In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
The Economics of Socialism is one such “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver, and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
Of special interest to Americans because the author led a group of colonists to the United States and established there a communistic society, first at Nauvoo, Ill., and later at Icaria, near Corning, Ia.
Gronlund, Laurence.A coöperative commonwealth; an exposition of modern socialism. Fourth edition, London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co., 1892, pp. 265. [First edition, 1884.]
The first of a large crop of recent utopian works.
The author was the founder of the Oneida community. He had put into his hands for editing and publication the manuscript of A. J. MacDonald, who had made a personal investigation of every communistic society then known to exist on American soil.
Nordhoff, Charles.The communistic societies of the United States from personal visit and observation; including detailed accounts of the Economists, Zoarites, Shakers, the Amana, Oneida, Bethel Aurora, Icarian and other existing societies, their religious creeds, social practices, numbers, industries and present conditions. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875, pp. 439.
Shaw, Albert.Icaria. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1884, pp. ix, 219.
Written before the break-up of the Icarian community, from personal investigation and inspection.
Landis, George B.The society of the Separatist of Zoar, annual report of the American Historical Association, 1898. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899, pp. 163-221.
Written just before the disintegration of the Zoar society, from personal investigation and observation.
Perhaps the most discriminating comparison of the two schools of socialism in France, where the dominant school would scarcely be recognized as socialistic by American and German socialists.
A series of essays by such writers as G. Bernard Shaw, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas and others.
Engels, Frederick. Socialism, utopian and scientific. Translated by Edward Aveling. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1892, pp. xxxix, 117.
By scientific socialism is meant the socialism of Karl Marx and his followers.
Bernstein, Edward. Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1893, pp. xiv, 192.
The author is the leader of the “higher critics” of the socialist school in Germany, which rejects much of the Marxian theory, while adhering to the social democratic program.
Bliss, W. D. P. A handbook of socialism. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895, pp. viii, 291.
A collection of information about socialism. Apparently intended as a “campaign book” for socialist propagandists.
An attempt to reconstruct the economic basis of socialism. The author’s economic theories are erroneous, but they illustrate very well the kind of reasoning upon which socialists base their claims.
Probably the only socialistic work since Marx’ “Capital” which seriously tries to lay the foundations of socialism on the recognized principles of economics. As Marx tried to build on the economics of Ricardo, Mackaye tries to build on the economics of the modern school.
MacDonald, J. Ramsay. Socialism and government. London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, 1907, pp. vi, 107. [1909 Socialist Library: volume VIII(1)and volume VIII(2)]
Probably the best presentation of the actual working theory of Fabian or English socialism.
Wells, Herbert GeorgeNew worlds for old. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908, pp. vii, 333.
A daring and ingenious form of propagandism.
V. EXPOSITORY AND CRITICAL
Schäffle, Albert.The quintessence of socialism. Translated under supervision of Bernard Bosanquet. New: York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902, pp. viii, 127.
Perhaps the most thorough-going criticism to be found, but not easy to read.
In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Social Insurance is one such “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Dr. Robert Franz Foerster, instructor in social ethics who had recently been awarded his Harvard economics Ph.D., and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
[Note: items in square brackets have been added
by the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror]
In this section are comprised works upon those measures, usually public but not always technically insurance, which aim to protect the working classes from the economic consequences of sickness, accident, invalidity and old age. Ways of meeting the problem of unemployment, though in part logically finding a place here, are for special reasons treated in a separate section. The importance, in this connection, of such titles described under Thrift Institutions as Henderson’s “Industrial insurance in the United States” and the report by the United States Commissioner of Labor on “Workmen’s insurance and benefit funds in the United States” is obvious.
Zacher, Georg, editor. Die Arbeiterversicherung im Auslande. Berlin: A. Troschel, 1898 –.
This, the most valuable work of reference on social insurance, is a collection of historical and descriptive monographs for all important countries, except Germany, published at intervals since 1898. Each volume discusses the results of laws, contains a special bibliography, and prints the texts of laws both in the original language and in German. As significant changes have occurred, supplementary volumes have been added.
Bellom, Maurice. Les lois d’assurance ouvrière à l’étranger. 10 vols. Paris: Arthur Rousseau, 1892-1909.
A compilation second in importance only to Zacher, but different in procedure and omitting France. Like Zacher, it supplies historical and descriptive matter and texts, but instead of treating each country independently, it discusses, in one volume, sickness insurance; in six, accident insurance; in two, invalidity and old-age insurance; and in a supplementary volume, published four years after its predecessor, describes recent changes and additions.
[III. Assurance contre l’invalidité, 1ère partie (1905)]
Congrès Internationaux [des Accidents du Travail et] des Assurances Sociales. Publications. Paris: 1890.
The international congress has usually been held triennially, since 1889, and its proceedings, including many important papers, have been published in French and German.
The quarterly Bulletin of the Congress, published by the Comité Permanent (Paris: Arthur Rousseau), is the best current source of information on all branches of social insurance. It includes texts of bills and laws, and able discussions.
Willoughby, William Franklin. Workingmen’s insurance. New York: T. Y. Crowell & Co., 1898, pp. xii, 386.
This volume, dealing mainly with European plans, can still, despite the great extension of insurance since its appearance, reliably be used for an understanding of the earlier developments.
United States. Fourth Special Report of the Commissioner of Labor. Compulsory insurance in Germany. Prepared by John Graham Brooks. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893, pp. 370. [Revised Edition, 1895]
Although important amendments have been enacted and fresh experience gained since this volume was written, it is still one of the most useful accounts in English of the origin, nature and problems of social insurance in Germany.
Probably the best non-technical exposition of the nature, operation and effects of the German insurance plan. Though the work is semi-official, and its tone laudatory and defensive, the arguments are skillfully chosen, well put and persuasive.
A history and description, with statistical results.
II. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND DISEASE
Hoffman, Frederick L. Industrial accidents. United States Bureau of Labor, Bulletin No. 78, September, 1908, pp. 417-465.
Discusses the frequency of accidents in the more dangerous occupations.
Oliver, Thomas, editor. Dangerous trades. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1902, pp. xxiii, 891.
Probably the best available volume in its field. The sixty chapters deal more generally with disease than accidents. Of a more popular character is the author’s later volume on “Diseases of occupations” (London: Methuen & Co., 1908, pp. vi, 427).
A compendious, classified statement of the enactments of twenty-two countries, convenient at once for a rapid view of the legislation of one country and for international comparison.
McKitrick, Reuben. Accident insurance for workingmen (Comparative Legislation Bulletin No. 20). Madison: Wisconsin Library Commission, 1909, pp. 70.
The legal and financial principles of various forms of accident insurance clearly explained.
“The object of this book is to present a complete view of the law of workmen’s compensation as contained in the Act of 1906, and in the decisions of the English and Scotch courts both prior and subsequent to that act” (preface, page 5). In this aim the book admirably succeeds; it is thorough, clear and, in its comparisons with the older acts, highly instructive.
Eastman, Crystal. Work-accidents and the law. (The Pittsburgh Survey.) New York: Charities Publication Committee, pp. xvi, 345.
An important study, by the secretary of the New York State Employers’ Liability Commission, of the causes of industrial accident in the Pittsburgh district, the operation of present liability laws, and the best method of reform. There are interesting appendices.
History of an ill-conceived and ephemeral, but not uninstructive, American plan of state insurance. The text of the law appeared in Bulletin No. 45, pp. 406-408; the grounds of its unconstitutionality are set forth in Bulletin No. 57, pp. 689, 690.
A comprehensive survey of existing systems, public and private, national and local. Issues are discussed with special reference to an American community; and a conclusion adverse to the institution of a state scheme for Massachusetts is reached.
A brief exposition of an interesting voluntary scheme.
Sutherland, William. Old age pensions. London: Methuen & Co., 1907, pp. x, 227.
A concise critical description of the various plans proposed in England before the act of 1908, and a thoughtful discussion of the factors of the pension problem. In an appendix are reviewed the chief foreign systems. The book serves incidentally as a guide to the important Parliamentary papers on the subject.
In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Trade Unionism is the “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Professor William Z. Ripley and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice.Industrial democracy. New edition in one volume. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1902, pp. lxii, 929.
The most elaborate and comprehensive treatise on the subject, sympathetic and yet well reasoned. Contains no descriptive matter of American conditions.
Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. History of trade unionism. New edition. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1902, pp. xxxiv, 558.
The best account of the struggle of the working classes for industrial rights. Confined to English experience.
The legal aspects of trade unionism are discussed in the “Reports of the United States Industrial Commission” [e.g. Volume V Labor Legislation] and in the following special articles:
Collective bargaining is best treated technically in the “Reports of the United States Industrial Commission,” and in the following monographs:
Hilbert, F. W. Trade agreements in the United States. [sic, probably Trade-Union Agreements in the Iron Molders’ Union] Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1906. [Note: Frederick William Hilbert died February 17, 1906.]
In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Taxation is the “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Professor Charles J. Bullock and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
A valuable history of the internal taxes levied by our federal government.
Means, David MacGregor.The methods of taxation. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1909, pp. xi, 380.
Valuable on the critical rather than the constructive side.
Mill, John Stuart.Principles of political economy. London, 1848; [7th ed. of 1870] edited with an introduction by W. J. Ashley. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1909, pp. liii, 1013.
The chapters of the fifth book that deal with taxation are worthy of careful study.
In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was apparently coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Over the coming weeks, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror will be providing transcriptions to some of these bibliographies along with many links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
We begin with Professor Frank Taussig’s list of eighteen items that he selected for the Economic Theory bibliography, along with his brief comments.
_____________________________
From the Prefatory Note:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
Adam Smith’s book is a landmark in the history of thought, and justly entitled a classic. But it is not to be read as the one book on economics, if one only can be read; nor is it usually the best book to begin with. Parts are antiquated, parts to be understood only with knowledge of Adam Smith’s times. Yet in attractiveness of style, wealth of matter, epoch-making significance, its equal has not been written.
A classic, like Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”; like that, superseded in parts, yet a noble book, with dignity of style and large views, addressed to the mature, warm in its social sympathies, severe in its reasoning; a good book to begin with, though to be supplemented with others more modern.
Marshall, Alfred. Principles of economics. Vol. I. Fifth edition. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1907, pp. xxxvi, 807. [Eighth edition, 1920]
Probably the most important book on economic theory published in English since J. S. Mill’s “Principles”; able, penetrating, stimulating. It is not easy reading, but repays careful study. The whole subject of economics is not covered; chiefly Value and Distribution, the parts of economic theory having most bearing on social questions.
A brilliant volume by an American scholar, abstract in character, setting forth in attractive style a theory of distribution according to the specific product of each of the factors in production. Its conclusions have been disputed, but the originality and interest of the reasoning are not to be denied.
A compact, clear, able statement of modern doctrines, with an introductory chapter on the principles of value.
Böhm-Bawerk, Eugen von.The positive theory of capital. Translated with a preface and analysis by William Smart. London and New York: Macmillan & Co., 1891, pp. xi, 428.
A book of the first importance, the starting point for the modern discussion of capital and interest; covering also the so called “Austrian” theory of value. The exposition is deliberate and full; the reasoning not always easy to follow, but always deserving careful study.
These two volumes present theories in some respects novel, but consistently maintained throughout. The first gives the author’s conception of capital and income; the second, his analysis of the causes determining the rate of interest. They form a good supplement to Böhm-Bawerk’s “Positive Theory.” Like that, they test the reader’s attention and powers of reasoning.
A remarkable survey of economics from the historical point of view; encyclopedic in its range, with admirable sketches of the great lines of industrial development and of present conditions, and broad-minded discussion of current social and economic problems.
Ely, Richard T. Outlines of economics. Revised and enlarged by the author and T. S. Adams, M. O. Lorenz and A. A. Young. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908, pp. xii, 700.
These three are modern text-books, addressed to persons of the grade of college students, with special regard to American conditions. The two mentioned first are clearer and better reasoned than the third, which, however, contains a mass of information and has full and well-chosen lists of references.
Bullock, Charles J. Introduction to the study of economics. Third edition, revised and enlarged. New York, Boston, etc.: Silver, Burdett & Co., 1908, pp. 619.
These are shorter text-books, of a somewhat more elementary character than the three mentioned before. They have the apparatus of questions expected in a high-school text-book, as well as references and brief bibliographies. The first two are more concrete and informational; the third (Johnson’s) is more abstract and general, but not less satisfactory in its mode of exposition.
This gives a condensed statement of the doctrines of the same author’s larger book (see above), arranged with a view to use by students. It does not cover the whole subject, but only the range of topics treated in the larger book.
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
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
Journalism. Norman Hapgood
Accountancy. Joseph E. Sterrett
Lawyer and Client. John Brooks Leavitt
Transportation. Charles A. Prouty
Speculation. Henry C. Emery
“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.
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).
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!
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.
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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.”
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.
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.
Economics 201
Economic Theory
Fall 1956
READING LIST
I. Supply, Demand, Revenue and Cost
Marshall, Principles (4th 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.
_________________________
A twitter prayer.
_________________________
Economics 201
Spring Term, 1956-57
Economic Theory—Professor Chamberlin
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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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.
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: —
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;
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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. 1st half-year.
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?
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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.
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,—
That the currency ought to be issued by the government;
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:—
Take off the present 10 per cent. tax from the notes of any bank complying with the following regulations:—
Permit any State to tax circulation, in order to accumulate a fund to redeem notes of such of its own banks a may fail.
Forbid any bank to issue notes in excess of two-thirds of its capital.
Make notes a first lien on all assets of the issuing bank.
Require coin redemption by the banks and a coin reserve of 25 per cent. of outstanding notes.
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.”
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.
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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
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?
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.
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:
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:
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.
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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.
