Category: Harvard

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Economists Harvard

Harvard. List of 114 economics dissertations 1875-1926

Economics in the Rear-View Mirror now has a page dedicated to the authors of 114 doctoral dissertations in economics written at Harvard during the period 1875-1926. Perhaps a half-dozen are judgment calls, but if anything I have erred on the side of inclusion for the list. It was not until 1904-05 that “Economics” was even listed as a Ph.D. subject at Harvard and the boundary between historians interested in economic history and economists interested in history is pretty fuzzy anyway up to the last third of the 20th century. Further complicating matters is the fact that sociology was a part of economics at Harvard (and often elsewhere) for most of this period. 

The page will be corrected, augmented and linked as time goes on. But for now we have the names, years and titles of the dissertations along with educational background and some early career information for almost all 114 cases.

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Problems of Latin America. Bradley, 1944

Philip Durgan Bradley, Jr. (1912-2003) received his A.B. from Lawrence College in 1935, his A.M from Harvard in 1938, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1942 with the dissertation “Some aspects of corporate income taxation”. Bradely’s special examination for the Ph.D. was in Public Finance. Besides having been a tutor/instructor then assistant professor of economics at Harvard, a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and a contributor to a volume about unions published by the American Enterprise Organization (forerunner of today’s American Enterprise Institute), his career remains somewhat obscure.

Bradley, Philip D. et al. Labor Unions and Public Policy. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Association, 1958.
Bradley, Philip D. (ed.) The Public Stake in Union Power. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1959.

______________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 38b. (spring term) Dr. Bradley.—Economic Problems of Latin America.

Total 82: 1 Graduate, 5 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 20 Radcliffe, 44 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President and Reports of the Departments, 1943-44, p. 184.

______________________________

 

Economics 38b
Spring Term, 1944

 

  1. Introduction

Royal Institute of International Affairs, Republics of South America, Chs. I and II.

  1. Agriculture and Land Tenure
    1. L. Schurz, Latin America, pp. 155-178.
    2. M. McBride, Chile: Land and Society, Ch. V.
    3. H. Barber, Land Problems in Mexico, Foreign Agriculture, Vol. III, pp. 99-120.
    4. O Nyhus, Argentine Pastures and the Cattle-Grazing Industry, Foreign Agriculture, Vol. IV, pp. 3-30.
    5. Agriculture in Peru, Foreign Agriculture, Vol. II, pp. 267-98.
    6. D. Wickizer, The World Coffee Economy, Chs. I, II, VII.
  1. Resources, Mining, and Industry
    1. F. Bain and T. T. Read, Ores and Industry in Latin America, pp. 54-62, 72-81, 135-147, 248-258, 303-308.
    2. Wythe, The New Industrialization in Latin America, Journal of Political Economy, 1937, pp. 207-28.
    3. C. Simonsen, Brazil’s Industrial Evolution, pp. 11-63.
    4. José Jobin, Brazil in the Making, Part III, Ch. I, pp. 93-106.
  1. Government, Labor, and Industry
    1. Lewis Lorwin, National Planning in Selected Countries, General, pp. 121-134; Brazil, 137-140; Venezuela, 157-164.
    2. M. Phelps, Migration of Industry to South America, Chapter VI, Government Control of Business Activities, pp. 165-193.
    3. M. Phelps, “Petroleum Regulation in South America,” American Economic Review, March 1939, pp. 48-59.
    4. American Advisory Economic Mission to Venezuela, Report to the Minister of Finance.
      1. General Background, pp. 243-277, 286, 295, 298.
      2. Chapter I, Introduction, pp. 1-2, 4-6, 10-14.
      3. Chapter II, Price Level and Structure, pp. 15-37, 46-52.
      4. Chapter III, Tariffs, pp. 75-82.
      5. Venezuelan Public Finance, pp. 301-310.
        Chapter V, Internal Revenue System, pp. 141-155, 175-177, 195-202.
    5. M. Phelps, Migration of Industry to South America,
      Chapter VII, section on Labor, pp. 238-270.
    6. Galarza, Labor Trends and Social Welfare in Latin America, 1941 and 1942, Summary pp. i-viii.CHOOSE EITHER 7, 8, OR 9.
    7. Paula Lopes, “Social Problems and Legislation in Brazil,” International Labor Review, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 493-537.
    8. Galarza, Labor Trends and Social Welfare in Latin America, Argentina, pp. 1-23 and Chile, pp. 50-70.
    9. Galarza, Labor Trends and Social Welfare in Latin America, Bolivia, pp. 23-40.
      and
      E. Herrnstadt, “Problem of Social Security in Colombia,” International Labor Review, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 426-449.
  1. Trade, Money and Finance
    1. Olson and Hickman, Pan American Economics, Ch. 3.
    2. Law and Contemporary Problems, Hemisphere Trade, Autumn, 1941
      Operation of the Trade Agreements Program, pp. 684-707.
    3. S. Tariff Commission, Foreign Trade of Latin America, Part II, Volume 2, United States Silver Policy, pp. 204-209.
    4. Triffin, Money and Banking in Colombia, Sections 2 and 3.
    5. German Max, Monetary History in Chile.
    6. Triffin, Central Banking and Monetary Management in Latin America.
    7. Olson and Hickman, Pan American Economics, Ch. 5.
    8. C. Wallich, “Future of Latin American Dollar Bonds,” American Economic Review, June 1943, pp. 321-336.
    9. Patterson, “The Export-Import Bank,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1943.

 

READING PERIOD

Read: V. D. Wickizer, World Coffee Economy, Ch. XI and XII, pp. 203-208 and pp. 220-233.

Read one of the following:

C. D. Kenner, Social Aspects of the Banana Industry, Omit Chs. 6, 8, 9, and 11.

D. M. Phelps, Migration of Industry to South America, Chs. 1 thru 4.

Banco Central de la República Argentina, Annual Report:

a. 1938, pp. 5-27
b. 1939, pp. 1-24
c. 1940, pp. 1-12
d. 1941, pp. 17-40
e. 1942, pp. 1-50

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (Box 3), Folder “Economics, 1943-44 (2 of 2)”.

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Funny Business Harvard

Harvard. On Latino immigration. Carver recalls 1929 invitation to White House.

From the conclusion of John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money:

“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back”

______________________

Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump wants to build a Wall with Mexico.  The Donald has given Economics in the Rear-View Mirror a “teachable moment” in the history of economics. President Herbert Hoover issued an executive order to protect American workers from Latino immigration. Hoover was not a madman, obviously. Cut to 1929…

 

From Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver’s autobiography:

            One day during the spring of 1929, while I was playing golf at the Oakley Country Club, a messenger from the clubhouse told me that there was a long distance call for me from the White House. When I went to the phone, Mr. Williams, one of President Hoover’s secretaries, told me that the President would like to consult me and was inviting me and Mrs. Carver to have dinner with him and Mrs. Hoover, and to spend the night in the White House, on a certain date about a week later. I accepted the invitation and called up Flora to tell her of the invitation. She was pleased and said, “But I’ll have to get a new dress.”

When we arrived in Washington we were met at the train by a White House porter and a secretary who took us to the White House in an official limousine. It was midafternoon, so we had several hours to wait for dinner. We were shown to our rooms where we put in some time writing letters to our friends on White House stationery.

At dinner there were only four persons besides the President and Mrs. Hoover. One was his secretary, Mr. Williams, and the other was a daughter of one of Mrs. Hoover’s friends. After dinner the President, Mr. Williams and I retired to his office where we talked till bedtime.

The tariff question and the labor question were worrying him. He was already feeling some disappointment—even some irritation at the lack of cooperation he was receiving from the members of his own party in the Senate. He had sound ideas on the tariff and the labor question, both of which were in the public mind. The Senate, however, was for increasing rather than decreasing the tariff. Eventually he felt forced to sign a tariff bill as a means of getting the duties stabilized, at least for a time, knowing that nothing is so bad for business as uncertainty.

He saw clearly that the immigration of cheap labor from low standard countries was the chief threat to the American standard of living. A move had been made in the right direction when the quota system of limiting, immigration was adopted, but that system did not apply to immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Immigrants from French Canada, from the West Indies, from the Philippines and from all of Latin America were still free to come and were coming by the tens of thousands. These doors were kept open by the combined influence of those who wanted cheap labor and the sentimentalists who wanted to welcome “the poor and oppressed of all the earth,” together with the inertia of Congress.

Before the end of his administration, President Hoover put through an order, based on an old law, instructing consular agents to refuse visas to any immigrant who might become a public charge, or displace a citizen worker who might then become a public charge. That order did more for the American worker than all the New Deal legislation that followed. It seems not to be very well enforced just now (1948), judging by the reports regarding the immigration of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Mexicans.

 

Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1949), pp. 254-254.

 

 

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Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Agricultural Economics, Carver 1917

Thomas Nixon Carver covered quite a lot of beachfront in the Harvard economics curriculum for the first three decades of the twentieth century. His courses ranged from economic theory, sociology, social reform through the economics of agriculture, today’s post. His autobiography, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949) can be read online at Hathitrust.org. Before there were conservative think tanks, Thomas Nixon Carver was an academic scribbler from whom organizations like the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and politicians from Orange County, California distilled their frenzy.

Addition:  a course description along with the final examination questions collected during my  2017 archival visits to the Library of Congress and Harvard University archives.

___________________________________

 

Course Announcement

[Economics] 9 1hf. Economics of Agriculture

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (and the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor Carvers, assisted by Mr. —.

Source: Provisional Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 19718-18. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XIV, No. 4 (February 10, 1917), p. 99.

___________________________________

 

Enrollment

[Economics] 9 1hf. Professor Carver.—Economics of Agriculture.

Total 13: 5 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 3 others

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1917-1918, p. 54.

___________________________________

 

[The reading assignments of the course “Economics of Agriculture” (1917-1918) come from the following three publications by Thomas Nixon Carver:

Principles of Rural Economics. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1911.

Selected Readings in Rural Economics. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916.

“The Organization of a Rural Community” published in the Yearbook of United States Department of Agriculture for 1914. Washington, D.C., 1915.pp. 89-138.]

ECONOMICS 9
1917-18

  1. Place of rural economics in the general scheme of Economics.
  2. General conditions of agricultural properity.

Principles. Chap. 1.
Selected Readings. Pages 1-31.

  1. Agricultural development in Europe.

Principles. Pages 29-63.
Selected Readings. Pages 151-253.

  1. Agricultural development in the United States.

Principles. Pages 63-116.
Selected Readings. Pages 254-351.

  1. The problems of land tenure.

Selected Readings. Pages 352-486.

  1. Tenancy and agricultural labor in the United States.

Selected Readings. Pages 487-574.

  1. The factors of agricultural production.

Principles. Chap. 3.

  1. Problems of farm management.

Principles. Chap. 4.
Selected Readings. Pages 575-644.

  1. Agricultural discontent.

Principles. Chap. 5.
Selected Readings. Pages 645-763.

  1. The marketing of farm products.

Selected Readings. Pages 764-897.

  1. Agricultural credit.

Selected Readings. Pages 936-970.

  1. The organization of rural life

Carver, The Organization of a Rural Community.

  1. National and state agricultural policies.

Selected Readings. Pages 898-935.

  1. Present tendencies and opportunities in agriculture.

Selected Readings. Pages 32-150.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1917-1918”.

Image Source: Harvard Album 1915.

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Bibliography Courses Harvard

Harvard. Hansen and Williams’ course bibliographies. Fiscal and monetary policy, International Monetary Policy, 1950-56

In checking a reference using Google, I serendipitously stumbled upon the following pages at FRASER:

Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System Collection>Bibliographies: Harvard University Reading Lists (1950-1955), Entry 168, Box 10, Folder 5.

A pdf file can be downloaded for the following two reading lists:

Economics 248. Fiscal Policy Seminar (1955/56) of Alvin H. Hansen and John Henry Williams: 60 pages.
Economics 248b. Fiscal Policy Seminar (Spring, 1950): 54 pages

Cf. The earlier post in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror on the Harvard Fiscal Policy Seminar, that lists the speakers from 1937-1944.

 

The very next page in the series: FRASER, Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System Collection>Bibliographies: Harvard University Reading Lists (1950-1955), Entry 168, Box 10, Folder 6.

A pdf file can be downloaded for the following five reading lists:

Economics 241. Principles of Money and Banking. (Spring, 1956). Williams: 16 pages.
Economics 241[?]. Principles of Money and Banking (Fall, 1954). Hansen: 5 pages.
Economics 242. International Monetary Organization and Policy (Fall, 1955). Williams: 62 pages.
Economics 242. International Monetary Organization and Policy (Fall, 1953). Williams, 60 pages.
Economics 242. International Monetary Organization and Policy (Fall, 1954). Williams, Supplemental Reading Suggestions to Fall, 1953 reading list, 22 pages.

 

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Economists Harvard Michigan

Harvard Alumnus. Zenas Clark Dickinson, Ph.D.1920.

The David A. Wells Prize for 1919-20 was awarded to Zenas Clark Dickinson (Harvard Ph.D., 1920) for his dissertation Economic Motives: A Study in the Psychological Foundations of Economic Theory, with some Reference to Other Social Sciences (Harvard University Press, 1922). In this posting we have the Ph.D. General Examination subjects for Dickinson along with biographical material from memorial minutes at the University of Michigan, where Dickinson had a long and distinguished career. 

__________________________

ZENAS CLARK DICKINSON
Ph.D. Examinations, Harvard

General Examination in Economics, Monday, May 15, 1916.

Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Gay, Yerkes, Day, and Dr. Burbank.

Academic History: University of Nebraska, 1910-14; Harvard Graduate School, 1914-. A.B., Nebraska, 1914.

General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistical Method and its Application. 4. Public Finance. 5. Psychology. 6. Suitable Field in Economic Theory and its History, with special reference to Psychology.

Special Subject: Suitable Field in Economic Theory.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Box: “Examinations for the Ph.D.” (HUC 7000.70). Division of History, Government, and Economics. Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D., 1915-16.

__________________________

Memorial

Zenas Clark Dickinson
LSA Minutes
Clark Dickinson (1889-1966)

Zenas Clark Dickinson, Professor Emeritus of Economics, died on March 22, 1966, in his seventy-seventh year. His had been a rounded career of varied and notably faithful service to the University, of recognized research and publication, and of considerable public activity. He retired in 1958.

He was born August 9, 1889, on a farm near Atkinson, Nebraska, the eldest son of Zenas and Nellie Bungor Dickinson. After a schooling interrupted by four years of job-holding in Lincoln, he finished high school in that city in 1910, and in 1914 received his A. B. from the University of Nebraska, with Phi Beta Kappa key. Fellowships at Harvard, with service as assistant in Economics and tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics, together with wartime connections in Massachusetts, carried him through his graduate years, with a doctorate in 1920. He had already joined the Economics staff at the University of Minnesota as assistant professor in 1919, and he came to Michigan as associate professor in 1923. His professorship followed in 1929.

He had married Jean Sullivan of Broken Bow, Nebraska, in 1916, and two sons were born to this union, Philip Clark, now of Groose Pointe Farms, and Thomas Lynn of Ann Arbor. There are six grandchildren. Mrs Dickinson died in 1946, and in 1949 he married Dr. Eleanor Smith of Ann Arbor, who survives.

Professor Dickinson’s first main scholarly interest was in the application of psychology to economics, and he pioneered in this area. His doctoral thesis, which won the David A. Wells prize at Harvard, was published in 1922 under the title Economic Motives, which he described as “a study in the psychological foundations of economics, with some reference to the other social sciences.” In negotiating with Chairman Edmund E. Day respecting his Michigan appointment, he wrote that he was interested in teaching economic theory, with attention to its psychological facets, and labor economics, with emphasis on the “psychological problems of work.” Somewhat later, in responding to an inquiry about him from a manufacturer who was seeking an industrial psychologist, Professor Day described him as “one of the very ablest men in the field of his specialization. I know of no one,” he wrote, “who brings such a combination of interests to our subject.” Articles and pamphlets in this area dealt variously with psychological developments in economics, educational guidance and vocational placement, suggestion systems in industry, quantitative research methods, and industrial research in general. His substantial volume Compensating Industrial Effort appeared in 1937.

Even before his graduate studies he had written on the Nebraska scheme of guaranteeing bank deposits, and one article appeared as early as 1914 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. His work during his graduate years with the Massachusetts Commission on Public Safety and the United States Food Administration involved considerable writing and editing. At a later stage his interest turned to the evolving labor movement of the 1930’s and to related problems and policies, and in 1941 he completed his large study Collective Wage Determination, written “with special reference to American collective bargaining, arbitration, and legislation.” His other writing at this time dealt particularly with wage theory and policy.

In substantial degree he became a practitioner also in this area. In 1939 and 1943, under the Wages and Hours Administration, he carried out assignments in setting standards in various industries. During 1943-45 he was active under the War Labor Board in the settlement of industrial disputes in the Detroit district, and he continued in mediation and arbitration work for a number of years. Later he estimated that he had written the reports in forty to fifty cases in which he had acted.

In the Department’s teaching program Professor Dickinson’s activity reflected his range of interests. At the outset he handled the large undergraduate course in labor problems, but he turned shortly to teaching of a more specialized and advanced character, He taught courses in economic theory and, over a long period, in the history of economic doctrine; in the development of economic institutions and in economic reform and the features of different systems, an early interest of his; likewise in consumer economics, with parallel participation in a local cooperative enterprise. He turned easily to a variety of fields, and he did so willingly as need arose, even adding courses to a normal program. He was at his best with small groups; and a number of graduate students were privileged to work closely with him in his research, With his students his relationship was personal and close.

In unusual degree he was interested in the Economics Department and its people, and his devotion to it was manifest in many ways. When a history of the Department was needed for Wilfred Shaw’s The University of Michigan, An Encyclopedic Survey (1941), he was naturally the one to do it; and his great admiration during his early years here for Professor F. M. Taylor, the Department’s distinguished economic theorist, led him much later to undertake an extensive study of Taylor’s life and work, chapters of which appeared in the Michigan Alumnus’s Quarterly Review. The I. L. Sharfman Fellowship Fund might almost be viewed as a memorial to his promotional effort, and contributions to it at his death were generous.

Within the University but outside the Department, Professor Dickinson had his share of assignments. He served on the Administrative Board of the College, on the Executive Board of the Graduate School, on the University Council, on the Committee on Scholarly Publications, on the Lecture Committee, His notable erudition gave him special value in library matters; and, beside his long handling of Department acquisitions, he served on committees both for the General and the Clements libraries. In 1944 he prepared a report for the Senate Advisory Committee on “Living Costs in Relation to Faculty Salaries,” He was active in the Michigan Academy and the AAUP, He belonged to the University’s Research Club.

Repeated coronary illness slowed his effort after 1950, and few will now remember how active he had been. But that effort was seldom conspicuous, and never directed toward applause. Always he was a gentle man, and even his firmness, which was considerable, was manifest in gentle ways. He was kindly and warm, and these qualities in him were infectious. Family menat much to him, and he made it his role to tend the ties of a scattered clan. His manner in approaching situations or ideas often seemed casual, reflecting perhaps his liberal, undogmatic outlook and a not-too-solemn view of human affairs. Humor pervaded his attitude, and recurrent chuckles followed each amusing encounter, of which, for him, there were many. His wide outlook and reading, his sharp memory, his gift for anecdote made him a fine companion, as he was for many a gracious host. As was fitting, death came gently, with brief warning of its approach.

William B. Palmer
I. L. Sharfman
Shorey Peterson, Chm.

Source: University of Michigan, Faculty History Project.

 

__________________________

Zenas Clark Dickinson
The Michigan Alumnus, June 4, 1932

Nebraska Alumnus Is Economics Professor

Although ranking as Professor of Economics, Zenas Clark
 Dickinson, A.B. (Nebraska) ’14, Ph.D. (Harvard) ’20, might
 as correctly be classified as economist-psychologist-sociologist. During his nine years on the faculty, he has specialized in the study of 
certain labor problems and the psychological phases of general economic theory. At present he also is concerned with the assembling
 of materials on the progress and publications of the Department of 
Economics.

After completing the tenth grade, he was forced to abandon his schooling for four years, during which he became so profici
ent at secretarial work that later it aided in financing his college education. He held an Edward Austin Fellowship at Harvard in 1916-17 
and in 1919, serving also on the newly created tutorial staff in the 
Division of History, Government and Economics.

During the War
 he served with the Massachusetts Food Administration. Some years
 ago he succeeded to Professor-Emeritus Fred M. Taylor’s place on 
the Administrative Board of the Literary College. Not a hobbyist, in
 the ordinary sense of the word, he enjoys greatly the occasional chats
 with former students who visit the Campus.

Source: University of Michigan, The Michigan Alumnus, vol. 38 (June 4, 1932), p. 631.

 

Image Source: Senior Year photo of Zenas Clark Dickinson from University of Nebraska yearbook The Cornhusker (1914), p. 61.

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Economists Harvard

Harvard. 24 Ph.D. candidates examined 1926-27

In one box at the Harvard Archives (Harvard University/Examinations for the Ph.D. [HUC7000.70]), I found an incomplete run of published Ph.D. examination announcements for the Division of History and Political Science [later Division of History, Government, and Economics] from 1903-04 through 1926-27. Earlier I transcribed the announcement for 1915-16. Today’s posting gives us (1) the date of the scheduled general or special Ph.D. examinations (2) the names of the examination committee (3) the subjects of the general examination, and (4) the academic history of the examinees for two dozen economics Ph.D. candidates examined during the academic year 1926-27.

The largest shadows cast by members of this cohort belong to the (later) Harvard economics professor Edward H. Chamberlin and the co-author of The Modern Corporation and Private Property, Gardiner C. Means. Laughlin Currie and Harry Dexter White also belonged to this cohort of examinees.

Fun fact: Richard Vincent Gilbert was the father of Walter Myron Gilbert, Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1980.

________________________________________

 

DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D.
1926-27

Notice of hour and place will be sent out three days in advance of each examination.
The hour will ordinarily be 4 p.m.

James Ackley Maxwell.

Special Examination in Economics, Monday, October 25, 1926.
General Examination passed, October 30, 1923.
Academic History: Dalhousie University, 1919-21; Harvard College, 1921-23; Harvard Graduate School, 1923-27. B.A., Dalhousie, 1921; A.M., Harvard, 1923. Assistant Professor of Economics, Clark University, 1925-.
General Subjects: 1. Money and Banking. 2. Economic Theory and its History. 3. Economic History to 1750. 4. Statistics. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Burbank, A. H. Cole, and Usher.
Thesis Subject: A Financial History of Nova Scotia, 1848-99. (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Burbank, and Usher.

Kan Lee.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, October 28, 1926.
General Examination passed, January 6, 1926.
Academic History: Tsing Hua College, China, 1917-20; University of Missouri, 1920-22; University of Chicago, summer of 1921; Harvard Graduate School, 1922-27. B.J., Missouri, 1922; A.B., ibid., 1922; A.M., Harvard, 1924
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Money, Banking, and Crises. 3. Public Finance. 4. International Trade and Tariff Problems. 5. History of the Far East. 6. Socialism and Social Reconstruction.
Special Subject: Socialism and Social Reconstruction.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), James Ford, Mason, and Young.
Thesis Subject: British Socialists: Their Concept of Capital. (With Professor Carver.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Carver, Mason, and Young.

Donald Wood Gilbert.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, October 29, 1926.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Crum, Gay, McIlwain, and Williams.
Academic History: University of Rochester, 1917-21; Harvard Graduate School, 1923-25. A.B., Rochester, 1921; M.A., ibid., 1923. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1924-25; Instructor in Economics, Rochester, 1925-.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistical Method and its Application. 4. History of Political Theory. 5. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 6. Commercial Crises.
Special Subject: Commercial Crises.
Thesis Subject: Undecided.

Arthur William Marget.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, January 20, 1927.
General Examination passed, May 24, 1923..
Academic History: Harvard College, 1916-20; Cambridge University, England, fall term, 1920; London School of Economics, winter term 1920-21, University of Berlin, summer term 1921; Harvard Graduate School, 1921-27 A.B., Harvard, 1920; A.M., ibid., 1921. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1923-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Socialism and Social Reform. 3. Public Finance. 4. Statistical Method and its Application. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money and Banking.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), A.H. Cole, Taussig, and Williams.
Thesis Subject: The Loan Fund: A pecuniary approach to the problem of the determination of the rate of interest.. (With Professor Young.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Young, Taussig, and Williams.

Richard Vincent Gilbert.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, February 9, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Crum, Monroe, Usher, and Woods.
Academic History: University of Pennsylvania, 1919-20; Harvard College, 1920-23; Harvard Graduate School, 1923-. B.S., Harvard, 1923; M.A., Harvard, 1925. Assistant in Economics, Harvard, 1923-.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Money and Banking. 3. Statistics. 4. Economic History since 1776. 5. History of Ancient Philosophy. 6. Theory of International Trade.
Special Subject: Theory of International Trade.
Thesis Subject: Theory of International Trade. (With Professor Taussig.)

Melvin Gardner deChazeau.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, February 21, 1927.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), A.H. Cole, Crum, Demos, and Young.
Academic History: University of Washington, 1921-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. A.B., Washington, 1924; M.A., ibid., 1925. Instructor and Tutor, Harvard, 1926-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Statistics. 4. Money and Banking. 5. Ethics. 6. Regulation of Public Utilities.
Special Subject: Regulation of Public Utilities.
Thesis Subject: Undecided.

Donald Milton Erb.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, February 25, 1927.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Burbank, Gay, Morison, and Williams.
Academic History: University of Illinois, 1918-22, 1923-25; Harvard Graduate School. 1925-. S.B., Illinois, 1922; S.M., ibid., 1924. Assistant in Economics, Illinois, 1923-25.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Sociology. 4. Public Finance. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Transportation.
Special Subject: Transportation.
Thesis Subject: Railroad Abandonments and Additions in the United States since 1920. (With Professor Ripley.)

Douglass Vincent Brown.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, March 2, 1927.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Ford, Persons and Schlesinger.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1921-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. A.B., Harvard, 1925; A.M., ibid., 1926.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistics. 3. Sociology. 4. Money, Banking, and Crises. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Labor Problems.
Special Subject: Labor Problems.
Thesis Subject: Restriction of Output. (With Professors Taussig and Ripley.)

Mark Anson Smith.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, April 8, 1927.
General Examination passed, May 11, 1916.
Academic History: Dartmouth College, 1906-10; University of Wisconsin, 1911-14; Harvard Graduate School, 1915-17. A.B., Dartmouth, 1910; A.M., Wisconsin, 1913. Instructor in Economics at Simmons College, 1916-17.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Money, Banking, and Crises. 4. Economics of Corporations. 5. American Government and Constitutional Law.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Bullock, Usher, and Williams.
Thesis Subject: Economic Aspects of the Duties on Wool, with special reference to the period, 1912-1924. (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Taussig, A. H. Cole, and Usher.

Lauchlin Bernard Currie.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, April 11, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Burbank, A.H. Cole, Usher, and Wright.
Academic History: St. Francis Zavier College, 1921-22; London School of Economics, 1922-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. B.Sc., London, 1925.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Public Finance. 4. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking, and Crises.
Thesis Subject: Monetary History of Canada, 1914-26. (With Professor Young.)

Harry Dexter White.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, April 14, 1927.
Committee: Professors Taussig (chairman), Dewing, Elliott, Monroe, and Usher.
Academic History: Columbia University, 1921-23; Stanford University, 1924-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. A.B., Stanford, 1924; A.M., ibid., 1925. Instructor in Economics, Harvard, 1926-.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Money, Banking, and Crises. 3. Economic History since 1750. 4. Economics of Corporations. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. International Trade .
Special Subject: International Trade.
Thesis Subject: Foreign Trade of France. (With Professor Taussig.)

Margaret Randolph Gay.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, April 15, 1927.
Committee: Professors Usher (chairman), A.H. Cole, McIlwain, Taussig, and Young.
Academic History: Radcliffe College, 1918-22, 1922-23, 1925-. A.B., Radcliffe, 1922; A.M., ibid., 1923.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Money, Banking, and Crises. 3. International Trade. 4. Economic History after 1750. 5. Political Theory. 6. English Economic History before 1750.
Special Subject: English Economic History, 1485-1750.
Thesis Subject: The Statute of Artificers, 1563-1811. (With Professor Gay.)

(Mary) Gertrude Brown.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, April 28, 1927.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Elliott, Taussig, Williams, and Young.
Academic History: Mount Holyoke College, 1920-24; Columbia University, summer of 1924; Radcliffe College, 1924-. A.B., Mount Holyoke, 1924; A.M., Radcliffe, 1926. Assistant in Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1924-26. Tutor, Bryn Mawr Summer School, 1926.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 3. Money, Banking, and Crises. 4. Comparative Modern Government. 5. Labor Problems. 6. Economic History since 1750.
Special Subject: Economic History since 1750.
Thesis Subject: The History of the American Silk Industry. (With Professor Gay.)

Eric Englund.

General Examination in Economics, Monday, May 2, 1927.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Black, Dickinson, Usher, and Young.
Academic History: Oregon Agricultural College, 1914-18; University of Oregon, summers of 1915, 1916, and 1917; University of Wisconsin, 1919-21; University of Chicago, summer of 1920; Harvard Graduate School, 1926-. B.S., Oregon Agricultural College, 1918; A.B., University of Oregon, 1919; M.S., Wisconsin, 1920. Professor of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1921-26.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Money, Banking, and Crises. 3. Economics of Agriculture. 4. Economic History since 1750. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Thesis Subject: Studies in Taxation in Kansas. (With Professor Bullock.)

Walter Edwards Beach.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 4, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Baxter, A.H. Cole, Dewing, and Williams.
Academic History: State College of Washington, 1919-20; Stanford University, 1920-22; 1923-24, Harvard Graduate School, 1925-26. A.B., Stanford, 1922; A.M., Harvard, 1926. Instructor in Economics, Bowdoin, 1926-.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economics of Corporations. 3. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 4. Economic History since 1750. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking, and Crises.
Thesis Subject: International Gold Movements in Relation to Business Cycles. (With Professor Young.)

Ram Ganesh Deshmukh.

Special Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 5, 1927.
General Examination passed, May 13, 1926.
Academic History: Wilson College, India, 1912-17; Bombay University Law School, 1917-20; Harvard Graduate School, 1922-27. B.A., Bombay University, 1917; LL.B., ibid., 1920; A.M., Harvard, 1924.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. Economics of Agriculture. 4. Sociology. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Burbank, A.H. Cole, and Williams.
Thesis Subject: State Highways in Massachusetts. (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock (chairman), Burbank, and A.H. Cole.

Charles Donald Jackson.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 5, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Black, Crum, Merk, and Taussig.
Academic History: Leland Stanford Junior University, 1915-16; Northwestern University, 1916-17, 1919-21; University of Wisconsin, summer of 1920 and 1921; Harvard Graduate School, 1921-22, 1924-. S.B., Northwestern, 1920; M.B.A., ibid., 1921; A.M., Harvard, 1925.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Agricultural Economics. 3. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 4. Statistics. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking, and Crises.
Thesis Subject: Agricultural Credit. (With Professor Young.)

Elmer Joseph Working.

General Examination in Economics, Friday, May 6, 1927.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), Crum, Morison, Williams, and Young.
Academic History: University of Denver, 1916-17, 1918-19; George Washington University, 1917-18; University of Arizona, 1919-21; Iowa State College, 1921-23; University of Minnesota, 1922-23, second half-year; Brookings Graduate School, 1924-25; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-26. B.S., Arizona, 1921; M.S., Iowa, 1922. Assistant professor of Economics, University of Minnesota, 1926-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistical Method and its Application. 3. Money, Banking, and Crises. 4. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Economics of Agriculture.
Special Subject: Economics of Agriculture.
Thesis Subject: The Orderly Marketing of Grain. (With Professor Taussig.)

Gardiner Coit Means.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 12, 1927.
Committee: Professors Williams (chairman), Baxter, A.H. Cole, Dewing, and Gay.
Academic History: Harvard College, 1914-18; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-. A.B., Harvard, 1918.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. International Trade and Tariff Policy. 3. Economics of Corporations. 4. Economic History since 1750. 5. American History since 1789. 6. Money, Banking, and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking, and Crises.
Thesis Subject: Fluctuations in New England’s Balance of Trade. (With Professor Williams.)

Bishop Carleton Hunt.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, May 13, 1927.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), W.M. Cole, Gay, McIlwain, and Williams.
Academic History: Boston University, 1916-20; Harvard Graduate School, 1925-27, summers of 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925. B.B.A., Boston University, 1920; A.M., Harvard, 1926. Professor of Commerce, Dalhousie University, 1920-; Lecturer in Economics, Nova Scotia Technical College, 1920-23.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Economic History since 1750. 3. International Trade. 4. Accounting. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Money and Banking.
Special Subject: Money and Banking.
Thesis Subject: Underwriting Syndicates and the Supply of Capital. (With Professor Young.)

Edward Hastings Chamberlin.

Special Examination in Economics, Friday, May 20, 1927.
General Examination passed, May 22, 1924.
Academic History: State University of Iowa, 1916-20; University of Michigan, 1920-22; Harvard Graduate School, 1922-27. B.S., Iowa, 1920; M.A., Michigan, 1922. Instructor in Economics, Iowa, summer of 1921. Assistant in economics, Harvard, 1922-. Tutor in Economics, ibid., 1924-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Statistics. 3. Accounting. 4. Economic History. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Modern Theories of Value and Distribution.
Special Subject: Modern Theories of Value and Distribution.
Committee: Professors Young (chairman), Monroe, Taussig, and Williams.
Thesis Subject: The Theory of Monopolistic Competition. (With Professor Young.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Young, Carver, and Taussig.

Christopher Roberts.

Special Examination in Economics, Monday, May 23, 1927.
General Examination passed, April 3, 1925.
Academic History: Haverford College, 1916-18, 1919-21; Harvard Graduate School, 1921-27. S.B., Haverford, 1921; A.M., Harvard, 1922. Assistant in Economics, Harvard 1922-25; Tutor in Economics, ibid., 1925-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. International Trade and Finance. 3. Statistics. 4. International Law. 5. Public Finance. 6. Economic History since 1750.
Special Subject: Economic History since 1750.
Committee: Professors Gay (chairman), Burbank, A.H. Cole, and Usher.
Thesis Subject: The History of the Middlesex Canal. (With Professor Gay.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Gay, A.H. Cole, and Cunningham.

Clayton Crowell Bayard.

General Examination in Economics, Wednesday, May 25, 1927.
Committee: Professors Carver (chairman), James Ford, Hanford, Taussig, and Usher.
Academic History: University of Maine, 1918-22; Harvard Graduate School, 1924-. A.B., Maine, 1922; A.M., Harvard, 1925. Assistant in Social Ethics, Harvard, 1925-26; Tutor in Social Ethics, ibid., 1926-27.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory and its History. 2. Economic History before 1750. 3. Socialism and Social Reform. 4. American Labor Problems. 5. Municipal Government. 6. Sociology.
Special Subject: Sociology and Social Problems.
Thesis Subject: Undecided.

Dorothy Carolin Bacon.

General Examination in Economics, Thursday, May 26, 1927.
Committee: Professors Persons (chairman), Carver, Crum, Gay and Holcombe.
Academic History: Simmons College, 1918-19; Radcliffe College, 1919-22, 1923-24, 1926-. A.B., Radcliffe, 1922; A.M., ibid., 1924. Assistant in Economics, Vassar College, 1924-25. Instructor in Economics, ibid., 1925-26.
General Subjects: 1. Economic Theory. 2. Sociology. 3. History of Political Theory. 4. Statistics. 5. Economic History. 6., Money, Banking and Crises.
Special Subject: Money, Banking and Crises.
Thesis Subject: A Study of the Dispersion of Wholesale Commodity Prices, 1890-1896.  (With Professor Persons.)

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1926-1927”.

Image Source:  Photo of Emerson Hall (1905). Harvard Album, 1920. 

Categories
Courses Harvard

Harvard. Course with a “snapper” problem, 1910

We have below a random letter from the President of Harvard, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, to Professor Frank Taussig of the Economics Department that struck my fancy because 1) the President of the University appears to be aware of the grade distribution of a particular faculty member (he was not amused at the low frequency of bad grades) and 2) his choice of words “However good a course may be, that kind of marking is certain to drift into it many snappers.” In my day, it was the course that received the opprobrious label of being a “gut”, though here in Germany we do refer to students attracted to the “gut” courses as “Tiefflieger” (low-flying aircraft). 

Economics 21 is apparently the course referred to by President Lowell. The title of the course appears to change without the course description changing over time. The content of the course, taught by the law professor, Bruce Wyman, appears to have focused on “competition; combination; association; consolidation”.

___________________________

[Copy of letter from Harvard President Lowell to Professor Frank Taussig]

December 21, 1910.

Dear Frank:-

I was told, the other day, that the Visiting Committee in Economics had promised the Department quite a sum of money for additional assistants. Is that available this year? If so, I should much rather have you use a part of that, than ask the Corporation for more money. I suspect that one great reason for the large size of Wyman’s course is its softness. I notice that he gave last year only 1% of E’s and 4% of D’s. However good a course may be, that kind of marking is certain to drift into it many snappers. By the way, I should like to have a talk with you about him sometime.

Very truly yours,

A. L. Lowell

 

Professor F. W. Taussig.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. President Lowell’s Papers, 1909-1914. Nos. 405-436. Box 15, Folder 413 “1909-1914”.

___________________________

 

[Course Enrollment, Economics 21]

Courses Preparing for a Business Career

[…]

[Economics] 21 1hf. Professor Wyman, assisted by Messrs. Brannan and Lyeth.—Principles of Law governing Industrial Relations.

Total, 183:
3 Graduates, 2 Business School, 113 Seniors, 56 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 4 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.

___________________________

 

[Course Description, Economics 21]

 

[Economics] *211hf. The Law of Competition and Combination. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. Professor Wyman, assisted by Mr. —— . (V)

Course 21 is not open to students before their last year of undergraduate work, and is only open to those who have passed in Economics 1.

The course considers certain rules of the law governing the course of modern trade and the organization of modern industry. As the course deals with adjudication and legislation on questions of first importance in the economic development of modern times, it is of advantage to all those who wish to equip themselves for the intelligent discussion of issues having both legal and economic aspects. In 1911-12 four principal topics will be discussed: competition; combination; association; consolidation, — some very briefly, some with more detail. The conduct of the course will be by the reading and discussion of cases from the law reports, which are contained in an edited series of case books.

 

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 68.

___________________________

[CV data for Law Professor Bruce Wyman]

Bruce Wyman, A.B. summa cum laude, 1896; A. M. 1897; LL.B. 1900; Lectr. (Law S.) 1900-1903; Asst. Prof. of Law 1903-1908; Prof. of Law 1908-1914.

Source: Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1915 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1915), pp. 111 and 355.

___________________________

[Scandal: a case of regulatory capture]

Bruce Wyman resigned his professorship of law in December 1913 when it came out that he was drawing $833 per month from the New Haven and the Boston & Maine (railroads) “for delivering lectures favorable to the roads without the fact being known that he was a paid employe. He admitted that, while employed as their consulting counsel he helped Gov. Foss to frame the Public Utilities bill, which was designed to give the State better control of the railroad situation.”

 

Source: New York Times, December 21, 1913, p. 30.

Image Source: Frank Taussig from the Harvard Album 1915.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economy of Russia. Leontief, 1947-48

We are used to seeing professors restricting their teaching to their research comfort zones. We see here that Wassily Leontief also taught courses from his broad interests. Here the syllabus and final exam for a course on the “Russian” [“Soviet” would have a better word choice] economy.

During the following Fall term Alexander Gerschenkron taught a graduate seminar (Economics 212b) on the subject which was attended by only three graduate students, but the reading list was much more extensive. Leontief offered this undergraduate course (Economics 112b) in the Spring of 1949.

________________________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 12b. Professor Leontief. — The Economy of Russia (F).

Total 35: 16 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-48, p. 89.

________________________________________

Economics 12b
The Economy of Russia
Fall Term, 1947-48

 

I.        From the Emancipation to the Revolution

1.       Agricultural development and reforms
2.         First stages of industrialization

Reading assignments:

Bowden, Karpovich, and Usher, An Economic History of Europe since 1750, Ch. 29, pp. 598-615.
Hubbard, L. E., The Economics of Soviet Agriculture, Chs. 1-8, pp. 1-63.
Maynard, J., The Russian Peasant, Chs. 1, 2, pp. 13-62.

II.      War and Revolution

1.         War economy up to the October Revolution
2.         Agrarian revolution and the nationalization of industries

Reading assignments:

Maynard, Ch. 6, pp. 63-81.
Baykov, A., The Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. 1, 2, 3, pp. 1-48.

III.     War Communism

1.          Industrial collapse
2.         Agricultural contraction

Reading assignments:

Dobb, M. Russian Economic Development since the Revolution, Chs. 3, 4, pp. 66-128.

IV.     The New Economic Policy

1.          Private enterprise and the socialized sector
2.         Agricultural recovery
3.         Industrial reconstruction

Reading assignments:

Maynard, Ch. 10, pp. 148-182.
Baykov, Chs. 4-9, pp. 49-152.

V.       The Economics of High Pressure Industrialization

1.         Capital accumulation
2.         Structural change

Reading assignments:

Yugow, A., Russia’s Economic Front for War and Peace, Ch. 2, pp. 30-42, and Ch. 9, pp. 198-219.
Baykov, A., Ch. 10, pp. 153-158.
Dobb, M., Ch. 8, pp. 177-208.

VI.     Socialist Agriculture

1.         The process of socialization (collectivization)
2.         The Kolkhoz
3.         The Sovkhoz and machine-tractor station
4.         Development of agricultural output and its allocation

Reading assignments:

Baykov, Ch. 13, pp. 189-311; Ch. 17, pp. 309-334.
Yugow, Ch. 3, pp. 43-81.
Maynard, Ch. 15, pp. 279-309.
Bienstock, Schwarz, and Yugow, Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, Chs. 10-17, pp. 127-179.

VII.    Industrial Expansion

1.         The three Five-Year Plans
2.         Industrial organization
3.         Labor and unions

Reading assignments:

Yugow, Ch. 2, pp. 13-30; Chs. 7 and 8, pp. 149-197.
Bienstock…, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9.
Baykov, Ch. 11, pp. 159-187; Ch. 13, pp. 212-233; Ch. 16, pp. 277-308; and Ch. 18, pp. 335-363.
Bergson, A., The Structure of Soviet Wages, Chs. 1, 2, pp. 3-25; Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14, pp. 159-210.
Report of the C.I.O. Delegation to the Soviet Union, 1947.
Dobb, M., Ch. 16, pp. 407-453.

 

VIII.   Functional Structure of the Economic System

1.         Prices, wages, taxes, and profits
2.         The governmental budget as an instrument of economic policy
3.         Methods of planning
4.         Principles of planning

Reading assignments:

Baykov, Ch. 15, pp. 251-276; Ch. 20, pp. 423-479.
Yugow, Ch. 4, pp. 82-95; Ch. 10, 11, pp. 219-243.
Bienstock…, Ch. 4, pp. 47-57; Ch. 6, pp. 66-90; Introduction, pp. xiii-xxxii.
Lange, Oscar, The Working Principles of Soviet Economy, American-Russian Institute.
Dobb, M., Chs. 13 and 14, pp. 313-348.

 

IX.     War and Post-War

1.          Soviet war economy
2.         The new Five-Year Plan
3.         Soviet econmy and world economy

Reading assignments:

Schwartz, Harry, Russia’s Postwar Economy
Gerschenkron, A., Economic Relations with the U.S.S.R.
Yugow, Ch. 5, pp. 96-122.
Dobb, M., Ch. 12, pp. 290-312.

General reading:

Gregory, J., and Shave, D. W., The U.S.S.R., A Geographical Survey, Part I, pp. 1-250.
Scott, John, Behind the Urals.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives , Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “The Economy of Russia—1949”.
also: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics 1947-48 (1 of 2)”

 

Reading Period
January 5-15, 1948

Undergraduate students:

E. Varga: Two Systems: Socialist Economy and Capitalist Economy, 1939
or
Manya Gordon: Workers before and after Lenin.

Graduate Students

Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume Eight, Part 8: Methods of Estimating Naitonal Income in Soviet Russia, Paul Studenski, from Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1946. or
Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1947 – Articles on Russia’s National Income.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics 1947-48 (1 of 2)”

________________________________________

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b

Answer any FIVE of the following SIX questions:

  1. Describe and appraise the general economic significance of the methods of income payments and income allocation in Soviet agriculture.
  2. Describe the methods which the Soviet Government used (a) to secure and (b) to allocate funds for capital investment.
  3. Compare the role of the trade unions in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.
  4. Characterize the successive Five-Year Plans by their principal distinguishing features.
  5. Indicate the reasons and analyze the implications of the recent Soviet monetary reform.
  6. Describe the organization and discuss some of the principal problems of Soviet economic planning.

Final, January, 1948.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “Economics 12b”.

________________________________________

March 30, 1948
W.W. Leontief

Make-Up Examination for Economics 12b—Final Exam

Answer FIVE Questions Including Questions 1 and 2

  1. Describe the nature and the function of the turnover tax.
  2. Describe and interpret the organization and the role of foreign trade in the Soviet Economy.
  3. Describe and appraise the general economic significance of the methods of income payments and income allocation in Soviet agriculture.
  4. Describe the methods which the Soviet Government used (a) to secure and (b) to allocate funds for capital investment.
  5. Compare the role of the trade unions in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.
  6. Characterize the successive Five-Year Plans by their principal distinguishing features.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “Economics 12b”.

 

Image Source: Harvard Album 1949.

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Intermediate Economic Theory and Policy. Monroe, 1947-48

Before heading off to the pastures of retirement, Harvard’s Arthur Eli Monroe taught a year-long undergraduate intermediate economics course, Economic Theory and Policy. His syllabi for 1947-48 show a serious attempt to weave contemporary textbook material with readings from major contemporary works and links to the history of economics.

A less than serious attempt was made, it appears to me, in writing the questions for the final examination for the two terms. They appear to be of the give-the-student-enough-rope-to-hang-himself variety.

More biographical information for Monroe can be found in the earlier posting:

Harvard. Undergraduate Economic Theory (Shorter Course). Monroe, 1937-8

 

_________________________________

Monroe’s 1948 AEA Listing

Monroe, Arthur Eli, 5 Concord Ave., Cambridge 38, Mass. (1915) Retired, teach., edit.; b. 1885; A.B., 1908, A.M., 1914, Ph.D., 1918, Harvard. Fields 1ab, 7, 9. Doc. dis. Monetary theory before Adam Smith(Harvard Univ. Press, 1923). Pub. Early economic thought (1924), Value and income (1931) (Harvard Univ. Press); “Demand for labor,” Q.J.E., 1933. Dir. W.W. in Amer.

 

Source: American Economic Association, Alphabetical List of Members (as of June 15, 1948). The American Economic Review, Vol. 39, No. 1 (January 1929), p. 131.

_________________________________

 

Course Staffing and Enrollments: Economics 1a and 1b, 1947-48

[Economics] 1a. Dr. Monroe.—Economic Theory and Policy (F)

Total 74: 1 Graduate, 45 Seniors, 19 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 6 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

[Economics] 1b. Dr. Monroe.—Economic Theory and Policy (Sp)

Total 46: 2 Graduates, 38 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 3 Radcliffe.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments for 1947-48, p. 89.

_________________________________

Harvard University
Economics 1a
Fall Term — 1947-48

J. F. Due: Intermediate Economic Analysis*, Chs. I – IV, incl.
G. J. Stigler: Theory of Price, Chs. 5, 6.
N. Kaldor: Economic Journal, March, 1934. [The equilibrium of the Firm, Vol. 44, No. 173, pp. 60-76.]
A. E. Monroe: Value and Income, Ch. XV.

HOUR EXAMINATION—October 30.

Due: Intermediate Economic Analysis, Chs. V, VI.
K. E. Boulding: Economic Analysis, Chs. 24, 25.
E. H. Chamberlin: Monopolistic Competition, Chs. III, V.
Joan Robinson: Economics of Imperfect Competition, Chs. 17, 18, 19.

HOUR EXAMINATION—December 4.

Chamberlin: Monopolistic Competition, Chs. VI, VII.
R. Triffin: Monopolistic Competition…pp. 78-108.

READING PERIOD—One of the following:

A. Gray: Development of Economic Doctrine, Chs. III – X, incl.
P. T. Homan: Contemporary Economic Thought, Essays on Veblen, Marshall, Mitchell
A. G. B. Fisher: Class of Progress and Security, Chs. I – VIII, incl.

Conference periods: Saturdays, 9:30 – 12:30, Littauer M-14.

*Authorized for Veterans’ purchase.

_________________________________

 

Economics 1b
Spring Term — 1948

 

J. F. Due: Intermediate Economic Analysis*, Chs. 8, 11.
J. B. Clark: Distribution of Wealth, Chs. 11, 12.
J. R. Hicks: Theory of Wages, Chs. 1, 4, 6.
A. E. Monroe: Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1933. [The Demand for Labor, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 627-646.]
E. H. Chamberlin: Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 8

HOUR EXAMINATION—March 4.

J. F. Due: Intermediate Economic Analysis, Chs. 9, 10.
E. v. Böhm-Bawerk: Positive Theory of Capital, Book V.
A. E. Monroe: Value and Income, Ch. 8.
J. M. Keynes: General Theory of Employment…, Chs. 13, 15.
C. R. Bye: Developments…in the Theory of Rent, Chs. 1, 2, 3.

HOUR EXAMINATION—April 15.

J. F. Due: Intermediate Economic Analysis, Ch. 12.
F. H. Knight: Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Chs. 8, 9.

*READING PERIOD—One of the following:

A. G. Gruchy: Modern Economic Thought, Chs. 5, 7, 8.
Theodore Morgan: Income and Employment, Chs. 1 – 15, incl.
Henri Sée: Modern Capitalism

CONFERENCE PERIODS: Saturdays, 9:30 – 12:30, Littauer M-14.

 

*Authorized for Veterans’ purchase.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (1 of 2)”.

Image Source:  Harvard Album, 1942.