of cash;
(b) because of the provision as to the mode of paying the subscription to stock made by the government.
Give your own judgment as to the weight of these criticisms.
What was the real importance of the resort to excise duties as a regular source of revenue under the Federalist administration?
Suppose that in collecting the direct tax of 1798 it had been found that a part of the taxpayers in the State of X were unable to pay the amount assessed upon them, — would this deficiency have remained as a debt due by the State, or would it have been lost by the United States?
What untoward events, tending to defeat calculations made as to the income and expenditure of the government, occurred between 1794 and 1800?

Discuss the following extract,

(a) with respect to the statement of fact;
(b) with respect to the conclusion arrived at:—

“The result of financial operations during the twelve years of Federalist administration was to increase rather than to decrease the Federal debt. Upon January 1, 1791, the amount of outstanding obligations was $75,463,476; upon the corresponding date for 1795 the debt had risen to $80,747,587. While Wolcott was Secretary of the Treasury, the operations of the sinking-fund made no impression whatever upon the amount of indebtedness, and there was left by the Federalists as a legacy to the Jefferson administration a debt of $80,700,000. Nothing is here said in criticism of the fact that the debt increased. That may have been a necessity under the circumstances. Nor do we undertake to decide whether this necessity was due to inefficiency on the part of the Federalist administration, or to the carping criticisms of the Republicans out of office; our only conclusion is, that it is unwise to play at paying a debt while the debt is in reality growing. This leads to false security, and becomes a most prolific source of new loans.” [H. C. Adams, Public Debts, p. 266.]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 5, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-years 1898-1899.

1898-99.
Economics 16.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

In answering those questions do not change their order.

In what ways did the revulsion of 1873 affect the question of specie resumption?
Has the coinage of silver dollars since 1878 at any time been a seriously inflating influence? If not, how and when has its influence been counteracted?
What modes of redemption of legal tender notes are contemplated by the act of 1890, or are practicable under its terms? How is the gold reserve affected by redemptions thus carried on?
What special phenomena gave an unusual character to the financial crisis of 1893?
What was the seignorage bill of 1894, its purpose, and its fate?
What were the operations by which the syndicate of 1895 undertook to protect the Treasury against demands for gold?
What is the precise relation between “the endless chain” and deficient revenue?

Choose one of these two subjects, and discuss it carefully, devoting to it at least one-third of your time.

The possibility of returning to the specie basis after the great depreciation of the Civil War, without contraction, either open or disguised.
Sherman’s qualities and rank as a financier, as exhibited in the history of the great financial measures with which, as Senator or as Secretary, he has associated his name.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), pp. 39-40. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

_______________________

1898-99 Course Announcement
Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems.

[Economics] 17² hf. Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Dr. J. Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems.

[Economics] 17² hf. Dr. John Cummings. — Ethnology in its Applications to Economic and Social Problems. Lectures and discussions (3 or 2 hours); conferences; 2 reports; 2 theses.

Total 16: 1 Graduate, 4 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

1898-99.
Economics 17².
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

Devote one hour, but not more than one hour and a half, to A, and the remainder of your time to B.

“When the skulls are compared of the various human races, belonging to the past and present, it is found that the races in which the volume of the skull presents the greatest individual variations are the most highly civilized races. … Anatomical and physiological equality only exist in the case of individuals of quite inferior races.”
“The superior races are distinguished from the inferior races by their character as well as by their intelligence. … Character is formed by the combination, in varying proportions, of the different elements which psychologists are accustomed at the present day to designate by the name of sentiments.”
“The inequality between the different individuals of a race is greater in proportion to the superiority of the race.”
“Whether in the race or the individual a correlation exists between the psychological character, the cerebral structure and the form of the skull.”
Consider each of these statements carefully and comment at length.
The race history of the French people.

B.
Two questions may be omitted.

The colored population of the United States: its physical, moral, and intellectual character and progress since emancipation.
What do you understand by “cephalic index”? of what is it an index? Consider its validity as a test of (a) race origin, (b) of individual capacity.
“The constant immigration from all countries (to America) brings to light the question of adaptability and non-adaptability of the different races to the special conditions of American life.”
How is this question being answered in America? in other countries? Consider in this connection the ethnical composition of the slum populations of American cities, and some social problems which arise in connection with these populations.
In what sense are Anglo-Saxons as a race more hostile to socialism than other races?
Take one:—

The French Canadian population of the United States.
The population of the city of Boston.

State and explain some of the more important “laws” of Anthropo-Sociology.
The growth of cities and social selection.
“Anthropology is destined to revolutionize the political and social sciences as radically as bacteriology has revolutionized the science of medicine.” Comment upon and explain.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1899), pp. 40-41. In bound volume Examination Papers 1898-99.

_______________________

1898-99 Course Announcement
Seminary in Economics

[Economics] 20. The Seminary in Economics. Mon., at 4.30.

Subjects for 1898-99:—

(a) The Theory of Money. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar.
(b) Local Taxation in the United States. Professor Taussig.
(c) Socialism and Communism. Asst. Professor E. Cummings.

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Science 1898-99 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1898), p. 353.

1898-99 Enrollment
Seminary in Economics.

[Economics] 20. The Seminary in Economics. — Conferences (weekly); open meetings (fortnightly); thesis. Instructors and topics for 1898-99:

(a) Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — The Theory of Money. 1 Graduate.
(b) Professor Taussig. — Local Taxation in the United States. Total 7: 6 Graduates, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1898-99, p. 73.

Topics and Speakers at the
Seminary of Economics,
1898-99

Aids in economic investigation. Professor Taussig.
Economic study in England. Dr. O.M.W. Sprague.
The growth and the constituent elements of the population of Boston. Mr. F. A. Bushée (2).
Some operations of the United States Treasury in 1894-96. Professor Taussig.
The Interstate Commerce Act as interpreted by the courts. Mr. F. Hendrick.
The English industrial crisis of 1622. Dr. O. M. W. Sprague.
The earlier history of the English income tax. Dr. J. A. Hill.
The theory of savers’ rent and some of its applications. Dr. C. W. Mixter.
The working of the French Railway Conventions of 1883. Mr. F. Hendrick.
The adoption of the gold standard by England in 1816. Mr. D. F. Grass.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue 1899-1900, p. 417.

Image Source: Walter Babcock Swift (Photographer), Harvard Square looking south, ca. 1900. Harvard University Archives, Hollis Images.

Tags AldrichMA, Beardsley, Callender, CummingsEdward, CummingsJohn, Cunningham, MeyerHR, Sprague, Taussig, WarrenEH

Economic History Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Twenty years of graduate economic history exams. Gay and Usher, 1930-1949

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-09

This has turned into a post that is over fifty pages long when printed as a normal text document. It began with materials in a folder found in Alexander Gerschenkron’s papers at the Harvard archives that contained a test-bank of two of his predecessors in economic history at Harvard, Edwin F. Gay and Abbott Payson Usher, starting with the 1929-30 academic year. I thought this was a convenient collection to transcribe but soon found myself going through other archival material I have collected to fill in the inevitable “missing observations”. There are still a few gaps I am sorry to report, but not enough to stop me from posting this incredible collection of the exams for graduate courses in economic history at Harvard spanning twenty years during the first half of the 20th century.

Harvard’s catalogues of courses long distinguished between those “primarily for undergraduates”, “for undergraduates and graduates” and “primarily for graduates”. The exams transcribed below are from courses “primarily for graduates”.

__________________________________

Previous posts
(for 1921-1941)

Biographical info for Edwin F. Gay and Abbott Payson Usher.

Readings for undergraduate european economic history (Economics 2a). Usher, 1921.

Final Exam Questions for undergraduate European Economic History (Economics 2a). Usher, 1922.

Readings and final exam for undergraduate/graduate History of Commerce to 1750 (Economics 10a). Usher, 1929-30.

Readings and Exam for undergraduate European Economic History since the Industrial Revolution (Economics 2a) Gay, 1934.

Course outline, readings, and exam for undergraduate/graduate Development of Industrial Society (Economics 10b). Usher, 1934.

Readings for Recent Economic History (Economics 23). Gay, 1934-35.

Readings and paper topics for Economic History to 1450 (Economics 21) Usher, 1934-35.

Topics/readings for Modern Economic History Seminar (Economics 136). Usher, 1937-41.

__________________________________

1929-30

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Economics 23 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

[Economics 24. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay.

Omitted in 1929-30.

Economics 25. Recent Economic History

Tu., Th., at 4. Professor Gay.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXVI (September 19, 1929), No. 44, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1929-1930 (Second Edition), p. 124.

Enrollment

Economics 23 ¹hf. Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 1: 1 Graduate.

Economics 25 Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 47: 40 Graduates, 7 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1929-30, p. 78.

1929-30.
Harvard University.
Economics 23¹.
[Mid-year Exam, 1930]

Answer five questions.

What distinction may be drawn between the process of invention and the process of achievement? Give illustrations.
What reasons may be advanced for considering the beginning of the Christian Era a line of demarcation of primary importance?
Comment on the individual terms and the general doctrine of the following passage:
For centuries the Roman adhered to his “two-field system” of agriculture, and rectangular fields, and the Germans preserved the ancestral “strip system” of fields of their village communities. Even the reduction of these free villages to manorial villages and the fiscal pressure of the manorial regime failed completely to fuse or even much to modify these immemorial farming practices.
Discuss the meanings of the terms “civitas”, “oppidum”, “portus” and their relation to the problem of the origin of the medieval towns.
What distinctions may be drawn between the “free” craft and the “worn” craft? What were the functions of the wardens of a craft guild?
Describe the general features of a radiate market system, and explain the broader characteristics of its price structure in normal times.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1929-30
Harvard University.
Economics 25
[Mid-year Exam, 1930]

PART I

(An hour to an hour and a half)
Write an essay on one of the following topics.

The practical triumphs of the Ricardian economies before 1850.
The “movement of liberation,” or “laissez-faire,” as applied to the condition of the industrial workers.
An outline history of any decade between 1790 and 1860. In Europe and the United States, emphasizing the economic factors, and giving reasons for the choice of decade.

PART II

Write on three of the following questions.

Comment on the following statement:
[As compared with England] “the postponement of personal freedom gave the continental serfs one signal advantage. Emancipation was accomplished without the sacrifice of their rights in the soil.”
Give a definition or a concise description of the “putting-out” system; justify your inclusions and exclusions.
Describe briefly the relations between the agricultural development of the United States and Europe before 1860.
Outline the attitude of the government to railroads in England, the United States, and France, before 1860.
On two occasions in his life — 1819 and 1844 — Sir Robert Peel thought that he had placed the English monetary system on a sure foundation. Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 12, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1929-30.

1929-30
Harvard University.
Economics 25
[Year-end Exam, 1930]

Adequate and appropriate historical evidence must be presented in support of any opinions and generalizations.

Answer four of the following questions.

Discuss the following statement, especially emphasizing the relations between banking and agriculture in American economic history:
“It is hardly too much to say that the political as well as economic history of America has been dominated by real estate speculation and by the cheap money controversy, largely an offshoot from the former.”
F. H. KNIGHT, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (1921), p. 17.
Explain and illustrate the following passage from Alfred Marshall, Industry and Trade (1919), p. 746:
“[The English classical economists] overlooked the fact that many of those indirect effects of Protection which aggravated then, and would aggravate now, its direct evils in England, worked in the opposite direction in America. For the more America exported her raw produce in return for manufacture, the less the benefit she got from the Law of Increasing Return….”
Compare and criticize the two theories of the development of the Industrial Revolution implied in the two following quotations:
“La préponderance économique du commerce, trait dominant de la phase économique qui s’étend du commencement du XVI^e siècle à la fin du XVIII^e, va decroître relativement à l’industrie naissante.”
B. Nogaro and W. Oualid, L’Évolution du Commerce, du Crédit et des Transports (1914), p. 9.
“…it was this slow process of finding out the opaque matters of fact that make up the material of technological science that occupied several generations of the British before the Germans took over any appreciable portion of it. The first acquisition of this material knowledge is necessarily a slow work of trial and error, but it can be held and transmitted in definite and unequivocal shape, and the acquisition of it by such transfer is no laborious or uncertain matter.”
T. Veblen, Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution (1915), p. 185.
Discuss the tendency toward aggregation and control in industry in the United States, Germany, and England, with comment on the following statements:
1. “Our people cannot live and thrive under the regime of bureaucracy that threatens unless industry solves its own problems. It was the abuses attendant upon an unregulated national industrial impulse that brought upon our country that legislative monstrosity known as the Sherman anti-trust law…. It is industry’s own neglect … that gives us a growing number of boards, commissions and tribunals to add their weight to the burden of industry.” American Federation of Labor (1924)
  “The state is not capable of preventing the development of the natural concentration of industry.”
  S. Gompers, Presidential Address to the American Federation of Labor, 1899.
  “Our big business has not justified the fears of our people.” Owen D. Young.
2. As contrasted with the growth of industrial combination in other countries, a French writer thinks that “trusts” have arisen in the United States because the government has “done too little or too much” — i.e. too little intelligent and effective regulation (including the regulations of railroads) and too much protection by tariffs.
What have the successive booms and crises, the upward and downward swings of business cycles, during the last century taught the banker, the manufacturer, and the wage-earner?
Comment on the accompanying statistical table:

Net tonnage of leading mercantile fleets, 1850-1920
(in thousand tons)

		1850	1870	1890	1910	1920
United Kingdom	sail	3,397	4,578	2,936	1,114	625
United Kingdom	steam	168	1,113	5,043	10,443	12,026
United States (in foreign trade)	sail	1,541	2,449	749	235	937
United States (in foreign trade)	steam	45	97	198	557	8,626
German Empire	sail		900	710	507	342
German Empire	steam		82	724	2,397	221
France	sail	674	918	444	636	267
France	steam	14	154	500	816	1,746
Norway	sail	298	1,009	1,503	628	225
Norway	steam		14	203	897	1,149
Japan	sail			48	413	203
Japan	steam			94	1,234	1,900

Note: The figures for the year 1920 have been obtained from another source, and are not reliably comparable with the figures for the earlier years. There is particular suspicion of error in the figures for United States shipping in that year.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, New Testament, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (January-June 1930) in Vol. 72 Examination Papers, Finals 1930.

__________________________________

1930-1931

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Economics 23 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

[Economics 24. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay.

Omitted in 1930-31.

Economics 25. Recent Economic History

Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Gay.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXVII (September 17, 1930), No. 42, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1930-1931 (Second Edition), p. 125.

Enrollment

Economics 23 ¹hf. Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 2: 1 Graduate, 1 Senior.

Economics 25 Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 50: 41 Graduates, 9 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1930-31, p. 77.

1930-31
Harvard University
Economics 23.
[Mid-year Exam 1931]

Answer five questions.

What distinctions may be drawn between the process of invention and the process of achievement? Give illustrations.
What reasons may be advanced for considering the beginning of the Christian Era a line of demarcation of primary importance to economic history?
Sketch the history of the “colonus” in Roman Gaul and in the Frankish kingdoms.
Discuss the meanings of the terms “civitas”, “oppidum”, “portus” and their relation to the problem of the origins of the medieval towns.
What distinctions may be drawn between the “free” craft and the “sworn” craft? What were the functions of the wardens of a craft gild?
Describe the general features of a radiate market system, and explain the broader characteristics of its price structure.
Write briefly on any one of the following topics:

shipping partnerships and sea-loans,
towns and trade routes of the Mohammedan world,
Venice, Genoa, and the crusades.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1930-31
Harvard University
Economics 25
[Mid-Year Exam, 1931]

Write an essay on one of the topics in Part I, and answer briefly two questions in Part II.

The relation between the development of economic theory and the experiences of the period of the Industrial Revolution in England.
English Liberalism: its component elements as a body of doctrine, and its expression in political action before 1865, with especial emphasis upon its attitude toward economic policy.

Summarize in parallel columns the outstanding events in the economic history of England and the United States between 1840 and 1850.
Do the same for England and France between 1850 and 1870.
How closely is the history of transportation in England before 1870 related to the long and the short fluctuations in general business activity?
Outline the chief points you would treat in a chapter on Money and Banking for an Economic History of the Nineteenth Century to 1865.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 12, Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1930-31.

1930-31
Harvard University
Economics 25
[Year-end Exam, 1931]

I
Write an essay on one of the following statements:

“The machine, the child of laissez faire, has slain its parent.”
“You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
“The one-crop system has been the bane of American agriculture.”
“In England the Reform Act initiated and the Corn Law decreed the conquest of town over country, factory over farm; in the United States a similar revolution is in process.”
“The Sherman Act, like Canute’s throne, was set to stem the advancing tide. Now the question is, shall it be submerged or dragged back to higher land.”

II
Write concisely on two of the following questions:

What are four outstanding developments of banking from about 1790 to the present time? Compare and contrast these movements in Western Europe and the United States.
In what successful ways did Western Europe meet the invasion of American agricultural products after 1870?
Place in their order of industrial and commercial importance, at 1750, 1880 and 1930, the following countries: Holland, Germany, France, England and the United States. Give your reasons.
Trace the connection, if any, between (a) the swings of business cycles and secular trends and (b) the development of the combination movement and trade unionism.

__________________________________

1931-1932

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Economics 23 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

[Economics 24. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay.

Omitted in 1931-32.

Economics 25. Recent Economic History

Wed., Fri., at 4. Professor Gay.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXVIII (September 24, 1931), No. 45, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1931-1932 (Second Edition), p. 127.

Enrollment

Economics 23 ¹hf. Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 1: 1 Graduate.

Economics 25. Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 65: 54 Graduates, 11 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1931-32, p. 72.

1931-32
Harvard University
Economics 23
[Final Exam 1932]

Answer five questions.

Write briefly on any one of the following topics:

the development of the mechanical clock,
the development of the sailing vessel, 1200-1450,
the application of power to milling, 100B.C.-1300 A.D.

May any of the industrial establishments of ancient Greece or Rome be properly classified as factories? Why, or why not?
What was the significance of the types of establishment whose classification is involved in such doubts?
Describe the general features of the organization of the craft gilds.
In what respect do we find differences in the various regions of Europe?
Describe the legal and economic features of villein tenure in France and England in the middle ages.
How may we explain the development of towns in Italy and Northern Europe after the ninth century?
What were the distinctive privileges of a town?
Describe the operations of banks of deposit in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and discus their significance in the development of credit.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1931-32
Harvard University
Economics 25
[Mid-Year Exam, 1932]

Write an essay on one of the topics in Part I, and answer briefly three questions in Part II.

“The changes of the Industrial Revolution in England were interrelated both serially and laterally, i.e., as between commerce, industry and agriculture.”
“The policy of Free Trade has dislocated the whole structure of English society.”
Peasant proprietorship in Western Europe.

Estimate the significance of Peel’s administration (1842-46) in the economic history of England.
Discuss the “home-market” argument in United States tariff history.
Comment on the statement: “Between 1830 and 1840 the issue between individualists and collectivists was fairly joined.”
“The introduction of railways marks a stage in the Industrial Revolution in England, not as in some countries its beginning.” Give illustrations for three countries of this statement.

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

1931-32
Harvard University
Economics 25
[Year-End Exam, 1932]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) on any one of the following questions, and answer more briefly two other questions.

Compare the governmental railroad policies of the United States, England and Germany since 1870.
Explain the movement toward a protective tariff policy since 1860, with illustrations drawn from the economic history of two countries which led in the movement.
Does historical experience support the arguments of the advocates of ship subsidies for the United States?
Discuss the following statements:
“Virtual monopoly is an incident of our industrial development.” Senator Aldrich.
“The trust movement was and is a direct response to certain forces inherent in modern industry, and if it ought to be controlled, it must be controlled with those forces in mind.” Professor Jenks.
It is said that the labor movement in the United States is a generation behind that of England. Give your reasons for or against this statement.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Vol. 74 (HUC 7000.28) Examination Papers, Finals 1932.

__________________________________

1932-1933

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Economics 23 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

[Economics 24. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged, Professor Gay.

Omitted in 1932-33.

Economics 25 ¹hf. Recent Economic History

Half-course (first half-year). Wed., Fri. at 4. Professor Gay.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXIX (September 19, 1932), No. 41, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1932-1933 (Second Edition), p. 126.

Enrollment

Economics 23 ¹hf. Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 4: 4 Graduates.

Economics 25 ¹hf. Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 51: 39 Graduates, 12 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1932-33, p. 66.

Note: Have found no copy of the Economics 23¹ exam as of yet for 1932-33.

1932-33
Harvard University
Economics 25¹
[Mid-year Final Exam, 1933]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) on any one of the following questions, and answer concisely three other questions.

Compare governmental regulation of railroads, as developed in the United States, with governmental ownership as in Germany, emphasizing the merits and defects of the two methods of control. Do these historical experiences throw any light upon the present railroad problem in the United States?
Is free trade responsible for the relative decline of the British iron and steel industry as compared with that of the United States and Germany? Enumerate and weigh the chief factors accounting for the development of the industry in these countries.
(a) Trace the successive steps in banking reform in England and the United States. Is there any parallelism?
(b) How do you explain the differences between the two countries in regard to the movements of banking concentration and industrial combination?
Outline a series of chapters in a book on the agricultural “world invasion” of European markets.
“Among the agencies which labor has chosen to defend its interests are the trade union, the cooperative society, and political action.” What has been the relative importance of these agencies at three stages of the British labor movement?
Discuss critically Dice’s views concerning “collectivism” and its causes.

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

__________________________________

1933-1934

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 21 ²hf. (formerly Economics 23) Economic History to 1450

Half-course (second half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

[Economics 22. (formerly Economics 24) Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay.

Omitted in 1933-34; to be offered in 1934-35.

Economics 23 ²hf. (formerly Economics 25) Recent Economic History

Half-course (second half-year). Wed., Fri., at 4. Professor Gay.

[Economics 24. Topics in American Economic History]

Hours to be arranged. Professor A. H. Cole.

Omitted in 1933-34.

[Economics 25. (formerly Economics 30). Economic Problems of Latin America]

Tu., Th., at 3.

Omitted in 1933-34.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXX (September 20, 1933), No. 39, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1933-1934 (Second Edition), pp. 127-128.

Enrollment

Economics 21 ²hf. (formerly Economics 23). Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 3: 2 Graduates, 1 Seniors.

Economics 23 ²hf. (formerly Economics 25). Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 18: 13 Graduates, 5 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1933-34, p. 85.

Note: Have not found exam for Economics 21 ²hf. (formerly Economics 23) Economic History to 1450

1933-34
Havard University
Economics 23²
[Final Exam 1934]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) on any one of the first six questions, and answer concisely three other questions (including question 7).

Discuss the following statements:
“The present agricultural depression differs in its origin and character in many respects from the general depression of the period 1873-96, but in the conditions which brought about the depression of 1873-96 there are important points of similarity with the post-war situation.”
“The European attitude toward agriculture is entirely different from that of the great exporting countries beyond the seas.”
“The choice (in railway management) is between rationalization and nationalization.” (Sir Eric Geddes.)
“The trend, in all forms of transport and over a long period, is inevitably toward amalgamation. As between private monopoly and public ownership the choice is clear; the only question is as to the form which public ownership shall take.”
Comment on these views. In what respects does the experience of the United States differ from that of England and Germany?
The Webs say that there was a time at the middle of the nineteenth century when capitalism “could claim that it had produced a surprising advance in material civilization for greatly increased populations. But from that moment to the present it has been receding from defeat to defeat, beaten ever more and more hopelessly by the social problems created by the very civilization it has built up.”
A critic of the present governmental policies has recently declared that, with the various restrictions on output, wage and price regulations, and codes of business practice, the United States is returning to the Age of Diocletian or to the medieval gild-system, and thereby imperiling the chief gains of the great technological and economic progress since the Industrial Revolution.
Comment on the two points of view, and give reasons for your own view as to the present direction of economic and social development.
Compare the history of banking reforms since 1815 in England and the United States with reference to the successive business cycles.
What part, according to the Macmillan Report, has the United States played in the post-war economic situation; and in the proposals for monetary and banking reform, made in this Report, what is practicable for the United States?
“The Cooperative movement is one of the constituent elements in the socialist state.”
“No social group, on the Continent of Europe, is more important, and none more intensely individualistic, than the peasant landholders.”
Which of these assertions is more nearly true? Can they be reconciled?
Which among the books you have read in this course do you regard as the best? State your reasons and discuss that book critically.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1934-1935

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 21 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

Economics 22. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay

Economics 23 Recent Economic History

Tu., Th., at 4. Professor Gay.

[Economics 24. Topics in American Economic History]

Hours to be arranged. Professor A. H. Cole.

Omitted in 1934-35

[Economics 25. Economic Problems of Latin America]

Tu., Th., at 3.

Omitted in 1934-35.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXI (September 20, 1934), No. 38, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1934-1935 (Second Edition), p. 128.

Enrollment

Economics 21 ¹hf. Associate Professor Usher. — Economic History to 1450.

Total 4: 2 Graduates, 2 Seniors.

Economics 23. Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 22: 16 Graduates, 1 Senior, 4 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1934-35, p. 82.

Economics 21. Economic History to 1450.
Readings and paper topics, Usher. 1934

1934-35
Harvard University
Economics 21
[Final Exam. Jan 18, 1935]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay upon some topic selected from the reading period assignments, or upon one of the following topics:
1. a multilinear concept of historical process,
2. systems of agriculture in the open field villages of England and Europe.

II
Answer three questions

Describe the rights and obligations of the peasant cultivator in two types of the perpetual leases of Roman and medieval law.
Describe the primary features of an organized market, and the simple and radiate forms of market systems.
Discuss the nature and importance of capitalistic control of industry in medieval Europe.
Describe the characteristic functions and features of religious gilds in England.
Sketch the early history of deposit banking in medieval Europe.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1934-35
Harvard University
Economic 23
[Mid-year Exam 1935]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) on any one of the following questions and answer concisely three other questions.

Discuss critically the following statements:
1. In England, up to the middle of the eighteenth century, “production was regulated by local consumption…After an apprenticeship of greater or less length everyone became a master; the State guaranteed the guilds a monopoly of production and secured the interests of the consumer by requiring all products to pass certain standard tests. But this patriarchal state of things suddenly gave way before a movement which has been justly called the Industrial Revolution. To these gigantic changes (machinery, steam, factories, wide markets, chain of middle-men) the guild system soon showed itself inadequate.” (Guido de Ruggiero, History of European Liberalism.)
2. For about fifty years before the middle of the eighteenth century in England, “trade had been freed from the oppression of the dying guilds, but machinery had not yet come to the aid of capitalism to enable it to overturn and destroy the whole social fabric and especially the livelihood of the poor.” (R. W. Postgate.)
“Metallurgy and the metal workers have an absolute primacy in the history of modern manufacturing industry.” (Clapham.)
Illustrate this statement for England.
Is it equally true for all countries?
“It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.”
Was this true when John Stuart Mill wrote it in 1848? If so, why?
Outline a chapter (or a book) on the Agrarian Revolution in England.
Describe the development of the Zollverein, distinguishing the economic and the political factors.
The significance of the decade of the forties in European economic history.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1934-35
Harvard University
Economics 23
[Year-end Exam, 1935]

Write an essay not more than half your time) discussing one of the quotations or topics in this paper, and comment concisely on three others.

“It is believed that, had it not been for the free-trade policy of Great Britain, the manufacturing system of America would at the present time have been much more extensive than it is.” (Ellison, 1858.)
“There is some truth in the view of the cynical British exporter who thanked God for the American tariff, but for which American manufacturers would have driven him out of the world markets.’ (London “Economist,” 1912.)
“In my belief, both Free Trade of the laissez-faire type and Protection of the predatory type are policies of Empire, and both make for War.” (H. J. Mackinder, 1919.)
Do you find any confirmation for these views in your reading of American tariff history? Illustrate from the cotton or iron industry.
“On voit apparaître chaque jour davantage tout ce que l’Angleterre, depuis cent ans, devait à des circonstances que les contemporains avaient cru permanantes et qui n’etaient que passagères.
L’hégémonie économique anglaise coincide dans l’histoire avec le règne de la machine à vapeur; la période victorienne, apogée de prosperité et de puissance, évolue tout entière sous le signe du charbon….C’est ainsi qu’a pu s’édifier, sur al base étroite d’un territoire plus que médiocre, cette paradoxale superstructure manufacturière, et parallèlement s’épanouir cette population aujourd’hui trop dense, si dangereusement dépendante, pour sa subsistance, des produits importés….
Dans ces conditions, le jeu parfaitement agencé de la doctrine libre-échangiste paraissait avoir été concu tout exprès pour l’Angleterre, par les soins d’une Providence attentive et partiale.” (Siegfried, 1931.)
The National Banking system is “not only a perfectly safe system of banking, but it is one that is eminently adapted to our political institutions.” (Hugh McCulloch, 1863.)
“American banking has not yet distinguished between solvency after an interval, and readiness to meet demands at once and without question… At present the characteristics of the American business man seem to fit him to do most things better than banking.” (Hartley Withers, 1909.)
“Everybody will agree to-day that it would be difficult to imagine a banking system more cruel and inefficient than that prevailing in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century — a system which, instead of scientifically regulating the flow of credit and money so as to secure the greatest possible stability, was designed automatically to produce instability.” (Paul Warburg, 1930.)
“The technological revolution of the last hundred years furnishes the ultimate explanation of agricultural progress and of agrarian discontent both in Europe and America.” (ca. 1925)
“Though the mechanization of industrial processes is almost universal, the great majority of farmers throughout the world are content with the simple instruments used by their forefathers.” (“World Agriculture,” 1932.)
“The significant fact is that the periods of prosperity and the great depressions in agriculture have coincided with periods of monetary expansion and monetary contraction. Though other factors must not be ignored, the agricultural history of the last hundred years shows that favorable monetary conditions are essential to recovery.” (“World Agriculture,” 1932.)
“The Merchant Marine of the United States is not a burden upon the tax-payer’s back, but an economy of the first water, keeping millions in the country, giving employment to thousands of persons, aiding in the development of foreign markets and backing up the nation’s forces in any contingency that may arise.” (Senator Royal S. Copeland, 1934.)
“Our own vessels carry only about 40 per cent of our foreign trade. We are dependent on our competitors to carry 60 per cent of our trade to market. Of course, the result is that they help themselves and hamper us. Parity in merchant ships is only less important than parity in warships. We ought to make the necessary sacrifices to secure it.” (Calvin Coolidge, 1930.)
D. H. Robertson, writing in 1923, concerning the American Railroad Act of 1920 and the increased powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, says:
“The home of free enterprise has furnished us with experiments in positive State control on a scale which finds no parallel outside Communist Russia.”
Louis D. Brandeis in 1912 wrote: “The success of the Interstate Commerce Commission has been invoked as an argument in favor of licensing and regulating monopoly.” This argument, he held, was not valid. Do you agree? Why or why not?
In a period when traditional standards have broken down and when the legal system is supported by laissez-faire theory, the movement toward industrial combination is “a remorseless sort of profit-seeking.” (M. W. Watkins, 1928.)
“The only argument that has been seriously advanced in favor of private monopoly is that competition involves waste, while the monopoly prevents waste and leads to efficiency. This argument is essentially unsound. The wastes of competition are negligible. The economies of monopoly are superficial and delusive. The efficiency of monopoly is at the best temporary.” (L. D. Brandeis, in Harper’s Weekly, 1913.)
“Our evidence goes to show that most of the Trusts and Cartels have been, in their origin at any rate, defensive movements.” (D. H. MacGregor, 1912.)
Industrial combinations must be recognized as “steps in the greater efficiency, the increased economy, and the better organization of industry.” (Minority Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Trusts, 1918.)
Write on the topic which, in your reading for this course, has most interested you.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1935-1936

From Course Announcements

II
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

[Economics 21 ¹hf. Economic History to 1450]

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Associate Professor Usher.

Omitted in 1935-36.

Economics 22. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Gay

Economics 23 Recent Economic History

Wed., Fri., at 4. Professor Gay.

Economics 24. Seminar. Topics in American Economic History

Hours to be arranged. Professor A. H. Cole.

[Economics 25. Economic Problems of Latin America]

Tu., Th., at 3.

Omitted in 1935-36.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXII (September 18, 1935), No. 42, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1935-1936 (Second Edition), p. 140.

Enrollment

Economics 23. Professor Gay. — Recent Economic History.

Total 31: 24 Graduates, 7 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1935-36, p. 83.

1935-36
Harvard University
Economics 23
[Mid-year Exam, 1936]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) discussing one of the quotations or topics in this paper, and comment concisely on three others.

(a) “The essence of the Industrial Revolution is the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth.”
(b) The use of machinery “began by being the resultant of these two phenomena (the extension of the exchange of commodities and the increase in the division of labor), at one of the decisive moments in their evolution. This crisis, distinguished by the appearance of machinery, best defines the industrial revolution.”
The relations between the industrial and agrarian revolutions in England.
(a) The chief measures of factory legislation in England.
(b) To what extent and why, on the continent of Europe, did factory legislation lag behind that of England?
(a) In 1850 Porter wrote: “The laissez faire system has been pregnant with great loss and inconvenience to the country in carrying forward the railway system.” Heaton has recently remarked: “Considering the novelty of the car and the strangeness of the route, parliament could retort to Porter that it had been a fairly competent back-seat driver.”
(b) A French writer in 1883 explained the contrast between private enterprise in English railway management and public control or ownership in France and Germany as resulting mainly from the more advanced state of English economic development.
“The safest lesson to draw from the experience of Germany is the simple fact that changes in tariff policy were only one, and commonly not the most important, amongst the many causes of her economic progress.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1935-36
Harvard University
Economics 23
[Year-end Exam, 1936]

Write an essay (not more than half your time) discussing one of the questions in this paper, and comment concisely on three others.

Taussig finds that the development of trusts under protection does not “confirm the doctrine that the tariff matures monopolies permanently. … The industrial influence of the protective tariff tends to become less and less.” Illustrate with any two of his three cases — steel rails, tin plate and sugar refining. What is the basic historical relationship between the movements toward industrial combination and toward protectionism in Europe and America?
“The significant fact is that the periods of prosperity and the great depressions in agriculture have coincided with periods of monetary expansion and monetary contraction. Though other factors must not be ignored, the agricultural history of the last hundred years shows that favorable monetary conditions are essential to recovery.” (“World Agriculture,” 1932.) Give your reasons for agreement or criticism. What weight do you give to the “other factors”?
“A general view of the monetary history of the entire period of our national existence shows that each generation had to learn for itself and at its own expense the evils of unsound money and of defective banking.” Is the assertion also true of modern Europe? In outlining and comparing the experience of both America and Europe, distinguish between inherent unsoundness and lags of development.
“It remains clear that the Industrial Revolution is not a closed episode; we are living in the midst of it, and the economic problems of to-day are largely problems of its making.” (W. C. Mitchell, 1929.)
“Unregulated capitalism is being superseded by a regulated, organized and controlled capitalism.” (Hansen, 1932.)
“In the United States the profit motive . . . worked to the end of blind self-destruction.” (Childs, 1936.)
How far are these statements true and consistent with each other? In what respects are they questionable?
Clapham quotes a competent German observer of the English working classes, writing in the 80’s, as finding “an improvement . .. beyond the boldest hopes of even those who, a generation ago, devoted all their energies to the work.”
A recent writer, declaring that we must choose between security and progress, asks: “Have we reached a sufficiently high standard of per capita productivity to warrant stabilization at the present standard of living?”
Does Clapham agree that the German estimate was justified? What connections do you see between the two quotations?
“For all the exaggeration in the statements that English unionism has sounded the death-knell to English industrial leadership, it remains true that the absence of firmly entrenched unions in the cotton and iron manufactures has facilitated the march of improvement in the United States.”
“The English, by labor organization and social legislation, have built a platform over the abyss.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

Summer School of Harvard University
August 15, 1936
Economics S20 (Economics 23)

Write an essay (not more than half your time) discussing one of the questions in this paper, and comment concisely on three others.

(a) “The Napoleonic wars exercised the same influence upon subsequent commercial policy in France (though for different reasons) as the Civil War in the United States.” (Percy Ashley)
(b) “The British protective system up to 1846 had been maintained chiefly for the sake of agriculture; the German protective system from 1848 to 1860 had been dictated by the interests of manufacturers; now (in 1879) an effort was to be made to harmonize these two and to give a fair measure of protection to all.” (Percy Ashley)
“It remains clear that the Industrial Revolution is not a closed episode; we are living in the midst of it.” (W. C. Mitchell, 1929)
“Two contrasting theories of banking were put forward at the beginning of the nineteenth century and subsequently they controlled the banking development of the different countries.”
State precisely the two theories and their historical effects.
(a) “The one-crop system has been the bane of American agriculture.”
(b) In what ways did Western Europe meet the invasion of American agricultural products after 1870?
Trace the connection, if any, between (a) the fluctuations of business cycles and secular price trends, and (b) the development of the railroad network and railroad governmental policies in England and the United States since 1830.
“Among the agencies which labor has chosen to defend its interests are the trade union, the cooperative society, and political action.” (Webb) What has been the relative importance of these agencies at three stages of the British Labor movement? Compare and explain the differing development of American labor history.
“The wastes of competition are negligible. The economies of monopoly are superficial and delusive. The efficiency of monopoly is at the best temporary… Excesses of competition lead to monopoly, as excesses of liberty lead to absolutism.” (L. D. Brandeis, 1912)
“We are persuaded by our study of the combination movement at home and abroad that it is essentially a movement making for economy, efficiency, and better relations in business.” (Seager and Gulick, 1932)
What is your view, supported by what evidence?
Select the ten-year period in English and American economic history of the nineteenth century which you believe to be the most important, giving your reasons, and then summarize in parallel columns the outstanding events of that decade for both countries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1936-1937

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

[Economics 131 ¹hf. (formerly 21). Economic History to 1450]

Half-course (first half-year). Two hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

Omitted in 1936-37.

Economics 133 (formerly 23). Recent Economic History

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 4. Professor Usher.

[Economics 136 (formerly 22). Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor —

Omitted in 1936-37.

Economics 137 ²hf. (formerly 24). Seminar. Topics in American Economic History

Half-course (second half-year). Hours to be arranged. Professor A. H. Cole.

[Economics 138 (formerly 25). Economic Problems of Latin America]

Tu., Th., at 3.

Omitted in 1936-37.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXIII (September 23, 1936), No. 42, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1936-1937 (Second Edition), p. 146.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133 (formerly 23). Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History.

Total 36: 31 Graduates, 5 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1936-37, p. 93.

[NOTE: the final exams volume for 1936-37 binds January-June, 1937 together so for full courses it appears only the June exam were included.]

1936-37
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Examination, 1937]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the historical significance of the theory of monopolistic competition; the concept of interregional equilibrium.

II
(About two hours)
[Handwritten addition: Answer three questions]

Answer (a) or (b).
1. In what respects did the Ricardian group misjudge the structure of the London money market of their day?
2. Sketch the development of contacts between the United States Treasury and the New York money market in the period, 1869-1914.
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Sketch the history of the petroleum industry in the United States during the decade 1870-1879.
2. Discuss the development and the significance of any single cartel in Great Britain or Germany.
Describe briefly the position of British agriculture during the period 1878-1895, and discuss the relative significance of the factors primarily involved.
Answer (a), (b), or (c)
1. Discuss the relations between sugar growing in Hawaii and the position of Hawaiian products in the markets of the United States.
2. Is tariff protection likely to afford Great Britain an adequate solution to the problem of foreign dumping?
3. Discuss the relative importance of political and economic factors in the tariff policies of France or Germany since 1871.
Answer (a), (b), or (c).
1. Discuss the significance of recent tendencies toward centralized control of power production in Great Britain and continental Europe.
2. Sketch the development of the Royal Dutch-Shell Petroleum Company and discuss the significance of its position in the world market.
3. Discuss the relative importance of birth rates and death rates in the history of population in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1937-1938

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133 (formerly 23). Recent Economic History, 1820-1914

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 4. Professor Usher.

Economics 136 (formerly 22). Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

[Economics 137 ²hf. (formerly 24). Seminar. Topics in American Economic History]

Half-course (second half-year). Hours to be arranged. Professor —.

Omitted in 1937-38.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXIV (October 1, 1937), No. 44, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1937-1938 (Second Edition), p. 153.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133 (formerly 23). Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Total 33: 25 Graduates, 2 Business School, 1 Public Administration, 4 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Economics 136 (formerly 22). Professor Usher. — Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History.

Total 7: 7 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1937-38, p. 86.

1937-38
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Mid-year Exam, 1938]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based upon the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the concept of social evolution as a multilinear process; the development of free trade in Great Britain.

II
(About two hours)

Answer three questions:

What were the more important factors underlying the differences in the rates of growth of the cotton and the woollen industries in the period, 1750-1850?
Answer a, b, c, or d.
1. Describe and discuss the characteristic features of railway rates in Trunk line territory before 1887.
2. Discuss the general features and the significance of the consolidation of railways in Great Britain in 1921.
3. Sketch the history of the French railway network through 1883.
4. Discuss the significance of water competition for the railways of Germany.
Describe the primary factors in the location and development of London, Paris, or New York city.
Discuss the problems presented by the proposal to include Austria in the German Customs Union, 1848-1863.
Answer a, b, or c.
1. Discuss the place of the small holding in Great Britain, with special reference to its development since the agricultural depression (1878-1895).
2. Describe the factors affecting the development of small peasant holdings in France.
3. Describe the organization and routine on some of the large slave plantations of the old south.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 13. Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (January-Febrary 1938) included in bound volume Mid-Year Examinations 1938.

1937-38
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Exam, 1938]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period or on one of the following topics: planning in free societies; modern tendencies toward autarchy.

II
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss the policies used by the Bank of England between 1825 and 1910 in establishing its rate of discount.
2. What considerations seem to have led Biddle to apply in January 1832 for an extension of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States?
Discuss the characteristic practices of pools and cartels in the United States up to 1899.
Discuss: “The Corn Law of 1815 like the Agriculture Act of 1920 attempted to stabilize returns to the British wheat grower, but the machinery of the act of 1920 was even less adapted to its purpose than the machinery established in 1815.”
Answer (a), (b), (c), or (d).
1. Does the history of the silk manufacture in the United States afford decisive evidence of the significance of protection to young industries? Why, or why not?
2. Discuss the argument that protection will make it possible for Britain to maintain her “standard of life.”
3. Discuss: “In France, protection has been the parent as well as the child of fear. It has strengthened the force, which in conjunction with ignorance, gave it birth.”
4. What principles and purposes dominated the fiscal policy of Bismarck?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 4. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (June 1938).

__________________________________

1938-1939

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

[Note change in course numbering]

Economics 133. Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 4. Professor Usher.

Economics 136. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

[Economics 137 ²hf. Seminar. Topics in American Economic History]

Half-course (second half-year). Hours to be arranged. Professor —.

Omitted in 1938-39.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXV (September 23, 1939), No. 42, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1938-1939 (Second Edition), p. 150.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133. Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Total 46: 40 Graduates, 2 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 2 Others.

Economics 136. Professor Usher. — Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History.

Total 10: 9 Graduates, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1938-39, p. 99.

1938-39
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Mid-year Exam, 1939]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: feudal tenures as a basis for land utilization; the significance of the quantitative method in economic history.

II
Answer THREE questions

Sketch the history of the application of machinery in the textile industries of Great Britain, France, Germany, or the United States for any period of 100 years between 1700 and 1900.
Describe the salient features of the railway network in any one country, and discuss the merits of public policy in respect of railway construction in that country.
Within what limits of accuracy may we compute the quantitative significance of the following inventions: Darby’s process for smelting iron with coke, Fourneyron’s turbine, the Jacquard loom action?
Sketch the development of the fiscal policy embodied in Peel’s budget of 1842, and discuss its significance.
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss: “The long succession of preemption acts were but premonitions of a free land policy, a policy destined to come, but hindered by sectional interests and differences for many years.”
2. Discuss the economic and the political significance of the major compromises embodied in the ordinances creating the national domain in the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1938-39
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Exam, 1939]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the bullionists and the Bullion Report; the anti-monopoly policy in the United States.

II
Answer three questions

Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the lessons of the crisis of 1847? In what ways did this crisis affect the policies of the Bank of England?
2. What were the merits and the defects of the organization of the call loan market in New York prior to 1914?
Answer (a), (b), or (c).
1. Discuss the attempts to establish international control of the sugar trade between 1926 and 1932.
2. Sketch the development of trusts and cartels in Great Britain after 1914.
3. Describe the characteristic types of “concern” in post-war Germany.
Answer (a), (b), (c), or (d).
1. Has the United States gained enough from the development of the Beet Sugar culture to justify the costs?
2. Can policy of tariff preferences between Great Britain and her dominions be defended on economic grounds?
3. Discuss the theories which served as the basis for the development of protection in France after 1889.
4. Sketch the development of agrarian influences upon German tariff policy after 18790 and discuss briefly the merits of the basic demands.
Discuss the influence of the development of hydro-electric power sites upon the industrial future of Italy.
What changes in the Malthusian theory of population are necessary to bring its broader elements into conformity with the historical record of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

__________________________________

1939-1940

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133. Recent Economic History, 1820-1914

Mon., Wed., Fri. at 3. Professor Usher.

[Economics 136. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

Omitted in 1939-40; to be given in 1940-41.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXVI (September 22, 1939), No. 42, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1939-1940 (Second Edition), p. 158.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133. Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Total 50: 41 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Public Administration, 4 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1939-40, p. 100.

1939-40
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 133
[Mid-Year Exam, 1940]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the concept of nodality, the effective sphere of pure competition in the industrial societies of the nineteenth century.

II
Answer three questions

Answer a, b, c, d, or e.
1. How many of the basic forms of industrial organization were to be found in the textile industries of the United States between 1790 and 1830? What was their relative importance?
2. Describe the distinctive features in the organization, equipment, and management of the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham in its early years.
3. Discuss: “Those who draw all their illustrative material from the textile industries fall into serious errors in their judgment of the effect of machinery upon labour.”
4. Describe the position of organized labor in Germany towards the close of the nineteenth century.
5. Sketch the development in the use of iron and its products in England between 1800 and 1890.
In what ways and to what extent do geographic factors affect the rate structure of a given railway network?
Answer a, or b.
1. What considerations led the various groups of German states to accept the leadership of Prussia in the Customs Union?
2. Sketch the activities of M. Chevalier in the negotiation of the Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce of 1860.
Answer a, b, or c.
1. What elements of ambiguity made it difficult to interpret and enforce the resolutions of the French National Assembly of August 4 and 11, 1789? What interpretation was finally established by the legislation of 1792 and 1793?
2. Does the experience of France and Germany in the late nineteenth century warrant the belief that the number of small holdings can be now increased or even maintained without tariff protection or financial aid?
3. Discuss: “Although southerners have persistently asserted that the interstate slave trade was of no substantial significance, the structure of slave prices provides decisive evidence that the trade was vital to the perpetuation of slavery as a system.”
Discuss: “Southern systems of settlement were based on a policy of free land, and the actual introduction of such modes of settlement on the Public Domain was largely due to southern influence, but formal recognition of the policy was long and successfully opposed by southern members of Congress.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1939-1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 133
[Year-End Exam, 1940]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: Malthus and the theory of population; technological factors underlying tendencies towards integration in the production and distribution of electricity.

II
Answer THREE questions

Answer (a) or (b).
1. “In actual operation, the Bank Act of 1844, instead of tying the currency more closely to gold, injected an additional amount of credit into the reserves of the English banking system.” Discuss.
2. Sketch the development of the Suffok banking system and discuss its significance.
Describe the conditions in the American iron industry that led to the formation of the United States Steel Corporation. What may we presume to have been the effect of this achievement upon competition in the industry?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss the effectiveness of the British Wheat Act of 1932.
2. Describe the organization of the Russian collective farms and their influence upon productivity.
Answer (a), (b), (c), or (d).
1. Discuss the relation of the changes in the duties on wool and woolens in the U. S. tariff act of 1913 to the general concept of a competitive tariff.
2. Does Beveridge offer a satisfactory defense for a continuance of a free trade policy in Great Britain? Why, or why not?
3. Discuss the concepts of tariff policy held by Protectionists and Liberals in France, with special reference to the precise points of difference between them.
4. Describe and discuss Bismarck’s theories of taxation and fiscal policy.
Does the development of hydro-electric power significantly affect either the immediate or the ultimate location of economic activity in Europe and the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 5. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (June 1940).

__________________________________

1940-1941

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133. Recent Economic History, 1820-1914

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Usher.

Economics 136. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

[Previous post for the Economics 136 Seminar]

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXVII (March 4, 1940), No. 7, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1940-1941 (Provisional Announcement), p. 161.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133. Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Total 41: 31 Graduates, 4 Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe.

Economics 136. Professor Usher. — Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History.

Total 10: 9 Graduates, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1940-41, p. 59.

1940-41
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Mid-year Exam, 1941]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: typical deviations from a “normal” distance principle in railway rate structures; elements of a concept of social evolution implicit in the work of Bentham and Malthus.

II
Answer THREE questions

What were the primary changes in the processes of producing malleable iron in the late eighteenth century? In what fields did these changes extend the use of iron products?
Describe the changes in ocean shipping services that resulted in the organized attempt to control rates through shipping conferences. Do you feel that these rate agreements imposed undesirable restrictions upon free competition?
Under what circumstances is labor “externally conditioned”? Do such phenomena make the location of economic activity indeterminate?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the objectives of the Middle German Commercial Union? What were the basic factors in its failure?
2. Describe the protectionist groups in Germany between 1833 and 1865, and point out the reasons for the ineffectiveness of their activities.
Describe the broader features of the concentration of ownership of land in England, France, and Prussia in the late nineteenth century. Have we reason to believe that the degree of concentration was affected by the agrarian reforms of the period 1750-1850?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 14, Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science in a bound volume, Mid-Year Examinations—1941.

1940-41
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Exam, 1941]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the significance of locational theory for the restatement of the theory of international trade; the fallacies and dangers in the concept of a closed economy.

II
Answer THREE questions

Answer (a) or (b).
1. Sketch the development of the Bank of England as a central bank.
2. Describe the nature and the extent of the concentration of bank reserves in New York city under the old National Banking system. Was this a desirable or adequate means of achieving centralization of reserves? Why, or why not?
What were Adam Smith’s views on the use of the corporate form in private business, both as to public policy and private administration?
Does the history of private business corporations in the United States belie the wisdom of Smith’s judgment? Why, or why not?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss the place of wheat growing in British farming, and the effect upon agriculture in general of policies affecting wheat culture.
2. Were the countries of South Eastern Europe suffering from over-population in 1930? Why, or why not?
Answer (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e).
1. What circumstances led to the revision of the United States tariff in 1909? In what measure were the objectives of revision actually achieved?
2. Have we grounds for presuming that the development of the iron and steel industry of the United States was significantly influenced by the protection given it? Why, or why not?
3. What changes have taken place since 1880 in the position of Great Britain in the export markets of the world?
4. Discuss: “The agrarian interests in France made a fatal mistake in the decade of the eighties by seeking to share in protection instead of seeking reductions in the duties on manufactures.”
5. Discuss the program of the agrarian party in Germany towards the close of the last century.
Do changes in the expectation of life afford a significant measure of material well-being? Why, or why not?

__________________________________

1941-1942

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133. Recent Economic History, 1820-1914

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Usher.

[Economics 136. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher

Omitted in 1941-42.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXVIII (September 18, 1941), No. 54, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1941-1942, p. 61.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133. Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History, 1820-1914.

Total 34: 26 Graduates, 4 Public Administration, 4 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1941-42, p. 64.

1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Mid-year Exam, 1942]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based upon the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the postulates of liberalism; the influence of improvements in transport upon the importance of primary nodes.

II
Answer THREE questions

Sketch the broader features of the process of achievement, and indicate explicitly its relation to the process of invention.
Discuss: “The Marxian concept of the labor problem was largely implicit in the Marxian concept of the factory. Careful analysis of the conditions of employment in factories affords a basis for a significant restatement of the problems of labor.”
Answer (a), (b), (c), or (d).
1. Sketch the development of railroad rebates in the United States and discuss the elements of danger to shippers and to the public.
2. Describe the procedure of railway amalgamation in Great Britain in 1921, and discuss briefly the treatment of basic problems.
3. Describe the reorganization of French railways in 1921, and discuss the advantages of the plan.
4. Does the sketch of German railway policy in Barker actually support the conclusions he draws in respect of the advantages of state ownership?
In what respects does the history of the iron industry show the importance of a dominant material on the location and the structure of an industry? Draw illustrative material from the history of the industry in Great Britain, France, Germany, or the United States.
Answer (a), (b), or (c).
1. In what ways and in what degree did crop rotations lead to improvements in productivity and to more adequate differentiation of land use?
2. Sketch the development of the procedures and the policy of making grants of public lands to further internal improvements.
3. In what ways did the defects of the Harrison Act of 1800 lead to a demand for the revision of the general principles of public land policy?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 15, Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,…Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1942 in bound volume Mid-year Examinations—1942.

1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Exam, 1942]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: concepts and measures of material well-being, the gold standard in the nineteenth century.

II
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the essential features of the credit policy proposed by the Banking School, 1820-1840? In what respects was it unsound?
2. Sketch the development of the Free Banking system in the United States. Discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
Discuss the issues of fact raised by the prosecution of the United States Steel Corporation. Do you feel that the position taken by the Court was sound? Why, or why not?
Discuss the policy of Great Britain towards agriculture during and since the great depression. Do you feel that agriculture was sacrificed to misguided loyalty to a free trade policy?
Describe the effects of technical development upon units of management in the production and distribution of electricity since 1890.
Answer any one of the following:
1. Discuss the relative merits of proration and unit operation as solutions of the problem of regulating the production of petroleum.
2. Sketch the history of the reservation of oil lands by the government of the United States, and the development of their exploitation.
3. Sketch the development of oil production and trade in eastern Europe and the Dutch East Indies from 1900 to 1924.
4. Sketch the development of British oil policies, 1900-1924.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1942
Harvard University
Economics S133

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on the selected topic.

II.
Answer three questions: exclusive of the general topic of the essay.

Answer a or b:
1. Sketch the development of the factory system from its origins to a position of clear dominance in Great Britain, or in Germany
2. Sketch the development of the factory system in the United States to 1880.
Answer a, b, c, or d:
1. Describe and discuss the characteristic features of railway rates in Trunk line territory before 1887.
2. Discuss the general features and the significance of the consolidation of railways in Great Britain in 1921.
3. Sketch the history of the French railway network through 1883.
4. Discuss the significance of water competition for the railways of Germany.
Under what circumstances is labor “externally conditioned”? Do such phenomena make the location of economic activity indeterminate?
Answer a or b:
1. Discuss the contributions of Peel and Cobden to the establishment of Free Trade in Great Britain.
2. Sketch the progress of negotiations leading to the German Customs Union during the years 1828 to 1834.
Answer a or b:
1. Sketch the development of the Bank of England as a central bank.
2. Sketch the development of contacts between the United States Treasury and the New York money market in the period, 1869-1914
Answer a or b:
1. Sketch the history of the petroleum Industry in the United States from 1859-1879.
2. Discuss the development and the significance of any single cartel in Great Britain or Germany.
Answer a, b, c, d, or e:
1. What was the purpose of the compensating duties in the woollen and worsted schedules of the United States tariff of 1867, 1883, and 1890? Did the duties as levied achieve this purpose?
2. Describe the different forms of dumping. How did the forms prevalent in the United States before 1914 affect the development of our domestic industries? Was dumping disadvantageous to the consumers of similar goods in the United States?
3. Does imperial preference meet the essential needs of ether Great Britain or her dominions? Why, or why not?
4. Discuss: “The history of protection in France shows clearly the impossibility of securing trustworthy objective evidence of its effect, but the record of the nineteenth century affords no presumption that the benefits of protection offset the palpable increases in the cost of living due to the tariffs.”
5. Has the experience of Germany thrown new light upon the effects of protection to agriculture? Why, or why not?
Answer a or b:
In what ways and to what extent have technological changes, since 1900, affected the regional balance of primary resources in Europe and the world at large?
What changes in the Malthusian theory of population are necessary to bring its broader elements into conformity with the historical record of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1942-1943

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133. Recent Economic History, 1820-1914

Mon., Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Usher.

Economics 136. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History]

Two consecutive hours a week, to be arranged. Professor Usher.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XXXIX (September 23, 1942), No. 53, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1942-1943, p. 56.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133. Professor Usher. — Recent Economic History.

Total 15: 10 Graduates, 3 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1942-43 p. 48.

1942-43
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Mid-year Exam, 1943]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the shortcomings of Victorian liberalism, out-standing definitions of the factory and their significance.

II
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss the changing conditions of competition among the various textile products from 1750 to 1851.
2. Describe the out-standing technical improvements in the iron industry in England in the late eighteenth century.
Answer one of the following:
1. Describe the devices employed by railroads in the United States to make personal discriminations in favor of particular shippers. What success has been achieved in the suppression of these practices?
2. Describe and discuss the primary features of the British Railway Act of 1921.
3. Discuss the relative significance of the benefits to the railroads and the new liabilities involved in the Conventions of 1883 between the great railroad companies and the French government.
4. Describe the inland waterways of Germany and discuss their place in the transport system.
What are the more important weight-losing materials? What is their relative significance for the localization of economic activity at the present time?
In what ways and to what extent did purely fiscal motives enter into the reform of the British tariff in the first half of the nineteenth century?
Answer (a), (b), or (c).
1. In what ways did new problems of land use affect the character of agrarian reforms in England and in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
2. What compromises were involved in the adjustments of the claims to western lands?
3. Sketch the development of the political agitation for free land through the passage of the Homestead Act.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1942-43
Harvard University
Economics 133
[Year-end Exam, 1943]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: modern formulations of autarky as an objective of economic policy; Victorian Liberalism — its prestige as a gospel, its deficiencies as a social philosophy.

II
Answer three questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. Describe the primary features of the London money market in the early nineteenth century, indicating essential specialization of function.
2. Describe the various elements in the Democratic party that were hostile to the Second Bank of the United States. In what ways, and to what extent did they influence Jackson?
Was the Sherman Law an appropriate and well designed instrument to prevent the kinds of abuse of economic power that were emerging in the United States about 1890? Why, or why not?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Discuss British policy towards wheat growing before and after World War I.
2. Does German trade under exchange controls offer an adequate solution to the problems of the agricultural areas of south eastern Europe? Why, or why not?
Sketch the development of centralized power production in Great Britain and Germany.
In what respects does the record of population growth in Great Britain reveal the presence of factors unsuspected by Malthus?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1943-1944

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133a. Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (summer term; to be repeated in spring term). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Usher.

Students will attend classes in Economics 33a and do supplementary work for [graduate] credit in this course.

Economics 133b. Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (winter term). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Usher.

Students will attend classes in Economics 33b and do supplementary work for [graduate] credit in this course.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XL (March 29, 1943), No. 4, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1943-1944, p. 40.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133a. (winter term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1750-1860.

Total 16: 12 Graduates, 2 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe.

Economics 133b. (winter term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1860-1914.

Total 23: 16 Graduates, 2 Public Administration, 4 Radcliffe, 1 Other

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1943-44 p. 57.

1943-44
Harvard University
Economics 33a, 133a
[Final Examination, June 1944]

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: Bentham’s contribution to the content of liberalism: the theory of invention.

II
(About two hours)
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the characteristic features of the agrarian reforms in France, 1750-1815?
2. Have we reason to presume that the plantation would have developed significantly in southern United States if slave labor had not become available? Did slave labor make the plantation more profitable than farming with free labor? Why, or why not?
Why has it been misleading to develop a concept of an “Industrial Revolution” that is to be identified with the period 1760-1800?
The generalization of the factory system created new problems in labor relations which were very imperfectly covered by the methods of collective bargaining even at their best.
In what ways did the development of steam navigation create new problems in merchant service and in national policy?
What is the significance of water and water power for the location of economic activity?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1943-44
Harvard University
Economics 33b, 133b
[Final Exam, February 1944]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one
of the following topics: planning in a free society, the significance of monopolistic competition theory for the formulation of policies for the control of business.

II
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b):
1. Describe the structure of the Bank of England under the Bank Act of 1844. What was the significance of the distinctive features of the new structure?
2. Sketch the development of the Suffolk Bank system.
Answer (a) or (b):
1. In what ways does the topography of a region exert an influence on the pattern of the railway network? What typical patterns of networks may be distinguished?
2. Describe the broader features of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Do you feel that the courts were at fault for the disappointments experienced by the advocates of strict control?
Answer (a), (b), or (c):
1. What factors enabled the Standard Oil group to secure transport differentials from the railroads and from the pipe line companies?
2. What factors have controlled the development of integration of industry in Great Britain since 1870?
3. What changes have taken place in the structure of big business in Germany since 1919? How may we explain this development?
Describe the place of water power in the power system of the United States. Discuss the problems of policy involved in the full and effective utilization of these water powers.
What modifications of the Malthusian theory of population are necessary to bring its broader features into conformity with the historical record of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1944-1945

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133a. Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (winter term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Usher.

Students will attend classes in Economics 33a and do supplementary work for [graduate] credit in this course.

Economics 133b. Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (winter term; to be repeated in spring term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 2. Professor Usher.

Students will attend classes in Economics 33b and do supplementary work for [graduate] credit in this course.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLI (September 15, 1944), No. 19, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1944-1945, pp. 36-37.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133a. (winter term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1750-1860.

Total 20: 14 Graduates, 3 Public Administration, 3 Radcliffe.

Economics 133b. (winter term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1860-1914.

Total 17: 15 Graduates, 4 Public Administration, 7 Radcliffe [sic]

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1944-45 p. 64.

1944-45
Harvard University
Economics 33a, 133a
[Final Exam, February 1945]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: liberalism; the structure and objectives of a free society.

II
Answer three questions

Answer a, b, or c.
1. In what ways did the rights enjoyed by English “landlords” of the eighteenth century fall short of being rights of unqualified ownership?
2. Discuss: “Homestead settlement had its essential roots in the practices of southern United States, but the formal adoption of the policy was persistently opposed by southern members in Congress.”
3. Sketch the various types of labor management used on southern plantations.
What are the essential features of the system of quantity production? Was the date of its significant introduction determined primarily by economic or by technological conditions?
Answer a or b.
1. Discuss the critical problems involved in the definition of a factory.
2. Describe the more conspicuous abuses in the administration of the old poor laws. Comment on the reform accomplished in 1834.
What conditions stood in the way of an early development of the operation of ocean going steamships by American builders and owners?
Why did the application of power to industry and transport alter the significance of surplus food supplies for the location of economic activity?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 10. Papers Printed for Final Examinations Winter Term [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (February 1945).

1944-45
Harvard University
Economics 33b, 133b
[Final Exam. June 1945]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic covered by the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: revisions and restatements of the theory of population; the future of the liberal concept of economic statesmanship.

II
Answer three questions

Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the primary contentions of the Bullionist writers? In what respects would their positions now be criticized?
2. What tendencies towards centralization of banking appeared in the United States in the early nineteenth century?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Under what circumstances does value of the transport service modify the rate structure of a railway network? Are discriminations of this nature “reasonable”?
2. In what ways did the Hepburn Act (1906) extend the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission? Were the new powers adequate?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Describe the position of the United States Steel Corporation in the industry about the time of the decision of the Supreme Court. Do you feel that the Court was justified in finding that “full and free competition” existed in the industry?
2. Does the experience of Germany indicate that the “cartel” is a satisfactory and permanent means of organizing big business enterprises? Why, or why not?
What is, at present, the relative significance of coal, oil, and water power as sources of mechanical energy? Are there grounds for believing that the future development of water power will significantly alter the pattern of industrialization in the world?
Describe recent tendencies toward centralization of power production in Great Britain and continental Europe. Discuss the economic and social consequences of these changes.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 10. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (June 1945).

__________________________________

1945-1946

From Course Announcements

III
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Economics 133a. Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (fall term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher.

Economics 133b. Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (spring term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLII (March 31, 1945), No. 8, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1945-1946, p. 40.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133a. (fall term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1750-1860.

Total 54: 34 Graduates, 1 Junior, 1 Freshman, 4 Public Administration, 14 Radcliffe.

Economics 133b. (spring term) Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1860-1914.

Total 79: 58 Graduates, 1 Sophomore, 9 Public Administration, 11 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1945-46, p. 59.

1945-1946
Harvard University
Economic 133a
[Final Exam, August 1946]

Answer all questions. Question 1 is given double weight. Please write clearly and in ink.

Write an essay of one hour on the factors which appear to have controlled the timing and rate of industrial development of areas, using illustrative material from the industrial history of England, France, Germany, and the United States. What recommendations respecting policy would you make to a government of a backward nation anxious to achieve, not only parity in industrial development and technology, but also a position of leadership in these fields?
Compare the major features of the structures of land ownership and use, and of agricultural organization during the first half of the nineteenth century in two of the following regions: Great Britain, France, the southern United States, the American West. Discuss fully the economics of each of the two systems considered and criticize in the light of this discussion the public and private policies involved in each.
Explain how the Industrial Revolution and the factory system in Great Britain altered the position of the workers in the economic system, and discuss in the light of the prevailing concepts of economic and political organization the problems of government labor policy which arose.
Analyze the remarkable boom in the American shipping and ship-building industries between 1830 and 1856, and the subsequent collapse. In this connection, what features of American and British merchant marine policy appear to have been important, and which of these policies might be criticized as being undesirable or ill-conceived from the American point of view?
Discuss the evolution of the structure of the British money market and banking system between the late eighteenth century and the mid-nineteenth century, showing the major changes which occurred, and analyzing the primary problems which arose.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1945-1946
Harvard University
Economics 133b
[Final Exam, August 1946]

Answer all questions. Please write clearly and in ink.

Compare the primary features since 1860 of railway organization and public railway policy in two of the following countries: the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain. Analyze the points of strength and weakness which you find in each of the two cases.
Analyze the reasons for the continued failure of American foreign-trade shipping to make progress between 1860 and 1914. In particular, what problems were encountered in the use of ship subsidies, and what conclusions do you draw from this experience, and that of other countries, regarding the essentials of a good subsidy policy?
Analyze the reasons for the development of industrial integration in the United States, and explain the timing of the movement. In this connection compare and criticize the integration movements and associated public policies in the United States and in Germany or Britain.
What major problems have arisen in connection with the control and exploitations of major sources of energy for capitalistic economies? How has the energy problem conditioned the economic development and basic policies of western nations?
Analyze the factors responsible for the agricultural maladjustments of the period 1914-1939. In what respects does this period differ from that from 1870 to 1914?
Write an essay discussing those features of the economic history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which seem to you evidences of progress, and those which seem the reverse. What concept and test of progress, or of the lack of it, do you consider valid.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1946-1947

From Course Announcements

III

[NOTE: the announcement of courses of instruction no longer distinguishes “Economic history” courses from others in group III…cf: Group I Theory/Group II Statistics]

Economics 133a. Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (fall term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher.

Economics 133b. Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (spring term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLIII (September 3, 1946), No. 21, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1946-1947, p. 45.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133a. Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1750-1860 (F).

Total 68: 46 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 1 Junior, 10 Public Administration, 8 Radcliffe.

Economics 133b. Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1860-1914 (Sp).

Total 73: 50 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 12 Public Administration, 9 Radcliffe

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1946-47, p. 71.

1946-47
Harvard University
Economics 133a
[Final Exam, January 1947]

I
About one hour

Write an essay based on the work of the reading period or on one of the following topics: the Marxian concept of the factory and its problems: British and American shipping subsidies.

II
Answer three questions.

What were the essential features of the rotation systems developed in Great Britain and in Europe? In what ways and to what extent did the introduction of the rotations require reform of tenure and of village organization?
Discuss: “Recent developments of science and of scientific methods have made invention a laboratory process; it has become a group activity independent of particular individual endowments.”
What are the characteristic features of craft industry? Describe and define the different kinds of relationships to be found in the craft industries.
Is Weber’s treatment of transportation costs as uniform ton-mile rates a satisfactory basis for the theoretical analysis of the location of economic activity? Why, or why not?
Answer a or b.
1. What political and economic circumstances led to the success and significance of the German Customs Union?
2. In what respects was the liberal philosophy of the nineteenth century unsound or incomplete?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1946-47
Harvard University
Economics 133b
[Final Exam, May 1947]

I
About one hour

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the legal concept of “free competition” in U. S. statutes and case decisions; the significance of the value of transport in railroad rate structures.

II
Answer THREE questions

Answer (a) or (b).
1. What were the merits and defects of the defense of the policies of the Bank of England made by the officers of the Bank, in the period 1820-1840?
2. Describe the tendencies toward centralization of banking activity in the state banking systems of the United States prior to 1860.
Answer (a), (b), or (c).
1. Sketch the development of British policy towards railroad construction and regulation, 1830-1914.
2. In what ways did the government of France give financial aid to the construction and operation of railroads prior to World War I?
3. What were the characteristic features of the rate structure in the southern United States prior to World War I?
In what ways did the development of the Bessemer Converter and the Open Hearth process affect the structure and organization of the iron and steel industry?
Discuss the social and economic problems embodied in the doctrine of “capture” as developed in the United States in respect of property rights in petroleum.
Discuss: “The Malthusian principles of population were not essentially incorrect, though the formulation by Malthus was infelicitous and incomplete, and later discussion has commonly exaggerated the defects of the original presentation.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1947-1948

From Course Announcements

III

Economics 133a. Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (fall term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher and Assistant Professor Rostow.

Economics 133b. Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (spring term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher and Assistant Professor Rostow.

Economics 136a. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Half-course (spring term). Hours to be arranged. Professor Usher and Assistant Professor Rostow.

Economics 136b. Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Half-course (spring term). Hours to be arranged. Professor Usher and Assistant Professor Rostow.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLIV (September 9, 1947), No. 25, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1947-1948, p. 74.

Enrollment

III

Economics 133a. Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1750-1860 (F).

Total 77: 59 Graduates, 11 Public Administration, 7 Radcliffe.

Economics 133b. Professor Usher. — Economic History, 1860-1914 (Sp).

Total 65: 50 Graduates, 8 Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe, 1 Other

Economics 136a. Professor Usher. — Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History (F).

(F) Total 7: 5 Graduates, 1 Junior, 1 Radcliffe

Economics 136b. Professor Usher. — Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History (Sp).

(Sp) Total 5: 5 Graduates

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1947-48, p. 91.

1947-48
Harvard University
Economics 133a
[Final Exam, January 1948]

I.
About one hour

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the place of energy resources in the economy of a region, the concept of the factory.

II.
Answer three questions

Answer a, b, or c.
1. How did copyhold tenures arise in England? In what respects, and on what grounds, were the relations of the copyholder to his lord modified by judicial interpretation?
2. Discuss: “The National Assembly destroys entirely the feudal régime, and decrees the abolition without compensation of all feudal dues.” Resolution of Aug. 11, 1789.
3. Discuss the political and economic issues involved in granting rights of preemption to squatters on the Public Domain.
Answer a, or b.
1. What were the more important stages in the development and application of the hydraulic and steam turbines?
2. Describe the official and unofficial procedures for establishing wage rates in England in the eighteenth century.
Describe the various types of improved inland waterways, and discuss the effectiveness of competition between waterways and railroads.
What types of industries can be most advantageously located at wholesale market sites? why?
Discuss: “The function of state coercion is to override individual coercion; and, of course, coercion exercised by any association of individuals within the state.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

1947-48
Harvard University
Economics 133b
[Final Exam, May 1948]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: “malefactors of great wealth,” the judicial concept of competition.

II
Answer THREE questions.

Answer (a) or (b):
1. “The Bank Act of 1844 is an outstanding illustration of erroneous policy: the act failed to achieve any of its essential purposes; it remained on the statute books because it secured incidental conveniences that were really without importance.” Discuss.
2. Describe the relations between the United States Treasury and the National Banks, 1865-1913.
Answer (a), (b) or (c):
1. What are the obstacles to the adoption of cost of service as a test of the “reasonableness” of railroad rates?
2. In what ways, and to what extent did the British government encourage competition among railroads in the nineteenth century?
3. Did the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 provide adequate remedies for the abuses against which it was directed? Why, or why not?
Describe the technical factors affecting the size of the enterprise in the iron and steel industry, or the electric power industry.
Discuss the competitive position of coal as a source of energy since 1900.
In what ways and to what extent do vital statistics throw light upon the relative well-being of different populations?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

__________________________________

1948-1949

From Course Announcements

Note: Usher’s last year, Gerschenkron’s first year.

III

Economics 233a (formerly 133a). Economic History, 1750-1860

Half-course (fall term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

Economics 233b (formerly 133b). Economic History, 1860-1914

Half-course (spring term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

Economics 236 (formerly 136a and 136b). Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History

Full-course. Wed., 4-6. Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLV (September 15, 1948), No. 24, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1948-1949, p. 78.

Enrollment

III

Economics 233a (formerly 133a). Economic History, 1750-1860 (F). Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

Total 43: 38 Graduates, 1 Senior, 2 Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe. [sic]

Economics 233b (formerly 133b). Economic History, 1860-1914 (Sp). Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

Total 42: 38 Graduates, 2 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe

Economics 236 (formerly 136a and 136b). Seminar. Topics in Modern Economic History (Full Co.) Professor Usher and Associate Professor Gerschenkron.

(F) Total 2: 2 Graduates
(Sp) Total 4: 2 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Public Administration

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1948-49, p. 78.

1948-49
Harvard University
Economics 233a
[Final Exam, January 1949]

I
About one Hour

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the process of invention, the copyhold tenure.

II
Answer three questions

Answer a, b, or c.
1. Describe the primary features of the métayage tenures in France. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the tenure.
2. In what ways did the defects of the Harrison Act of 1800 lead to a demand for the revision of the general principles of public land policy?
3. Discuss the problems of determining the effective costs of slave labor on the plantations of the southern United States.
In what ways and to what extent did the development of the factory system modify the position of the capitalist or entrepreneur?
In what way did the development of steam navigation affect the character of competition and the organization of oceanic shipping in the second half of the nineteenth century?
Answer a or b.
1. What factors must be considered in computing the capacity of a railroad? What are the more conspicuous kinds of unused capacity?
2. Describe the primary features of the patterns of procurement and distribution costs in a material oriented industry.
Answer a or b.
1. Discuss the relative significance of Peel’s budget of 1842 and the repeal of the Corn Laws as the date line for the establishment of the Free Trade principle.
2. What were the distinctive contributions of Bentham to the development of liberalism?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 16. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science (February 1949) in the bound volume Final Examinations Social Sciences, Feb. 1949.

1948-49
Harvard University
Economics 233b
[Final Exam, June 1949]

I
(About one hour)

Write an essay on a topic based on the work of the reading period, or on one of the following topics: the legal concept of competition in the United States; the measurement of material well-being.

II
Answer three questions.

Answer (a) or (b).
1. Describe the policies and functions of the Bank of England 1790-1819. Were the policies of the Bank essentially sound?
2. What problems were presented in the choice of a monetary standard in the United States? What were the defects of the Mint Act of 1792?
Answer (a) or (b).
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of organizing a railway network under a principle of regulated regional monopoly?
2. Describe the Trunk Line’ Rate system in the United States. Discuss its significance for theoretical analysis of railroad rate structures.
Answer (a) or (b).
1. Describe the tensions and difficulties in the steel industry of the United States in the decade 1890-1900. Did the formation of the United States Steel Corporation provide a sound and satisfactory solution for these problems?
2. In what ways and to what extent did the development of industrial consolidation in Germany after 1919 lead to the formation of more fully integrated enterprises than the older cartels?
Discuss the purposes and primary features of the British Electricity Supply Acts of 1919 and 1926.
How may we explain the changes in the birth rates and death rates in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Alexander Gerschenkron, Box 3, Folder “Examinations 233a & b [1929/30-1967/68].

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay (left) and Abbott P. Usher (right) from Harvard Class Album 1934.

Tags Gay, Gerschenkron, RostowWW, Usher

Bibliography Harvard

Harvard. Short Bibliography on Thrift Institutions for “Serious-minded Students”, Sprague, 1910

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2022-04-01

In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was apparently coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.

This post provides the ninth such short bibliography, this one on “Thrift Institutions” prepared by O. M. W. Sprague. Links have been provided to eleven of the thirteen items in Sprague’s bibliography.

________________

Previously posted short bibliographies

I.1. Harvard. Short Bibliography of Economic Theory for “Serious-minded Students”, Taussig, 1910

I.7. Harvard. Short Bibliography on Social Statistics for “Serious-minded Students”, Ripley, 1910

II.3. Harvard. Short Bibliography of Taxation for “Serious-minded Students”, Bullock, 1910

IV.5 Harvard. Short Bibliography of the Economics of Socialism for “Serious-minded Students”, Carver, 1910

IV.6 Harvard. Short Bibliography on Socialism and Family/Christian Ethics for “Serious-minded Students”, McConnell, 1910

IV.7. Harvard. Short Bibliography of Trade Unionism for “Serious-minded Students”, Ripley, 1910

IV.8. Harvard. Short Bibliography of Strikes and Boycotts for “Serious-minded Students”, Ripley, 1910

IV.13. Harvard. Short Bibliography of Social Insurance for “Serious-minded Students”, Foerster, 1910

________________

IV.12. THRIFT INSTITUTIONS

OLIVER M. W. SPRAGUE

Building and loan associations. Ninth report of the United States Commissioner of Labor. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893, pp. 719.

In addition to statistical data, the report contains the laws of all of the states, and much useful matter regarding organization, premium policy and the distribution of profits.

DEXTER, SEYMOUR. A treatise on coöperative savings and loan associations. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1889, pp. viii, 299.

The classical work on building and loan associations. The analysis of the principles involved is admirable. The appendices contain examples of accounting methods, the laws of some of the states and forms of organization.

HAMILTON, JAMES H. Savings and savings institutions. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902, pp. 436.

The most comprehensive work on the subject. More than one third of the book is given to postal savings banks.

HANGER, G. W. W. Building and loan associations in the United States. Bulletin of the United States Department of Labor. Washington: Government Printing Office (November), 1904, pp. 1491-1572.

The most recent comprehensive account. Full of well-arranged information.

HENDERSON, CHARLES R. Industrial insurance in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1909, pp. 429.

A comprehensive survey of the many varieties of workman’s insurance. A good working bibliography will be found in the appendix.

Proceedings of the United States league of local building and loan associations, 1893-1909, Cincinnati: Press of the American Building Association News, 1893-1909.

An invaluable repository of information and of useful papers upon every aspect of this successful method of social betterment.

WELLDON, SAMUEL A. Digest of state banking statutes. National Monetary Commission publications. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910, pp. 745.

A work which greatly diminishes the labor of the student of legal aspects of the savings bank problem.

WILKINSON, J. FROME. Mutual thrift. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891, pp. xii, 324.

An historical account of friendly societies in Great Britain, together with an analysis of their actuarial and financial experience.

WILLOUGHBY, WILLIAM F. Workingmen’s insurance. New York: T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1898, pp. 386.

A general survey of the entire field of both voluntary and compulsory insurance. The discussion of the principles involved is excellent.

WOLFF, HENRY W. Coöperative banking; its principles and its practice, with a chapter on coöperative mortgage credit. London: P. S. King & Son, 1907, pp. 317.

WOLFF, HENRY W. People’s banks: a record of social and economic success. Third edition. London: P. S. King & Son, 1910, pp. 587.

Taken together, these books give a sympathetic, enthusiastic and authoritative treatment of a group of institutions which are designed to encourage thrift and also “make the workman his own capitalist. “

Workmen’s insurance and benefit funds in the United States. Twenty-third report of the United States commissioner of labor. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908, pp. 810.

This report covers the entire field indicated by its title, except the industrial insurance departments of the regular companies.

ZARTMAN, LESTER W. Yale readings in insurance. Vol. I, Life insurance. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1909, pp. viii, 405.

Twenty-six chapters selected from a variety of sources. About one half the book is devoted to the technique of the subject; history, and economic and public aspects are the concern of the other half.

Source: Teachers in Harvard University, A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, pp. 200-202.

Tags Sprague

From GSPA report

Course Announcement

Economics 168 Harvard University Fall Term, 1964

Outline and Readings

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 168 FINAL EXAMINATION Dr. Bolton January 26, 1965

FINALE (To the tune of “With a Little Bit of Luck” from My Fair Lady)

Economics 1. Outlines of Economics

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment 1899-1900

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 1 [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 1 [Year-end examination]

Economics 2 Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900. ECONOMICS 2. [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900. ECONOMICS 2. [Year-end examination]

Economics 3 Principles of Sociology

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 3 [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 3 [Year-end examination]

Economics 4. Statistics

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment 1899-1900 (Year-course)

1899-1900. ECONOMICS 4. [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900. ECONOMICS 4. [Year-end examination]

Economics 5 Railways and other Public Works

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment (Year-course)

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 5 [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 5 [Year-end examination]

Economics 6. Economic History of the United States

Course Description 1897-98

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 6 [Mid-Year Examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 6 [Final examination, 1900]

Economics 7a Financial Administration and Public Debts

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 7a [Mid-year examination]

Economics 7b The Theory and Methods of Taxation

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 7b [Year-end examination]

Economics 82 Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

Economics 9 [Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 10 [Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 11 Modern European and American Economic History

Course Description (from 1897-98)

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

Course Readings

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 11. [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 11 [Year-end examination]

Economics 121 [Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 122 [Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 13 [Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 14 Communism and Socialism. History and Literature.

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 14 [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 14 [Year-end examination]

Economics 15 History of Economics to the Close of the 18th Century

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 15 [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 15 [Year-end examination]

Economics 16 Financial History of the United States

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment (First half-year)

Course Enrollment 1899-1900 (Second half-year)

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 16. [Mid-year examination]

1899-1900 ECONOMICS 16 [Year-end examination]

Economics 20a The Economic Life and Thought of the Ancient World

Course Announcement

Course Enrollment

Economics 168
Harvard University
Fall Term, 1964

ECONOMICS 168
FINAL EXAMINATION
Dr. Bolton
January 26, 1965

FINALE
(To the tune of “With a Little Bit of Luck”
from My Fair Lady)

Economics 1.
Outlines of Economics

Course Enrollment
1899-1900

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 1
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 1
[Year-end examination]

Economics 2
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 2.
[Year-end examination]

Economics 3
Principles of Sociology

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 3
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 3
[Year-end examination]

Economics 4.
Statistics

Course Enrollment 1899-1900
(Year-course)

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 4.
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900.
ECONOMICS 4.
[Year-end examination]

Economics 5
Railways and other Public Works

Course Enrollment
(Year-course)

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 5
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 5
[Year-end examination]

Economics 6.
Economic History
of the United States

Course Description
1897-98

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Mid-Year Examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 6
[Final examination, 1900]

Economics 7a
Financial Administration and Public Debts

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 7a
[Mid-year examination]

Economics 7b
The Theory and
Methods of Taxation

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 7b
[Year-end examination]

Economics 8²
Western Civilization in its Economic Aspects

Economics 9
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 10
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 11
Modern European and American Economic History

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 11.
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 11
[Year-end examination]

Economics 12¹
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 12²
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 13
[Omitted in 1899-1900]

Economics 14
Communism and Socialism.
History and Literature.

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 14
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 14
[Year-end examination]

Economics 15
History of Economics to the Close of the 18^th Century

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 15
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 15
[Year-end examination]

Economics 16
Financial History
of the United States

Course Enrollment
(First half-year)

Course Enrollment 1899-1900
(Second half-year)

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 16.
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 16
[Year-end examination]

Economics 20a
The Economic Life and Thought of the Ancient World

Economics 20b
Commercial Crises

Economics 20c
The Tariff History
of the United States

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 20c.
[Mid-year examination]

1899-1900
ECONOMICS 20c
[Year-end examination]

Economics 20d
Workingmen’s Organizations
in the United States

Economics 20e
Ethnology in its Applications
to Economic and
Social Problems

Economics 4
[Mid-Year Examination, 1911]

Economics 4
[Year-End Examination, 1911]

Economics 28
[Final Examination, 1911]

Reports to the Dean of Harvard
from the Department of Economics.

[Draft] Report to Dean, October 2, 1950
Professor Burbank

**VI. [sic] Distinctions**

Mary Lee Ingbar,
pioneer in field of health economics, dies at 83
October 15, 2009

Biography from Mary Lee Ingbar papers, 1946-2008
Harvard University Medical School, Countway Library.

1898-99 Course Announcement
Outlines of Economics.

1898-99 Enrollment
Outlines of Economics.

1898-99.
Economics 1.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

1898-99
Economics 1.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

1898-99 Course Announcement
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century

1898-99 Enrollment
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century.

1898-99.
Economics 2.
[Mid-Year Exam, 1899]

1898-99.
Economics 2.
[Year-end Exam, 1899.]

1898-99 Course Announcement
The Principles of Sociology

1898-99 Enrollment
Principles of Sociology.

1898-99.
Economics 3.
[Mid-year Exam, 1899]

1898-99.
Economics 3.
[Year-end Exam, 1899]

1898-99 Course Announcement
Statistics.

1898-99 Enrollment
Statistics.