Category: Harvard

Yale. Sheffield Scientific School, Ethics of Business Lectures for Seniors, endowed by Edward D. Page, 1908-1915

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-09-14

In the previous post we met the 1896 Columbia University economics Ph.D., Henry C. Emery, who went on to become a professor at Yale. In preparing that post, I came across the Page Lecture Series for the senior class of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University and wondered who was the Sheffield alumnus who sponsored that series and so this post was born.

It appears that the series only ran from 1908-1916 with only the first eight rounds resulting in published volumes.

The sponsor of the lecture series, Edward Day Page (1856-1918) was an 1875 graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale and a successful business man who closed down his dry goods commission partnership and retired from active business in 1911. Included below is an excerpt from an 1886 letter by Page to The Nation that provides a comparison between political economy taught at Yale and Harvard claiming the superiority of Harvard’s broader use of elective courses. This is followed by obituaries for his firm and him, respectively. Finally, we discover that his New Jersey estate was one of the list of places that have a legitimate claim to George Washington having had slept there.

Edward Day Page was a rare sort of business man (now an endangered species) who appears to have thought deeply about what constitutes ethical behavior in the conduct of business.

__________________________

Page Lecture Series.
Addresses delivered before the Senior Class of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University.

“For some time prior to [1908] the authorities of the Sheffield Scientific School had been considering the possibility of a course of five lectures dealing with the question of right conduct in business matters, to be given to the members of the Senior Class toward the end of their college year. While these addresses were to be in a sense a prescribed study for members of the Senior Class, it was intended that the course should not be restricted to them but should be open to all members of the University who might desire to attend. Through the generosity of Mr. Edward D. Page, of New York City, a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School in the Class of 1875, this course, now named for the founder, was established in the summer of 1907; and in the spring of 1908 the first lectures in the series were delivered…”

Source: Morals in Modern Business, addresses delivered in the Page lecture series, 1908, before the senior class of the Sheffield scientific school, Yale university. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1909. Publisher’s note, p. 5

Morals in Modern Business (1908 address, published 1909)

The Morals of Trade in the Making. Edward D. Page
Production. George W. Alger
Competition. Henry Holt
Credit and Banking. A. Barton Hepburn
Public Service. Edward W. Bemis
Corporate and Other Trusts. James McKeen

Every-day Ethics (1909 Lectures, published in 1910)

Journalism. Norman Hapgood
Accountancy. Joseph E. Sterrett
Lawyer and Client. John Brooks Leavitt
Transportation. Charles A. Prouty
Speculation. Henry C. Emery

Industry and Progress by Norman Hapgood (1910 Lectures, published in 1911).

Trade Morals: Their Origin, Growth and Province by Edward D. Page (1911 Lectures, published in 1914).

“This book is the outgrowth of a course of lectures delivered to the graduating class at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in the spring of 1911. Their object was to show in some consecutive form the growth of trade morals from the social and mental conditions which form the environment of business men, and to illustrate their meaning and purpose in such a way as to clarify if not to solve some difficulties by which the men of our time are perplexed. The lecturer took for granted a basis of knowledge such as is possessed by undergraduate students of the natural and social sciences, and the effort was made to carry minds so prepared one step further along toward the interpretation of some of the problems with which they would soon be compelled to cope. Nearly all of them were shortly to come into contact with business — to engage in it, in fact — and he felt that it was important that they should make this start with some definite notion of the values and problems involved in the business side of their vocational career.

Politician, Party and People by Henry Crosby Emery (1912 Lectures, published in 1913)

Questions of Public Policy. (1913 Lectures, published in 1913)

The Character and Influence of Recent Immigration. Jeremiah W. Jenks
The Essential and the Unessential in Currency Legislation. A. Piatt Andrew
The Value of the Panama Canal to this Country. Emory R. Johnson
The Benefits and Evils of the Stock Exchange. Willard V. King.

Ethics in Service by William Howard Taft. (1914 Lectures, published in 1915).

Industrial Leadership by H. L. Gantt. (1915 Lectures, published 1916).

Character and Conduct in Business Life by Edward D. Page. (1916 Lectures)

__________________________

Harvard-Yale Comparison (1886)
by Edward D. Page

The second cause which has determined the progress of Harvard is the great extension of optional studies which has taken place under the administration of President Eliot. It is not my purpose to enter into any argument of the merits of the optional system. It has existed at Harvard for forty-five years, during the last fifteen of which it has had broad extensions and thorough trial. Facts speak for it. It is undeniably popular among both students and instructors. It has been denounced by Yale’s venerable triumvirate and their backers as wasteful and demoralizing. Yet they yielded so far to popular clamor, some five years since, as to formulate the system of limited election which now prevails in the two upper classes. If elective studies are good, why were they not adopted years ago? If, on the contrary, they are bad, why adopted at all?

The following table shows, for the college year 1885-86, the number of hours weekly which the student can devote to the studies of his own choice:

HOURS OF ELECTIVE STUDIES (PER WEEK).
	Yale.	Harvard.
Freshman Class	None	9
Sophomore Class	None	All
Junior Class	9	All
Senior Class	13	All

In this respect, then, Yale stood till five or six years ago just where she stood in the eighteenth century, and stands to-day almost exactly where Harvard stood in 1841. Of course the opportunities of choice are far greater at Yale to-day than they could be at any American college forty-five years ago: but they are still far inferior to the advantages which Cambridge now affords.

Subjoined is a table showing the courses given in the Academical Department of each university, and the number of hours of instruction offered weekly in each course:

	Yale.	Harvard.
Semitic Languages	1	17
Indo-Iranian Languages	4	12
Greek	13 ½	39 ½
Latin	17 ½	37 ½
Greek and Latin Philology, etc.	…	6
English and Rhetoric	10	24
German	15	20
French	18	26
Italian	6	10 ½
Spanish	6	10 ½
Philosophy and Ethics	11	25
Political Economy	4 ½	14
History	11 ½	24
Roman Law	1 ½	4 ½
Fine Arts	…	10 ½
Music	…	14
Mathematics	30 ½	42 ½
Physics	4	23 ½
Chemistry	2	24
Natural History	11	49 ½
International Law, etc.	1 ½	…
Linguistics	½	…
Hygiene	1	…
	170	434 ½

In other words, the Harvard undergraduate has the allurement and opportunity of over two and a half times the amount of instruction that is offered by Yale. In this respect the latter is somewhat behind where Harvard was in 1871, when 168 hours were offered in the elective courses alone.

Thoroughness of instruction is a more difficult factor to estimate, and one which I approach with great diffidence. I shall be contented with a table of comparison showing the courses given in political economy, which, in importance to the citizen, yields to no other science. At Harvard the instruction is given by a professor, an assistant professor, and an instructor. At Yale one man performs all these functions and is Professor of Social Science as well. The time occupied by each course is reduced to the number of hours per week annually offered:

YALE.		HARVARD.
Elementary course.	1 ½ hrs.	Elementary course.	3 hrs.
Longer elementary course	2 hrs.
		History of economic theory	3 hrs.
		Economical history of America and Europe	3 hrs.
		Tariff legislation	1 hr.
		Financial legislation	1 hr.
Discussion and investigation	1 hr.	Discussion and investigation	3 hrs.
		Independent research say	3 hrs.
For Seniors	4 ½ hrs.	For Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors.	17 hrs.

From this it is apparent that something more is offered at Harvard than a merely superficial knowledge of a subject which few men have the time to pursue in after life. Yale now devotes scarcely more time to the subject than Harvard did in 1872.

It may be well to note in passing that while psychology is a required study for four terms at Yale, political economy is an optional study, which can be pursued at utmost for but two. It is difficult to discern the principle on which this discrimination is based, unless, indeed, that otherwise a smaller attendance would flatter the one course given by the President of the University!

Source: From Edward D. Page, “A Comparison” the Nation, 25 February 1886. A follow-up to his article “Two Decades of Yale and Harvard” 18 February, 1886.

__________________________

Edward Day Page’s Business Career

Old Dry Goods Firm to Quit
Faulkner, Page & Co., in Business 78 Years, to End with the Year.
The New York Times. 9 October 1911

Conformable to the wishes of the two senior partners, who are eager to retire, the dry goods commission firm of Faulkner, Page & Co., of 78 Worth Street and 80 Fifth Avenue, will go out of business at the end of the current year, after seventy-eight years of activity.

The business was founded in Boston in 1834, by Charles Faulkner, who had been a salesman for Thomas Tarbell, a dry goods jobber of Boston. Faulkner’s family operated several woolen mills, and he united the agency for these mills with the business of Mr. Tarbell, under the namerof Thomas Tarbell & Co.

In 1850 the name of the firm was changed to Faulkner, Kimball & Co., Thomas Tarbell retiring, and M. Day Kimball and Robert C. Billings being admitted. The importing end of the business was dropped at the outbreak of the civil war, and the house went more largely into the sale of goods, both woolen and cotton, manufactured by New England mills. On Jan. 1, 1859, Henry A. Page, a nephew of Mr. Kimball, who had been brought up in the retail dry goods business in Haverhill, Mass., was admitted to partnership. Mr. Page came to New York and opened a branch office, the business of which grew rapidly, and within three years its sales had passed those of its Boston parent. On the death of Mr. Kimball in 1871 the name of the firm was changed to Faulkner, Page & Co. In 1870 Joseph S. Kendall, formerly senior partner of Kendall, Cleveland & Opdyke, had been admitted, and in 1878 Alfred W. Bates, formerly of Leland, Allen & Bates, and George M. Preston, a nephew of Mr. Faulkner, became members of the firm.

Edward D. Page, now the senior partner, entered its employ as an office boy in 1875, upon his graduation from Yale. He was admitted to the firm in 1884. Charles Faulkner died later in the same year.

Shortly after the death of Henry A. Page in 1898, and of Robert C. Billings in 1899, the firm was reorganized. George W. Bramhall, formerly of Bramhall Brothers & Co., joined on Jan. 1, 1900, and on Jan. 1, 1903, Nathaniel B. Day, formerly of H.T. Simon & Gregory of St. Louis, but at that time selling agent for the Mississippi Mills, was admitted to partnership. Alfred W. Bates died in 1892; Joseph S. Kendall died in 1903.

Satisfactory arrangements haven made for transferring the mill accounts of the retiring firm to other well established houses.

__________________________

Obituary for Edward Day Page
The Morning Call (Patterson, New Jersey). 26 December 1918. Pages 1, 9.

STRICKEN FATALLY AT DINNER TABLE
Edward Day Page, Scientist and Art Patron, Dies While Entertaining Friends.

ESTATE AT OAKLAND.
Was Known in This City for His wonderful collection of Paintings and His Library.

Edward Day Page, known in the mercantile and scientific circles of this country and Europe, died of heart failure yesterday afternoon while eating a Christmas dinner with his family and guests at his residence in Oakland. Mr. Page, a graduate of the Sheffield scientific school of Yale university, class of 1875, was a member of forty-two scientific societies and other organizations In the United States and European countries. The library attached to his late home contains 40,000 volumes.

For the past three weeks Mr. Page had been suffering from influenza and pleurisy. His physician reported that he was on the road to recovery, therefor his sudden death yesterday came as a great shock to the family. News that Mr. Page had passed away brought forth many expressions of deep regret in Oakland, where the deceased man was the leading and wealthiest citizen.

The deceased man was born in Haverhill, Mass., in 1856. He was a resident of Oakland for several years and was known in Paterson. At the outbreak of the war between this country and Germany. Mr. Page was appointed as chairman of the civilians’ advisory committee to the quartermaster’s department and acted also as the expert on textiles for the department. He continued in this service until the quartermaster’s department was reorganized. In New York Mr. Page was a member of the Century club, Merchants’ club, and up to the time of his death took an active interest in the affairs of the Merchants’ association of New York. Mr. Page published several books on political and economical subjects which were well received throughout the country. At the time of his death he was editor-in-chief of the Sussex Register, part of the estate of his late son, Harry S. Page, who passed away about a year ago. Until several years ago, Mr. Page was a member of the late firm of Falkner, Page & Co., commission merchants, of New York.

The Page property, consisting of 700 acres of ground and the most up-to-date equipment and buildings, was looked upon by residents and farmers throughout the northern part of the state as an ideal farm. It has been said that the Page home has no equal In beautiful surroundings. The residence holds an exceedingly valuable collection of paintings, Mr. Page having been a connoisseur of the art, and a magnificent organ. Mr. Page’s library of 40,000 books is believed to have no equal as a private collection in the country.

In naming his property Mr. Page selected “Die Tweeligen,” which, in the German language, means “The Twins.” This name was chosen because of two great boulders found on the property. Mr. Page named his farm “The Vygeberg.”

Mr. Page was a resident of Oakland since 1896. His son, Lee Page, is a professor of civics in Yale college. The first wife of the deceased man, who was Miss Nina Lee, of Orange, died in 1915. He married again less than a year ago, to the present Mrs. Page, who formerly was Miss Mary Hall, of Newton, by whom he is survived. A daughter, Mrs. Nelson Deitch, of Oakland, and son, Lee Page, also survive him. Funeral arrangements have not been completed.

__________________________

Fun Fact:
Washington Slept There

“It was a mere 235 years ago that General George Washington temporarily used the then-home of Hendrick Van Allen as his headquarters on July 14 and 15, 1777. The home’s history begins in 1748, when Hendrick Van Allen, his wife Elizabeth, and their ten children moved to what is today Oakland. Hendrick was a deacon at the Ponds Church, which was located approximately one mile west of his home. The stone masonry home that Hendrick built consisted of four rooms. Its architecture reflects the Dutch design of the period…

Hendrick Van Allen lived in the home with his wife and children until his death in July 1783, at the age of 76. Van Allen’s property was divided amongst his children. Records indicating the ownership of the property between 1788 and 1864 are illegible. Between 1864 and 1900, three other families owned the property.

In 1900 the property was transferred to Edward Page, a successful merchant and businessman. Edward Day Page was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1856, but by 1860 was living in South Orange, New Jersey with his family. Because of his father’s business connections, Page became a partner at the wholesale dry goods firm Faulkner, Page & Co., located in New York. Page began his employment as an office boy and became a full member of the firm in 1884, eventually working his way to senior partner. The business continued until December 1911.

Edward Page’s purchase of the property in 1900 corresponds with a period in the region’s history when many wealthy New York merchants and industrialists moved from the urban centers to the rural countryside and modern suburbs of northeastern New Jersey. The 700 acres of land that Page purchased became the Vygeberg Estate, which he built for himself and his family. The estate was a working farm that encompassed almost all of the Mountain Lakes section of Oakland. Seeing the need for fresh dairy products in Oakland, the farm was primarily a dairy farm with several cow barns. As part of the estate, Page constructed a family mansion, known as De Tweelingen, barns and other necessary outbuildings, including the Vygeberg Office (Stream House), which was built in 1902 on the Van Allen House property….

Page belonged to a number of organizations and served several elected positions in Oakland including councilman from 1902 to 1908, mayor from 1910 – 1911, recorder in 1912 and as vice president of the Board of Education in 1913. Page passed away at his home in Oakland on December 25, 1918 at the age of 62.”

Source: “From Dutch Homestead to Dairy Farm Estate: The Van Allen / Vygeberg Property” in The Oakland Journal, 16 January 2014.

Image Source: Find A Grave Website, Edward Day Page.

Tags AndrewAP, Bemis, Emery, Jenks, KingWV, PageED

Carnegie Institute of Technology Chicago Economist Market Economists Harvard M.I.T.

Chicago. Three casual letters from Cambridge, Mass. regarding young talent, 1957-59

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-09-10

In the three letters to Theodore W. Schultz transcribed for this post we witness the old-boy network at work in Chicago’s search for young talent. Mason and Harris from Harvard share the enormous respect that Harvard Junior Fellow Frank Fisher had won from the senior professors there. Evsey Domar hedges somewhat in his assessment of Robert L. Slighton but more or less places him in a spectrum running between Marc Nerlove and Martin Bailey closer to the latter. Other now familiar (and less familiar) names are tossed in for good measure.

____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Office of the Dean

Littauer Center
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

December 27, 1957

Professor Theodore Schultz
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Ted:

In addition to [John] Meyer, [James] Henderson and [Otto] Eckstein, I would also name Franklin Fisher and Daniel Ellsberg as among our really promising young men. Fisher and Ellsberg are, at present, both junior fellows. Fisher is something of a wunderkind, having graduated summa cum laude from Harvard at the age of 18. He published a mathematical article on Welfare Economics when he was a senior, and those who can understand it say it’s good. He is only 20 now, and, of course, it is difficult to say how he is going to turn out. He may be another Paul Samuelson, and on the other hand he may not. Ellsberg is another one of our summas and a very good man, indeed. I don’t think he measures up to John Meyer, but is probably in the Henderson and Eckstein category. Since I promised you six names, I will add that of [???] Miller who came to us this year from California. I have really seen nothing of him, and consequently, can no give you a first-hand judgement. My colleagues, however, think he is very good.

With best wishes, I am

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Ed
Edward S. Mason
Dean

ESM:rrl

____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Office of the Chairman

M-8 Littauer Center
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

January 5, 1959

Professor Theodore Schultz
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago 37, Illinois

Dear Ted:

It was good to see you even though it was for a very short period. As you know, we include on our list of available men only those who have requested to be put on the list or who have given us their permission to have their name included in the list. It represents men who are either already Ph.D.’s or will receive their Ph.D. within the year, and who are actually available for the coming year.

[Daniel] Ellsberg will be getting his Ph.D. this year, but he is going to Rand at a salary of about $10,000. [Franklin] Fisher will not have his Ph.D. until June 1960. He is just out of college three years and has been offered an assistant professorship at Carnegie Tech. We have now promised him a similar appointment, and in fact he said he would prefer to be at Harvard.

Among other young men of talent who are now here but are not on our permanent roster are the following: Leon Moses who teaches half time in the department and does research with the [Wassily] Leontief project half time. There is a good chance that Moses will go to Pittsburgh, particularly in order to work on the metropolitan project with [Edgar M.] Hoover. Moses is an excellent man in every way and certainly of permanent quality: the same holds for Alfred Conrad who is in somewhat the same position as Moses. Incidentally, both of them have a leave for next year: There is also André Daniere who will be an assistant professor next year and who works primarily with Leontief. Daniere is another good man, though probably not quite as good as the others.

Then there are Otto Eckstein, James Henderson, Jaroslav Vanek and Louis Lefeber. They are all excellent men and in the running for a permanent appointment. Actually, during the next few years we will have but one or two openings and obviously we cannot keep all these men. There is little to choose among them and we will have a tough time making a decision. Please keep this in the highest confidence.

With kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Sey
Seymour E. Harris
Chairman

SHE/jw

____________________________

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Economics and Social Science

Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

January 14, 1959

Professor Theodore W. Schultz
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago 37, Illinois

Dear Ted:

Your letter of January 6, regarding [Robert L.] Slighton is not quite easy to answer. I do not know [Daniel] Elsberg [sic] or [Franklin] Fisher well enough to make comparisons, but I will try to compare Slighton with [Martin J.] Bailey and [Marc] Nerlove. From the point of view of statistical and mathematical ability, Nerlove stands in a class all by himself, and I do not think that Slighton’s comparative advantage is in those fields. As far as Bailey is concerned, he may have flashes of ideas at times superior to Slighton’s. On the other hand, I would credit Slighton with greater solidity, more common sense and better judgment. As far as long-run contributions are concerned, I don’t know on whom of the two I would bet at the moment, but Slighton would be a serious contender in any such betting.

Lloyd [Metzler]’s session went quite well. He was greeted by the audience most warmly and was pleased about the whole works very much. I am very happy that that meeting was arranged and that I could participate in it.

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Evsey D
Evsey D. Domar

EDD:jr

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics, Records. Box 42, Folder 9.

Tags BaileyMJ, ConradAH, Daniere, Domar, Eckstein, Ellsberg, FisherFM, Harris, HendersonJ, HooverCB, Lefeber, Leontief, Mason, Metzler, MeyerHR, Moses, NerloveM, SchultzTW, Slighton, Vanek

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

Harvard. Basic graduate microeconomic theory. Chamberlin and Samuelson, 1956-1957

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-09-09

For some reason, Paul Samuelson was asked to help out with the teaching of Edward H. Chamberlin’s graduate theory course during the 1956-57 academic year. In Paul Samuelson’s papers at Duke I was able to find a letter from the Harvard economics chair, Seymour Harris, confirming his appointment as “Visiting Professor” for co-teaching Economics 201. The actual “allocation of subject matter” between Chamberlin and Samuelson is not clear from Samuelson’s papers, nor from the course outlines. Since the second semester reading list only has Chamberlin’s name on it, it seems likely that Samuelson’s participation was limited to the first semester of the course. Because Robert Bishop’s manuscript on Economic Theory (taught to generations of M.I.T. graduate students) was included in the first section of the fall semester reading list and we find questions for a one hour mid-term exam in Samuelson’s folder for the course, I am led to conjecture that Samuelson taught most or all of the first half of the fall semester of the course. As we can see from the internal M.I.T. department teaching records included below, Paul Samuelson continued teaching his courses at “Tech” that year.

Perhaps a future trip to Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library to consult the Edward H. Chamberlin papers that were donated in 2019 will help to establish why Samuelson was needed at Harvard that year.

_________________________

Letter from Chairman Seymour Harris to Paul Samuelson
May 25, 1956

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Office of the Chairman

M-8 Littauer Center
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

May 25, 1956

Professor Paul A. Samuelson
Department of Economics and Social Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

Dear Paul:

Economics 201 meets Tuesday, Thursday, and at the pleasure of the instructor Saturday at 10. It would be hard to change that hour because of the arrangement of other courses, and also because we must have the same hour for the second semester.

I hope that you would get together with Ed and discuss the allocation of subject matter. You can have [Richard] Gill as an assistant, and he would, I am sure, be willing to meet the class once a week when you think it necessary. You will find him a most adequate assistant.

I may add that the Dean has agreed to recommend your appointment as a Visiting Professor, which is an unusual appointment, for most appointments of this kind, inclusive of Tech, are Visiting Lecturers. This suggests the high regard in which we hold you.

Sincerely yours,

[signed] Sey
Seymour E. Harris
Chairman

SEH/c
cc: Professor Chamberlin

P.S. I hope you will remember to bring my article on Saturday and any comments.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Paul Samuelson, Box 33, Folder “Ec201 Harvard Course, 1955-1956 [sic]”.

_________________________

From the M.I.T. economics department records for 1955-56

Paul Samuelson was teaching full time 1956-57. He taught Economics and Industrial Management (14.117) and Mathematical Approach to Economics (14.151) in the fall semester and Economic Analysis (14.122) and Economics Seminar (14.192) in the Spring semester.

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

_________________________

Enrollment figures from Harvard President’s Report

[Economics] 201. Economic Theory. Professor Chamberlin and Professor Samuelson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Full course.

(F) Total 38: 26 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior, 4 Radcliffe, 5 Others.
(S) Total 39: 27 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior, 3 Radcliffe, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1956-1957, p. 70.

_________________________

Economics 201
Economic Theory
Fall 1956
READING LIST

I. Supply, Demand, Revenue and Cost

Marshall, Principles (4^th edition or later), Book III, Ch. 3, 4, 6

Mill, Principles, Book III, Ch. 1-6

Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 2

Schultz, H., Theory and Measurement of Demand, pp. 5-12

Bishop, Economic Theory Ms., Book II, Ch. 1, 2, 3

Viner, Cost Curves and Supply Curves (1930), AFA or Clemence Readings

Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Ch. 2

Suggested:

Ricardo, Political Economy (Gonner Edition or Sraffa Edition), Chapter I

Mills’ Autobiography or the Introduction to the Ashley edition of the Principles

Jevons, Theory of Political Economy, Chapters 3, 4

Keynes, “Alfred Marshall,” Economic Journal, September 1924 (Also in Keynes, Essays in Biography)

II. Production and Consumption Analysis

A. Production and Cost

Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 8, Appendix B

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, pp. 94-109.

Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories, Introduction

Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 7, 8

Suggested:

Douglas, P. Theory of Wages

Hicks, Value and Capital, Chs. 6, 7

Carlson, Sune, Theory of Production

Cassels, J. H, “On the Law of Variable Proportions,” in Explorations in Economics, essays in honor of Taussig

Schneider, E., Pricing and Equilibrium

B. Utility and Consumption Theory

Hicks, Value and Capital, Chs. 1, 2, 3

Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 5, 6

III. Welfare Economics

Boulding, K., “Welfare Economics,” Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II

Hicks, J.R., “Foundations of Welfare Economics,” Economic Journal, 1939

Pigou, A.C., Economics of Welfare, Preface, Part I., Chs. 3, 7, 8; Part II, Introductory, Ch. 9

Lerner, A. P., Economics of Control, Chs. 3, 5, 6, 7, 9

Source: Harvard University Archives, Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”, Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1956-1957 (2 of 2)”.

_________________________

Economics 201
Hour Exam
November 3, 1956

Define “external” and “internal” economies. What do we mean when we say these economies are (a) “pecuniary,” (b) technological”? (10 min.)
What are the conditions of stable equilibrium of supply and demand as analyzed by (a) Walras and (b) Marshall? Explain the “apparent contradiction” between the Walrasian and Marshallian stability conditions. (20 min.)
In the “Ricardian increasing cost” case, as described by Viner, what would be the effect on price, output, and rent to the fixed factor, of a tax of “x” cents per unit of output? Illustrate graphically. (20 min.)

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Paul Samuelson, Box 33, Folder “Ec201 Harvard Course, 1955-1956 [sic]”.

_________________________

1956-57
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 201
Midyear examination. January, 1957.

Answer the first two (2) questions and any three (3) of the others. Be sure to allocate your time approximately as indicated.

(Forty-five minutes). Assume two individuals (who act as pure competitors) and two commodities. Given the “production-possibility” or “transformation” curve for each individual and also his indifference map, indicate graphically: a) the equilibrium price; b) the equilibrium quantities of each good produced by each individual; and c) the quantity of each good exchanged.
(Forty-five minutes). Discuss the scope and limitations of “Welfare Economics.” Illustrate your discussion with reference to one or two specific theoretical problems (e.g., the box-diagram).
(One-half hour). A production function relates product (Q) to two factors, labor (L) and capital (C). Distinguish the “three stages” for each factor, and give an interrelations among them in a) the case of constant returns to scale (homogeneous production function) and b) the general case.
(One-half hour). Distinguish “internal” and “external” economies and analyze the possibility of equilibrium under pure competition in each case.
(One-half hour). A monopolistic firm can buy labor and land at fixed prices but sells its output in an impurely-competitive market. Now let it be subject to a tax of $X per unit of its output. On the oversimplified assumption that the tax leaves its factor prices, the consumer demand for its product, and its production function unchanged, compare the new equilibrium of output, price, and factor hirings with the old.
(One-half hour). Define the “income” effect and “substitution” effect of a price change. Indicate, in terms of these effects, the likelihood of a) a backward-bending supply curve, and b) a positively-sloping demand curve.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 25. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. January, 1957.

_________________________

_________________________

Economics 201
Spring Term, 1956-57
Economic Theory—Professor Chamberlin

I. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition

Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chapters 1, 4,5, 9.

_________, “Monopolistic Competition Revisited,” Economica, November 1951.

Robinson, J., Imperfect Competition, Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1.

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 3, Appendix A.

Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium T-heory, pp. 78-108.

Hall and Hitch, “Price Theory and Business Behavior,” Oxford Economic Papers, No. 2 (1939). (Also in Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism, T. Wilson, Editor).

Chamberlin, “‘Full Cost’ and Monopolistic Competition,” Economic Journal, May 1952.

_________, “The Product as an Economic Variable,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1953.

Monopolistic Competition, Appendix C, Chapters 6, 7.

Chamberlin, “Product Heterogeneity and Public Policy,” American Economic Review, May 1950.

Suggested:

Robinson, J., Imperfect Competition, Chapters 3-7.

Fellner, Competition Among the Few, Chapters 1-7.

Holton, Richard H., “Marketing Structure and Economic Development,” Q.J.E., August 1953.

Alsberg, C. L., “The Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation,” Q.J.E., 46:1 (1931)

Brems, “The Interdependence of Quality Variations, Selling Effort, and Price,” Q.J.E., May 1948.

II. Income Distribution—General; Wages.

Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, 3.

Marshall, Principles, Book VI, Chapters 1-2.

Hicks, Theory of Wages, Chapters 1-4.

Readings, 12.

Monopolistic Competition, Review Chapter 8 and pp. 215-18, 249-52, (5^th or later edition).

Hicks, Chapters 5, 6.

Marshall, Book VI, Chapters 3-5.

Taussig, Principles, 4^th edition, Chapter 52 (or 3^rd revised edition, Chapter 47).

E.H.C., “The Monopoly Power of Labor,” in The Impact of the Union.

Readings, 19.

Hicks, pp. 170-185.

Suggested:

1. Douglas, Theory of Wages, Chapter 2.

2. J.B. Clark, Distribution of Wealth, Chapters 7, 8, 12, 13.

III. Interest

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Book I, Chapter 2; Book II; Book V.

Marshall, Principles, Book IV, Chapter 7; Book VI, Chapter 6.

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, pp. 144-171, 185-195, 207-218.

Clark, J.B., Distribution of Wealth, Chapters 9, 20.

Suggested:

Fisher, I., Theory of Interest, Chapters 5, 6.

Readings, Chapters 20, 21.

IV. Rent

Ricardo, Chapter 2.

Marshall, Book V, Chapters 8-11.

Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Chapter 8.

V. Profits

Marshall, Book VI, Chapter 5, Section 7; Chapters 7,8.

Taussig, Principles (4^th edition), Vol. II, Chapter 49, Section 1 (3^rd revised edition, Chapter 50, Section 1)

Veblen, Theory of Business Enterprise, Chapter 3.

Henderson, Supply and Demand Chapter 7.

Bernstein, P., “Profit Theory—Where Do We Go From Here?” Q.J.E., August 1953

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 5, Section 6; Chapter 7, Section 6; Appendices D, E.

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chapters 1-4.

Suggested:

1. Readings, 27, 29.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”, Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1956-1957 (2 of 2)”.

_________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 201
Final Examination
May, 1957

A. Choose two of the following questions, allowing one-half hour for each.

Write a brief article on the subject of “oligopoly” designed for an encyclopedia of the social sciences, and therefore to be consulted and used mainly by non-specialists in the subject. (Consider well your objective before you begin.)
Discuss excess capacity in the economy, its meaning and its compatibility with “equilibrium.” What are the chief forces tending (a) to bring about, and (b) to eliminate, excess capacity?
(a) Discuss the issues involved in distinguishing between production costs and selling costs, and defend your own conclusions. (b) Are selling outlays, like production outlays, subject to the law of diminishing returns? Discuss, and illustrate your conclusion graphically.

B. Choose four of the following questions, allowing one-half hour for each.

“It is inappropriate to say that the marginal productivity of a certain type of labor determines its wage; wages, like the prices of all economic goods, are determined by both supply and demand.” Discuss with particular reference to the role of supply factors in an adequate theory of wages.
Develop the role which you would give to either (a) monopoly, or (b) rent, in your own theory of wages.
“Waiting is certainly not an element of the economic process in a static state, because the circular flow, once established, leaves no gaps between outlay or productive effort and the satisfaction of wants. Both are, following Professor Clark’s conclusive expression, automatically synchronized.” Discuss the several aspects of this quotation.
Outline your own theory of land rent, with some critical discussion of writers with whom you are familiar. (Restrict your discussion to the problem of land income, without extending the analysis to other factors.)
Write on risk as an element in the theory of profits, choosing such subdivisions or aspects of the problem as seem to you most significant. In what respects, if at all, would you regard a risk theory of profits as inadequate?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Naval Science, Air Science. June, 1957. In bound volume Final Exams—Social Sciences—June 1957 (HUL 7000.28, 113 of 284).

Image Sources:

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Edward H. Chamberlin, Fellow 1958.

M.I.T., Paul Samuelson Memorial Information Page/Photos from Memorial Service. Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Tags Chamberlin, Gill, Samuelson

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final examinations in Political Economy courses, 1891-1892

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-09-09

HARVARD. ECONOMICS EXAMINATIONS, 1891-1892

With the start of the 2021-22 academic year Economics in the Rear-view Mirror resumes the careful transcription of documents for the digital record of the development of economics education.

The Harvard archives are full of exam materials across time and fields so I pick up with where I left off in that series. Edward Cummings joined the teaching staff that in 1891-92 only consisted of two professors (Dunbar and Taussig) and a pair of instructors (Edward Cummings and William M. Cole).

_______________________

Note to self: Still Missing for 1891-92.

Political Economy 3. Edward Cummings. Mid-year examination, 1892
Political Economy 4. William M. Cole. Mid-year examination, 1892
Political Economy 7. Charles F. Dunbar. Mid-year examination, 1892

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Course Description and Enrollment.

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 1. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig, Mr. [William M.] Cole, and Mr. [Edward] Cummings.

— First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

— Second half-year:

Division A (Theoretical): Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

Division B (Descriptive): Lectures on Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation.—Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking. 3 hours.

Total 288: 1 Graduate, 47 Seniors, 102 Juniors, 91 Sophomores, 7 Freshmen, 40 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]

I.
[Omit one.]

Mill says that “the laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical truths. . . . Whatever mankind produces must be produced in the modes, and under the conditions, imposed by the constitution of external things, and by the inherent properties of their own bodily and mental structure.” Is this true of the laws and conditions of production from land? of the laws and conditions of the accumulation of capital?
Of things limited in quantity, it is said that “their value depends on the demand and the supply. . . . But the quantity demanded is not a ﬁxed quantity, even at the same time and place; it varies according to the value; if the thing is cheap, there is usually a demand for more of it than when it is dear. The demand therefore partly depends on the supply. But it was before laid down that the value depends on the demand. From this contradiction, how shall we extricate ourselves? How solve the paradox, of two things, each depending on the other?”
“Every fall in proﬁts lowers in some degree the value of things made with much or durable machinery, and raises that of things made by hand; and every rise in proﬁts does the reverse.” Explain.
Is there any inconsistency between the propositions that the value of money depends,
(1) on its cost of production at the mines;
(2) on its quantity;
(3) on the expansion and contraction of credit;
(4) on the terms on which a country gets its imported commodities.
Explain Mill’s reasoning (1) as to the manner in which an issue of inconvertible paper money drives specie out of circulation; (2) as to the manner in which, under a double standard, one metal [which one?] disappears from circulation. Are the results, in fact, brought about in the manner described by Mill?
Explain carefully how a decrease in the foreign demand for a country’s exports causes loss to those who consume its imports.

II.
[Answer all, briefly.]

Does nature give more aid to man in one kind of industry than in another?
Are there grounds for saying that the necessity of restraining population is conﬁned to a state of inequality of property?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a currency composed of specie, as compared with one of equal amount composed of inconvertible paper money?
What are the laws of value applicable to (1) silver bullion; (2) iron nails; (3) wool; (4) eighteenth century furniture?
Does the beneﬁt of foreign trade consist in its affording an outlet for the surplus produce of a country?
Mill says the superiority of reward in certain occupations may be the consequence of competition, and may be due to the absence of competition. Explain which explanation holds good of the high wages (1) of laborers in whom much conﬁdence is reposed; (2) of laborers in disagreeable employments; (3) of laborers whose education has been expensive.
What is the nature of the remuneration received by (1) a manufacturer on a large scale; (2) an independent artisan; (3) a farmer tilling land which he has leased at a ﬁxed rent; (4) the owner, of a building who receives rent from those using the building.

Source: J. L. Laughlin, Economics 1: A Synopsis of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Cambridge, MA: W.H. Wheeler, 1892), pp. 101-103.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division A.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

I.
[Omit one.]

“It will be remembered that in a former portion of this work I criticized at some length the received doctrine of Cost of Production, which, as expounded by Mr. Mill and others, is represented as consisting in, and varying with, the wages and profits of producers. I stated then that this conception of cost was not reconcilable with the doctrine of international values upheld by the same authorities, which refers these phenomena, not to cost of production, but to the reciprocal demand of exchanging nations.” Why not reconcilable?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 343. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=351]
“The actual price, therefore, of any given commodity will, it is evident, be the composite result of the combined action of these several agencies”—namely, reciprocal international demand, reciprocal domestic demand, and cost of production. Explain.
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 94. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=102]
“Assuming a certain field for investment, and the prospect of profit in this such as to attract a certain aggregate of capital, and assuming the national industries to be of a certain kind, the proportion of this aggregate capital which shall be invested in wages is not a matter within the discretion of capitalists, always supposing they desire to obtain the largest practical return upon their outlay.” Why?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 186. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=194]
“We see, then, within what very narrow limits the possibilities of the laborer’s lot are confined, so long as he depends for his well-being upon the produce of his day’s work. Against these barriers Trades-unions must dash themselves in vain.” What, according to Cairnes, are the barriers?
[John Elliott Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874), p. 283. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t85h88k6k?urlappend=%3Bseq=291]
“Saving (for productive investment), and spending, coincide very closely in the first stage of their operations.” Explain Mill’s meaning.

II.
[Answer all.]

Why is there a tendency of profits to a minimum?
What is the effect of a rise in the value of money on debtors and on creditors?
“Though laborers in certain departments of industry are practically cut off from competition with laborers in other departments, the competition of capitalists, as I have already pointed out, is effective over the whole ﬁeld.” How is this consistent with the existence of large amounts of Fixed Capital?
“And here this remark may at once be made: that as the course of price in the ﬁeld of raw products is, on the whole, upward, so in that of manufactured goods the course is, not less strikingly, in the opposite direction. The reasons of this are exceedingly plain.” (Cairnes.) What are they?
What would be the effect on wages and proﬁts of the universal adoption of coöperative production? of proﬁt-sharing ?
How far did the premium on gold during the civil war measure the real depreciation of the paper?
Compare Mill’s attitude on coöperation with Cairnes’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1892) in the bound volume: Examination Papers 1890-92.

Also J. L. Laughlin, Economics 1: A Synopsis of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (Cambridge, MA: W.H. Wheeler, 1892), pp. 106-108.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

What is the fundamental objection to the issue of inconvertible paper money? What light is thrown on it by the experience of the United States during the civil war?
Is a rise in the value of money advantageous to debtors or to creditors, or to neither? Why?
What is the cause of the tendency of the rate of interest to fall?
What would be the effect upon the price of food, and upon rent, of a tax of a fixed sum per acre upon agricultural land?
Taking the two following accounts as representing the condition of a bank at different dates, state (1) what operations are most likely to have given rise to the changed condition, and (2) whether the bank is American or foreign, city or country, with your reasons for thinking so:—

I.
Capital	100,000	Government securities	5,000
Surplus	10,000	Other securities	50,000
Profits	3,000	Loans	255,000
Notes	20,000	Expenses	2,000
Deposits	250,000	Cash	71,000
	383,000		383,000

II.
Capital	100,000	Government securities	5,000
Surplus	12,000	Other securities	50,000
Profits	2,000	Loans	260,000
Notes	20,000	Expenses	1,000
Deposits	270,000	Cash	88,000
	404,000		404,000

What is the sliding scale of discount? Name two countries in which it is used.
Point out wherein there are differences, wherein similarities, in the legal provisions of the United States, England, and France, for the security, immediate and ultimate, of bank notes.
Give a brief history of the small change (under one dollar) in the United States since 1850.
What would be the effect upon the price of silver bullion of an act for free coinage of silver?
What was the nature and purpose of the original restriction upon the amount of national bank notes in the United States? When and why was it repealed?
Compare the main features of the silver acts of 1878 and 1890.
How are profits divided in schemes for distributive coöperation? For credit coöperation? What is the important difference?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 9 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Are laborers paid out of the product of their own labor in cases where the employer sells the product before pay-day and pays the laborers out of the proceeds?
“Whether wages are advanced out of capital in whole, or in part, or not at all, it still remains true that it is the product to which the employer looks to ascertain the amount which he can afford to pay: the value of the product furnishes the measure of wages. . . .
It is the prospect of a profit in production which determines the employer to hire laborers; it is the anticipated value of the product which determines how much he can pay them.”
Is this consistent with the wages-fund theory?
Consider the following: —

“Given machinery, raw materials, and a year’s subsistence, does it make no difference with the annual product whether the laborers are Englishmen or East-Indians? Certainly if one quarter part of what has been adduced under the head of the efficiency of labor be valid, the difference in the product of industry arising out of differences in the industrial quality of distinct communities of laborers are so great as to prohibit us from making use of capital to determine the amount that can be expended in any year or series of years in the purchase of labor.”

How does President Walker prove the existence of a no-profits class of business men?
Wherein does President Walker’s theory of distribution differ from Professor Sidgwick’s?
What grounds are there for saying that Political Economy is distinctly a modern science?
“Let us suppose, for example, that in the greater part of employments the productive powers of labour had been improved to ten-fold, or that a day’s labour could produce ten times the quantity of work which it had done originally; but that in a particular employment they had been improved only to double, or that a day’s labour could produce only twice the quantity of work it had done before. In exchanging the produce of a day’s labour in the greater part of employments for that of a day’s labour in this particular one, ten times the original quantity of work in them would purchase only twice the original quantity in it. Any particular quantity in it, therefore, a pound weight, for example, would appear to be five times dearer than before. In reality, however, it would be twice as cheap.” — Wealth of Nations, Book I. ch. viii.
Explain what Adam Smith meant; and what Ricardo would have said as to this passage.
Explain Adam Smith’s conclusions as to the effect on wages, profits, and rent, of the progress of society; noting briefly the reasoning which lead to the conclusion in each case.
Examine the following criticisms on Malthus: —
1. that there is no such difference of law between the increase of man and of the organic beings which form his food, as is implied in the proposition that man increases in a geometrical, food in arithmetical ratio;
2. that the adaptation of numbers to the means available for their support is effected by the felt or anticipated pressure of circumstances and the fear of social degradation, within a tolerable degree of approximation to what is desirable.
Explain carefully Ricardo’s doctrine as to the effect of profits on value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Frank Taussig’s Scrapbook of his examinations. Posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Does the example of a laborer hired by a farmer, and paid by him at the close of the season, after the crop has been harvested and disposed of, present a case of labor paid, not out of capital, but out of the product of current industry?
What do you conceive the relation of political economy to laissez faire to have been with Adam Smith? with Ricardo and his contemporaries? How would you state the relation yourself?
“Ricardo never fairly appreciated that his notion of the laborer’s ‘necessaries’ stood for something subject to wide variation in different stages of civilization. It is true that in one passage he says with emphasis that the necessaries, which determine the natural rate of wages, depend on habits which vary with time and place; but elsewhere he sets up a distinction between gross and net income, which is tenable only if we put the laborer’s necessaries side by side with other elements of cost of production. The distinction loses its practical harshness, when he admits that the laborer may at times receive, over and above natural wages, some part of the community’s net income; but its theoretic shortcomings then become the more obvious.” (Cohn, National-oekonomie.)
Explain Ricardo’s conception of natural wages and net income, here referred to; and examine the justice of this criticism.
“The average rate of profits is the real barometer, the true and infallible criterion of national prosperity. A high rate of profit is the effect of industry having become more productive, and it shows that the power of society to amass capital, and to add to its wealth and population, has been increased.” (M’Culloch’s Political Economy.) What led to the adoption of this test by M’Culloch? Should you accept it?
What were Ricardo’s views as to the effect of foreign trade on profits?
“In the actual period of production, on a wages system, the existing supplies for laborers are distributed to laborers in wages, while they, with the help of fixed capital, till the ground and work up the raw materials, transforming the old capital into a new product. . . . The product is divided at the end of the period of production into the replacement of capital (support of laborers, raw material, and wear of fixed capital), profits, and rent. . . . Hence it is clear that wages and profits are not parts of the same whole. Wages were in capital at the beginning of the period of production; profits are in product at its close.” (W. G. Sumner.)“We may suppose that share of the National Dividend which goes as rent to be set on one side; and then there remains what would be produced by labour and capital if they were all applied under conditions no more favourable than those under which they were applied at the margin of profitable employment; and a proposal was made by the present writer, in the Economics of Industry, that this should be called the Wages-and-Profits Fund, or the Earnings-and-Interest Fund. These terms were suggested in order to emphasize the opinion that the so-called Wages-Fund theory, however it might be purified from the vulgar errors which had grown around it, still erred in suggesting that earnings and interest, or wages and profits, do not stand in the same relation to the National Dividend.” (Marshall.)
Which of these seems to you the sounder view?
Explain what is meant by Consumer’s Rent; and examine the effect on Consumer’s Rent and on the aggregate satisfaction of the community, of a tax on a community subject to the law of Diminishing Returns.
Explain the grounds which lead Professor Marshall to believe that the forces by which the wages of different grades of laborers are determined, work by a process similar to that by which the expenses of production determine the value of commodities.
Examine carefully Professor Marshall’s view of the part played by rent of natural ability in determining manager’s earnings.
Wherein is there similarity, wherein difference, in the positions of Carey and Bastiat in the history of economic theory?

Also found in Frank Taussig’s Scrapbook of his examinations. Posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 3. Mr. [Edward] Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 3 hours.

Total 25: 8 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.]

“The liberty of the subject is only a means towards an end; hence, when it fails to produce the desired end, it may be set aside, and other means employed.”
What do you conceive to be this “desired end”? On what is the prerogative in question founded?
“When everything has been done to deter from crime or reform the criminal there will still remain a certain class whom it is hopeless to influence, and who must be dealt with in course of law, not for much result on themselves, but to carry out the principle of justice, and mainly to deter others.”
Discuss the theoretical and practical validity of the principles of penal legislation here affirmed.
“There are still two more weaknesses, which are peculiar to all states, not only to the modern elective State. From the strictly professional point of view, in the technical works which they direct; public functionaries have neither the stimulus nor the restraint of personal interest.”
“Nearly every present acknowledged function of government has once been intrusted to private enterprise….Now, of all the enterprises which the state has thus appropriated to itself, there is not one which is not managed better and more wisely than it had been managed before by private parties. Most of them are such that the world has entirely forgotten that they were ever private enterprises.”
What light is thrown on this controversy by the experience of continental governments in the management of railroads? Do the same arguments apply to railroads as to the telegraph, and the post? Why?
State an criticize the theory of “surplus value.”
“Let us suppose the whole field of industry covered by syndicates….Competition complained of by the Socialists would be largely gone, being merged within the syndicate; useless middlemen displaced; the employing capitalist with his too high wages replaced by a manager: all steps towards the Socialist goal. What is wanting chiefly?”
Give a general outline of the Collectivist scheme, from the point of view of production, distribution and value.
“But the bare labor-cost value, as it has been formulated up to now, invests the whole economy of socialism for the present with the character of a Utopia….It is remarkable, and even comforting, that all which is required to make socialism so much a matter of practical discussion, urges it to preserve, and even to intensify, the brighter elements of the liberal economic system.”
“Moreover it is not difficult to deduce the necessity of State interference from Mr. Spencer’s own fundamental principles….The inspector is himself in fact, as Prof. Jevons says, a necessary product of social evolution and the division of labor.”
Does expansion of public and municipal industry necessarily indicate the “gradual triumph of socialism”?
Compare briefly the political and economic tendencies in Glasgow, London, and New York.
What ground do you find for De Laveleye’s assertion that Socialism is pessimistic, while Political Economy is optimistic?
State the arguments for and against municipal manufacture of gas in the United States.
The systems of state education in the United States have been devised by the several states of the Union, and are exceedingly heterogeneous and defective. In certain States scarcely anything worthy of the name of education exists, while in others the systems have attained a high degree of perfection.”
How in this respect does the United States compare with European countries.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Course Description and Enrollment

Primarily for Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 4. Mr. [William M.] Cole. — Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours.

Total 132: 35 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 40 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 16 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Answer both the questions in Roman numerals, and eight of the nine in Arabic numerals.]

Compare the facilities for transportation by land as they existed in 1700 with those of 1830 and those of 1890.
Do the same, for the same periods, for water transportation, for cotton manufacturing, and for banking.
Compare the growth in the numbers of population in the United States since 1790 with the growth in the density of population per square mile. If you find any discrepancies, explain them.

How far has England’s policy regarding free trade been affected by the policy of other nations?
What, in your opinion, would have been the status in the United States of slavery, as a system of producing wealth, if emancipation had not taken place? State your reasons.
Explain the change in the position of the American merchant marine at about the time of the Civil War.
What influence has the extensive investment of capital in foreign countries upon the need, for the world’s commerce, of specie?
By what process, and in what way, did the payment of the German indemnity by France affect the Crisis of 1873?
How was the United States able to accumulate enough gold for Resumption in 1879?
Was the indemnity demanded of France by Germany in 1871 just? Give your reasons.
By what sort of processes has the United States reduced the annual burden of its debt faster than the principal?
Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 5. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 42: 3 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Final Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Compare the modes in which New York and Pennsylvania tried to secure communications with the West in 1825-1840.
Sketch the salient events in the history of the New York Central Railway to the present time.
Sketch the important provisions of the Thurman Act of 1878 in regard to the Pacific railroads, and the results which have ensued.
Why was the railway mileage constructed in the United States in 1887 the largest yet reached?
Why has the railway beaten the canal?
Does the practice of charging what the traffic will bear result from the fact that railways present a case of industrial monopoly? Would it cease if competition were fully effective in railway operations?
Discuss separately or together,
(a) Whether the prohibition of railway pools is wise;
(b) Whether there are grounds for permitting or prohibiting such combinations, which do not apply to attempts to bring about combination and monopoly in other industries.
Point out wherein the schedules of maximum rates fixed by the State of Iowa resemble the German Reform Tariff, and wherein they differ from it.
Explain what is the state of legislation as to long and short haul rates in the United States, England, France, and Germany; and state your opinion as to the desirability of preventing lower charges on the longer haul.
Sketch the history of railway policy in Belgium.
Why are railway pools and traffic agreements more stable in England than in the United States?
Point out wherein the Railway Commission under the English Act of 1888 differs from the Interstate Commerce Commission.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Course Description and Enrollment

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 6. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 1^st half-year.

Total 64: 7 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 10 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Be concise. Answer all questions.]

Criticize the arguments by which Hamilton endeavored to show (1) that agriculture was not more productive than manufactures; (2) that the greater division of labor and use of machinery in manufactures made the introduction of manufacturing industries peculiarly advantageous to a country.
How do you explain the change, between 1820 and 1840, in the arguments as to the bearing of high wages on the protective system?
Sketch the growth of the international trade of the United States from 1820 to 1860.
Are there good grounds for saying that the tariff act of 1846 led to a period of general prosperity?
In what way have the duties on fine woolens been higher in recent years than those on cheap woollens? Does the difference explain the fact that the domestic production is confined mainly to the cheaper goods? Give your reasons carefully.
Explain the difference (1) in character, (2) in probable effects, between the Continental sugar bounties and the present United States bounty.
Wherein would there probably be differences between the effects of reciprocity treaties (1) with Great Britain, admitting iron free; (2) with Great Britain, admitting wool from Australia free; (3) with Germany, admitting refined sugar free?
How far is it true that the high level of wages in the United States is an effective obstacle to the successful prosecution of manufacturing industries?
What were the duties on coffee, cotton goods, pig-iron, and wool, in 1799, 1819, 1839, 1859, 1879? (Use tabular form, if you wish.)
How far did the South secure what it aimed at from the tariff act of 1833?
Sketch the tariff legislation of 1872.
Is it true that the adoption of a policy of free trade in England dates from the abolition of the corn-laws?

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Course Description and Enrollment.

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 7. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar.

— First half-year:—

The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special references to local taxation in the United States. 3 hours.

Total 30: 2 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 8 Juniors.

— Second half-year —

Banking, and the History of the leading Banking Systems. 3 hours.

Total 38: 2 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Mid-year examination (first half-year), 1892.

[not yet found]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Final examination (second half-year), 1892.

A.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

Which of the three great banks, the Bank of England, the Bank of France, and the Reichsbank, appears to you to present the best model for a great national bank, — and why?
What peculiarities in the Scotch banking system account for the high credit and extended usefulness of the Scotch banks, and make their issue of £1 notes both necessary and safe?
The value of a currency is said to depend on (a) its quantity, rapidity of circulation, and the amount of transactions to be effected, and (b) on the cost of the precious metals. How is this reasoning to be made applicable to deposits, considered as a part of the currency?
A recent pamphlet contains the following:—
“The ‘Currency Principle’ was advocated by Lord Overstone and others, and held that, under a system of free banking, over-issue [of convertible notes] is possible and likely to occur, inflating the currency. In England, the principle of limiting the issues was adopted in the Bank Act of 1844. A different application of the same principle obtains in this country under the National Bank system.”
Discuss the closing statement in the above extract.
As saving banks and banks of deposit and discount are alike bound to pay their depositors on demand, on what ground can investments be treated as safe or suitable for one of these classes of banks and not for the other? This may be illustrated by reference to investments in mortgages, in bank stock, and in commercial paper.

B.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

Describe Mr. Goschen’s proposals for increasing the stock of gold in the Bank of England and issuing £1 notes, and state the objects to be gained by the plan and the objections to it.
Discuss the propositions, laid down by Mr. Buckner, in his speech of April, 1882, in opposition to the Bank Charters Extension Bill,—
1. That the currency ought to be issued by the government;
2. That an elastic currency is mischievous, as introducing an element of uncertainty, and that the government should therefore issue a fixed amount of convertible notes.
It is urged that the characteristics which insure the high credit and universal currency of the national bank circulation,—
“are qualities which 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.”
Discuss the question whether issues having only local credit would remedy the difficulties suggested above?
Discuss the following proposition for the issue of bank-notes under State authority:—
1. Take off the present 10 per cent. tax from the notes of any bank complying with the following regulations:—
2. Permit any State to tax circulation, in order to accumulate a fund to redeem notes of such of its own banks a may fail.
3. Forbid any bank to issue notes in excess of two-thirds of its capital.
4. Make notes a first lien on all assets of the issuing bank.
5. Require coin redemption by the banks and a coin reserve of 25 per cent. of outstanding notes.
6. Leave any State free to forbid or permit the issue of notes under the above regulations by banks within its jurisdiction.
  [Commercial and Financial Chronicle, May 14.]
Discuss the following propositions for completely free banking, made by Courcelle-Seneuil (Traité des Opérations de Banque, Book IV., ch. ix., §3):—
“Il vaudrait mieux donner au premier venu le droit d’émettre des billets à vue et au porteur sous certaines conditions définies par la loi….On doit supposer que le banquier sait mieux son métier que le législateur; celui-ci ne doit point réglementer ce qui est du métier; il doit se borner à prévenir la fraude, et il ne peut mieux y parvenir qu’en imposant au banquier un fort cautionnement envers le public, c’est-à-dire un fort capital….Les vérifications officielles de portefeuille ne peuvent présenter au public aucune garantie.”

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Course Description and Enrollment.

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 8. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 2d half-year

Total 50: 7 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Final Examination, 1892.

Two questions may be omitted.

What were the terms on which the different portions of the revolutionary debt were made redeemable by the act of August 4, 1790, and when and how was their redemption actually undertaken?
What are the leading cases of suspension of specie payments in the United States since 1789, and what were the general causes in each case?
What was the method by which specie payments were resumed in 1817?
Von Holst says (II., p. 32), “Jackson did not come to Washington resolved to wipe out the bank.” What is probably the truth as to Jackson’s attitude towards the bank when he was inaugurated, and as to the breaking out of the bank war?
What were the “branch drafts” issued by the branches of the second United States Bank, the reasons for their issue, and the objections thereto?
What is the history of the following item in the general account of the Treasurer of the United States:—
“Unavailable amount on deposit with the States, $28, 101,645.”
What were Mr. Chase’s reasons for urging the establishment of the national banking system?
How does the legal tender decision in Juillard vs. Greenman differ in principle from that in the earlier case of Knox vs. Lee?
What were Mr. McCulloch’s reasons for wishing to establish the policy of contracting the currency without delay in 1865?
What influences led Congress to restrict, and finally annul, Secretary McCulloch’s authority for retiring United States notes? Give approximate dates of the Acts.
President Grant wrote, in 1874:—
“I would like to see a provision that…the currency issued by the United States should be redeemed in coin…and that all currency so redeemed should be cancelled and never be re-issued.” [ To Jones.]
How does this compare with the redemption actually practiced under the Resumption Act, and how came the present practice to be adopted?
Sherman, speaking of the first Legal Tender Act, said:—
“We agreed in that act that we would apply one per cent. of the principal of the debt to the payment of the debt. The debt is now $2,5000,000,000. One per cent. is $25,000,000, and that must not only be applied every year, but it must be applied in the nature of a sinking fund.” [Speeches p. 264.]
How far has the government followed this interpretation of the act?

Tags ColeWM, CummingsEdward, Dunbar, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics

Harvard. Exam for undergraduate history of economic thought. Fellner, 1950-1951.

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-21

The transcribed exam below is the third in a series of posts for mid-twentieth century Harvard courses for which outlines and reading lists have been previously transcribed at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Required readings for William Fellner’s history of economic thought course were taken from:

Gide, Charles and Rist, Charles, History of Economic Doctrines
Gray, Alexander, The Development of Economic Doctrine

The course outline together with the required chapter readings along with a list of over a hundred titles (most of which have been linked to digital copies) can be found at the link:

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-history-of-economic-thought-fellner-1950/

_______________________

Economics 100.
History of Economic Thought

Half-course (fall term). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Fellner (University of California).

Source: Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. XLVII, No. 23 (September 1950): Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences During 1950-51, p. 79.

_______________________

Mid-year final examination, January 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 100

Part I

Discuss the following question:

“Historical change in economic doctrine reflects changes in the orientation and the objectives of writers. However, it also reflects improvement in methods of approach.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain your position and illustrate it.

Part II

Discuss two questions and comment briefly on a third.

Draw a contrast between mercantilistic and physiocratic thought and discuss the reaction of Adam Smith to both.
In what respects was Malthus a “classical” economist and in what respects was he not?
Discuss Ricardo’s views on comparative costs and appraise the bearing of this theory on the free trade doctrine.
Is the Marxian value theory rooted in classical doctrine? What are the main differences? What is the significance of the Marxian value theory for the Marxian system as a whole?
Trace the main stages in the development of the theory of rent from Adam Smith to about the end of the nineteenth century.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 17, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, Government, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science, January 1951 (in bound volume Final Exams—Social Sciences, Jan. 1951).

Image Source: Photo of William Fellner from Hoover Institution Archives, Gottfried Haberler Papers, Box 43, Blue Folder without label.

Tags Fellner

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Semester exams for advanced economic theory. Fellner, 1950-1951

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-20

William Fellner from the University of California was called in to fill for Wassily Leontief’s graduate course in Advanced Economic Theory during the academic year 1950-51 at Harvard. Leontief had been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Fellner also taught a history of economics for undergraduates during his year at Harvard.

The outline and reading list for Fellner’s advanced economic theory course have been previously posted.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 202 (formerly Economics 102a and 102b). Advanced Economic Theory

Full course. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Fellner (University of California).

Economics 201 or an equivalent training is a prerequisite for this course. Other properly qualified students must obtain permission to register from the instructor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Courses of Instruction, Box 6, Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1950-51, p. 83.

________________________

Mid-year Examination, June 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

Answer THREE of the following four questions:

On usual definitions of rationality, the following is true of some types of market: Price and output can be derived from technological functions and utility functions or indifference maps (for a given distribution of income), without allowance for additional determinants such as “bargaining power” or “relative strength.” However, there exist important market structures of which this is not true. Do you agree with these propositions? Discuss them, appraising also the significance of the rationality assumptions for the proportion contained in the first sentence.
According to equilibrium analysis for specific industries, monopoly output is (almost always smaller than competitive output. Discuss some of the difficulties standing in the way of applying this proposition directly to the socially significant questions of the “restrictive effects” of deviations from pure competition in the real world.
Theories of market structures are concerned with groups of firms that may perhaps be loosely called industries. However, these do not coincide with industries in the conventional sense. Discuss.
By what purpose are economists led in their attempt to “go behind” the demand curves of individuals and to derive these from underlying concepts (e.g. indifference maps)? How satisfactory are the results? Illustrate your views with reference to some specific aspect of the theory in question. Do you feel that economics would be poorer, in essential respects, if it regarded the demand functions of individuals as ultimate (“given”) data?

________________________

Final Examination, June 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

Discuss questions 1; 2 or 3; and 4.

[Three parts]
1. Describe how income and employment are determined in the Keynesian system.
2. Discuss the effect of changes in the wage unit on the equilibrium level of income, introducing alternative assumptions concerning the elasticity of the liquidity preference function and that of the marginal efficiency function.
3. How would the Keynesian analysis be affected by the assumption that consumption is a function of the supply of money as well as of the rate of income?
Do you consider Irving Fisher’s income concept superior in some respects to those usually employed? If so, in what respects? How do you explain the fact that it is not used more frequently?
If, along given production functions, the supply of one factor is increased in relation to the other, would you expect the relative share of the increasing factor to fall? Do you believe that in such circumstances innovations in general, and induced innovations in particular, are likely to influence the result?
[Four parts]
1. Explain the significance of time-preference and of the productivity of capital for the determination of “the” interest-rate.
2. What is implied in the “classical” assumption that monetary factors do not influence the rate of interest in the long run?
3. How can the monetary factors be worked into the theory if the assumption described in the preceding paragraph is not made (or if the analysis is concerned with the short run)?
4. Do you suggest drawing a distinction between the “risk premia” included in interest-rates (other than the pure or net rate) on the one hand, and profit on the other? Along what lines could this distinction be drawn?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, Government, Economics, …, Air Sciences, Naval Science, June 1951 (in bound volume Final Exams—Social Sciences, Jan. 1951).

Image Source: AEA portrait of William Fellner, Number 71 of a series of photographs of past presidents of the Association, in American Economic Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (1970).

Tags Fellner, Leontief

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exams for first-year graduate economic theory. Haberler.

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-19

The first year graduate theory course at Harvard was jealously taught by Edward Chamberlin during the mid-20th-century. In 1950-51 Chamberlin sailed off to France as a Fulbright Exchange Scholar, leaving “his” course to be taught by the other alpha-theorist in the department, Gottfried Haberler. The outline and reading list for the two semester graduate introductory economic theory sequence (Economics 201) were transcribed and posted earlier. Today I just noticed that I hadn’t yet transcribed the exams for Ec 201 in 1950-51 that were copied during a later archival visit. So without further ado, I gladly (and proudly) add these exams to the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror collection.

_________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 201 (formerly Economics 101a and 101b). Economic Theory

Full course. Tu., Th., and (and the pleasure of the instructor) Sat at 10. Professor Haberler.

This course is normally taken by graduate students in their first year of residence.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Courses of Instruction, Box 6, Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1950-51, p. 83.

_________________________

First Semester Final Exam, January 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 201a

Answer Five questions (Write legibly!)

“Utility theory of the cardinal as well as of the ordinal type is a superstructure of questionable utility. It is much more sensible to start economic analysis with demand and supply curves and to forget about utility altogether.” (Cassel). Comment.
In a price-quantity diagram we are given a demand curve for commodity A in terms of commodity B. Suppose we now look at this relationship as a supply of B in exchange for A. Show graphically what the supply curve of B will look like under the following assumptions:
1. The demand curve for A is a sloping straight line.
2. The demand curve for A has a constant elasticity of unity.
3. The demand curve for A is infinitely elastic.
4. The demand curve for A has an elasticity of less than one.
  Draw each supply curve alongside of the corresponding demand curve.
It has been often argued, especially by Walras, that under free competition exchange produces an “optimum” situation. But it has also been stated that a discriminating monopolist can reach an “optimum” position as compared with a simple monopolist. Discuss the meaning and limitations of these statements with the aid of two superimposed indifference maps.
Draw the short run and long run cost curves of an individual firm including marginal cost, average total cost and average variable cost curves.
Indicate and discuss how the short run and long run supply curve of the firm is derived from or related to the cost curves.
How do you derive an industry supply curve from the supply curves of the individual firms? Under what assumptions can that be done by simply adding horizontally the individual supply curves?
Discuss the factors which may limit the size of a firm and the degree of vertical integration.
Explain the meaning and the use of the production function. How would you derive a cost curve from the production function of a single product and two factors?

_________________________

Second Semester Final Exam, May 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 201

Write legibly

Part I (One Hour)

Compare the interest theories of Schumpeter, Fisher, Knight, and Böhm-Bawerk.

Part II Choose four out of five (One Half Hour Each):

Compare the theory of marginal productivity with Marshall’s theory of “joint demand.”
Discuss some alternative explanations of profits. To what extent can the marginal productivity principle be used for the determination of profits?
Discuss the principal contributions to price theory of the Oxford Study in Business Behaviour by R. L. Hall and C. J. Hitch.
State and appraise critically the basic postulates of the so-called modern welfare economics, as compared with the “old” version.
In what sense can it be said that (a) a monopolist in a product market and (b) a monopsonist in the labor market “exploit” their employees? Analyse the problem graphically.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album 1950.

Tags Chamberlin, Haberler

Economists Harvard

Harvard. Schumpeter opines on Germany’s future under Hitler, 1933

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-15

If memory serves me correctly, Larry Summers once commented on a paper by Bob Hall to the effect that the biggest home-run hitters also strike out the most (or did Hall say that about Summers? … whatever). In any event Joseph Schumpeter certainly went down swinging as a political pundit before setting sail to Europe in 1933 with Frank Taussig and his daughter.

__________________________

SAYS NAZI GERMANY TO “SETTLE DOWN”
Prof Schumpeter, Harvard, Sails With Prof Taussig

Germany, under Hitler, “looks much worse than she actually is; in a few months the Nazi Government will settle down to a more rational, conservative routine—and then Germany will become a power not only to respect but also, possibly, to fear,” asserted Prof Joseph A. Schumpeter, economics professor at Harvard and Minister of Finance in Austria in 1919, last night before he sailed for two months in Europe.
Boarding the Cunarder Scythia, in company with his superior in the Harvard economics department, Prof Frank W. Taussig, Dr Schumpeter declared that Hitler can conduct the Government on a sounder financial basis than would be possible under a parliamentary setup.
The two professors will spend the Summer visiting scholars and universities on the Continent. Prof Taussig is accompanied by his daughter, Dr Helen B. Taussig.

Source: The Boston Globe, May 27, 1933, p. 13.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives, from Schumpeter’s 1932 German passport.

Tags Schumpeter, Taussig

Economists Gender Harvard

Radcliffe. Economics Ph.D. alumna, Elizabeth Boody, 1934

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-09

Joseph Schumpeter’s third wife, Romaine Elizabeth Firuski née Boody (1898-1953), was the first Radcliffe woman to be awarded the distinction of receiving a summa cum laude A.B. in economics. This post provides a few items from her undergraduate years as well as a brief biography that the Find-A-Grave website clearly copied from somewhere else, but which for our purpose here is still a useful summary. The wedding announcement “Mrs. E.B. Firuski Wed to Educator” from the New York Times (August 17, 1937) provides a wonderful detail regarding the location of the wedding luncheon–the Viennese Roof Garden of the St. Regis in Manhattan.

For much more detail about Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter’s life, career, and her personal and professional partnership with Joseph Schumpeter, see:

Robert Loring Allen, Opening Doors: The Life and Work of Joseph Schumpeter. Volume 2: America. London and New York: Routledge, 1991.

Richard A. Lobdell, “Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter (1898-1953)” in A Biographical Dictionary of Women Economists, Edited by Robert W. Dimand, Mary Ann Dimand, and Evelyn L. Forget. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2000, pp. 382-385.

Richard Swedberg, Joseph A. Schumpeter: His Life and Work. Polity Press, 1991.

Elizabeth Boody received her Ph.D. in economics from Radcliffe in 1934. Her doctoral dissertation had the title “Trade Statistics and Cycles in England, 1697-1825”.

___________________________

Radcliffe College Yearbook, 1920

Source: Elizabeth Boody’s senior picture from the Radcliffe Yearbook 1920, p. 36

___________________________

Brief biography from the Find-a-Grave Website

Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter was an economist and expert on East Asia.

Born Romaine Elizabeth Boody on 16 August 1898 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Maurice and Hulda (Hokansen) Boody. She lived there with her family until she enrolled at Radcliffe College in the Fall of 1916.

At Radcliffe, Boody majored in economics, pursuing a special interest in labour problems. In the spring of 1920, she was awarded the college’s ﬁrst summa cum laude AB degree in economics. After graduation, Boody worked as an assistant labour manager for a clothing ﬁrm in Rochester, New York. She returned to Radcliffe for graduate studies in economics, including coursework in statistics as well as economics, reflecting the field’s increasing interest in quantitative data and statistical techniques. Boody published her first scholarly article in 1924 in the Review of Economic Statistics, eventually becoming the ﬁrst woman to serve as a contributing editor of that journal. She earned an M.A. in 1925 and joined the Harvard University Committee on Economic Research, where she was particularly interested in the statistical analysis of time series data and their use in forecasting business cycles. Resuming doctoral studies at Radcliffe, Boody spent 1926 and 1927 collecting English trade statistics for her thesis in London, where she was strongly inﬂuenced by Harold Laski and others at the London School of Economics.

Boody was appointed an Assistant Professor of Economics at Radcliffe. She also taught at Vassar (1927-1928) and at Wheaton College (1938-1939, 1948-1949). As a lecturer and author of articles on East Asian economics and politics, she advocated a “moderate isolationist” policy in the Pacific during the years preceding World War II. She was an assistant editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Boody completed her Ph.D. in 1934. From 1935 to 1940 she worked for the Bureau of International Research at Harvard University. There she directed two studies: one of English trade during the 18th century, and one on the industrialization of Japan and Manchukuo. These resulted in the publication of two books, one of them posthumous: The Industrialization of Japan and Manchukuo (1940) and English Overseas Trade Statistics, 1697-1808 (1960).

In 1937 she married fellow Harvard economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter. He died 08 January 1950 at their residence in the hamlet of Taconic, Town of Salisbury, Litchfield County, CT, where she ran a small nursery. She edited their posthumously published magnum opus, History of Economic Analysis (1954), based on his research.

Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter died of cancer 17 July 1953.

Her personal and professional papers, dating from 1938-1953, are archived at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

___________________________

THE THIRD DIVISION

Sarah Wambaugh, A.B. 1902, A.M. 1917
Romaine Elizabeth Boody, A.B. 1920

Sarah Wambaugh, author of “A Monograph on Plebiscites” and temporary member of the Administration Commission and Minority Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, is now an instructor in Political Science at Wellesley College. Romaine Elizabeth Boody graduated summa cum laude in Economics, and became Assistant Employment Manager for the Hickey-Freeman Company of Rochester, New York.

[High likely that Elizabeth Boody is one of the Radcliffe women in the picture below.]

A VISITOR in Cambridge having supper at the Cock Horse, once the home of Longfellow’s “Village Blacksmith,” may occasionally encounter a group of girls in deep discussion. They may be eagerly arguing some point with a man, whom one instantly labels a Harvard professor. The visitor is probably privileged to gaze upon an evening meeting of the Third Division Club of Radcliffe College. The issue may be the League of Nations, the tariff, a decision of the disarmament conference, or any other topic of the day.

The Third Division from which the Club takes its name includes the Departments of History, Government, and Economics. Students concentrating in these departments formed the club some three years ago with a double purpose — to increase the pleasant social intercourse of students and professors interested in the division and to prepare members to pass their final General Examination. When this examination was uppermost in mind, the Club was often unofficially known as the “Third Degree Club.”

Both to Harvard and to Radcliffe large numbers of students have always been drawn from far and wide by the authority and record for public service of the men who give instruction in these departments. But at Radcliffe, interest in these courses has increased greatly during the last few years, until in 1920 approximately one fourth of the Senior class chose this field of concentration. This impetus is traceable in part to the war and to the larger place women are occupying in industrial and social life, but especially to the stimulus of the chance to work under the guidance of men whose names are always in the public print, whose opinions have been anxiously sought at every juncture of the Great War and of the readjustment period.

Regardless of the actual quality of the instruction, is it not human nature to listen the more eagerly to the well-known expert who may come to class occasionally directly from the train from Washington where he has been acting as adviser to a congressional committee? The privilege of hearing and questioning a Thomas Nixon Carver robs the name “sociology” of any impractical flavor it may have had in pre-college days. The labor situation seems to require immediate attention when a Ripley stands ready to interpret it. The newspaper-reading undergraduate who finds Radcliffe her natural habitat is pulled with equal urgency to International Law with George Grafton Wilson, and Municipal Government with William Bennett Munro.

When making up the courses of study for the year it is evident that the fare provided by the Third Division is tantalizing to say the least. How hard it is to choose. How can failure to study under Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor Holcombe, or Professor Day be explained to parents, old teachers, or the neighbors at home? Will one regret the rest of one’s days the omission of Professor Taussig’s course? Most likely. Certain alluring pages in the catalogue must be hurried over. The world seems nothing but one renunciation after another.

In addition to Harvard instruction, Radcliffe students of History, Government, and Economics have the use of the great Harvard Library. They have access to the Boston Public Library and its splendid Americana, to the Boston Athenaeum, famous for its Washingtonia, the Massachusetts State Library, strong on foreign law, and the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, rich in local history and manuscript material.

These departments were the first to adopt the tutorial system and the general final examination. Useful as the new plan has proved in other departments, it is especially suited to the study of these subjects. In a literal sense these are living subjects, changing their aspect with each day’s news — news which cannot be correctly interpreted by isolated study but only by discussion. The wide reading necessary must be judiciously assimilated in order to develop the student’s appreciation and critical faculties. This can be done only with the help of some one who had already mastered the subject.

Under the new plan tutors guide and assist the students in preparing for the final examination, meeting those in their charge individually every week. The tutor is in no sense a coach, rather a friendly counselor whose aid is an enormous encouragement to the student in learning how to learn.

It would be interesting to know what these women concentrating in Division Three do after leaving college. After discussing the problems of our present political and industrial structure in the Liberal Club, the Debating Club, and the Third Division Club, do they ever apply their conclusions in practical work? After studying under men of ripe scholarship and wisdom, are they better qualified to take upon themselves the duties of citizenship? These questions are best answered by telling of the work of a few Radcliffe women.

The courses in International Law at Radcliffe have attracted a considerable number of those holding fellowships in the subject from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Two of these graduate students, Bernice V. Brown and Eleanor W. Allen, have subsequently held the Commission for Relief in Belgium Fellowship which means a year’s study in Brussels. A third, Alice Holden, is this year a member of the Department of Government at Smith College, and is giving the course in International Law at that institution.

Many students of economics are engaged in various forms of educational and service work in factories and other industrial establishments, and in administering philanthropies. Elizabeth Brandeis, 1918, is secretary of the Minimum Wage Board of the District of Columbia. Nathalie Matthews, 1907, is the Director of the Industrial Division of the Children’s Bureau at Washington.

The strength of the Third Division lies not alone in the unrivaled quality of the instruction and the stimulus of being in touch with the tide of current history, but also in the type of student it brings to Radcliffe.

Source: What We Found at Radcliffe. Boston, McGrath-Sherrill Press, ca. 1921, pp. 7-10.

___________________________

Wedding Announcement

Mrs. E.B. Firuski Wed to Educator

Radcliffe College Research Fellow Married here to Joseph A. Schumpeter

Mrs. Elizabeth Boody Firuski of Windy Hill, Taconic, Conn., was married yesterday at noon to Dr. Joseph A. Schumpeter of Cambridge, Mass., Professor of Economics at Harvard University, in the Community Church of New York by the associate minister, the Rev. Leon Rosser Land.

The ceremony was followed by a luncheon in the Viennese Roof Garden of the St. Regis.

The bride, formerly Assistant Professor of Economics at Vassar College is a research fellow at Radcliffe College, working under the auspices of the Bureau of international Research of Harvard University. Her marriage [1929] to Maurice Firuski was terminated by divorce in Reno in 1933.

Dr. Schumpeter, a widower, was born in Austria, where he was Finance Minister in 1919. He formerly was a professor at the University of Bonn.

Dr. and Mrs. Schumpeter will make their home at Windy Hill until the reopening of the Fall session at Harvard.

Source: The New York Times, August 17, 1937, p. 22.

Image Sources: Elizabeth Boody’s senior picture from the Radcliffe Yearbook 1920, p. 36; Portrait of Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter, November 18, 1941. Harvard University Archives.

Tags Boody, Carver, Day, Ripley, Schumpeter, Taussig

Economist Market Economists Harvard

Harvard. Responses of Wassily Leontief to Questionnaire from Committee to Investigate Walsh-Sweezy Case, 1937

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-07-04

For background on the 1937 case involving the Harvard economics instructors Alan R. Sweezy (brother of Paul Sweezy) and John Raymond Walsh, whose appointments were not renewed in spite of positive recommendations from the department of economics, see

Lovejoy, Arthur O. “Harvard University and Drs. Walsh and Sweezy: A Review of the Faculty Committee’s Report.” Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors (1915-1955), vol. 24, no. 7, 1938, pp. 598–608. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40219387.

The artifact of value that concludes this post is a draft of Wassily Leontief’s responses to fifteen questions sent out to junior instructional officers at Harvard by the Faculty Committee tasked to review the case and which ultimately released two reports:

Report on the terminating appointments of Dr. J.R. Walsh and Dr. A.R. Sweezy, by the special committee appointed by the President of Harvard University. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938.

Report on some problems of personnel in the Faculty of arts and sciences by a special committee appointed by the president of Harvard university. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939.

__________________________

Conant Appoints Committee to Investigate Walsh-Sweezy Case
Dodd, Morison, Morgan, Perry, Murdock, Schlesinger, Shapley, Frankfurter, Kohler Named

The Harvard Crimson, May 28, 1937

The complete text of President Conant’s report to the Overseers may be found in column four. [next item below]

Admitting “the existence of substantial doubt within the University as to the justice or wisdom of the University’s action” in regard to the Walsh-Sweezy case, President Conant wrote a letter to the Overseers dated May 26th in which he announced he had appointed a committee to investigate the affair.

The committee will be made up of the nine professor who received a memorandum from 131 junior teachers requesting a report on the issues involved.

At the same time President Conant wrote both Walsh and Sweezy announcing that he very much regretted the misconstruction of the University’s April 6th statement “as a reflection on your teaching capacity and scholarly ability.” In the last paragraph of the letter the President pointed out that the committee will investigate not only the case of the two men but also “the larger questions involved in the promotion of younger men.

The text of the President’s letters to Walsh and Sweezy follow:

Text of Letter

“I understand that the University’s statement issued on April 6 has been misconstrued in some quarters as a reflection on your teaching capacity and scholarly ability. I very much regret this. No such reflection was intended; the statement in my opinion cannot justly be taken as implying that you are not an able teacher or scholar. All that was meant or implied was that your political views and activities outside the University had nothing to do with the decision and that the choice among several candidates was made according to academic criteria.

“I am writing you this letter, after appointing a committee to investigate your case and some of the larger questions involved in the promotion of younger men, in order that you may not be under any misapprehension as to my personal feelings toward you. “Very sincerely yours, James B. Conant.”

__________________________

TEXT OF REPORT

The Harvard Crimson, May 28, 1937

“To the Board of Overseers:

“In view of the fact that there is not another stated meeting of the Board until Commencement Day, I am reporting to you in writing concerning the case of the two instructors in Economics which I discussed with the Board at the meeting on April 12.

“On May 18, I was informed by a group of senior professors that they had received a memorandum from 131 junior teaching officers of the University requesting them to report upon the issues raised by the University’s action in respect to Messrs. J. R. Walsh and A. R. Sweezy, instructors in Economics. The memorandum was addressed to the following nine professors: E. Merrick Dodd, Jr., Felix Frankfurter, Elmer P. Kohler, Edmund M. Morgan, Samuel E. Morison, Kenneth B. Murdock, Ralph B. Perry, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and Harlow Shapley.

“This group informed me that they would prefer to have this inquiry conducted by a committee appointed by the President. I have replied that it is clear that the nine men to whom the memorandum was addressed have the confidence of the petitioners. For that reason I have requested them to make the investigation which the petitioners desire and have appointed them a committee for that purpose. I assured them that the University would make available any information they may desire, and I might add that the Chairman of the Department of Economics has informed me that he welcomes the inquiry.

“I expressed the hope that the report of the committee would he available by the middle of the coming academic year. Since the appointments of Dr. Walsh and Dr. Sweezy run for two years, there is ample time for me to reopen their cases if the committee’s report warrants it.

“Inasmuch as there has been some misunderstanding about a public statement issued on April 6, I have written letters to Dr. Walsh and Dr. Sweezy of which copies are appended.

“No further action or comment on my part would seem to be required until the committee have made their report. I should, however, like to say that the existence of substantial doubt within the University as to the justice or wisdom of the University’s action is sufficient ground for welcoming an inquiry.”

__________________________

Questionnaire of the Committee on the appointment and promotion of junior teaching officers at Harvard.

Interleaved with a draft copy of Wassily Leontief’s responses.

CONFIDENTIAL

September 20, 1937

Dear Sir:

The undersigned Committee has been appointed by the President to consider certain questions relating to the method of appointment and promotion of junior teaching officers in Harvard College. It will be of great assistance to the Committee if you will write frank answers to the questions below, together with any general comments you care to make on the broad problems involved, and send them before October 9, 1937, to the Secretary of the Committee, Kenneth B. Murdock, Master’s Lodgings, Leverett House, Cambridge. Your answers and comments will be regarded as strictly confidential and shown to no one except members of the Committee. If it seems desirable to quote from or refer to them in the Committee’s final report, this will be done anonymously.

In your opinion, is the treatment of junior teaching officers at Harvard and the administrative policy and procedure in respect to their appointment and promotion satisfactory; or have you suggestions as to how it might be improved so as to create a better opportunity for intellectual development and professional advancement?

Leontief: For the lower ranks of the teaching staff the problem of creating a “better opportunity for intellectual development” is fundamentally a question of firing and not of hiring and promoting.
As long as the position of instructorship is considered to be a temporary one and while only a small proportion of the junior staff can be absorbed by promotion into the higher ranks, the position of the average junior officer will necessarily be precarious. No administrative devices can obviate the necessity of discharging annually a large number of tutors and instructors. At best it might be possible to secure new jobs for some of these the university could help the parting[?] men in their search[?] for new positions, In any case it is well to avoid in parting any at worst [it] should be possible to avoid unnecessary affront to their personal sensibilities. ([The] case Sweezy, Walsh is a good example of how it should not be done).

Has any pressure been exerted upon you to publish, as a condition of your appointment or promotion at Harvard? If so, do you consider this pressure advantageous or harmful to your intellectual development? From whom has the pressure come?

Leontief: The pressure to publish comes from the fact that no man can be promoted without having shown some printed results of his scientific work. It is not personal pressure but pressure of “circumstances”. I find that this pressure is harmful only insofar as it is associated with the presumption that articles are not “real” publications and thus puts a premium on wordiness.

Has your research and publication grown continuously out of your doctor’s thesis and graduate studies; or has there been a conflict or change of interest? If the latter, specify the causes and nature of the conflict or change.

Leontief: My research and publications developed rather continuously, without serious conflicts.

Have you been given a clear definition of what you should do, in scholarly work and teaching, in order to merit appointment or promotion? By whom? Has such advice been helpful or misleading? In answering this question specify your relations to senior members of your Department, the Dean of the Faculty, senior colleagues or personal friends in other Departments.

Leontief: I never asked anybody for a clear definition of what to do to merit promotion. I was told, however, by the head of the department that since I am working in a rather new field it will be necessary to wait and see what the ultimate results will be before deciding whether or not I am to be kept on. I spoke with the Dean of the faculty once; I discuss my current academic problems with the head of the department two or three times a year; among my close friends I have senior as well as junior members of the department. My relations to all others are quite cordial.

Have you felt any conflict between research and teaching, either in respect to the amount of time given to each, or the type of ability and interest required for each? Have you ever been advised to neglect one in favor of the other? If so, by whom? Can you give an approximate statement of the proportion of your time given to teaching, and the proportion to research?

Leontief: Considering the issue of teaching vs. research from a somewhat more general standpoint than that of your question I wish to call your attention to the fact that in the field of economics it acquires a quite peculiar aspect.
The problems, methods and the general body of knowledge change so frequently that one not actively engaged in the process of scientific work would most likely be ignorant of the most significant present day developments.
While a “good teacher” in physics or history can naturally be expected to command a solid, up to date knowledge of his subject, the “good teacher” in economics—if not engaged in active research—lacks with a very few exceptions this elementary prerequisite of pedagogical activity. This applies not only to graduate instruction but also to the higher type undergraduate courses. I personally have never experienced any conflict between my research and teaching activities for the simple reason that both coincided in their subject matter. Approximately one third of my time is devoted to actual teaching.

To what extent have you received help and encouragement from your senior colleagues, in your teaching, and in your research?

Leontief: With some of my colleagues I maintain a very close contact in research as well as collaboration in teaching. In one instance, for example, we visit each other’s lectures (advanced courses) with a view to closer coordination of subject matter and methods.

At what point in his career does it seem to you that a teacher at Harvard should have definite assurance of permanent tenure?

Leontief: [Blank]

By what standards, and by whom, do you feel that your qualifications for permanent appointment are likely to be appraised? Do you feel confident that the appraisal will be just? If not, what method can you suggest for securing a just appraisal?

Leontief: So far as I know, in the department of Economics appointment to associate professorship is discussed and decided by a “committee of full professors” or the “executive committee” which comprises also associate professors. I have no reason to believe that an “appraisal” by such a committee would not be just.
I think that my standing as a scientist and teacher will determine the opinion of the senior members of the department in the first instance. Secondary considerations of “strategic” character however are also likely to influence in greater or smaller degree their attitude.
In order to achieve a greater uniformity of standards and reduce the influence of various subjective motivations to a minimum it would be advisable in my opinion to
a) define more rigidly the membership of the appointing committee.
b) to require each member of the committee to submit a written, motivating opinion (however short) which would be forwarded to the president of the university together with the final vote of the committee.

Do you believe that serving at Harvard prior to any decision as to your permanent appointment has been beneficial to you as regards your teaching, your scholarship, and your professional career?

Leontief: Yes.

Have you refused offers from other institutions since you have been at Harvard? What reasons led you to refuse them?

Leontief: No.

Do you believe that your personal opinions, in relation to your own field or to other subjects, have in any way influenced your treatment at Harvard? If so, what evidence have you to support this belief? Has a regard for your position or advancement at Harvard limited your freedom of opinion either within or outside of your own field?

Leontief: I do not think that my personal opinion (as distinct from my “personality” in general) has influenced my position in Harvard, nor did a regard for my position or advancement influence or limit the freedom of my opinion.

Have you engaged in any “outside activities”? If so, what proportion of your time have they occupied? How have they been related to your scholarly activities? Do you believe that such outside activities have in any way influenced or jeopardized your appointment or promotion at Harvard? If so, what evidence can you offer in support of this belief?

Leontief: I have hardly ever been engaged in any “outside” activity.

Has your salary been sufficient to meet your living expenses? Has it seemed to you appropriate and just? In answering this and the following question, state whether you are married or unmarried; and, if married, give the size of your family.

Leontief: I am married and have one child. Since the time of my marriage five years ago I have been able to put aside $600. My wife’s medical expenses connected with an automobile accident absorbed all these savings. This financial situation is not typical because unlike most of my colleagues I do not receive any supplementary income from instruction in Radcliffe College or in the Harvard Summer School.

Have you found living conditions, housing, schooling, etc. satisfactory in Cambridge?

Leontief: I find the cost of living comparatively high, the public schools inadequate and private schools beyond the reach of my budget.

Have you been delayed in completing your research by inability to finance publication or by the cost of securing requisite materials not available in Cambridge? What remedy do you suggest?

Leontief: My research work is supported by the Harvard Committee for Research in Social Sciences which has nearly without exception granted all my requests for financial assistance.

In answering the above questions, the Committee hopes that you will support and illustrate your comments by specific citations from your own experience, or that of others.

Very truly yours,

Ralph Barton Perry, Chairman
Professor of Philosophy

Elmer Peter Kohler
Professor of Chemistry

William Scott Feguson
Professor of History

Felix Frankfurter
Professor of Law

Edmund Morris Morgan
Professor of Law

Edwin Merrick Dodd, Jr.
Professor of Law

Arthur Meier Schlesinger
Professor of History

Harlow Shapley
Professor of Astronomy

Kenneth B. Murdock, Secretary
Professor of English

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Wassily Leontief (HUG 4517.7). Box: Personal correspondence etc. Dates mainly from 1920’s and 1930’s. Folder: [W.L.-Personal]

Image Source: Wassily Leontief in Harvard Class Album 1934.

Tags Leontief, SweezyA, WalshJR

Page Lecture Series. Addresses delivered before the Senior Class of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University.

Morals in Modern Business (1908 address, published 1909)

Every-day Ethics (1909 Lectures, published in 1910)

Industry and Progress by Norman Hapgood (1910 Lectures, published in 1911).

Trade Morals: Their Origin, Growth and Province by Edward D. Page (1911 Lectures, published in 1914).

Politician, Party and People by Henry Crosby Emery (1912 Lectures, published in 1913)

Questions of Public Policy. (1913 Lectures, published in 1913)

Ethics in Service by William Howard Taft. (1914 Lectures, published in 1915).

Industrial Leadership by H. L. Gantt. (1915 Lectures, published 1916).

Character and Conduct in Business Life by Edward D. Page. (1916 Lectures)

Harvard-Yale Comparison (1886) by Edward D. Page

Edward Day Page’s Business Career

Old Dry Goods Firm to Quit Faulkner, Page & Co., in Business 78 Years, to End with the Year. The New York Times. 9 October 1911

Obituary for Edward Day Page The Morning Call (Patterson, New Jersey). 26 December 1918. Pages 1, 9.

STRICKEN FATALLY AT DINNER TABLE Edward Day Page, Scientist and Art Patron, Dies While Entertaining Friends.

ESTATE AT OAKLAND. Was Known in This City for His wonderful collection of Paintings and His Library.

Fun Fact: Washington Slept There

HARVARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

HARVARD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Economics and Social Science

Letter from Chairman Seymour Harris to Paul Samuelson May 25, 1956

HARVARD UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Office of the Chairman

M-8 Littauer Center Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

From the M.I.T. economics department records for 1955-56

Enrollment figures from Harvard President’s Report

Economics 201 Economic Theory Fall 1956 READING LIST

I. Supply, Demand, Revenue and Cost

Suggested:

II. Production and Consumption Analysis

A. Production and Cost

Suggested:

B. Utility and Consumption Theory

III. Welfare Economics

Economics 201 Hour Exam November 3, 1956

1956-57 HARVARD UNIVERSITY Economics 201 Midyear examination. January, 1957.

Economics 201 Spring Term, 1956-57 Economic Theory—Professor Chamberlin

I. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition

Suggested:

II. Income Distribution—General; Wages.

Suggested:

III. Interest

Suggested:

IV. Rent

V. Profits

Suggested:

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics Economics 201 Final Examination May, 1957

A. Choose two of the following questions, allowing one-half hour for each.

HARVARD. ECONOMICS EXAMINATIONS, 1891-1892

Note to self: Still Missing for 1891-92.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Course Description and Enrollment.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

I. [Omit one.]

II. [Answer all, briefly.]

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Division A. Final Examination, 1892.

I. [Omit one.]

II. [Answer all.]

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Division B. Final Examination, 1892.

II.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. Mid-year Examination, 1892.

[Not yet found]

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 5. Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 5. Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 6. Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 6. Mid-year Examination, 1892.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7. Course Description and Enrollment.

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7. Mid-year examination (first half-year), 1892.

[not yet found]

1891-92 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7. Final examination (second half-year), 1892.

A. Of these five questions one may be omitted.

B. Of these five questions one may be omitted.

Page Lecture Series.
Addresses delivered before the Senior Class of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University.

Harvard-Yale Comparison (1886)
by Edward D. Page

Old Dry Goods Firm to Quit
Faulkner, Page & Co., in Business 78 Years, to End with the Year.
The New York Times. 9 October 1911

Obituary for Edward Day Page
The Morning Call (Patterson, New Jersey). 26 December 1918. Pages 1, 9.

STRICKEN FATALLY AT DINNER TABLE
Edward Day Page, Scientist and Art Patron, Dies While Entertaining Friends.

ESTATE AT OAKLAND.
Was Known in This City for His wonderful collection of Paintings and His Library.

Fun Fact:
Washington Slept There

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Economics and Social Science

Letter from Chairman Seymour Harris to Paul Samuelson
May 25, 1956

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

M-8 Littauer Center
Cambridge 38, Massachusetts

Economics 201
Economic Theory
Fall 1956
READING LIST

Economics 201
Hour Exam
November 3, 1956

1956-57
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 201
Midyear examination. January, 1957.

Economics 201
Spring Term, 1956-57
Economic Theory—Professor Chamberlin

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 201
Final Examination
May, 1957

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Course Description and Enrollment.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

I.
[Omit one.]

II.
[Answer all, briefly.]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division A.
Final Examination, 1892.

I.
[Omit one.]

II.
[Answer all.]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Division B.
Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-Year Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 5.
Final Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Course Description and Enrollment

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Mid-year Examination, 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Course Description and Enrollment.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Mid-year examination (first half-year), 1892.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Final examination (second half-year), 1892.

A.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

B.
Of these five questions one may be omitted.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Course Description and Enrollment.

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Final Examination, 1892.

Economics 100.
History of Economic Thought

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 100

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 201a

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 201

SAYS NAZI GERMANY TO “SETTLE DOWN”
Prof Schumpeter, Harvard, Sails With Prof Taussig

Sarah Wambaugh, A.B. 1902, A.M. 1917
Romaine Elizabeth Boody, A.B. 1920

Conant Appoints Committee to Investigate Walsh-Sweezy Case
Dodd, Morison, Morgan, Perry, Murdock, Schlesinger, Shapley, Frankfurter, Kohler Named