With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds yet another annual slice of final examinations from Harvard. Over twenty pages of exam questions (with course enrollment figures) for the 1893-94 academic year have been transcribed and are now available to the internet community of historians of economics. For other years visitors can simply scan or search the chronological catalogue of artifacts. Alternatively using Google search constrained to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, “harvard economics exams site:irwincollier.com“, will get you links to plenty of Harvard examination postings through the years.
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Enrollment for Philosophy 5.
The Ethics of the Social Questions.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Philosophy] 5. Professor Peabody. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 2 hours.
Total 118: 6 Gr., 56 Se., 23 Ju., 2 So., 12 Others, 19 Divinity.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 58.
1893-94.
PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-Year Examination.
- “Political Economy ought to combine with the old question: ‘Will it pay?’ another and higher query: ‘Is it right?’” (C. D. Wright, Political Economy and the Labor Question, p. 17.) The place and value of this view of Political Economy.
- Spencer’s formula for conduct, explained and criticized (Data of Ethics, p. 14.)
- The Socialist’s view of Charity and the argument which sustains it. Mr. Spencer’s view of Charity and his practical advice. (Principles of Ethics, II. p. 376, ff.)
- What does Mr. Charles Booth regard as the “crux” of the Social Problem in East London? (Labour and Life of the People, I. pp. 596 and 162.) Why? The practical remedy proposed by him.
- The causes of poverty in East London, as analyzed by Mr. Booth, (I. 147); in their order of importance and the proportion of cases involved.
- The Labor Colonies of Germany compared with those of Holland, in method and intention. How far, and under what principle, is such an enterprise applicable to the condition of this country?
- “Liberalitas” and “Caritas,” — the aim, the service, and the peril of each.
- The historical development and the practical rules of the English Poor-Law System.
- The Relation of Charity Organization in England to Poor-Law Relief. (Loch, p. 37, ff.); and the objections to Charity Organization. (Loch, p. 97, ff.)
- The growth of Charity Organization in the United States, its present extent and its two types (Report, pp. 1-8.) Which type is represented by the London Charity Organization Society? (Loch p. 54.) Which is the sounder principle for this country? Why? Which is the more generally accepted principle? (Appendix of Report, p. 34.)
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94
PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Final Examination
[Omit one question.]
- The authorship and the historical importance of the following phrases:—
“The value of a thing is independent of opinion and of quantity. To be valuable is to avail towards life.”
“All commodities are only masses of congealed labor-time.”
“The high road to a stable sufficiency and comfort among the people is through the medium of their character.”
“Cash-payment never was or could, except for a few years, be the union-bond of man to man.”
“Aristocracy of talent.”
“It is easier to determine what a man ought to have for his work, than what his necessities will compel him to take for it.”
“Ill-th.”
- Compare Carlyle and Ruskin in their attitudes toward the growth of democracy and in their doctrine of social progress.
- Compare the view of the “Social Horizon” with that of Naquet as to the effect of collectivism on enterprise and invention. (Social Horizon, pp. 112-151; Naquet, pp. 92-126.)
- The Anarchist’s criticism of the Socialist, the Socialist’s criticism of the Anarchist, and the Communist as he is criticised by both.
- Is thrift a virtue? Who doubts it? Why?
Is competition an evil? Who doubts it? Why?
- Christian Socialism and its difficulties. The logical and the practical relation of Socialism to Religion.
- In the four ideals which are possible to Socialism and Individualism, “the normal relation would be that of cross-correspondence.” (Bosanquet. The Civilization of Christendom, p. 136.) Explain and comment on this statement.
- Enumerate and classify the arguments presented in the Course on the ethical aspects of Socialism, with your judgment of the weight of these suggestions.
- Compare the plan of profit-sharing in the Paris and Orleans Railway (Sedley Taylor, pp. 77-86) with that adopted by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
- How far are we carried in the argument for abstinence from intoxicating drink by considerations drawn from the “risks of life.” Why?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, p. 7.
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Economics 1.
Outlines of Economics.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Cummings and Mr. Clow. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.
Total 340: 1 Gr., 35 Se., 111 Ju., 136 So., 7 Fr., 50 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination.
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.]
- “Let us consider whether, and in what cases, the property of those who live on the interest of what they possess, without being personally engaged in production, can be regarded as capital.” Illustrate by example.
- “Capital, though saved, and the result of saving, is nevertheless consumed. The word saving does not imply that what is saved is not consumed, nor even necessarily that its consumption is deferred.” Explain. Who is the consumer? and is the consumption usually deferred?
- Are wages likely to be low or high in different occupations because of (1) attractiveness, (2) unpleasantness, of the work? Why?
- “This equalizing process, commonly described as the transfer of capital from one employment to another, is not necessarily the slow, onerous, and almost impracticable process which it is often represented to be.” What is the equalizing process? and why is it or is it not slow and onerous?
- “Even if there were never any land taken into cultivation for which rent was not paid, it would be true, nevertheless, that there is always some agricultural capital which pays no rent.” Explain, and give the reasons for the statement.
- What are the laws of value applicable to: silver bullion, cotton-cloth, raw hides, wheat-bread, telephones?
- Explain what is meant by a fall in the value of money; an appreciation of gold; a depreciation of inconvertible paper; a stable standard of value.
- Wherein does the play of demand and supply, in determining the value of money, differ from its operation in determining the value of commodities in general? Wherein does cost of production determine the value of money and of commodities differently?
- What is the effect of general high wages on prices? on values? on profits? Why?
- “So far as rents, profits, wages, prices. are determined by competition, laws may be assigned for them. Assume competition to be their exclusive regulator, and principles of broad generality and scientific precision may be laid down, according to which they will be regulated.” Trace the historical origin of the conditions here assumed.
- What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Final Examination.
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]
I.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]
- Explain the connection between the law of diminishing returns the pressure of population on subsistence; the tendency of profits to a minimum.
- What is the nature of the remuneration received by the holder of a government bond; the holder of a railway bond; the landlord of a building let for business purposes; the landlord of land let for agricultural purposes; a manufacturer carrying on business with borrowed capital; the holder of a patent receiving a royalty for its use?
- How does cost of production influence tire value of (1) silver bullion, (2) oats, (3) coffee, (4) bicycles?
- What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?
II.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]
- In 1851, very rich deposits of gold were found in Australia. What would you expect the result to be in Australia on wages, prices, imports and exports?
- Is the gain from international trade to be found in the import or in the exports? Why and how?
- It is said that when the quantity of money is increased, prices rise precisely in proportion to the increase. What exceptions or qualifications would you make to this statement?
- Is the exportation of specie from a country disadvantageous?
III.
[Answer all in this group.]
- What sorts of advantages, in regard to wages, do Trade-unions and Coöperative Societies offer to workingmen?
- “Deposits are currency.” What is meant?
- What is the most important objection to the use of inconvertible paper money? What illustrations of its force do you find in the experience of the United States since 1860?
- Compare the policy followed in times of panic by the Bank of England, the Reichsbank of Germany, and the National Banks of the United States.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 34-35.
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Economics 2.
Economic Theory from Adam Smith
to the Present Time.
1893-94.
Enrollment
For Graduates and Undergraduates:—
[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.
Total 43: 12 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
Mid-Year Examination.
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Write with deliberation, but answer all the questions.]
- “It is no doubt true that a portion of capital is always remuneratory and not auxiliary in its nature; that is, does not consist of instruments that make labour more efficient, but of finished products, destined for the consumption of labourers and others. This part of capital continually becomes real wages (as well as real profits, interest, and rent), being purchased by the labourer with the money wages he receives from time to time. But it does not seem to me therefore correct to regard the real wages as capital ‘advanced’ by the employer to the labourer. The transaction between the two is essentially a purchase, not a loan. The employer purchases the results of a week’s labour, which thereby becomes part of his capital, and may be conceived — if we omit for simplicity’s sake the medium of exchange — to give the labourer in return some of the finished products of his industry.”
Consider whether and how remuneratory capital continually becomes real interest and rent, as well as real wages; and give your opinion as to the closing analysis of the relation between employers and laborers.
- Suppose (1) that profit-sharing were universally adopted; (2) that laborers habitually saved a very large part of their income, — and consider whether any modification must be made in the reasoning of those who would maintain a Wages-Fund doctrine.
- It has been said that while the capital of the employing class is the immediate source from which wages are paid, the ultimate and important source is the income of the consumers who buy the goods made by the laborers for the capitalists. Consider this doctrine.
- Compare critically the treatment by Walker, Sidgwick, and Ricardo, of the relation between the profits of the individual capitalist and the amount of capital owned by him.
- State carefully Ricardo’s criticism of Adam Smith’s doctrine on labor as the measure of value.
- Compare Adam Smith’s reasoning with Ricardo’s as to the manner in which the progress of society in wealth affects profits.
- “We have seen that in the early stages of society both the landlord’s and the labourer’s share of the value of the produce of the earth would be but small; and that it would increase in proportion to the progress of wealth and the difficulty of procuring food. We have known, too, that although the value of the labourer’s portion will be increased by the high value of food, his real share will be diminished; while that of the landlord will not only be raised in value, but will also be increased in quantity.”
Explain the reasoning by which Ricardo reached the several conclusions here summarized, and give your opinion as to the soundness of the conclusions.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final Examination.]
- “Perhaps the most striking conflict of the Wages-Fund-theory with facts, is found in the periodical influctions and depressions of trade. After a commercial crisis, when the shock is over and the necessary liquidation has taken place, we generally find that there is a period during which there is a glut of capital, and yet wages are low. The abundance of capital is shown by the low rate of interest and the difficulty of obtaining remunerative investments.” — Nicholson, Political Economy
How far is the theory in conflict with the facts here adduced?
- How is the significance of the doctrine of consumer’s rent affected by the fact that the money incomes of different purchasers vary widely?
- Explain Marshall’s doctrine as to the influence on wages of the standard of living among laborers; and consider how far it differs from Richard’s teaching as to the connection between wages and the price of food.
- Explain Marshall’s doctrine of the quasi-rent of labor; compare it with his conclusions as to the rent of business ability; and point out how far he finds in either case something analogous to economic rent as defined by the classic writers.
- “It is not true that the spinning of yarn in a factory, after allowance has been made for the wear-and-tear of the machinery, is the product of the labour of the operatives. It is the product of their labour (together with that of the employer and subordinate managers) and of the capital; and that capital itself is the product of labour and waiting; and therefore the spinning is the product of labour (of many kinds) and of waiting. If we admit that it is the product of labour alone, and not of labour and waiting, we can no doubt be compelled by inexorable logic to admit that there is no justification for interest, the reward of waiting.”
How far would you accept this reasoning?
- “Barter, though earlier historically than buying and selling, is really a mere complex transaction, and the theory of it is rather curious than important.” — Marshall.
“The attribute of normal or usual value implies systematic and continuous production.” — Cairnes.
“Where commodities are made for sale, the sellers’ subjective valuations fall out altogether, and price is determined by the valuation of the last buyer.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
Explain these statements, separately or in connection with each other.
- What does Böhm-Bawerk mean by the general subsistence market, or the total of advances for subsistence; and how far do the “advances” differ from the wages-fund of the classic economists?
- Explain Böhm-Bawerk’s views as to the connection between the prolongation of the period of production, and the increase in the productiveness of labor; and consider how far his conclusions as to interest would need to be modified, if those views were changed.
- Explain briefly, by definition or example, the sense in which Böhm-Bawerk uses the terms, —
social capital;
private capital;
subjective value;
marginal pairs;
technical superiority of present goods.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 35-36.
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Economics 3.
Principles of Sociology.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 3 hours.
Total 47: 17 Gr., 19 Se., 5 Ju., 6 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination
(Arrange your answers in the order of your questions. Omit two.)
- “In fact, the conception of society as an organism seems to admit of more easy application to just those very views about the State which Mr. Spencer most dislikes: and, though the conception or organism has its value in helping political thinking out of the confusions of individualism, if it be taken as a final key to all mysteries, it leads to new confusions of its own, for which it would be absurd to blame Mr. Spencer.” Explain and criticise.
- How does Spencer account for the diverse types of political organization; and what influences determine the order in which they arise? Illustrate.
- What evidence of political evolution is there in the sequence of the various forms of political organization in Greek, Roman, and Medieval society? Trace the steps.
- According to Burke, “Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Explain. How does this differ from earlier conceptions of the social contract? From the conception of society as an organism?
- Upon what grounds does Spencer base his preference for the industrial rather than the militant type of society?
- According to Jevons, “the first step must be to rid our minds of the idea that there are any such things in social matters as abstract rights, absolute principles, indefeasible laws, inalterable rules, or anything whatever of an eternal and inflexible nature.” According to another view, “the state presupposes rights and the rights of individuals.” What is your own opinion? Why? Are there “Natural Rights”? Illustrate.
- “The State is after all the least of the powers that govern us.” How far is this true at different stages of social development?
- What is involved in the conception of Sovereignty? In whom is it rested? On what does it rest? For example, England and the United States.
- What is the bearing of Comte’s maxim, “Voir pour prevour,” upon the doctrine of social evolution?
- “The environment in our problem must, therefore, not only include psychical as well as physical factors, but the former are immeasurably the more important factors, and as civilization advances their relative importance steadily increases.”
- What do you mean by State Interference? By Individual liberty?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Final Examination
[Questions are in all cases to be discussed with direct reference to facts and theories presented in this course. Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. Take either the first question or six others.]
- Devote three hours to a discussion of “Social Evolution”;— expounding Mr. Kidd’s views, discussing his opinions and conclusions in the light of facts and theories presented in this course, and stating carefully your own reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
- What, according to Mr. Kidd, are the necessary “Conditions of Human Progress”? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
- What are the points of resemblance and of difference between the “Scientific Socialism” of today and earlier forms of so-called socialistic propaganda which have appeared within this century?
- “Step by step the community has absorbed them, wholly or partially, and the area of private exploitation has been lessened. Parallel with this progressive nationalization or municipalization of industry, there has gone on, outside, the elimination of the purely personal element in business management.” Indicate briefly the character, extent and probable significance of “nationalization and municipalization” in the United States and in European Countries.
- What inferences may and what may not safely be drawn from American experience in municipal ownership or control of gas, of water, and of electric light plants? Discuss carefully the extent and character of the evidence.
- “According to them, the tribe or horde is the primary social unit of the human race, and the family only a secondary unit, developed in later times. Indeed, this assumption has been treated by many writers, not as a more or less probable hypothesis, but as a demonstrated truth. Yet the idea that a man’s children belong to the tribe, has no foundation in fact.” Indicate briefly the present state of this controversy. What significance do you attach to it?
- “The central fact with which we are confronted in our progressive societies is, therefore, that the interests of the social organism and those of the individuals comprising it at any time are actually antagonistic; they can never be reconciled, they are inherently and essentially irreconcilable.” State carefully the arguments for and against this position.
- “True Socialism of the German type must be recognized to be, ultimately, as individualistic and as anti-social as individualism in its advanced forms.” By what line of reasoning is this conclusion reached? State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 36-37.
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Economics 5 (First Semester).
Railway Transportation.
1893-994.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 51. Professor Taussig. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 1st half-year.
Total 39: 3 Gr., 24 Se., 9 Ju., 1 So., 2 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 5.
Final [Mid-Year] Examination.
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]
- State what important general lessons are to be learned from the early experiments of Pennsylvania and Michigan in constructing and managing transportation routes.
- Why the change in the attitude of the public towards the Pacific railways after 1870? And what were some consequences of the change?
- What was the effect of the land-grant system on the welfare of the community, and on railway profits?
- “These conditions [leading to financial losses] may fairly enough be described as the Interstate Commerce Commission describes them, — parallel railroad construction and wars of rates. But when the Commission goes on to say that they cannot with any justice be claimed to have resulted from the act or from its administration, they make an unwarranted assertion.” What were the conditions here referred to (give dates)? And was the assertion unwarranted?
- Consider the probable results of the repeal of the section of the Interstate Commerce act which prohibits pooling.
- “High rates on some articles are not to be regarded as a tax which could be removed if low rates on others were abandoned.” Why not?
- “The enormous fixed capital and the consequent impossibility of retiring from the enterprise if it becomes unprofitable; the greater or less degree of monopoly; the wide gulf between railway managers and investors, sometimes leading to consequences of its own,” consider in what manner and extent these circumstances have affected railway rates in the United States.
- What do you believe to be the significance and importance of the following figures (for the United States in 1891):
| Revenue per passenger mile |
2.142 cents |
| Average cost of carrying a passenger one mile |
1.910 cents |
| Revenue per ton mile |
0.895 cents |
| Average cost of carrying a ton one mile |
0.583 cents |
| Revenue per freight train mile |
$1.63 |
| Average cost of running a freight train one mile |
$1.06 |
- Compare the course of railway policy in France, Prussia, and Italy, in 1880-85.
- Compare the principles which underlie the natural (car-space) system of freight rates and the zone system of passenger rates.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 37-38.
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Economics 6 (Second Semester)
History of Tariff Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 62. Professor Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 2d half-year.
Total 97: 11 Gr., 33 Se., 36 Ju., 2 So., 1 Fr., 14 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 6.
Final Examination
[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
Answer all the questions.]
- Is it to be inferred from Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures that if he were now living, he would not be an advocate of protection?
- What grounds are there for saying that the act of 1789 was a protective measure?
- State the important provisions of the act of 1816, and consider whether it differs in any essentials from the act of 1824.
- Was Clay right in affirming, or Webster in denying, that the protective system of 1824 was “American”?
- How would you ascertain what were the duties, in 1840, on (1) woollen goods, (2) cotton goods, (3) silk goods, (4) bar iron?
- Suppose the present specific duties on woollen manufactures to be removed; the ad valorem duties to remain unchanged; wool to be admitted free; and consider how far there would ensue a change in the effective protection given on finer woollen cloths, on cheaper woollen cloths, and on carpets.
- Mention briefly what were the duties on tea and coffee in the successive stages of tariff legislation from 1789 to 1890; noting the significance of the changes made from time to time.
- Why do the effects, in recent times, of the duties on flax and hemp, and on glassware, “reduce themselves in the last analysis to illustrations of the doctrine of comparative costs”?
- Wherein is there resemblance, wherein difference, between the general course of tariff history in the United States after the civil war, and in France after the Napoleonic wars?
- What would be the probable effects of the removal of the present duties on cotton goods?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 38-39
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Economics 8 (First Semester)
History of Financial Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 81. Professor Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 1st half-year.
Total 63: 9 Gr., 26 Se., 23 Ju., 1 So., 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 8.
Mid-Year Examination.
Instead of answering the starred questions in this paper you may substitute, if you prefer, an essay on the subject marked A, printed at the close.
- *“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.]
How far is the above remark confirmed by the provisions as to the payment of the debt funded by the Act of 1790?
- How far should you say that Gallatin, although an anti-Federalist, finally adopted Federalist measures or methods in financial matters?
- Give a general statement of the agreement between the banks and the Treasury for the resumption of specie payment in 1817, and show the way in which it was intended to operate.
- Inasmuch as Jackson’s general prepossessions were unfavorable to all banks, how are we to explain his resort to the plan of depositing Government funds in State banks after the removal of the deposits in 1833?
- *How serious a blow did Jackson really strike when he removed the deposits from the United States bank in 1833?
- What expedients were suggested for supplying the needs of the government in 1861-62 without resorting to the issue of legal-tender notes?
- *The “Gold Bill” of June 17, 1864, and its fate.
- What was the process by which the bonds issued during the war were refunded under the act of 1870 and when did the refunding take place?
- What signs of change in the policy of Congress as to the resumption of specie payments are to be found in the legislation between 1865 and 1876?
- State the provisions of the Resumption Act of 1875 as to the redemption of legal-tender notes, and show whether the act did or did not provide for the possible eventual disappearance of all the notes. What has made the amount of outstanding legal-tender notes stationary at $346,681,016?
- *A recent writer, discussing the question of a paper currency issued by government, says:—
“In the United States there were twenty issues of treasury notes before the late war. Those issues were receivable in the revenues the government, and were always preferred to gold.”
What criticism is to be made on this statement?
- *Describe the different kinds of paper currency now in use in the United States, stating as to each the cases in which it can be tendered for private debt, and those which it. can he received or paid out by the government.
* * * * * * * * * *
A.
The change which has taken place since 1846 in the conditions affecting the Independent Treasury, and the justification of Secretary Carlisle’s statement, in the Finance Report for 1893, that “the laws have imposed upon the Treasury Department all the duties and responsibilities of a bank of issue, and to a certain extent the functions of bank of deposit.”
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
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Economics 9.
The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.
Total 43: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
Mid-year Examination.
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.
(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.)
- “It becomes my duty, therefore, in undertaking to interpret the social movement of our own times, to disclose, first, those changes in industrial methods by which harmony in industries has been disturbed, and then to trace the influence of such changes into the structure of society.” State carefully what these changes have been; and trace their influence.
[Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 33]
- Discuss the effect upon wages of machinery, — (a) as a substitute for labor (b) as auxiliary to labor; (c) as affecting division of labor; (d) as concentrating labor and capital; (e) as affecting the nobility[sic, “mobility”] of labor and capital.
- “In my opinion, combination among workingmen is a necessary step in the re-crystallization of industrial rights and duties.” State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion. What forms of combination do you include?
[Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 45]
- “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America….” In what respects stronger? Why? Contrast briefly the history and present tendencies of the trade-union movement in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy.
[Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. XIII. §18, p. 404]
- “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America; and wages have been higher in England than on the Continent, but lower than in America.” “Again, those occupations in which wages have risen most in England happen to be those in which there are no unions.” How far do such facts impeach the effectiveness of trade-unions as a means of raising wages and improving the condition of workingmen? What do you conceive to be the economic limits and the proper sphere of trade-union action?
[Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. §18, pp. 404-405.]
- “We saw at the beginning that in comparatively recent years the difficulties of keeping up a purely offensive and defensive organization had brought many of the unions back nearer their old allies, the friendly societies, and emphasized the friendly benefits in proportion as the expenditure for trade disputes seemed less important.” Explain carefully this earlier and later relation of trade-unions and Friendly Societies in England.
[Edward Cummings, The English Trades-Unions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. III (July, 1889), p. 432.]
- “This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and its disadvantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and we must repeat that up to the present day it still exhibits defects.” Explain and illustrate the progress of the reform and the nature of existing defects. Does English self-help experience suggest the desirability or undesirability of imitating German methods of compulsory insurance?
- “Countless[sic, “Doubtless” in original] boards of arbitration and conciliation, the establishment of certain rules of procedure, agreements covering definite periods of time, may aid somewhat in averting causes of dispute or in adjusting disputes as they arise; but if we have these alone to look to, strife will be the rule rather than the exception.” Explain the various methods adopted and the results obtained. What have you to say of “compulsory arbitration?”
[Francis A. Walker. “What Shall We Tell the Working Classes?” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 2, 1887. Reprinted in Discussions in Economics and Statistics, edited by Davis R. Dewey. Vol. II. 315-316.]
- “The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, that what is desirable is not so much to put a stop to sub-contracting as to put a stop to ‘sweating,’ whether the man who treats the workman in the oppressive manner which the word ‘sweating’ denotes be a sub-contractor, a piece-master, or a contractor.” Indicate briefly some of the principal forms of industrial remuneration, — giving the special merits and defects of each.
[David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 140.]
- “Now that I am on piece-work, I am making about double what I used to make when on day-work. I know I am doing wrong. I am taking away the work of another man.” State and criticize the theory involved in this view of production.
[David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 43-44.]
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
Year-End Examination
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.
(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Take the first three questions and four others.)
- “As soon, however, as the factory system was established, the inequality of women and children in their struggle with employers attracted the attention of even the most careless observers; and, attention once drawn to this circumstance, it was not long before the inequality of adult men was also brought into prominence.” How far is this true (a) of England, (b) of the United States? Trace briefly the legislative consequences for children and for adults in the two countries.
[Arnold Toynbee. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century in England (The Humboldt Library of Popular Science Literature, Vol. 13. New York: Humboldt Publishing Co.), p. 17.]
- “It will be necessary, in the first place, to distinguish clearly between the failure of Industrial Coöperation and the failure of the coöperative method—a method, as we have seen, adopted, even partially, by only a very small fraction of Industrial Coöperation.” Explain carefully, discussing especially the evidence furnished by France and England.
- “These four concerns—the Maison Leclaire, the Godin Foundry, the Coöperative Paper Works of Angoulême and the Bon Marché—are virtually coöperative; certainly they secure to the employers and stockholders the substantial benefits of purely coöperative productive enterprises, while they are still, logically, profit-sharing establishments.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Indicate briefly the characteristic features of each enterprise.
- “What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing statistics? Unmistakably this, that the higher daily wages in America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor cost to the manufacturer. But why so?” Discuss the character of available evidence in regard to the United States, Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
[E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 41-2.]
- “The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-economic status of workmen of different nationalities in the country of their birth and the land of their adoption furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we are able to learn the social effect of economic betterment.” Explain. How do the facts in question affect your attitude toward recent changes in the character and volume of our immigration?
[E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 35-6.]
- “The Senate Finance Committee issued some time ago a comparative exhibit of prices and wages for fifty-two years, from which the conclusion is generally drawn that the condition of the wage earner is better to-day than it was thirty or forty years ago. A conclusion of this kind reveals the weakness of even the best statistics. No one can doubt that the work of the Finance Committee is work of high excellence, but for comparing the economic condition of workers it is of little value.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Indicate briefly the character of the evidence.
- What are the principle organizations which may be said to represent the “Labor Movement” in the United States at the present time? How far are they helpful and how far hostile to one another?
- “In a preceding chapter I have said that as a moral force and as a system the factory system of industry is superior to the domestic system, which it supplanted.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
[Carroll D. Wright. Factory Legislation from Vol. II, Tenth Census of the United States, reprinted inFirst Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York (Albany, 1887), p. 41.]
- Contrast the English and the German policy in regard to Government Workingmen’s Insurance.
- “Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias towards individualism.” What are they?
- Give an imaginary family budget for American, English and German operatives in one of the following industries, — coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, glass, indicating roughly characteristic differences in such items as throw most light on the social condition of labor.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. pp. 39-41. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
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Economics 10.
The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times.
1893-94.
[Economics] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. 3 hours.
Total 51: 6 Gr., 17 Se., 20 Ju., 4 So., 1 Fr., 3 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-Year Examination.
- A modern writer has insisted upon the difference between the point of view of economic history and the point of view of constitutional history. Consider this in relation to the growth of mediaeval towns.
- Distinguish briefly between the various processes known as “Enclosure,” and explain their relation to the open-field husbandry.
- What light does the history of the English woollen industry throw upon the question as to the relation between the gild and the domestic workshop?
- “Only one who is unacquainted with social conditions under Henry VIll. and Edward VI. can maintain that the Reformation was not responsible for English pauperism.” Discuss this.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Final Examination.
[Candidates are requested to answer only six questions, of which the first should be one.]
- Translate and comment upon:
- Omnes isti sochemanni habent viii carrucas, et arant iii vicibus per annum. Et quisquis eorum metit in Augusto de blado domini dimidiam acram et ii vicibus in Augusto precationem.
- Sciatis me concessisse … civibus meis in Oxenforde omnes libertates et consuetudines et leges et quietantias quas habuerunt tempore regis Henrici avi mei, nominatim gildam suam mercatoriam cum omnibus libertatibus et consuetudinibus in terris et in silvis pasturis et aliis pertinentiis, ita quod aliquis qui non sit de gildhalls aliquam mercaturam non faciet in civitate vel suburbiis.
- Give some account of the changes in trade-routes during the sixteenth century.
- Describe the organization of industry in the middle of the reign of Elizabeth.
- Compare the Enclosures of the eighteenth century with those of the sixteenth.
- What was the condition of the mercantile marine of New England in the eighteenth century? What connection was there between this condition and the Navigation Acts?
- Institute a comparison between the reforms of Stein and Hardenberg and recent agrarian legislation in Ireland, or any other country with which you are familiar.
- What light is cast upon the teaching of (1) Adam Smith, (2) Malthus, (3) Ricardo, by contemporary economic conditions.
- Estimate the importance of Arthur Young in the economic history of England.
- What seem to you the most characteristic features of the economic development of the United States during the present century as contrasted with England.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 42-43.
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Economics 12 (First Semester).
Banking and the History
of the leading Banking Systems
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 121. Professor Dunbar. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. 3 hours. 1st half-year.
Total 50: 10 Gr., 24 Se., 15 Ju., 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.
1893-94.
ECONOMICS 12[1].
Mid-Year Examination
- Which system of banks appears to present the greatest advantages, — (a) one with a powerful central bank as in England and Germany: (b) an aristocracy of strong banks as in Scotland; or (c) a democracy of banks as in this country?
- In any period of financial pressure, would the Bank of England he under any obligation, legal or moral, to act for the relief of the public, if such action involved risk or loss to its stockholders? What would be the source of such obligation, if any exists?
- The German bank act requires every bank to hold cash, (a) for all notes issued by it above its limit of uncovered issue: (b) and amounting to at least one third of all the notes issued Why is it that notes of other banks can be reckoned as cash in one of these cases, but not in the other?
- What is to be said as to the proposition frequently maintained. that “note issue is in reality a function of the State as much as coinage, and should not be delegated to corporations or to private hands?”
- If we hold that all note issues need to be kept under national control, in order to secure uniformity of value, what ground is there for denying that all deposit banking needs the same control for the same reason?
- Supposing the securities required for deposit under the national banking system to be abundant and fairly attractive as investments, — would that system afford an elastic currency?
- To the plan of securing notes by a safety fund (as practiced formerly in New York and now in Canada), it has been objected that it would be unjust to require well-managed banks to pay for losses incurred by weak or imprudent ones, and that a premium would be offered for bad management. How much weight is there in this objection?
- To the plan of making the notes of a bank a first lien on its assets it has been objected,—
“It deprives the bank of the fund which is the basis of its credit in asking for deposits Without the deposit the banks cannot do a profitable business. It is difficult to believe that, the capital being subjected to a first lien for the amount of the notes, and there being always the possibility of an over-issue of such notes, the credit of the bank in its discount and deposit business would not be impaired. is calling upon the capital to do a double work when it is already loaded with the single task of inspiring confidence in the people who have to make deposits.”
What is the answer to this objection?
- Discuss the following extract from the Commercial and Financial Chronicle of May 14th, 1892:—
“Every prerogative and attribute even of our bank notes, and still more of our silver certificates, tends to draw them away from the interior, even when the issuer is resident in a Southern or Western State, and lodge them in an Eastern city. [The semi legal-tender quality of the national bank circulation and its redemption at the Treasury help to make its movements unnatural, artificial, and impart to it a roaming character helping to force it away from the issuer, away from the country districts where it is needed, and consequently to induce its accumulation when out of active commercial employment in the great financial centres, and while there to foster and become more or less fixed in speculative ventures — that is unresponsive to commercial influences when needed for commercial work?”
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.
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Economics 12 (Second Semester).
International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.
Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.
1893-94
ECONOMICS 122.
Final Examination.
- Mr. Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
- Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
- What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
- Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
- Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
- Mr. Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000.
- Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
- State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
- Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
- Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.
- What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
- What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
- What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?
* * * * * * *
- On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
- Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
- The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
- The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
- The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
- The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46. Transcribed and posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
____________________
1893-94
Enrollment for Economics 13.
The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 13. Professor Ashley. – The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe. 1 hour.
Total 2: 1 Graduate, 1 Senior.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
Note: No printed final examination in the collection of Harvard semester examinations.
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Economics 14.
Ideal Social Reconstructions
from Plato to the Present.
1893-94.
Enrollment.
[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Cummings. — Ideal Social Reconstructions, from Plato’s Republic to the present time. 1 hour.
Total 22: 7 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.
ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-year examination, 1893-94.
(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)
- What is a Utopia? and what significance do you attached to the recurrence of such literature at certain historical ethics?
- “For judging of the importance of any thinker in the history of Economics, no matter is more important to us than the view he takes of the laboring population.” Judge Plato, More and Bacon by this standard.
- “Moreover, it is hardly too much to say that Plato never got to the point of having a theory of the State at all.” In the Republic “man is treated as a micropolis, and the city is the citizen writ large.” Explain and criticize.
- “In More’s Utopia we have a revival of the Platonic Republic with additions which make the scheme entirely modern.… The economical element in the social body receives for the first time its proper rank as of the highest moment for public welfare.” Explain. To what extent have the ideals of Utopia been realized?
- “Then we may say that democracy, like oligarchy, is destroyed by its insatiable craving for the object which defines to be supremely good?” What, according to the Republic are the peculiar merits and defects of the several forms of political organization? and how are these forms related in point of origin and sequence?
- “Sir Thomas More has been called the father of Modern Communism.” How does he compare in this respect with Plato? How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in each case?
- “But in your case, it is we that have begotten you for the State as well as for yourselves, to be like leaders and kings of the hive,– better and more perfectly trained than the rest, and more capable of playing a part in both modes of life.” Criticise the method and purpose of the educational system of the Republic. How far does Plato’s argument as to the duty of public service apply to the educated man to-day?
- “The religious ferment produced by the Reformation movement had begun to show signs of abatement, when another movement closely connected with it made its appearance almost at the same time in England and Italy, namely, the rise of a new philosophy.” How was this new philosophy embodied in the social ideals of Bacon and of Campanella? and what is the distinguishing characteristic of it?
- What essential contrast between pagan and Christian ideals have you found in schemes for social regeneration?
- Is there any recognition of “Social Evolution” in the Utopian philosophies thus far considered?
- What in a word, do you regard as the chief defect of the social reconstruction suggested in turn by Plato, Lycurgus, More, Bacon and Campanella? To what main problems suggested by them have we still to seek an answer?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
ECONOMICS 14.
Final examination, 1893-94.
(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.)
- [“]The essential unity and continuity of the vital process which has been in progress in our civilization from the beginning is almost lost sight of. Many of the writers on social subjects at the present day are like the old school of geologists: they seem to think that progress has consisted of a series of cataclysms.” How far is this criticism true? Is the characteristic in question more or less conspicuous in earlier writers?
- “At the outset underneath all socialist ideals yawns the problem of population…. Under the Utopias of Socialism, one of two things must happen. Either this increase must be restricted or not. If it be not restricted, and selection is allowed to continue, then the whole foundations of such a fabric as Mr. Bellamy has constructed are bodily removed.” State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. In which of the schemes for social reconstruction, ancient or modern, do you find any adequate recognition of the part which selection plays in progress?
- “If it is possible for the community to provide the capital for production without thereby doing injury to either the principle of perfect individual freedom or to that of justice, if interest can be dispensed with without introducing communistic control in its stead, then there no longer stands any positive obstacle in the way of the free social order.” Discuss the provisions by which Hertzka hopes to guaranteed this “perfect individual freedom.” Contrast him with Bellamy in this respect.
- “I perceive that capitalism stops the growth of wealth, not – as Marx has it – by stimulating ‘production for the market,’ but by preventing the consumption of the surplus produce; and that interest, though not unjust, will nevertheless in a condition of economic justice becomes superfluous and objectless.” Explain Hertzka’s reasoning and criticise the economic theory involved.”
- What is the gist of “News from Nowhere”?
- The condition which the social mind has reached may be tentatively described as one of realization, more or less unconscious, that religion has a definite function to perform in society, and that it is a factor of some kind in the social evolution which is in progress.” How far have you found a recognition of this factor in theories of social reconstruction?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28). Box 2, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894.
Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 46-47. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.
Source: Left-to-right: Dunbar, Taussig, Ashley. From University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 159 [Dunbar], 595 [Ashley]. Vol. III (1899), p. 99 [Taussig]
in a set of n assets. One (n = 1) is a safe asset with return unity, and the others are risky. Let their returns be denoted (r2,..,rn) which are jointly distributed according to F(r2,…., rn). Take the prices of these assets, in units of the safe asset, to be (p2,..,pn).
of being disabled. If disabled, the individual has utility function v(c) where c is the individual’s consumption of society’s sole consumption good. If able, the individual has utility level u(c) – h where c is consumption (of society’s sole consumption good) and h is the number of hours worked by the individual. All jobs require H hours of work and one hour of work produces 1 unit of the consumption good.
, and that the government maximizes a utilitarian social welfare function. What do consumption levels with the optimal disability insurance program look like?
, 
, and 
. There is a constant number of these immortal households.
, where y is output per household, k is the capital stock per household, and 
. The capital stock, which does not depreciate, begins at time zero at the quantity k(0).
ensures that the transversality condition is satisfied? Is utility per household bounded in this case?
and 
are assumed to be identically and independently distributed.
, the optimum consumption path satisfies
, then 
.]
