Category: Harvard

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Core graduate economic theory exams. Schumpeter, 1938

 

This post provides three examinations found for the year-long graduate economic theory course taught by Joseph Schumpeter. Reading lists as well as the examinations for the immediately preceding two years have been posted earlier (see links below).

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Related posts for core graduate economic theory
Reading lists, examinations

1935-36 Schumpeter
1936-37 Schumpeter

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 101 (formerly 11). Professor Schumpeter.—Economic Theory.

Total 36: 25 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 3 School of Public Administration, 3 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-38, p. 85.

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Mid-year Examination, 1938.

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101

Answer FIVE questions

  1. The Marshallian law of demand states that falling price is associated with increasing quantity demanded. But we often find that, on the contrary, quantity sold increases and decreases with price. How would you explain such cases?
  2. In what sense are decreasing average unit costs incompatible with perfect competition?
  3. What is meant by elasticity of expenditure, and how is this concept related to the ordinary elasticity of demand?
  4. Do you think that monopoly price should be more “rigid” than competitive price? Explain your answer.
  5. To what extent is it true that conditions deviating from perfect competition tend to produce excess capacity?
  6. Is it correct to say that there is one and only one price to every oligopolistic situation because the only rational course for oligopolists to adopt is to combine and thus to set up a simple monopoly?
  7. How are prices determined in the case of a discriminating monopolist selling in two separate markets? In general would you expect output to be larger or smaller under discriminating monopoly than under simple monopoly?

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Llloyd Appleton Metzler, Box 7, “H. C. S. Easy Clasp File”.

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ECONOMICS 101
Make-up Examination, March 1938

(Answer FIVE questions)

  1. What is the difference between the Marshallian supply curve and the particular expenses curve?
  2. What do we mean by saying that under conditions of perfect competition firms produce “up to the optimal point” while under conditions of the imperfect competition they do not?
  3. Given the indifference map of an individual, how can a demand curve be deduced therefrom? Is this a Marshallian demand curve?
  4. Define bilateral monopoly and indicate conditions under which price is, and conditions under which price is not, determinate.
  5. What is the difference between monopolistic competition and oligopoly?
  6. Discuss the relation between cost curves and supply curves.
  7. Discuss the relation between the elasticity of demand and the elasticity of substitution.

Source:Harvard University Archives. Papers of Joseph Schumpeter. Lecture Notes, Box 10, Folder “Ec 101”.

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Final Examination, 1938.

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 101

Answer FIVE questions

  1. If the elasticity of substitution of a factor is greater than the elasticity of demand for the product, then the elasticity of demand for that factor will be smaller, the greater is the proportion of that factor to the others. Prove, assuming that there are only two factors.
  2. It has been held that in a socialist society income should consist of two parts: a wage fixed much as it would be under perfectly competitive capitalism, and a “dividend” out of the surplus of the total national product over the sum total of wages. It has also been held that the size of dividends should be proportional to wages received. Do you think that such a policy would secure optimal allocation of resources, assuming free choice of occupations?
  3. Profits have sometimes been defined as a “rent of ability.” Do you think this satisfactory? Why or why not?
  4. “The extent and direction in which the amount of the factor employed in any use differs from the ideal amount varies directly with the divergence between the fraction

\frac{\text{marginal revenue to the individual firm}}{\text{price}}

in the particular use and in the alternative use from which the factor has to be drawn .… The magnitude of the elasticity of demand is an inverse measure of the degree of imperfection of competition. We may conclude that it is socially desirable to expand those industries in which competition is more imperfect than the industry with which they compete for their factors of production and to contract those in which the opposite condition prevails.” Explain.

  1. What would you expect the effective technological change (“invention”) on the rate of interest to be?
  2. How would you measure the loss inflicted on consumers by the imposition of an import duty? Must there necessarily be a loss? Would your conclusions be affected if the commodity were controlled in the exporting country by a monopolist?
  3. “The Marxist’s claim to superiority for his economics is that ‘bourgeois’ economics has utterly failed to explain the fundamental tendencies of the development of the capitalist system.” Do you think this claim is justified in so far as it concerns “bourgeois” economics? How does the Marxist attempt to provide a theoretical explanation of the “fundamental tendencies of the development of the capitalist system?”

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Papers of Llloyd Appleton Metzler, Box 7, “H. C. S. Easy Clasp File”.

Image Source: Joseph A. Schumpeter in Harvard Class Album, 1939.

 

 

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Statistics Suggested Reading

Harvard. Final exam for course on national income accounting. Crum, 1938

 

William Leonard Crum (1894-1967) taught economic statistics at Harvard from 1923-1948 before finishing his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught an undergraduate one-semester course, “The National Income”, only twice. In the extensive but incomplete Harvard archival collection of course final examinations I have only been able to find the final for the second term of the 1937-38 academic year. Full course reading lists were not in the course syllabi and outlines collection, but the reading period assignments for both years could be found.

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Course Enrollments,

1937-38

[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.

Total 7: 1 Graduate, 4 Seniors, 2 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-38, p. 85.

 

1938-39

[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.

Total 3: 2 Graduates, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1938-39, p. 98.

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Reading Period

May 9- June 1, 1938

Economics 21b: Read either of the following:

Colin Clark, National Income and Outlay, Chs. I-V, and VII.
R. F. Martin, National Income and Its Elements (entire).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1937-1938”.

 

May 8- May 31, 1939

Economics 21b: Choose one of the following:

National Industrial Conference Board, National Income in the United States, 1799-1938 (entire book).
Simon Kuznets, Commodity Flow and Capital Formation, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1938 (Part II and Part III).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1938-1939”.

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Final exam, 1938

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 21b2

(Omit two of the first six questions, and omit one of the last two)

  1. (a) Outline the main items, listing as plus and minus, which must be covered in estimating national income by the net value product method.
    (b) Discuss the chief theoretical and practical points relating to the estimated allowance for depreciation.
  2. (a) Comment upon the main problems encountered in determining the net value product of “government”, considered as an “industry”.
    (b) Name two chief “transfer” items, and indicate – for each – how it should be treated in national income estimates, and why.
  3. (a) Discuss with care the way in which the accounting practice relative to inventory valuation affects estimates of national income.
    (b) Comment upon the place of “additions to business surplus” in the simple concepts of national income. Indicate whether this surplus-additional item can be estimated directly, or only indirectly.
  4. (a) What is meant by “entrepreneurial withdrawals”, and on what basis are they in general estimated? Give your view of the validity of such estimates, with reasons.
    (b) To what extent do the methods customarily employed in estimating the distribution of national income according to particular categories give a satisfactory appraisal of any oneof the four main types discussed in economic theory – wages, interest, rent, profits?
  5. (a) Discuss the place of capital gains in national income estimates.
    (b) What is meant by capital formation? What are the leading obstacles to a satisfactory measurement thereof?
  6. (a) Given an online account of the relation between size of income (of individuals) and the main sources from which income is derived. How, in general, does the business cycle affect these relationships?
    (b) What is meant by real income? Name and discuss two chief obstacles to the measurement thereof.
  7. (Clark) Name, and common briefly upon, the chief differences in method of estimating national income, as between Great Britain and the United States.
  8. (Martin) Four main types of entrepreneurs are distinguished – farmers, retail-store proprietors, service establishment owners, professional practitioners. Comment upon the data available for estimating incomes of these groups, and give your views as to the validity of such estimates.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 3, Folder “Final examinations, 1937-1938”.

Image source: Portrait of William Leonard Crum from the Harvard Class Album, 1946.

 

Categories
Economist Market Gender Harvard Statistics

Harvard. Placement suggestions Philip G. Wright or Anne C. Bezanson for Bryn Mawr, 1916

 

The archival artifact that begins this post is a straight-forward response to a letter requesting possible leads for a junior faculty appointment in statistics at Bryn Mawr. It was written by Harvard assistant professor of economics Edmund Ezra Day (who would later go on to be the president of Cornell University–see link below) to a historian colleague at Bryn Mawr who had likewise done his graduate work at Harvard.

Two persons were identified by Day as eligible candidates, the Radcliffe graduate Anne C. Bezanson (about whom more can be found in an earlier post dedicated to her remarkable career) and a 54 (!) year-old economics graduate student Philip Green Wright. It turns out that Wright (with some collaboration with his son, the statistical geneticist Sewall Wright) is the rightly celebrated discoverer of instrumental-variables estimation. Relevant links to the story of Philip Green Wright and instrumental variables, including those to presentation materials as well as videos from a Tufts University Celebration of the 150th anniversary of Philip Green Wright’s birth,  will be found below after Day’s letter.

There appears no expression of irony when Day writes “…if you are ready to appoint a woman, it will repay you to consider Miss Bezanson carefully”.  Bryn Mawr was after all one of the so-called “Seven Sisters” (the Ivy League of women’s colleges).

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Copy of Reference Letter from E. E. Day (Harvard) to H. L. Gray (Bryn Mawr)
re: Philip Wright and Anne C. Bezanson

March 21, 1916

Dear Howard,

Your recent letter was most welcome despite its obviously professional intent and largely professional content! I am glad to learn that you find life bearable in Bryn Mawr. That will serve as a preliminary report; in time I expected more exciting and promising announcement!

Regarding candidates for the new position in prospect in your department, I find it difficult to write anything at all definite. [John Valentine] Van Sickle is hardly available yet; he is still a couple of years from his degree and will probably not go out until he can take his Ph.D. with him. Furthermore, there is every prospect that, when he is fully prepared, he will command substantially more than the $1200 you mention.

The two students who would seem to be eligible for the position you describe are Philip G. Wright, rather an instructor than a student, and (if you would consider a woman), Miss Annie C. Bezanson. Neither holds the doctor’s degree, but both are very thoroughly capable students. Both are entirely capable of giving the instruction in statistics. Wright is a man well along in years, who for twenty-odd years taught mathematics and economics at Lombard College, Illinois, and, despite that fact, retains his intellectual vitality remarkably. He is perhaps a bit lacking in aggressiveness in classrooms, but is none-the-less an effective instructor. (You would probably have to pay $2000 to get him)

Miss Bezanson is a Radcliffe student whom I have had in both the elementary theory and graduate statistics courses. In the latter, last year, she did “A” work. She comes this year for her “generals “and any recommendation would be conditional upon her passing the examination credibly; but the staff expects her to pass with a large margin. It seems to me that, if you are ready to appoint a woman, it will repay you to consider Miss Bezanson carefully. Prof. [Frank] Taussig will write further details regarding both Wright and Miss Bezanson if you are interested. [Edwin Francis] Gay, too, has seen a good deal of Miss Bezanson’s work.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance to you, Howard. Mrs. Day joins me in warm regards.

Cordially yours,

[copy unsigned, Edmund Ezra Day]

Professor Howard L. Gray

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence and Papers 1930-1961 and some earlier. Boxt 26, Williams–Young. Folder “Wright, Philip Green”.

 

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Biographical sketch of Philip Green Wright

“At Lombard, Philip taught economics, mathematics (including calculus), astronomy, fiscal history, writing, literature and physical education; he also ran the college printing press. Philip had a passion for poetry and used the press to publish the first books of poems by a particularly promising student of his, Carl Sandburg….

“…In 1912, Philip and Sewall [Philip’s son, a statistical geneticist] moved to Massachusetts. Philip took a visiting position teaching at Williams College, and Sewall entered graduate school at Harvard. In 1913, Philip took a position at Harvard, first as an assistant to his former advisor, Professor Frank W. Taussig, then as an instructor. Taussig was subsequently appointed head of the U.S. Tariff Commission in Washington, D.C. In 1917, Philip left Harvard for a position at the Commission, then in 1922 took a research job at the Institute of Economics, part of what would shortly become the Brookings Institution….

“…While at Harvard, in addition to his 1915 review of Moore’s book, he wrote a number of articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and while at Brookings, he wrote several books and published articles and reviews in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, the Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Review. Some of his writings used algebra and calculus, typically following graphical expositions. Although Philip wrote on a wide range of topics, the identification problem was a recurrent theme in his work (P. G. Wright, 1915, 1929, 1930). In his later years, Philip was particularly concerned about tariffs, and he wrote passionately about the damage being done by recent tariff increases to international relations (P. G. Wright, 1933).

“…In our view, this evidence points toward Philip as being both the author of Appendix B and the man who first solved the identification problem, first showed the role of “extra factors” in that solution and first derived an explicit formula for the instrumental variable estimator. Yet, as historians of econometrics like Christ (1985) and Morgan (1990) point out, a greater mystery remains: Why was the breakthrough in Appendix B ignored by the econometricians of the day, only to be reinvented two decades later?”

Source: James H. Stock and Francesco Trebbi. “Who Invented Instrumental Variable Regression?” Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol. 17, No. 3 (Summer, 2003), pp. 177-194.

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Three Worthwhile Links

Philip G. Wright, The Tariff on Animal and Vegetable Oils, 1928.

Philip Green Wright’s c.v.

James Stock’s webpage: “The History of IV Regression”.

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Philip Green Wright, Double Jumbo and Inventor of IV Regression
Sesquicentennial of the birth of Philip G. Wright
Tufts University Economics Department, October 3, 2011

Presentations

James Stock’s slides “Philip Green Wright, the Identification Problem in Econometrics, and its Solution“.

Joshua D. Angrist’s slides “Instrumental Variables in Action“.

Kerry Clark’s slides “Philip and Sewall Wright: The Invention of Instrumental Variables Regression“.

“Remembrances” by Philip Green Wright’s Grandchildren.

Video of the event
(Warning: poor audio)

Part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INbip-UFluo

Opening remarks by Chairman of the Tufts economics department: Professor Enrico Spolaore
Welcome by the President of Tufts University. Anthony Monaco
James Stock begins at 8:20

Part2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvcfNk7rBn0

James Stock continues up to 9:20
Kerry Clark (AB Economics, Harvard 2012) begins at 10:30 [Ms. Clark’s other Harvard activities: Women’s Varsity Lacrosse, Center for History and Economics, Quincy Grille Manager, and Harvard University Women in Business. According to Linked In, she works at Citi)

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NWWCRaj4_Q

Kerry Clark continues to 5:20
Joshua Angrist begins at 7:30

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7g-L69MNU

Joshua Angrist continues for entire part 4

Part 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3BPifHzex4

Brief Q&A
Grandchildren remember from 7:45 to 22.30

Image: Portrait of Philip G. Wright from James Stock presentation

 

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Economists Gender Harvard Radcliffe Vassar

Harvard/Radcliffe. Economics Ph.D. alumna, Ethelwynn Rice Beckwith, 1925

 

Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is conceived as a long-term project. I am seeking artifacts and information about the curriculum that has shaped young economists as well as the about the “products” of the curriculum, i.e. the undergraduate economics majors and Ph.D. graduates.

Yesterday I randomly went into the annual report of the President of Radcliffe College to begin to follow another career of a woman Ph.D. in economics. And so the post for today was born. Who was Ethelwynn Rice Beckwith, Radcliffe Ph.D. 1925?

The first item below is  all that is easy to know about her biography and career. From that point it takes some digging into genealogical archives (www.ancestry.com) and luck. Her vital dates: b. January 7, 1870 in Hartford, Connecticut; d. August 31, 1955 in Manitawoc, Wisconsin. She was married right out of college to William Erastus Beckwith [b. October 17, 1870 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts; d. June 26, 1904 in Wailuku, Hawaii] on July 2, 1900 in Lorain County Ohio. The couple moved to Hawaii where William was a “clerk at Custom House” at least as early as 1898. In 1905 she was living alone as a teacher at the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y. In the U.S. Census of 1910 she was recorded as a widow, living in Cleveland, Ohio as a boarder (April 16, 1910). To make things more complicated I have found a ship manifest that indicates Ethelwynn Beckwith was a cabin passenger, designated as “married”, on a ship from Yokohama (!) that arrived in Honolulu September 16, 1910 (with her ultimate destination given as San Francisco). We can go on to follow the young woman mathematician moving from Bryn Mawr to Western Reserve University to Göttingen in Germany and to Vassar before going for her graduate work at Radcliffe. From mathematics to economics, but then back to mathematics and astronomy at the Milwaukee women’s Downer College. 

So why didn’t Ethelwynn do mathematics at Radcliffe? I’ll leave that to a historian of U.S. mathematics. Feel free to leave a comment below.

The maternal genealogy of William Erastus Beckwith (p. 80) is covered back to 1635. The best I can determine through the ancestry.com, William Erastus Beckwith was no close relation to Holmes Beckwith (Columbia Ph.D., 1913).

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Radcliffe Ph.D., 1925

Ethelwynn Rice Beckwith, A.M.

Subject, Economics. Special Field, Statistics. Dissertation, “Inequalities in the Distribution of Income, their Meaning and Measurement.”

Source: Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College 1924-25, p. 26.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Dissertation included in the bibliography of Arthur Lyon Bowley (ed.) Studies in the National Income, 1924-1938,  (Cambridge UK, 1942), p. 218.

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C.V. through 1925

Ethelwynn R. Beckwith, A.B., M.A. Assistant Professor of Mathematics

A.B., Oberlin, 1900; [Ph.B.]
M.A., Western Reserve University, 1909;
Principal of Wauluku, Hawaiian Islands, 1902-03
Teacher of Mathematics, Emma Willard School, 1905-07 [Troy, New York]
Graduate Student, Bryn Mawr, 1907-08
Graduate Student, Western Reserve University, 1908-09
Graduate Student, University of Göttingen, 1912-13
Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1913-17; Assistant Professor, 1917-20
Acting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Vassar, 1921-.
Member Mathematic Association of America.

Source: Vassar College Yearbook, The 1922 Vassarion, vol. 34. p. 25.

Note:  In the Poughkeepsie City Directory of 1925, Ethelwynn R. Beckwith was still listed as assistant professor at Vassar.

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Downer College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy
1925-1947

Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin) Archives

Milwaukee-Downer College People Files, 1850-1964. Series 1: A-L
Folder 15: Beckwith, Ethelwynn Rice, professor of Mathematics 1925-1947.

Finding aid on line.

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Died as a result of an automobile accident

From a Sheboygan Press (Wisconsin) article published Saturday, August 27, 1955.

Mrs. Ethelwynn R. Beckwith, 77, of 2827 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee…was reported still in critical condition this morning at Holy Family Hospital in Manitowoc.

A retired professor of mathematics and astronomy at Milwaukee-Downer College, Mrs. Beckwith was still unconscious 28 hours after the accident. She sustained a skull fracture.

Driver of the other car, Louis Leischow, 66, of Forestville, died several hours after the accident. The coroner attributed death to a crushed chest.

Killed outright in the two-car collision was Miss Elizabeth Rossberg, 67, of 2512 E. Harford Ave., Milwaukee…

…The accident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Friday [August 26] when cars driven by Leischow and Mrs. Beckwith collided head on on Highway 141, 1 1/2 miles south of Newton.

Sheriff deputies said the crash occurred when Mrs. Beckwith’s northbound car veered across the center line into the path of an auto driven by Leischow.

Miss Rossberg, professor of German at Milwaukee-Downer since 1912 and chairman of the curricula committee of the women’s college, was a passenger in the Beckwith auto.

She and Mrs. Beckwith had left Milwaukee early Friday morning to spend a week with friends near Ellison Bay in Door County, according to officials of the college….

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Image Source: Two faculty portraits of Ethelwynn Rice Beckwith from the Yearbook for Wilwaukee-Downer College, Cumtux (1930, 1931).

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Exams on European labor movement and history of socialism. Rappard, 1912-13.

 

William Emmanuel Rappard (b. April 22, 1883; d. April 29, 1958) was the co-founder and director of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. At the 1947 inaugural meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society, Rappard gave the opening address.  

You can see below from the excerpt from the 2000 article by Richard M. Ebeling about Rappard that he taught at Harvard during the 1911/12 and 1912/13 academic years. Besides a course “Economic Resources and Commercial Policy of the Chief European States” for students of business, William Rappard also taught courses on the European labor movement and the history of socialism in the economics department. Rappard left Harvard to accept a professorship at the University of Geneva following the death of d’Eugène de Girard.

This post provides course enrollments, descriptions and the final exams for these last two courses. From the examination questions it is clear that one important text for the courses was the published University of Chicago economics doctoral dissertation of Oscar D. Skelton, Socialism: A Critical Analysis (1911). [bibliography posted here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror].

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Brief  Pre-war Biography

“…William Emmanuel Rappard was born in New York City on April 22, 1883, of Swiss parents, his father working in the United States as a representative of various Swiss industries. William Rappard did his graduate studies in economics at Harvard University from 1906 to 1908. During the academic year 1908-1909 he did additional study at the University of Vienna in Austria-Hungary, attending the seminars of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and Eugen Philippovich von Philippsberg, two of the leading figures of the Austrian school of economics before the First World War. And from 1911 to 1913, he was an adjunct professor [sic. Rappard’s first year was at the rank of instructor and his second year at the rank of assistant professor] of political economy at Harvard.

“In 1913 he was appointed professor of economic history and public finance at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He also served as rector of the University of Geneva during 1926-1928 and 1936-1938. From 1917 to 1919, Rappard was a member of various Swiss diplomatic missions to Washington, D. C., London, and Paris, including service with the Swiss delegation to the peace conference in France that ended the First World War. He made a strong impression on President Woodrow Wilson and was highly influential in persuading him to choose Geneva as headquarters of the League of Nations beginning in 1920.

“From 1920 to 1925 he was the director of the Mandates Division of the League for overseeing the administration of colonial territories lost by the Central Powers at the end of the war, and was a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League from 1925 to 1939. From 1928 to 1939 he also served as a member of the Swiss delegation to the annual meetings of the League’s General Assembly….”

*  *  *  *  *  *

The [above] brief summary of Rappard’s professional life draws from Albert Picot, Portrait de William Rappard(Paris: Editions de la Baconnière, 1963) and Victor Monnier, William E. Rappard: Défenseur des Libertés, Serviteur de Son Pays et de la Communauté Internationale (Geneva: Edition Slatkine, 1995).

Source: Richard M. Ebeling. “William E. Rappard: An International Man in an Age of Nationalism,” article posted at the Foundation for Economic Education Website (January 1, 2000).

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Course Enrollment
Fall term 1911

[Economics] 29 1hf. Dr. Rappard.–Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe.

Total 41: 3 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-12, p. 63.

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THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN EUROPE
Economics 6b.

Course Enrollment
Spring term 1913

Economics 6b 2hf. The Labor Movement in Europe. Asst. Professor Rappard.

Total 30: 5 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.

 

Course Description
Economics 6b. The Labor Movement in Europe

After an introductory sketch of the Industrial Revolution and of its social consequences, a summary review will be made of the thought of the leading social reformers and Utopian socialists before 1848. The attitude of the chief European states towards the new problems of industrial life and the beginnings of factory legislation will be briefly examined. The Communist Manifesto will then be made the basis for a study of the aims and policies of the national and international socialist movement. The positive political and institutional achievements of the social movement of the nineteenth century will be summed up in conclusion.

Source: From the Division of History, Government, and Economics 1911-12. Official Register of Harvard University, p. 62.

Final Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 6b

Arrange answers in order of questions. Students who wrote theses will omit the first three questions.

  1. Enumerate five of the effects which Engels says the Industrial Revolution had on the manufacturing population of England. What were Engel’s chief sources of information?
  2. How does Sombart distinguish between (a) Rational Socialism (Utopian Socialism and Anarchism) and (b) Historical Socialism?
  3. What effect, according to Marx, does machinery have
    1. Upon real wages?
    2. Upon nominal wages?
    3. Upon “relative surplus-value”?
    4. Upon “absolute surplus-value”?
  4. Why is it customary to mention the English enclosure movement in dealing with the history of labor in Europe in the 19th century?
  5. What were the historical relations between the doctrines of Godwin, Malthus and Darwin?
  6. What was Chartism? Saint-Simonism? Which was more radical? More socialistic? Give reasons.
  7. Write a biography of Marx (300 to 500 words).
  8. Compare the views of Marx and Vaudervelde on “Capitalist Concentration.”
  9. Give chapter headings of a thesis on “The Socialist Movement in Germany, 1860-1890” in six or more chapters.
  10. Distinguish between (a) Socialism (b) Anarchism (c) Syndicalism.
  11. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs … To every laborer the entire product of his labor … At first sight, these two formulas are absolutely contradictory. We believe, however, that it is possible and necessary to reconcile them and to complete each by the other.” — Vaudewelde.
    How does the author do this? What practical suggestions does he make for arranging distribution in the socialist state?
  12. What difficulties does Skelton think a socialist state would encounter
    1. In administering the government?
    2. In determining what commodities should be produced?
    3. In distributing wealth?

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College. June, 1913. Cambridge, MA., pp. 45-46.

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THE HISTORY OF MODERN SOCIALISM

Course Enrollment
Spring term, 1913

Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism. Asst. Professor Rappard.

Total 4: 4 Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 58.

Course Description
Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism

This course will be divided into three parts. First, the works of Marx and Engels will be minutely analyzed and discussed. Then their sources will be studied with a view to ascertaining the historical origin of the different elements of scientific socialism. Finally the various recent interpretations, restatements, and criticisms of the Marxian doctrine will be examined.
The course will be conducted by means of reports and informal discussions. It will involve reading in German and French as well as in English.

Source: From the Division of History, Government, and Economics 1911-12. Official Register of Harvard University, p. 65.

 

Mid-year Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 16
January or February, 1913

  1. (a) When and where was Marx born? Where did he spend his childhood? Where did he receive his secondary school training?
    (b) What do you know of his ancestry? of his immediate family surroundings? of his relations to the Westphalens?
    (c) What were his first strong intellectual interests? Where and how were they aroused and stimulated?
    Discuss briefly the influence of these various factors on his later social philosophy.
  2. Give a chronological bibliography of Marx’s and Engels’s works down to 1870.

Answer any 4 of the following 6 questions.

  1. Is there any part of the Communist Manifesto which may with certainty be exclusively attributed to Marx? to Engels? State your reasons.
  2. When and how was Marx’s attention first called to economic matters? How do we know it?
  3. In which of Marx’s works would you look for the following passages?
    (a) “If the value of a commodity is determined by the quantity of labor required to produce it, it naturally follows that the value of labor, or wages, must be equally determined by the quantity of labor which is necessary to produce the wages.”
    (b) “In order to take place, revolutions must have a passive element a material basis. Theory is never realized in a people, except in sofar as it is the realization of the wants of the people.
    State your reasons.
  4. Where, in Marx’s works, do we find the first clear statement of the class struggle theory? Do you recall any case or cases in which he attempted to apply it to the actual interpretation of history? Did these attempts in any particular modify the doctrine as he first expounded it?
  5. How does Marx explain:—
    (a) the value: of unimproved land? of diamonds? of commodities produced by highly skilled labor?
    (b) the relation between higher prices and more abundant money, consequent upon the increased production of gold in the sixteenth century?
  6. To which work or works of Marx would you refer a student who, having a week at his disposal for the task, wished to become acquainted with his fundamental doctrines? State your reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1912-13.

 

 

Final Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 16
June, 1913

  1. Fill out the blanks in the following table according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
Con-
stant capital		 Vari-
able capital		 Rate of surplus value Capital con-sumed Indi-vidual rate of profit Value of commo-dities pro-duced Cost price of commodities produced Average rate of profit Price of com-modities Deviation of price from value
90 10 50% 20
80 20 50% 10
70 30 50% —
  1. “The theory of value which Marx presents is a variation of the familiar labor-value doctrine.” Discuss.
  2. State the Marxian theory of rent.
  3. What is meant by the Bernstein-Kautsky controversy? State three of the principal points involved, with the arguments advanced on both sides.
  4. What, according to Skelton, are the distinctive features of Utopianism? How does Skelton classify the Utopian doctrines?
  5. What, according to Skelton, are the two “quite distinct interpretations” of which the Marxian materialist conception of history is susceptible?
  6. “In spite of himself, Marx was the last of the classical economists.” How does Skelton justify this assertion?
  7. “Had the third volume of ‘Capital’ appeared at the same time as the first, little would have been heard about ‘exploitation’ from socialist platforms.” Why not, according to Skelton?

 

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College. June, 1913. Cambridge, MA., pp. 54-5.

Image Source: William Emmanuel Rappard in the Harvard Class Album, 1912.

Categories
Economists Germany Harvard

Harvard. Thomas Nixon Carver’s German Summer of 1902.

 

Preparing the previous blog post which provides the syllabus with reading assignments for Thomas Nixon Carver’s 1902-03 Harvard course, Economics 14 “Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.”, I came across the following brief description of his trip with his family to Germany during the summer of 1902. In his autobiography, Carver briefly recounted his contact with colleagues at economic seminars in Halle and Berlin.

For visitors who can read German, I strongly recommend the website “Die Geschichte der Wirtschaftswissenschafte an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin”. During the Winter Semester of 2012, Till Düppe harnessed raw student seminar power to assemble much interesting material about people, organizational structures and the developing curriculum in the Berlin University and its East Berlin successor, the Humboldt University.

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Thomas Nixon Carver’s European Summer Vacation (1902)

I had never been abroad and had always wanted to see something of Europe. At the end of the academic year 1901-1902 we decided to make the trip. I got permission from President Eliot to leave Cambridge as soon as examinations were over without waiting for commencement. Just a few days before sailing, I came down with the grippe, as it was then

called. It looked for a day or two as though we might have to cancel the trip, but with Dr. F. W. Taylor’s help I recovered sufficiently to undertake it. I had a Ph.D. examination to conduct during the afternoon of the evening we had to start. The rest of the family called at the University for me with a hack, on the way to the South Station, where we took the train for New York, from which we sailed for Antwerp.

… We went armed with a supply of Baedeckers, American Express Company checks, and several letters of introduction….

Our destination was Germany where we planned to spend a few weeks first at Eisenach and then to Berlin….At Eisenach we stayed at a pension which had been recommended by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart. …

After a week or two I … went on to Berlin, stopping for a few days at Halle, where I visited Professor [Johannes] Conrad and attended one meeting of his seminar. There I met George Thomas, who had been at Harvard but was about to take his Ph.D. at Halle and who has since become president of the University of Utah. One afternoon I went with him to call on Professor Conrad at his home. He offered us beer or cold tea, both in bottles. He had been in America, had a daughter living in Buffalo, New York, and knew that many Americans did not drink liquor. He himself drank no liquor except wine.

I also took time to visit the breeding farm attached to the University of Halle where they were experimenting with all sorts of crossbreeding of animals brought from the ends of the earth.

In Berlin I took rooms in a pension and found it pretty well filled with American students, with a few from Russia, Romania, and Hungary. Edwin F. Gay had been recommended for a position in economic history, to follow Professor Ashley, at Harvard. He was in Berlin finishing his work for the Ph.D. degree at the university. I looked him up almost at once, called on him, and we had several talks. He had made a distinguished record at the university and was soon to take his final examination, which he passed with flying colors. His appointment as instructor at Harvard was confirmed by the Governing Boards and he began his teaching the following autumn.

While in Berlin I attended seminars by Professors [Adolph] Wagner in taxation, Schmoller in economic history, Ausserordentlich Professor [Adolph von] Wenckstern on socialism, and Professor [Max] Zering on Agrarpolitik. Wenckstern, a young man, had been in the army and still held the rank of lieutenant. One night after one of our sessions he invited me with the seminar group to his country place. We left the university about 10 p.m., took a train and traveled nearly half an hour, got off at a country station, walked a mile or so through fields and came to a sizable country house. …

Professor Wagner was getting along in years but seemed fairly vigorous. He was reasonably courteous when he was convinced that I was really an assistant professor at Harvard. My visiting card had merely said “Mr. Thomas N. Carver,” after the American custom, whereas a German would have had all his titles and degrees embossed on his visiting card. Schmoller was genial but dignified. His classes were crowded and he was very busy conferring with his students.

After about four weeks Flora and the children joined me in Berlin. Soon after they arrived Professor and Mrs. Charles J. Bullock turned up in Berlin, also a Miss McDaniels of Oberlin, who had been one of my students. Together we visited Dresden, mainly for the purpose of seeing the famous Art Gallery….

Source:   Thomas Nixon Carver, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949), pp. 135-139.

Image Source: The Friedrich Wilhelm University in the old Palace of Prince Heinrich (ca. 1820)

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings and Exams for Methods of Social Reform. Carver, 1902-03

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

“The trouble with radicals is that they only read radical literature, and the trouble with conservatives is that they don’t read anything.”

Thomas Nixon Carver quoted by John Kenneth Galbraith (A Life in Our Times)

This conservative Harvard economic theorist regularly taught the course on schemes of economic reform at Harvard early in the 20th century. He was certainly more forgiving than sympathetic to his radical subjects. 

Variations of this course syllabus have been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

___________________

Course Description

[Economics] 14. Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Tu.,Th, at 1.30. Professor Carver.

The purpose of this course is to make a careful study of those plans of social amelioration which involves either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with an historical study of early communistic theories and experiments. This is followed by a critical examination of the series of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of Anarchism and Nihilism, of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths, Ely’s French and German Socialism, Marx’s Capital, Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, and George’s Progress and Poverty will be read, besides other special references.

The course will be conducted by means of lectures, reports, and classroom discussions.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1902-03. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902), p. 42

___________________

Course Enrollment
(Harvard, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 15: 2 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

___________________

Course Enrollment (Radcliffe, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Social Reform.

Total 6: 4 Undergraduates, 2 Others.

Source: Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College, 1902-03, p. 43.

___________________

Economics 14
[handwritten note: 1902-03]

Topics and References
Starred references are prescribed

COMMUNISM

A
Utopias
1. Plato’s Republic
2. *Sir Thomas More.   Utopia.
3. *Francis Bacon.   New Atlantis.
4. *Tommaso Campanella.   The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
5. Etienne Cabet.   Voyage en Icarie.
6. Wm. Morris.   News from Nowhere.
7. Edward Bellamy.   Looking Backward.

 

B
Communistic Experiments
1. *Charles Nordhoff.   The Communistic Societies of the United States.
2. Karl Kautsky.   Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
3. W. A. Hinds.   American Communities.
4. J.H. Noyes.   History of American Socialisms.
5. J. T. Codman.   Brook Farm Memoirs.
6. Albert Shaw.   Icaria.
7. G.B. Landis.   The Separatists of Zoar.
8. E.O. Randall.   History of the Zoar Society.

 

SOCIALISM

A
Historical
1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
6. Wm. Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
7. [Jessica Blanche] Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.

 

B
Expository and Critical
1. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
2. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
3. *Karl Marx. Capital.
4. *Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
5. Frederick Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
6. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
8. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
9. The Fabian Tracts.
10. R. T. Ely. Socialism: An Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
11. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
12. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
13. Sydney and Beatrice Webb. Problems of Modern Industry.
14. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
15. Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
16. Vandervelde. Collectivism [and Industrial Evolution].

 

ANARCHISM

1. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
2. Wm. Godwin. Political Justice.
3. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
4. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22:149.
5. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 45: 627. [May 1884]

 

RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM

1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
6. Josiah Strong. The New Era.
7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of William Morris.
8. Ruskin. The Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
9. Carlyle. The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works. [Volume 1; Volume 2]

 

AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

1. *Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.

 

STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.

 

WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM

1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

______________________

Economics 14
Mid-year Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give an account of More’s Utopia.
  2. Is there any ground for supposing that Utopian schemes have influenced social development? Give reasons.
  3. What were the periods of greatest activity in the founding of communistic settlements in America? What stimulated the activity in each period, and what were the general conditions favorable to such activity?
  4. Does the history of communistic experiments in America throw any light on the probable success or failure of socialism on a large scale? Give reasons.
  5. Give an account of the communistic plans and activities of Etienne Cabet.
  6. Describe the Communist Manifesto. What place does it hold in socialistic literature, and why?
  7. Compare the socialism of Rodbertus with that of Karl Marx.
  8. Outline Marx’ theory of surplus value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

______________________

Economics 14
Year-End Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give some account of Fourier and the Fourieristic experiments in the United States.
  2. Distinguish between Utopian and Scientific Socialism.
  3. What part has religion played in the history of Communistic Experiments?
  4. How does Karl Marx explain the existence of poverty?
  5. Trace briefly the history of the German Social Democratic Party.
  6. Distinguish between land and other forms of property.
  7. How do you account for the share of the capitalist in distribution?
  8. Is there any relation between the unequal distribution of workers among different occupations and the unequal distribution of wealth?
  9. What is meant by the term “Natural Monopolies.”
  10. Define “Christian Socialism” and explain how it differs from Marxian Socialism.

Source:  University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1906.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Location of Economic Activity. Readings. Usher, 1942

 

 

With this course taught by Abbott P. Usher we can see that the economics of transportation and location continued as standard fare in the economics curriculum at least up to the middle of the 20th century. The final exam for the course was transcribed and posted subsequent to this post.

___________________

Course Announcement

Economics 65a1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems

Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.

Source: Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1942-43. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 53 (September 23, 1942), p. 54.

___________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 65a 1hf. Professor Usher. — The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.

Total 15: 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, p. 47.

___________________

Course Description

Economics 65a 1hf. The Location of Economic Activity. General Principles and Current Problems.Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 9. Professor Usher.

Regional differentiation of resources and its significance. Topography and its influence upon patterns of urban settlement. Progressive revaluation of resources through technological change. Power resources of the modern world. Areas of primary industrialization, present and potential. Areas of secondary industrialization. Agricultural areas. The economic foundations of power politics, old and new.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics containing an Announcement for 1942-43.  Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 45 (June 30, 1942), p. 54.

___________________

1942-43
ECONOMICS 65a
Reading Assignments

  1. History of Population. (To Oct. 8)

Usher, A.P., History of Population and Settlement in Eurasia, Geographical Review, XX, pp. 110-132.

Willcox, W.F., Increase in the Population of the Earth, International Migrations, II, pp. 33-92.

  1. Resources as factors in the localization of economic activity. (To Oct. 31)

Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 1-35.

Nef, J.U., The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I, pp. 109-261.

Zimmermann, Erich W., World Resources and Industries, pp. 178-399, 429-583.

  1. Topography as a locational factor. (To Nov. 21)

Dean, W.H., Jr., The Theory of the Geographic Location of Economic Activity, pp. 36-45.

Mackinder, H.J., Britain and the British Seas, pp. 231-259.

Weber, A.F., The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 1-19, 155-229.

Federal Housing Administration, The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhood in American Cities, 1939. pp. 15-25, 96-111.

Dagett, S., Principles of Inland Transportation, 3rd Edition. pp. 173-190, 301-427.

Vanderblus and Burgess, Railroads: Rates, Service, Management, (1924) pp. 139-156.

Daniels, W.M., The Price of Transportation Service, 1-86.

  1. Location of the heavy industries. (To Dec. 12)

Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton,Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, 9-111, 309-370.

Zimmermann, Erich W. World Resources and Industries, pp. 584-781.

  1. Markets and Market Structure. (To Dec. 22)

Hoover, E.M., Jr., Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, pp. 3-59.

Daugherty, De Chazeau, and Stratton, Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, I, pp. 533-578.

___________________

Special Topics
Economics 65a

Students will select 200-250 pages of readings from one or two titles. This reading should be used as the basis for an essay of one hour written as part of the examination.

  1. Cities and City Planning.

Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities, 1938.

Regional Survey of New York and its Environs: esp. Vol. I, Major Economic Factors in Metropolitan Growth and Arrangement, 1927.
Vol. II, Population, Land Values and Government, 1929.

Regional Plan of New York, The Graphic Regional Plan, I, 1929.

Committee on the Regional Plan of New York, From Plan to Reality, 1933.

Great Britain, Royal Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population, (1940) Cmd. 6153.

  1. Development of Power Systems.

Ernest R. Abrams, Power in Transition, 1940.

National Resources Committee, Energy Resources and National Policy, 1939.

  1. Studies of Special Industries and their Price Policies.

T.N.E.C. Monograph Number 42. The Basing Point System.

E.M. Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries.

Guthrie, John A. The Newsprint Paper Industry.

A.H. Cole and H.F. Williamson, The American Carpet Industry.

John M. Cassels, Study of Fluid Milk Prices.

  1. Railway Development.

I.L. Sharfman, The Interstate Commerce Commission, vol. III, B, pp. 309-771.

R.D. Tiwari, Railway Rates in Relation to Trade and Industry in India. 1937.

N.B. Mehta, Indian Railways: Rates and Regulations, 1927.

A. Paillard, Les Tarifs de Chemin de Fer en Matière de Marchandises.

  1. Air and Motor Transport.

Federal Coordinator of Transportation, Public Aids to Transport.

O.J. Lissitzyn, International Air Transport and Public Policy

H.A. Smith, Airways: The History of Commercial Aviation in the United States, 1942.

S.B. Smith, Air Transportation in the Pacific Area, 1941.

  1. Water Transport and Canals.

Federal Coordinator of Transportation. Public Aids to Transport.

A. Siegfried, Suez and Panama.

N.J. Padelford, The Panama Canal in Peace and War.

Joseph G. Broodbank, The Port of London.

E.J. Clapp, The Port of Hamburg.

E.J. Clapp, The Port of Boston.

  1. VIII. Economic Geography.

Eugene Staley, World Economy in Transition.

Mikhailov, N. Soviet Geography: the new industrial and economic distributions of the U.S.S.R.

W. Rickmer Rickmers, The Duab of Turkestan.

Ellsworth Huntington, Civilization and Climate.

_______________ Palestine and its Transformation.

_______________ The Pulse of Asia.

Guy Le Strange, Lands of the Eastern Caliphate.

_______________ Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: Abbott P. Usher in Harvard Class Album 1947-48.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of Transportation and Public Utilities. Exams, Readings for Public Utilities. Crum, Cunningham, C.O. Ruggles, 1940-41

 

 

 

The following course on public utilities and transporation regulation was co-taught by William Leonard Crum, professor of statistics in the department of economics, William J. Cunningham, professor of railroad operations and transportation at the Graduate School of Business, and  Clyde Orval Ruggles, professor of public utility management at the Graduate School of Business.

Cunningham was a member of the original faculty of the Harvard Business School, having gone from working in railroad management and administration to teaching railroad operations. He had an honorary A.M. degree from Harvard in 1921 but apparently never possessed another formal academic credential (other than an honorary D.Sc. awarded him upon his 1946 retirement by the Clarkson College of Technology).

The only part of the course syllabus in the Harvard Archives’ course folder was for the portion taught by Professor Ruggles, transcribed below.

Looking for other biographical information about William J. Cunningham, I just discovered that there is a folder with course material at Harvard Business School’s Baker Library: Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School, Harvard University William J. Cunningham papers Series II. Teaching Records, 1920-1941 Economics 163, 1940-1941.

_____________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 163. Economics of Public Utilities (including Transportation). Mon., Wed., at 4, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Professors Crum, Cunningham, and Ruggles.

This course deals with the economic problems of the Public Utility industries including railways. Attention is given to rates and rate structures, valuation, the issue and regulation of securities, utility managements, the relation of the commissions to the courts, and public ownership of utility enterprises.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 62.

_____________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 163. Professors Crum, Cunningham and Ruggles. — Economics of Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 18: 9 Graduates, 7 Seniors, 2 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1940-41, p. 60.

 

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READINGS FOR ECONOMICS 163

[Note: only for the Ruggles’ portion of the course]

Unless otherwise indicated, all references marked with the asterisk are required.

March 17

Legal and Economic Criteria Regarding the Public Utility Concept.

Read three of the following marked with the asterisk:

*Clay, C. M. Regulation of Public Utilities (1932). Part I, pp. 3-130.

*Jones & Bigham. Principles of Public Utilities (1931). Chapter II, “Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 62-101.

*Wilson, Herring and Eutsler. Public Utility Industries. Chapter I, “The Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 1-25.

Glaeser, Outlines of Public Utility Economics (1927).  Chapter I, “Nature and Scope of Public Utility Economics,” pp. 1-22.

*Thompson and Smith, Public Utility Economics (1941). Chapter IV, “What Is a Public Utility?” pp. 56-74;  Chapter V, “Economic Characteristics of Public Utilities,” pp. 75-98.

March 19

Competition, Load Factor, Output, and Economic Conditions as Affecting Rate Making.

*Behling, B.N. Competition and Monopoly in Public Utility Industries (University of Illinois Press, 1938). A Ph.D. thesis, p. 175.

*Bernstein, E.M. Public Utility Rate Making and the Price Level (1937). Chapter IX, “Rate Making in Prosperity and Depression,” pp. 105-119.

*Clark, J.M. Studies in the Economics of Overhead Costs (1923). Chapter XVI, “Public Utilities,” pp. 318-334.

Eisenmenger, H.E. Central Station Rates in Theory and Practice (1921). Appendix II, Explanation of the Terms “Load Curve” and “Load Factor” (For the Non-technical Reader), pp. 260-266.

Hardy, C. O. Recent Growth of the Electric Light and Power Industry. The Brookings Institution, Pamphlet Series Vol. I, No. 1, April, 1929, p. 60.

March 24

Rate Structures; Reasonableness of Rates; Theory of Rate Making in the TVA Act.

*Nash, L.R. Rate Structures (1933). Chapter II, “Rate Classifications and Forms,” pp. 11-29; Chapter IX, “Promotional Rates,” pp. 152-197; and Chapter XIII, “Economic Factors in Rate Making,” pp. 296-330.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapters VII and VIII, “Rate Structures,” pp. 288-386.

*Bauer. Effective Regulation of Public Utilities (1925). Chapter XI, “Rate Schedules,” pp. 275-301.

Barker, H. Public Utility Rates (1917). Chapter III, “Various Bases for Rates,” pp. 10-17.

Bryant and Hermann. Elements of Utility Rate Determination (1940).

Eisenmenger, H.E. Op. Cit. Section II, “The Price of Electric Service,“ pp. 62-102.

March 26

Discrimination in Rate Making; Service and Minimum Charges.

*Havilik, H.F. Service Charges in Gas and Electric Rates (1938). A Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, p. 234.

*Kennedy, W.F. The Objective Rate Plan (1937, Columbia University Press), p. 83.

Nichols, E. Public Utility Service and Discrimination (1928). Chapter XXVII, “Discrimination in Rates Generally,” pp. 856-901; Chapter XXVIII, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Particular Classes,” pp. 902-934; Chapter XIX, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Public Welfare, Educational, and Social Organizations,” pp. 935-949; Chapter XXX, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Contract Holders of Equipment,” pp. 950-966; Chapter XXXI, “Rate Discrimination in Favor of Large Consumers and Industrial and Commercial Enterprises,” pp. 967-975.

Batson. The Price Policies of German Public Utility Undertakings (1933). Chapter IX, “Electricity-Supply Charges,” pp. 143-182; Chapter XII, “Conclusion,” pp. 213-216.

April 7

The Geographical Unit for Rate Making; Municipal, Statewide, and Regional Uniformity in Rates.

*Decision of Wisconsin Supreme Court in Eau Claire v. Railroad Commission. Public Utility Reports (P.U.R.) 1922 D666.

*Georgia and Alabama Commissions Install Uniform Electric Rates. Public Utility Fortnightly, Vol. IV, pp. 773-774 (1929).

*Decision of the Pennsylvania Superior Court in Borough of Ambridge v. Pennsylvania Commission, 31 P.U.R. (N.S.) 50. (1939).

*Annual Report, Secretary of the Interior, 1938, p. 84 (Bonneville Rates).

*Commissioner Maltbie’s (New York) Criticism of Implications in Federal Power Commission’s Data on Public Utility Rates. Electrical World, January 14, 1939, p. 112.

*Statement of Chairman of Tennessee Rural Electrification Authority. Public Utility Fortnightly, Vol. XXV, p. 631 (May 9, 1940).

*Bonbright, J.C. Price Policy and Price Behavior. Papers and Proceedings of American Economic Association, Vol. XXX, No. 5, February, 1941, pp. 379-389.

April 9

The Rate Base; Theories in (a) Federal Water Power Act, 1920; (b) Transportation Act of 1920.

*Bonbright, J. C. Valuation of Property (1937). Vol. II, Chapter XXX, “Valuation for Rate Making Purposes: Economic Theory versus Legal Doctrine,” pp. 1078-1110; Chapter XXXI, “Valuation for Rate Making Purposes: Methods of Appraisal; Non-utility Price Fixing,” pp. 1111-1165.

*Bauer, John. Op. Cit. Chapter IV, “Valuation Primarily a Legislative Responsibility,” pp. 47-60; Chapter V, “Court Decisions on Valuation” pp. 61-103; Chapter IX, “Systematic Maintenance of the Rate Base,” pp. 228-252.

Hartman, H.H. Fair Value (1920). Chapter IV, “The Theory of Valuation,” pp. 77-93.

*Glaeser. Op. Cit. Chapter XIV, “The Movement for Physical Valuation,” pp. 311-338.

*Clark. Social Control of Business (2d ed., 1939). Chapter XX, “Fair Value and Fair Return — The Legal Doctrine,” pp. 303-319; Chapter XXI, “Fair Earnings and Fair Value from the Economic Standpoint — Two Phases of One Fact,” pp. 320-336.

Tendency of Supreme Court decisions to favor reproduction cost less depreciation. Indicated in Q.J.E. XVII (1912-1913), pp. 27 and 616.

Graham, W.J. Public Utility Valuation; Reproduction Cost as a Basis for Depreciation and Rate-Base Determination. Studies in Business Administration, University of Chicago (1934), Vol. IV, No. 3, p. 95.

Barnes, I.R. “Shall Going Value Be Included in the Rate Base?” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, November, 1940, pp. 430-437.

April 14

Rate of Return; Capital Structure; Control of Investment and Issue of Securities.

*Bernstein. Op. Cit. Chapter VIII, “The Fair Rate of Return,” pp. 91-104.

*Smith, N.L. The Fair Rate of Return in Public Utility Regulation (1932). Chapter I, “Regulation, Valuation and the Rate of Return,” pp. 1-48; Chapter II, “Elements of the Fair Return,” pp. 49-79.

*Thompson and Smith. Op. Cit. Chapter XVII, “Fair Rate of Return,” pp. 349-361.

*Waterman, M.H. Financial Policies of Public Utility Holding Companies, Michigan Business Studies, Vol. V (1932), Chapter 4, “Trading on the Equity,” pp. 78-99.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapter XI, “Regulation of Securities,” pp. 495-547.

Report of the Public Utilities Division, Securities and Exchange Commission, on “The Problem of Maintaining Arm’s Length Bargaining and Competitive Conditions in the Sale and Distribution of Securities of Registered Public Utility Holding Companies and Their Subsidiaries” (December, 1940), p. 46. (Comprehensive Appendices A to F inclusive.)

April 16

Sliding Scale and other “Automatic” Devices for Controlling Rates and Rate of Return; Rate of Return and Efficiency in Management.

*Bussing, Irwin. Public Utility Regulation and the So-Called Sliding Scale. Columbia University Press, 1936, p. 174. (A Ph.D. thesis)

*Clark. Social Control of Business (2d ed., 1939). Chapter XXII, “Regulation, Service, and Efficiency,” pp. 337-349.

Morgan, C.S. Regulation and Management of Public Utilities (1923). Chapter V, “Methods at Present Used to Promote Efficiency in the Management of Public Utilities,” pp. 144-233.

April 21

The Holding Company; Corporate Simplification and Physical Integration under the Public Utility Holding Company Act.

*Bonbright and Means. The Holding Company (1932). Chapter V, “The Public Utility Holding Company — Organization of the Major Systems,” pp. 90-148; Supplement to Chapter VI, “Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Utility Integration,” pp. 188-199.

*Lillienthal, D.E. “The Regulation of the Holding Company.” 29 Columbia Law Review 404-440 (April, 1929).

*Wright, Warren. “Tests of Reasonableness for Charges of Services from Holding Company to Subsidiary.” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, Vol. 6 (November 1930), pp. 417-423.

Waterman, M.H. Op. Cit. Chapter 3, “Parent Company versus Subsidiary Company Financing,” pp. 45-77.

National Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners. Proceedings of Fortieth Annual Convention, 1928. “Report of the Committee on Capitalization and Intercorporate Relations,” pp. 504-511.

April 23

Regulatory Policies and Efficiency and Inefficiency in Management.

*Morgan, C.S. Op. Cit. Chapters I-III, pp. 1-117, and Chapter VII, pp. 307-346.

*Lyon, Abramson, and Associates. Government and Economic Life (1940). Chapter XXI, Sec. I, “The Rationale of Regulation,” pp. 618-625; Sec. II, “The Structure and Process of Regulation,” pp. 626-671; Sec. III, “The Substantive Problems of Regulation,” pp. 672-728.

Bauer, John. Op. Cit. Chapter XIII, “Effect upon Service and Efficiency of Operation,” pp. 328-349.

Fainsod, Merle. “Regulation and Efficiency in Management.” Yale Law Review, May, 1940, pp. 1190-1211.

April 28

National Power Policy; Public Ownership and the Government Corporation.

Voskuil, W.H. The Economics of Water Power Development (1928). Chapters I-III, pp. 1-43.

*Bird, F.L. The Management of Small Municipal Lighting Plants (1932). Chapters II-III, pp. 9-53, and Chapters VIII-IX, pp. 106-139.

Hodge, C.L. The Tennessee Valley Authority (1938). Chapter II, pp. 29-49; Chapter VIII, 201-248.

Mason, E.S. The Street Railway in Massachusetts (1932). Chapters 8 and 9, pp. 163-192.

Dimock, M.E. British Public Utilities and National Development (1933). Chapter I, “The Setting,” pp. 19-62; Chapter VI, “National Electricity Planning,” pp. 195-227; Chapter VII, “Electrical Progress and the National Economy,” pp. 228-262.

McDiarmid, John. Government Corporations and Federal Funds (1936). Chapters I and II, pp. 1-50; Chapter IX, “Conclusions,” pp. 209-232.

*Taussig. Principles of Economics. Vol. II, Chapter 66, pp. 472-489.

*Lyon, Abramson, and Associates. Op. Cit. Vol. II, Chapter XXI, Sec. IV, “Public Ownership and Operation,” pp. 369-377.

*Clark, J.M. Social Control of Business. Chapter XXIV, “Public Control versus Public Operation,” pp. 369-377.

Abrams, E.R. Power in Transition (1940). Chapter II, “National Power Policies and Activities,” pp. 20-41; Chapter IX, “Threats of Public Power Projects and National Power Policies,” pp. 297-306.

*Bonbright, J.C. Public Utilities and the National Power Policies. (Public lectures at Columbia University, 1940), p. 82.

April 30

Legislative, Judicial, and Administrative Regulation.

*Jones and Bigham. Op. Cit. Chapter III, pp. 102-156, and Chapter IV, pp. 157-190.

*Glaeser. Op. Cit. Chapter VII, “The Common Law Basis of Public Utility Regulation,” pp. 156-180; Chapter VII, “The Constitutional Basis of Public Utility Regulation,” pp. 181-194; and Chapter XXXIII, “General Summary and Forecast of the Development of Regulation,” pp. 733-754.

*Mosher and Crawford. Public Utility Regulation (1933). Chapter IV, “Judicial Review of Commission Determination,” pp. 41-53.

*Clay. Op. Cit. Part III, “Conclusion,” pp. 273-297.

*Fainsod, Merle. “Some Reflections on the Nature of the Regulatory Process.” Chapter X, pp. 297-323, in Public Policy, a Yearbook of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University (1940), edited by Friedrich, C.J. and Mason, E.S.

Landis, James M. “Crucial Issues in Administrative Law: The Walter-Logan Bill.” Harvard Law Review, May, 1940, pp. 1077-1103.

*National Association of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners, Report of the Committee on Progress in Public Utility Regulation. Utility Regulation and National Defense, December, 1940. Section IV, “Critical Utility Regulatory Problems,” pp. 125-147.

Herring, E.P. Federal Commissioners, A Study of Their Careers and Qualifications. Harvard University Press, 1936, pp. 1-104.

Parsons, R.H. Early Days of the Power Industry (English), 1940. Chapter XI, “Legislation Affecting the Electrical Industry,” pp. 184-200.

Pegrum, D.F. “The Public Corporation as a Regulatory Device.” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, August, 1940, pp. 335-343.

Smith, N.L. “The Outlook in Regulation,” Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, November, 1940, pp. 386-392, and February, 1941, pp. 48-53.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-41”.

_____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 163
FINAL EXAMINATION
June 1941.

(Answer 6 questions, selecting 3 from Part 1 and 3 from Part 2. Use a separate blue book for each part.)

PART I—TRANSPORTATION

I

In his discussion of the cost of transportation Healy draws a distinction between “joint costs” and “common costs.” Give illustrations which for each of the two groups will make the distinction clear and discuss the bearing of such costs (whether designated as joint or common) on the determination of commodity rates.

II

The commodities clause of the Interstate Commerce Act has since 1908 prohibited a railroad from transporting commodities which it produced or in which it had any direct or indirect interest. That prohibition was continued in the 1940 revision of the Act but it has not been made applicable to common or contract carriers by highway, water or pipe line.

(a) What was the purpose of the prohibition when first applied to railroads in 1908?

(b) Does public interest now require the continuation of the prohibition?

(c) If continued for railroads should it be made applicable also to other carriers, especially common carrier pipe lines?

III

The Transportation Act of 1940 provides for the establishment of a transportation board which, among other things, would investigate and report on “the relative economy and fitness” of the several carriers for transportation service “or any particular classes or descriptions thereof.” Discuss this section of the Act from the following viewpoints:

(a) The need for the creation of such a board

(b) The criteria for the determination of relative fitness

(c) The problems of greatest difficulty in reaching conclusions as to how “there may be provided a national transportation system adequate to meet the needs of the commerce of the United States, of the postal service and of the national defense.”

IV

The present rule of rate making (Section 15a of the 1940 Transportation Act) applying to common carriers by rail, highway, water and pipe line is:

“In the exercise of its power to prescribe just and reasonable rates the Commission shall give due consideration, among other factors, to the effect of rates on the movement of traffic by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed;to the need, in the public interest, of adequate and efficient railway transportation service at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of such service; and to the need of revenues sufficient to enable the carriers, under honest, economical, and efficient management, to provide such service.”

(a) What was the main reason for departing from the principle of the 1920 Act requiring the Commission to set rates so as to yield, for the railroads collectively, a fair return on value?

(b) Why did the railroads object to the inclusion, in first place, of the factor of “effect of rates on the movement of traffic”?

(c) The present law differs from the 1933 law only by the addition of the words “by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed” (italicized above). What is the significance of the added words?

V

From the viewpoint of a sound financial structure of a railroad discuss the significance of:

(a) The ratio of funded debt to total capitalization

(b) Provision for sinking funds on mortgage bonds

(c) Provision for a stated sum annually, or a percentage of operating revenues, for routine capital improvements, such provision to take precedence in claim on net income over interest charges on income bonds and dividends on stock.

 

PART 2—PUBLIC UTILITY ECONOMICS

VI

Explain the economic significance of a peak demand upon (a) an electric power utility, (b) a gas utility, (c) a local transit utility, and (d) a telephone utility.

VII

Explain the basis upon which utility service should or should not be extended that may not initially cover (a) the utility’s increment costs and (b) in addition to increment costs, some return upon an approved base.

VIII

Distinguish between (a) minimum and (b) service charges for public utility service and explain which type of rate you prefer.

IX

Discuss the economic significance of such modes of rate making as employ (a) such “escalator” devices as fuel clauses and (b) the so-called “sliding scale,” which relates rates to the utility’s rate of return.

X

What is the purpose of a depreciation charge? Of the following methods of determining annual depreciation, explain which you prefer and why: (a) a percentage of gross revenue, and (b) a percentage of depreciable property.

XI

Explain the difference in the theory of valuation of public utility property in (a) the Transportation Act of 1920 and (b) the Federal Water Power Act of 1920. Indicate which of the theories you approve and why.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations 1853-2001.Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations—History, History of Religions,…, Government, Economics,…, Military Science, Naval Science. June 1941.

Image Sources:  Crum from the  Harvard Class Album 1941, Cunningham and Ruggles from the Harvard Business School Yearbook, 1946-47 and 1937-38, respectively.

 

Categories
Economists Gender Harvard Johns Hopkins Michigan

Michigan, Johns Hopkins and Harvard. Three Generations of Economics PhDs. Orcutt-Nakamura(s)

 

 

In an earlier post we met the Ruggles Family Dynasty, three generations of economists with Harvard economics Ph.Ds. Silly me that I thought that this might have been a unique constellation, but in the meantime I have “discovered” a second observation. Meet the Orcutt-Nakamura dynasty of economists!  Painstaking empirical analysis reveals that both dynasties display a greater frequency of women economists (including the spouses), than the frequency for the entire population of economists.

Thus, with all the power vested in me  from this second observation, I hereby declare Collier’s conjecture on economist-dynasties:  the economist-gene is carried on the X chromosome.

__________________

1st Generation: Guy Henderson Orcutt
(Ph.D. from Michigan, 1944)

Guy Henderson Orcutt (b. 5 July 1917 in Wyandotte, Michigan; d. 5 March 2006 in Bowie, Prince Georges, Maryland)

B.S.  with honors, Physics (1939)
M.A. Economics (1940)
Ph.D. (1944) University of Michigan

Dissertation Title: Statistical Methods and Tools for Finding Natural Laws in the Field of Economics

Taught or affiliated with MIT, Cambridge, Harvard, Wisconsin, and Yale, IMF, World Bank and The Urban Institute.

Guy Orcutt material transcribed for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

Economics 110. Introduction to Econometrics. Harvard, Spring Semester 1950.
A Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Scientific Method

Economics 110a. Empirical Economics. Harvard, Fall Semester 1950.
Course Readings

Autobiographical/Biographical material

Guy Orcutt, “From engineering to microsimulation: An autobiographical reflection” In Special issue “Orcutt Festschrift” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Vol. 14, No. 1 (September 1990), pp. 5-27.

Harold W. Watts. An Appreciation of Guy Orcutt, Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. Journal of Economic Perspectives  Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter 1991) pp. 171-179.

Guy Henderson Orcutt page at the Prabook website.

Image source: Ugo Colombino’s lecture Microsimulation and Microeonometrics: Survey, Interpretation and Perspectives. (Università degli studi di Torino, Campus Luigi Einaudi) April 1, 2015. Slide #3.

 

2nd Generation: Alice Orcutt Nakamura
(Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, 1972)

Alice O. Nakamura (b. Boston, Mass., 1945)

B.S. in Economics (Political Science minor), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1968
Ph.D. in Political Economy with a minor in Sociology, Johns Hopkins University, 1973

Dissertation Title: State and Local Police Expenditures: An Empirical Investigation.

Professor of Finance and Management Science at University of Alberta

Biographical/Professional Information

Apr. 4, 2019 archived webpage of Alice Orcutt Nakamura.

Alice O. Nakamura’s c.v. (June 2017)

Alice O. Nakamura’s Short Biography
March 31, 2019 archived

Alice Nakamura is a Professor of Finance and Management Science at the University of Alberta. She holds a Ph.D in Economics from John Hopkins University and a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Economics Associations. In 1994-95, she served as President of the Canadian Economics Association. She has received numerous honors, including begin an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, the Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, and the McCalla Research Professorship. She has also held numerous public policy and advisory roles, including being a member of the Axworthy Social Security Reform Task Force, the Statistics Canada Price Measurement Advisory Committee and the Co-chair of the Canadian Employment Research Forum (CERF). Her publications are in the areas of labour economics, econometrics, price and productivity measurement, social policy, and genomic statistics among other topics. She has numerous publications in the most prestigious journals in economics and statistics, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of the American Statistical Association, the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Canadian Journal of Economics.

Image Source: Alice Nakamura’s webpage.

Alice Nakamura is married to Masao Nakamura

B.S., Keio University (Tokyo), 1967 in Administration Engineering
M.S. Keio University (Tokyo), 1969 in Administration Engineering
Johns Hopkins University Ph.D. 1972 in Operations Research/ Industrial Engineering

Title of Dissertation: Mathematical analysis and optimization of health services systems.
Dissertation Adviser: Rodger Parker

Professor of Commerce & Business Administration (Emeritus)
Strategy & Business Economics Division, Sauder School of Business
University of British Columbia

Masao Nakamura’s c.v. (April 2016)

Masao Nakamura’s Personal webpage (Nov. 30, 2018)

 

2nd Generation: Harriet L. Orcutt Duleep

Harriet L. Orcutt born 1953.

B.A., Oberlin Conservatory/College, 1973
B.A., in Economics, University of Michigan, 1976
Ph.D. in Economics, M.I.T., 1986

Title of Dissertation: Poverty and Inequality of Mortality.
Advisers:  Jerry Hausman and Lester Thurow.

Research Professor of Public Policy, College of William and Mary since 2007.

Harriet Orcutt Duleep’s c.v.

 

3rd generation: Emi Nakamura
(Harvard Ph.D., 2007)

Emi Nakamura (b. 1980)

A.B. (summa cum laude) Princeton University, 2001
A.M. Economics, Harvard University, 2004.
Ph.D. Economics, Harvard University, 2007.

Dissertation Title: Price Adjustment, Pass-through and Monetary Policy
Advisers: Robert Barro and Ariel Pakes

Emi Nakamura is Chancellor’s Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley since 2018.

Emi Nakamura’s c.v. (January 2019)

Image source: Emi Nakamura’s home page.

From an Interview with Emi Nakamura

Can you tell us something about growing up in an academic family of economists?

My parents love their work and really wanted to give me a sense of what they did. That’s easy when your parents are firemen or policemen, but harder when your parents spend all their time sitting at a desk reading books and running regressions. How do you explain to a kid what it means to do research? So my mom brought me to a number of economics conferences when I was a child. Of course, I didn’t understand much, but I did get some sense of what it meant to be an academic economist. It also led to some funny conversations when I grew up and met colleagues like Kevin Lang, who I’d first met as a child. Because of my parents, I also got to take a bunch of economics classes at the University of British Columbia when I was in high school and over the summer when I was home from college in Vancouver, including a number of classes on economic measurement from Erwin Diewert. Measurement is a really understudied topic in economics today and you don’t learn much about it even in grad school, so that was a unique opportunity. I have since written several papers on measurement issues where this experience was very useful.

Source: CSWEP News. 2015 Issue 2.  From “An Interview with Emi Nakamura” by Serena Ng.

HUGE UPDATE: John Bates Clark Medal 2019 awarded to Emi Nakamura!

Emi Nakamura is married to:

Jón Steinsson also Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley.

Jan. 2019 c.v.  of Jón Steinsson.

Note: Emi Nakamura and Jón Steinsson have two children…[to be continued?]

Image: Guy Orcutt, Alice Nakamura, Emi Nakamura.