Category: Harvard

Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory. Franco Modigliani, 1957-8

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-09-06

During the academic year 1957-58 Wassily Leontief was on academic leave from Harvard and Franco Modigliani of the Carnegie Institute of Technology took a leave of absence to accept a visiting professorship filling in for Leontief. From Modigliani’s papers in the Rosenstein Library of Duke University I have been able to piece together outlines and readings for the two semesters of advanced economic theory that he taught.

For the Summer session and Fall semester of 1957 it is possible to construct a topical outline for the first semester of Harvard’s Economics 202 from Modigliani’s own handwritten notes. We see that the outline matches that of the corresponding course “Advanced Economics I” that Modigliani taught in the spring semesters of 1957 and 1959 at his home university, i.e. before and after his year at Harvard. We note some additions and deletions in the readings for Modigliani’s Carnegie Tech courses, but since the outline was not significantly changed, it is reasonable to assume that his Fall Semester reading list at Harvard was some “average” of these two Carnegie Tech courses. A copy of Modigliani’s exam questions for the first semester of Advanced Economic Theory (January 25, 1958) completes the material for the first semester.

For the Spring semester of 1958 we have a cover page to his lecture notes indicating four broad topics to be covered. For three of the topics I found short mimeographed reading lists in another folder in a different box of Modigliani’s papers. For the topic “Money and Keynesian Economics” there is a two page handwritten outline that precedes his lecture notes. I cannot explain why the first semester covers parts I-IV and the second semester apparently begins with part VI.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 202. Advanced Economic Theory. Professor Modigliani (Carnegie Institute of Technology). Full Course.

(F) 1 Junior, 1 Senior, 29 Graduates, 4 Radcliffe, 3 Other: Total 38
(S) 1 Junior, 1 Senior, 27 Graduates, 3 Radcliffe, 4 Other: Total 36

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments, 1957-58, p. 82.

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Modigliani Outline for Fall Semester, 1957 (Handwritten)

Ec. Analysis I
Summer & Fall 1957 Harvard

Outline

Part I. Methodology.

(A) Subject matter and the areas

(B) The methodology of positive economics and of Welfare economics

Part II. Theory of Demand and application

II(a) Partial Equilibrium Analysis-Demand function and application

(A) The law of demand and the description of demand functions

(1) The law of demand
(2) Cournot formulation. The notion of functions and some mathematics
(3) The slope of demand functions and responsiveness
(4) Criticism of slope as measure of responsiveness
(5) The notion of demand elasticity and its computation
(6) The behavior of total outlays and its relation to η

(B) Application to problem of random supply. Price and income variation and stabilization.

(1) Nature of the model
(2) The case of no costs. Total curves
(3) Graphical computation of MR
(4) η and MR
(5) Fixed costs. Comp. Statics
(6) Effect of Taxes
(7) Introduction of costs. Equilibrium Analysis
(8) Comparative Statics and Taxation

II (b) Utility Analysis

(A) Introduction

(1) Utility and M.U. The Marshallian approach
(2) Shortcoming. The alternative approach.

(B) Indifference Approach

(1) The fundamental postulates
(2) Graphical Representation of tastes
(3) Indifference map and utility function
(4) Slope of I.C.—m.r. of s. and expression in terms of m.u.
(5) Generalizations and the role of two commodities
(6) Types of indifference maps.
(7) The opportunity set. The case of perfect markets
(8) Pathological cases and the law of d.m.r. of s.
(9) Effect of variation in income. Engel curves
(10) Effect of variations in prices. The demand curve
(11) The case of two commodities; income derived from the commodities. Demand and supply.
(12) Generalization to n commodities; complementarity and substitution

(1) Consumers surplus
(2) Elements of Index number theory

II (c) General Equilibrium of Exchange.

(A) Nature of Problem and approach.

(1) What we wish to explain
(2) Nature of model’s assumptions.

(B) The two person, two commodity case.

(1) The Edgeworth Box.
(2) The offer curves
(3) The behavior of excess demand as function of p and competitive equilibrium (normal case) [illegible] market
(4) The relation between E_x and E_y. Walras law.
(5) Multiple intersection of offer curves. Stable and unstable equilbria. The correspondence Principle.
(6) The pure monopoly solutions.
(7) Comparison of competitive and monopoly solution. Welfare maximization.
(8) The Pareto locus and the Weak Welfare ordering.
(9) Necessary and sufficient condition for max. welfare under individualistic welfare function. The [illegible word] feasibility function. Every point on Pareto locus achievable by perfect market, lump sum taxes and subsidies.
(10) Comparative statics.
(11) Uses of Edgeworth Diagram in the study of barter and bilateral monopoly

III. Theory of supply and production

(A) Introduction

(1) Nature of production and relation to consumption and exchange model.
(2) The organization of production and the nature of the firm in the model.
(3) Factors of production; general notions and the classical dichotomy[?]
(4) Profit maximization and the definition of profit.

(B) Production functions and cost functions.

B(I). One output and two inputs.

(1) Three dimensional representation.
(2) A single variable factor. Product curve.
(3) The cost curve

B(II). Two variable inputs

(1) Determination of equilibrium can be broken up into two parts. Cost minimization, and choice of best output along the minimized cost function.
(2) Cost minimization.

[(C) Supply function]

(1) Long run cost functions and returns to scale
(2) The long run supply curve
(3) Short run costs and supply curves

IV. Market Structures.

(A) Classification of Markets

(B) Monopolistic competition.

(1) Equilibrium for the firm
(2) Simultaneous equilibrium of the group.
(3) Essential characteristics of equilibrium in relation to monopoly and perfect competition, welfare aspects.
(4) Relaxation of the pure model.
(5) Forces making for [illegible] higher prices

(1) Duopoly, Cournot solution
(2) Oligopoly and the limit solution as n goes to infinity

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6. Folder “Economics 1956-57”

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Mimeographed Course Outline,
Carnegie Institute of Technology 1957

February, 1957

GI-581—Advanced Economics I
Course Outline and Major References (Provisional)

I. Methodological issues:

(1) Kaufman — Methodology of the Social Sciences
(2) Friedman — Essays in Positive Economics — Part I
(3) Robbins — The Nature and Significance of Economic Science

II. Theory of Demand and Applications

(A) Partial equilibrium approach — Marshallian Demand functions and applications to simple monopoly.

(B) General equilibrium approach — Utility analysis and indifference curves

(1) Marshall — Principles of Economics, Book III, Ch. III and IV; Mathematical Appendix, Notes II and III
(2) Cournot — The Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth, Ch. IV, V, VI
(3) Bowley — The Mathematical Groundwork of Economics, Ch. I
(4) Hicks — Value and Capital, Part I (pages 12-52) and Part II, ch. IV and V.
(5) Mosak — General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade, Ch. 1 and 2
(6) Samuelson — Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. 1, 5, 6, 7
(7) Slutsky — On the Theory for the Budget of the Consumer, Readings in Price Theory
(8) Hicks — Revision of Demand Theory

III. Theory of supply and costs under competitive conditions

(A) Partial equilibrium approach — theory of Rent

(B) General equilibrium approach — production functions and marginal productivity

(D) Some welfare implications

(1) Viner — Cost Curves and Supply Curves, Readings in Price Theory
(2) Stigler — The Theory of Prices
(3) Hicks — Value and Capital, Ch. VI and VII
(4) Mosak — Ch. V
(5) Lerner — The Economics of Control

IV. Imperfect Competition Theories and Market Structures

(A) Theory of monopoly

(B) Small numbers and imperfect competition

(1) Cournot — Ch. 7
(2) Chamberlin — Theory of Monopolistic Competition
(3) Robinson — Economics of Imperfect Competition
(4) Readings in Price Theory, Part V, Imperfect Competition
(5) Hall and Hitch — Price Theory and Business Behavior, Oxford Economic Papers, 1939
(6) Stigler — Notes on the Theory of Duopoly, JPE, 1947, page 521
(7) Fellner — Competition among the Few
(8) Bain — A Note on Pricing in Monopoly and Oligopoly, AER, 1949, page 448
(9) Hurwicz — The Theory of Economic Behavior, Readings in Price Theory
(10) Henderson — The Theory of Duopoly, QJE, December, 1954
(11) Harrod — Economic Essays, The Theory of Imperfect Competition revised
(12) Hicks — The Process of Imperfect Competition, Oxford Economic Papers, 1954
(13) Paul — Notes on Excess Capacity, Oxford Economic Papers, 1954
(14) Hahn — Excess Capacity and Imperfect Competition, Oxford Economic Papers, 1955

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T8. Folder “(Notes on Advanced Monetary Theory III , 1953-1960”.

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Mimeographed Course Outline, Carnegie Institute of Technology 1959

February, 1959

GI-581—Advanced Economics I
Course Outline and Major References

I. Methodological issues:

(1) Kaufman — Methodology of the Social Sciences
(2) Friedman — Essays in Positive Economics — Part I
(3) Robbins — The Nature and Significance of Economic Science

II. Theory of Demand and Applications

(A) Partial equilibrium approach — Marshallian Demand functions and applications to simple monopoly.

(B) General equilibrium approach — Utility analysis and indifference curves.

(D) Basic concepts of Welfare Economics. Index number theory.

(1) Marshall — Principles of Economics, Book III, Ch. III and IV; Mathematical Appendix, Notes II and III
(2) Cournot — The Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth, Ch. IV, V, VI
(3) Samuelson — Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
(4) Hicks — Value and Capital, Part I (pages 12-52) and Part II, ch. IV and V.
(5) Slutsky — On the Theory for the Budget of the Consumer, Readings in Price Theory
(6) Hicks — Revision of Demand Theory Parts I and II
(7) Bowley — The Mathematical Groundwork of Economics, Ch. I
(8) Mosak — General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade, Ch. 1 and 2
(9) Boulding — Welfare Economics in Survey of Contemporary Economics, vol. II.

III. Theory of supply and costs under competitive conditions

(A) Partial equilibrium approach — theory of Rent

(B) General equilibrium approach — production functions and marginal productivity

(D) Some welfare implications

(E) Stability of equilibrium — comparative statics and dynamics.

(1) Viner — Cost Curves and Supply Curves, Readings in Price Theory
(2) Stigler — The Theory of Prices
(3) Samuelson — Foundations chs. 4, 9
(4) Lerner — The Economics of Control chs. 15, 16, 17
(5) Hicks — Value and Capital, Ch. VI and VII
(6) Mosak — Ch. V
(7) Cassel — The Theory of Social Economy Vol I. ch. 4, pp. 134-155

IV. Imperfect Competition Theories and Market Structures

(A) Classification of market structures

(B) Theory of monopoly

(D) Oligopolistic competition

(E) The role of the conditions of entry.

(1) Cournot — Ch. 7
(2) Chamberlin — Theory of Monopolistic Competition
(3) Robinson — Economics of Imperfect Competition, Book V.
(4) Readings in Price Theory, Part V, Imperfect Competition
(5) Hall and Hitch — Price Theory and Business Behavior, Oxford Economic Papers, 1939
(6) Stigler — Notes on the Theory of Duopoly, JPE, 1947, page 521
(7) Fellner — Competition among the Few
(8) Hurwicz — The Theory of Economic Behavior, Readings in Price Theory
(9) Henderson — The Theory of Duopoly, QJE, December, 1954
(10) Bain — Barriers to New Competition. Esp. ch. 1, 3, 4, 6.
(11) Modigliani — New Developments on the Oligopoly Front. JPE June 1958, pp. 215-232.
(12) Cyert and March — Organizational Structure and Pricing Behavior in an Oligopolistic Market. AER March 1955, pp. 129-139
(13) Cyert and March — Organizational Factors in the Theory of Oligopoly. QJE Feb. 1956, pp. 44-64

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T8. Folder “(Notes on Advanced Monetary Theory III , 1953-1960”.

Final Examination for GI 581 in 1959 and 1960 has been posted!

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Final Examination Economics 202, Fall Semester (1957-58)

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
ECONOMICS 202

Answer questions 1, 2, and two of the remaining three. Question 1 will be given double weight.

Assume that the government fixes by law the price of a commodity and hands out to the public ration coupons equal in number to the number of units of the commodity produced. Assume throughout that the supply is perfectly inelastic.

a) Show graphically the opportunity locus of an individual consumer, in terms of the usual indifference diagram, with one of the axes representing money. Under what condition would a consumer not use all of his coupons?

b) Show that consumers would be better off if they were free to buy or sell their ration coupons in a free market.

c) Supposing now that coupons could be bought and sold in a free market, explain how one could derive an individual consumer’s demand curve for coupons. (Hint: the situation is analogous to the consumer being forced to buy his ration of the good at the legal price and then being allowed to sell it or buy more of it on a free market.)

d) Explain the formation of the equilibrium market price of coupons.

e) What can be said as to the relation between the legal price, the price of coupons, and the price which would prevail in the absence of price control and rationing? Under what condition would the sum of the first two be equal to the third?

Wicksell states two alternative conditions under which entrepreneurial profits would be zero:

“…either that large-scale and small-scale operations are equally productive, so that, when all the factors of production are increased in the same proportion, the total product also increases exactly proportionately; or at least that all productive enterprises have already reached the limit beyond which a further increase in the scale of production will no longer yield any advantage.”

Explain the reasoning behind Wicksell’s statement of these conditions. Is either of them sufficient, or must other conditions be added?

Discuss the significance of free entry to the relation of the long-run equilibrium size of the firm to its optimum size.

A profit maximizing monopolist buys factors of production in a perfect market.

a) Discuss the long-run effect on his demand for each of the factors he uses and on his selling price of a tax on one of the factors. (Give a graphic treatment for the case of two factors.)

b) Suppose that one of the two factors is fixed in the short run. Contrast the change in the long-run and short-run demand for both factors when a tax is placed on either.

Evaluate the methodological positions of Friedman and Koopmans. Would an agreement with one as against the other make any difference as to the direction of economic research?

January 25, 1958

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T8. Folder “(Notes on Advanced Monetary Theory III , 1953-1960”.

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[Handwritten cover page to course lecture notes]

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS II
Harvard—Spring 1958
Outline

I. Welfare Economics and Critique of Laisser faire

II. Dynamics with Certainty

III. Theory of Choice Under Uncertainty

IV. Money and Keynesian Economics

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6. Folder “Economics 1956-57”.

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[Two mimeographed sheets of course outline and readings]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 202

Spring, 1958

VI. Economics of Welfare

Readings:

Lerner, A. P., The Economics of Control, Chap. 1-14 (as a review)

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

Scitovsky, T., “A Reconsideration of the Theory of Tariffs,” Review of Economic Studies, Volume 9, 1941

Samuelson, P., “Evaluation of Real National Income,” Oxford Economic Papers, Jan. 1950

J. de V. Graaf, Theoretical Welfare Economics

Baumol, William J., Welfare Economics and the Theory of the State (omit Ch. 8)

Ruggles, N., “The Welfare Basis of Marginal Cost Pricing,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XVII, 1949-50.

Vickrey, W., “Some Objections to Marginal Cost Pricing,” JPE, June 1948

*Burk (Bergson) A., “A Reformulation of Certain Aspects of Welfare Economics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 52, 1938

*Samuelson, P., Foundations of Economic Analysis, Chapter 8

*Koopmans, T. C., Three Essays on the State of Economic Science, I—Allocation of Resources and the Price System.

VII. Dynamics under Certainty

Temporal theory of consumer choice — the notion of interest — inter-temporal equilibrium without production — temporal theory of production and capital — growth

Readings:

Fisher, The Theory of Interest, Chapters II, X, XI, XVI, XVIII.

Hicks, Value and Capital, Chapters IX, X, XI, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII.

Lutz and Lutz, The Theory of Investment of the Firm, Chapters I-X, XII, XV, XX.

Lindahl, Studies in the Theory of Money and Capital, Part III, Ch. 2, 3.

Samuelson, “Dynamics, Statics and the Stationary State,” in Clemence, Readings in Economic Analysis, Vol. I

Modigliani and Brumberg, “Utility Analysis and the Consumption Function,” in Kurihara, Post-Keynesian Economics.

*Mosak, General Equilibrium Theory, Ch. VI, VII.

*Koopmans, Three Essays on the State of Economic Science, Essay I, part 4, (Pp. 105-126).

VIII. Some Approaches to the Theory of Choice under Uncertainty.

Readings:

Arrow, “Alternative Approaches to the Theory of Choice under Uncertainty in Risk-taking Situations,” Econo metrica, 1951.

Modigliani, “Liquidity and Uncertainty,” (Discussion paper) AER, May 1949

Hart, Anticipations, Uncertainty and Dynamic Planning

Marschak, “Probability in the Social Sciences,” in Lazarsfeld, Mathematics 1 Thinking in the Social Sciences.

Friedman and Savage, “The Utility Analysis of Choice Involving Risk,” in Readings in Price Theory.

Strotz, “Cardinal Utility,” AER, May 1953.

Hart, “Risk, Uncertainty, and the Unprofitability of Compounding Probabilities,” in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

*Herstein and Miller, “An Axiomatic Approach to Measurable Utility,” Econometrica, April 1953.

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6. Folder “Economics 1956-57”.

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[Handwritten outline preceding notes for fourth part of second semester]

Money and Keynesian Economics
Outline

I. Introduction of uncertainty and money in dynamic general equilibrium framework

II. The supply and demand for money

(A) Supply side. The banking system and bank balance equation

(B) The demand side

(1) The transaction demand. Cambridge and Fisher equations.
(2) The formal closing of system with dichotomy and neutrality. Criticism. No connection between demand for money and demand for anything else. No [illegible] formal money market
(3) The role of interest rate on transaction demand
(4) Liquidity preference and the connection of Money and Bond market. The formal model of these markets in which funds are acquired or disposed of against bonds.
(5) Preservation of dichotomy under certain assumptions: the role of money in real system. Its disappearance with pure bank money and η =1.
(6) Sources of non-transaction or asset demand for money:

(a) Transaction costs on short funds.
(b) The so called speculative demand.

The case of a single short rate [for the supply of money to equal the demand for money] provided r01 >0.
Liquidity trap. No carrying cost, r cannot be negative.
The case of multiple rates. Speculative demand.

(7) The breakdown of the system. The Pigou effect. its implications on extreme fluctuations of price level.
(8) The consequence of price rigidity.

III. The Economics of rigid prices (rigid wages)

(A) Description of labor market and the [illegible]of rigidity.
(B) The emergence [consequence?] of the notion of Income. Capitalism. Property and non-property income
(C) Nature of demand and supply. Consumption and Investment.
(D) Why wage rigidity [illegible]a solution even when r of full employment is negative. Supply falls faster than demand
(E) The four quadrant analysis and its interpretation.

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6. Folder “Economics 1956-57”.

Image Source: Franco Modigliani page at the History of Economic Thought Website.

Tags Leontief, Modigliani

Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Debate Briefs on Immigration, ca. 1886-96

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-09-01

A few posts ago I provided a short selection from Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver’s autobiography that reminded me of the current Republican U.S. Presidential candidate’s immigration policy. I must still have had Donald Trump on the mind when I stumbled upon a book of model debate briefs for issues of the late 19th/early 20th century. One might want to first watch the speech Donald Trump gave on immigration policy last night (August 31, 2016) in Phoenix, Arizona and then examine the debate briefs below for the following three resolutions:

Resolved, That immigration should be further restricted by law.

Resolved, That a high tax should be laid on all immigrants to the United States.

Resolved, That the policy excluding Chinese laborers from the United States should be maintained and rigorously enforced.

Zombie ideas are everywhere.

_______________________

Briefs for Debate on Current Political, Economic, and Social Topics.

Edited by
W. Du Bois Brookings, A.B. of the Harvard Law School
And
Ralph Curtis Ringwalt, A.B.
Assistant in Rhetoric in Columbia University

With an introduction by Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D.
Professor of Harvard University.

[Rerpinted in 1908]

[From the Preface:]

“The basis of the work has been a collection of some two hundred briefs prepared during the past ten years [ca. 1886-96] by students in Harvard University, under the direction of instructors. Of these briefs the most useful and interesting have been selected; the material has been carefully worked over, and the bibliographies enlarged and verified….

…” the brief is a steady training in the most difficult part of reasoning; in putting together things that belong together; in discovering connections and relations; in subordinating the less important matters. The making of a brief is an intellectual exercise like the study of a disease by a physician, of a case by a lawyer, of a sermon by a minister, of a financial report by a president of a corporation. It is a bit of the practical work of life.

RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION.

Question: ‘Resolved, That immigration should be further restricted by law.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

General references:

New-York Tribune (May 17, 1891);
Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955 (February 19, 1891);
Political Science Quarterly, III., 46 (March, 1888), 197 (June, 1888); IV., 480-489 (September, 1889);
J. A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives;
Richmond Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration;
North American Review, Vol. 152, p. 27 (January, 1891);
Atlantic Monthly, LXXI., 646 (May, 1893);
Public Opinion, XVI., 122 (November 9, 1893);
F. L. Dingley on European Emigration, United States Special Consular Reports, 1890, II., 211.

I. There is no longer any necessity for immigration:

Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955.

II. Immigration has led to many bad effects.

(a) Political.

(1) Large proportion of adults gives too great voting power:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 79.

(2) Our degraded municipal administration due to it:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 87.

(b) Economic.

(1) Immigrants offset what they produce by remittances home.

(2) Nearly half the immigrants are without occupation and this ratio is still increasing:

Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955.

(3) There is already a large unemployed class of native laborers:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 127.

(4) Displacement of American labor:

Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955.

(5) By classes used to a lower standard of living.

(6) Introduction of the system:

How the Other Half Lives, pp. 121-123.

(c) Social effects.

(1) Our high rates of mortality, vice, and crime are due to immigration:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 150.

(2) Immigration the prevailing cause of illiteracy in the United States:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 161.

III. The present laws are insufficient.

(a) Diseased persons are allowed entrance:

Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955.

(b) Agents for steamship lines induce men to emigrate.

(c) Pauper laws admit immigrants possessing less than the average wealth of residents:

Emigration and Immigration, p. 101.

Brief for the Negative.

General references:

North American Review, Vol. 134, p. 347 (April, 1882); Vol. 154, p. 424 (April, 1892); Vol. 158, p. 494 (April, 1894);
Journal of Social Science, 1870, No. 2;
Forum, XIII., 360 (May, 1892).

I. The policy of the United States in regard to immigration has been successful and its continuance is necessary to develop the resources of the country:

Lalor’s Cyclopaedia, II., 85-94.

II. Immigration is an advantage to the country:

North American Review, Vol. 134, pp. 364-367.

(a) The prosperity brought by immigrants.

(b) The addition to the national power of production.

(c) The money value of the immigrants as laborers.

III. The interests of American labor do not suffer by immigration:

Westminster Review, Vol. 130, p. 474 (October, 1888);
J. L. Laughlin in International Review, XI., 88 (July, 1881).

(a) Immigrants form ‘non–competing groups.’

(b) Are ultimately Americanized.

IV. The present immigration laws are satisfactory:

Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States, 1874-1891, I., Chap. 551;
Nation, XLV., 518 (December 29, 1887).

(a) The worst class of immigrants is excluded.

(b) The interests of American labor are fully protected.

(c) More stringent regulations, even if desirable, could not be enforced.

_______________________

A TAX ON IMMIGRANTS.

Question: ‘Resolved, That a high tax should be laid on all immigrants to the United States.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

General references:

Richmond Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration;
Forum, XI., 635 (August, 1891); XIV., 110 (September, 1892);
Andover Review, IX., 251 (March, 1888);
Yale Review, I., 125 (August, 1892);
Congressional Record, 1890-1891, p. 2955 (February 19, 1891);
Political Science Quarterly, III., 46 (March, 1888), 197 (June, 1888); IV., 480-489 (September, 1889);
North American Review, Vol. 152, p. 27 (January, 1891);
J. A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives;
F. L. Dingley on European Emigration, in United States Special Consular Reports, 1890, II., 211;
House Miscellaneous Documents, 1887-1888, No. 572, part 2, Report on Importation of Contract Labor.

I. Immigration should be further restricted.

(a) On social grounds.

(1) The proportion of paupers, diseased, and criminal, is great.

(b) On economic grounds.

(1) No longer needed to develop the country:

Popular Science Monthly, XLI., 762 (October, 1892).

(2) The lower wages and the standard of living:

Forum, XIV., 113 (September, 1892).

(3) Unskilled occupations are already overcrowded:

Emigration and Immigration, pp. 117-122.

(c) On political grounds.

(1) The immigrants do not understand our institutions.

(2) They become tools of machine politicians:

Emigration and Immigration, pp. 79-88.

(3) They form communities by themselves.

(d) The dangers are increasing.

(1) The immigrants congregate in cities more than formerly:

Emigration and Immigration, pp. 69-70.

(2) The character of the immigrants is deteriorating:

Yale Review, I., 132.

II. A high tax would stop undesirable immigration.

(a) It would make impossible the sending of undesirable classes.

(1) Paupers.
(2) Convicts.
(3) Contract laborers.
(4) Shiftless and ignorant persons whom agents of steamship companies induce to come:

Yale Review, I., 132.

(b) The Italians and Slavs can barely raise the passage money, and they could not raise the tax.

(c) Tax would not keep out the desirable immigrants, such as Germans, Swedes, and Irish.

(1) They bring enough money to pay the tax.

III. A tax is the simplest effective restriction.

(a) It cannot be evaded.

(b) It is the surest practical guarantee of the qualities desired:

Yale Review, I., 141.

(c) It is a just means.

(1) One immigrant is worth to the country one hundred dollars:

Political Science Quarterly, III., 204-207 (June, 1888).

(2) Per capita wealth of the United States is one thousand dollars.

(3) The immigrant should pay to be admitted to the wealth and privileges of this country.

Brief for the Negative.

General references:

Westminster Review, Vol. 130, p. 474 (October, 1888);
North American Review, Vol. 134, p. 347 (April, 1882); Vol. 154, p. 424 (April, 1892); Vol. 156, p. 220 (February, 1893);
Forum, XIII., 360 (May, 1892);
Lalor’s Cyclopedia, II., 85;
Friedrich Kapp, ‘Immigration,’ in Journal of Social Science, 1870, No. 2, pp.21-30.

I. A continuance of immigration is desirable:

Forum, XIV., 601 (January, 1893);
Public Opinion, III., 251 (July 2, 1887); XIV., 297 (December 31, 1892).

(a) There is need of laborers in the South and West:

North American Review, Vol. 134, p. 350 (April, 1882).

(b) Voluntary immigrants are thrifty and active:

Political Science Quarterly, III., 61 (March, 1888).

(c) The troublesome and mischievous immigrants are a small part of the whole:

Nation. XLV., 519 (December 29, 1887);
Forum, XIV., 605-606.

II. The present immigration laws are sufficient:

Public Opinion, III., 249;
Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States, 1874-1891, I., Chap. 551.

(a) Laws now exclude paupers, criminals, insane people, and persons liable to become a public charge, as well as imported labor.

(b) Immigration is practically self-regulating:

Forum, XIV., 606.

III. The proposed measure of a high tax is undesirable.

(a) It would literally mean prohibition, which is a complete reversal of American policy.

(b) It would be unjust.

(1) It would debar families from emigrating.

(2) It would discriminate against the peasant class, women and the younger men, who are often the most desirable immigrants.

(c) It is impracticable:

Political Science Quarterly, III., 420.

(1) It would be difficult to collect the tax:

Forum, XIII., 366 (May, 1892).

(2) Our extensive frontiers would make the law perfectly useless.

(d) It would create an undesirable class of immigrants.

(1) Those who evaded the laws would be an adventurous, restless element.

(2) Those who paid the tax would be embittered by our narrow policy.

_______________________

THE EXCLUSION OF THE CHINESE.

Question: ‘Resolved, That the policy excluding Chinese laborers from the United States should be maintained and rigorously enforced.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

General references:

Forum, VI., 196 (October, 1888);
North American Review, Vol. 139, p. 256 (September, 1884); Vol. 157, p. 59 (July, 1893);
Overland Monthly, VII., 428 (April, 1886);
Scribner’s Monthly, XII., 862 (October, 1876);
J. A. Whitney, The Chinese and the Chinese Question.

I. The Chinese are a source of danger to American civilization.

(a) Morally.

(1) Barbarity of Chinese character:

The Chinese and the Chinese Question, p. 21.

(2) Inhuman treatment of women.

(3) Practice of gambling.

(4) Degraded religion:

Forum, VI., 201.

(5) Utter disregard for oaths.

(6) Criminality:

Scribner’s Monthly, XII., 862.

(b) Socially.

(1) Unhealthy mode of living.

(2) Impossibility of amalgamation:

Overland Monthly, VII., 429.

(3) Contamination through opium smoking, leprosy, and small-

pox.

(4) Dangers to American youth of both sexes.

(c) Politically.

(1) Inability and unwillingness to become citizens:

Senate Reports, 1876-1877, No. 689.

(2) Refusal to obey our laws.

(3) Secret system of slavery:

Scribner’s Monthly, XII., 860-865.

(d) Economically.

(1) Impossibility of competition with Chinese.

(2) Gradual encroachment on all occupations.

(3) Does away with the Middle class of artisans and results in the concentration of capital:

Forum, VI., 198;
North American Review, Vol. 139, pp. 257, 260-273.

II. Exclusion furnishes-the best remedy.

(a) It is constitutional under decision of Supreme Court:

Fong Yue Ting v. U. S., 149 U. S., 698.

(b) It will not materially affect our commercial relations with China.

(c) It is beneficial to the Chinamen who are legally in the United States.

(d) It is practicable.

(1) Rules are simple and can be readily complied with or enforced.

Brief for the Negative.

General references:

Nation, LVI., 358 (May 18, 1893);
Forum, XIV., 85 (September, 1892); XV., 407 (June, 1893);
North American Review, Vol. 148, p. 476 (April, 1889); Vol. 154, p. 596 (May, 1892); Vol. 157, p. 52 (July, 1893);
Nation, XXVIII., 145 (February 27, 1879);
Scribner’s Monthly, XIII., 687 (March, 1887);
Nation, XXXIV., 222 (March 16, 1882);
Overland Monthly, VII., 414 (April, 1886); XXIII., 518 (May, 1894);
Richmond Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, Chap. xi.

I. The exclusion of the Chinese is at variance with fundamental American principles:

Nation, XXXIV., 222.

(a) It is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution:

Constitution of the United States, Amend. XV.

(b) It is founded on race prejudice.

Forum, XV., 407; XIV., 85-90.

II. Chinese immigration is no menace to American interests.

(a) The Chinese do not immigrate in large numbers.

(b) They do not multiply after their arrival.

(c) They take only money—and little of that—out of the country, and leave finished products.

(d) They compete with unskilled labor and do not affect the wages of skilled labor.

(e) They are honest, industrious, peaceable, and frugal.

(f) They form but a small element in political life, and the fact that they are not citizens makes them less dangerous than other immigrants.

III. The policy of exclusion is harmful.

(a) It injures good feeling between the two countries.

(b) It menaces commerce:

Forum, XIV., 87-88.

(1) China may retaliate any time.

(c) It discourages missionary work.

(d) It deprives the United States of effective labor suitable for large enterprises.

(1) Work on transcontinental railroads.

(2) In mines.

(3) Farming.

(4) Construction of irrigation works.

IV. The difficulty in enforcing the legislation makes it impracticable.

(a) The penalty for violation has no terrors for the Chinese immigrant:

Popular Science Monthly, XXXVI.,185 (December, 1889).

(b) Many citizens oppose the legislation.

(c) It has failed thus far.

Source: W. Du Bois Brookings and Ralph Curtis Ringwalt, eds., Briefs for Debate on Current Political, Economic, and Social Topics. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908, pp. 68-75.

Image Source: F. Victor Gillam, “The immigrant. Is he an acquisition or a detriment?” Illustration in Judge (September 19, 1903). Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Tags Laughlin, Mayo-Smith

Economists Harvard

Harvard. List of 114 economics dissertations 1875-1926

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-23

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.

Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Problems of Latin America. Bradley, 1944

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-19
1 Comment on 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

Introduction

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

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.

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.

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.

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)”.

Tags Bradley

Funny Business Harvard

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

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-11

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.

Tags Carver

Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Agricultural Economics, Carver 1917

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-11

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

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

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

Agricultural development in Europe.

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

Agricultural development in the United States.

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

The problems of land tenure.

Selected Readings. Pages 352-486.

Tenancy and agricultural labor in the United States.

Selected Readings. Pages 487-574.

The factors of agricultural production.

Principles. Chap. 3.

Problems of farm management.

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

Agricultural discontent.

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

The marketing of farm products.

Selected Readings. Pages 764-897.

Agricultural credit.

Selected Readings. Pages 936-970.

The organization of rural life

Carver, The Organization of a Rural Community.

National and state agricultural policies.

Selected Readings. Pages 898-935.

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.

Tags Carver

Bibliography Courses Harvard

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

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-08

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.

Tags Hansen, Williams

Economists Harvard Michigan

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

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-08-01

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.

Tags Burbank, Day, Dickinson, Gay, Taussig, Yerkes

Economists Harvard

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

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-07-30

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.

Tags BaconDC, Baxter, BayardCC, Beach, BlackJD, BrownMG, Bullock, Burbank, Carver, Chamberlin, ColeAH, Crum, Currie, deChazeau, Demos, Deshmukh, Dewing, Dickinson, Elliott, Englund, Erb, Ford, Gay, GayMR, GilbertDW, GilbertVG, Hanford, Holcombe, HuntBC, JacksonCD, LeeK, Marget, Mason, Maxwell, Mcilwaine, MeansGC, Merk, Monroe, Morison, Persons, Ripley, RobertsC, SmithMA, Taussig, Usher, White, Williams, Woods, WorkingEJ, Wright, Young

Courses Harvard

Harvard. Course with a “snapper” problem, 1910

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2016-07-14

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.

Tags Taussig, Wyman

Course Enrollment

Modigliani Outline for Fall Semester, 1957 (Handwritten)

Ec. Analysis I Summer & Fall 1957 Harvard

Outline

Part I. Methodology.

Part II. Theory of Demand and application

III. Theory of supply and production

IV. Market Structures.

Mimeographed Course Outline, Carnegie Institute of Technology 1957

GI-581—Advanced Economics I Course Outline and Major References (Provisional)

I. Methodological issues:

II. Theory of Demand and Applications

III. Theory of supply and costs under competitive conditions

IV. Imperfect Competition Theories and Market Structures

Mimeographed Course Outline, Carnegie Institute of Technology 1959

GI-581—Advanced Economics I Course Outline and Major References

I. Methodological issues:

II. Theory of Demand and Applications

III. Theory of supply and costs under competitive conditions

IV. Imperfect Competition Theories and Market Structures

Final Examination Economics 202, Fall Semester (1957-58)

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics ECONOMICS 202

[Handwritten cover page to course lecture notes]

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS II Harvard—Spring 1958 Outline

I. Welfare Economics and Critique of Laisser faire

II. Dynamics with Certainty

III. Theory of Choice Under Uncertainty

IV. Money and Keynesian Economics

[Two mimeographed sheets of course outline and readings]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY Department of Economics Economics 202

VI. Economics of Welfare

VII. Dynamics under Certainty

VIII. Some Approaches to the Theory of Choice under Uncertainty.

[Handwritten outline preceding notes for fourth part of second semester]

Money and Keynesian Economics Outline

Briefs for Debate on Current Political, Economic, and Social Topics.

Edited by W. Du Bois Brookings, A.B. of the Harvard Law School And Ralph Curtis Ringwalt, A.B. Assistant in Rhetoric in Columbia University

With an introduction by Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D. Professor of Harvard University.

[Rerpinted in 1908]

[From the Preface:]

RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION.

Question: ‘Resolved, That immigration should be further restricted by law.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

I. There is no longer any necessity for immigration:

II. Immigration has led to many bad effects.

III. The present laws are insufficient.

Brief for the Negative.

I. The policy of the United States in regard to immigration has been successful and its continuance is necessary to develop the resources of the country:

II. Immigration is an advantage to the country:

III. The interests of American labor do not suffer by immigration:

IV. The present immigration laws are satisfactory:

A TAX ON IMMIGRANTS.

Question: ‘Resolved, That a high tax should be laid on all immigrants to the United States.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

I. Immigration should be further restricted.

II. A high tax would stop undesirable immigration.

III. A tax is the simplest effective restriction.

Brief for the Negative.

I. A continuance of immigration is desirable:

II. The present immigration laws are sufficient:

III. The proposed measure of a high tax is undesirable.

THE EXCLUSION OF THE CHINESE.

Question: ‘Resolved, That the policy excluding Chinese laborers from the United States should be maintained and rigorously enforced.’

Brief for the Affirmative.

I. The Chinese are a source of danger to American civilization.

II. Exclusion furnishes-the best remedy.

Brief for the Negative.

I. The exclusion of the Chinese is at variance with fundamental American principles:

II. Chinese immigration is no menace to American interests.

III. The policy of exclusion is harmful.

IV. The difficulty in enforcing the legislation makes it impracticable.

Course Enrollment

Economics 38b Spring Term, 1944

READING PERIOD

From Harvard Professor Thomas Nixon Carver’s autobiography:

Course Announcement

Enrollment

ECONOMICS 9 1917-18

ZENAS CLARK DICKINSON Ph.D. Examinations, Harvard

Memorial

Ec. Analysis I
Summer & Fall 1957 Harvard

Mimeographed Course Outline,
Carnegie Institute of Technology 1957

GI-581—Advanced Economics I
Course Outline and Major References (Provisional)

GI-581—Advanced Economics I
Course Outline and Major References

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
ECONOMICS 202

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS II
Harvard—Spring 1958
Outline

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 202

Money and Keynesian Economics
Outline

Edited by
W. Du Bois Brookings, A.B. of the Harvard Law School
And
Ralph Curtis Ringwalt, A.B.
Assistant in Rhetoric in Columbia University

With an introduction by Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D.
Professor of Harvard University.

Economics 38b
Spring Term, 1944

ECONOMICS 9
1917-18

ZENAS CLARK DICKINSON
Ph.D. Examinations, Harvard

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

Zenas Clark Dickinson
The Michigan Alumnus, June 4, 1932

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