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Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Frank A. Fetter, 1906.

Thomas Nixon Carver was granted a sabbatical leave from Harvard for the academic year 1906-07. Frank Albert Fetter from Cornell was hired to teach Carver’s course that covered economic utopias and proposed social reforms. 

Inspecting university course catalogues from where Fetter had previously taught, I was able to find that he did indeed once teach a one term course at Cornell before teaching Carver’s course in 1906:  “Political Science 55a: Socialism and Communism” that was given in the Fall term of a three term academic year 1894-95.

After Fetter returned to Cornell, it appears he then taught a course very similar to what he taught at Harvard: Political Science 66b Social Reforms. “History and growth of the more radical modern plans for changing industrial conditions; program and spirit of the socialistic parties in Europe and America.” (1907-08)

Here are the main dates in Fetter’s career:

1891  A. B. Indiana University
1892  Ph.M. Cornell University
1894  Ph.D. University of Halle
1894-1895   Instructor in Political Economy, Cornell University
1895-1898   Professor of Economics and Social Science, Indiana University
1898-1901   Professor, Stanford University
1901-1911   Professor, Cornell University
1911-1933   Professor, Princeton University

1912  President of the American Economic Association

Comparing this syllabus with those used by Carver before and after this year, one sees that Fetter essentially added items to Carver’s syllabus and made some minor rearrangements of the topics, e.g. anarchism moved to the end of the term.

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting…

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[Course Enrollment First Half-year 1906-07]

[Economics] 14b 1hf. Professor Fetter (Cornell University).—Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

4 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 7 Other. Total 32.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1906-07, p.71.

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ECONOMICS 14b
METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM

First Half-Year, 1906 – 07, F. A. Fetter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I.  Evil’s and Discontent Portrayed.

Engels, F., Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.
Rowntree, B. S., Poverty (a study of York, Eng.).
London, J., The People of the Abyss (in London).
Brooks, J. G., The Social Unrest (1903).
Hunter, R., Poverty (a pessimistic view of the U. S.).
Spargo, J., The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906).

II. Utopian Romances (chronological order of publication).

Plato, The Republic (4th century B.C.).
Morley, H. (ed.), Ideal Commonwealths (containing Plutarch’s Lycurgus, More’s Utopia (1516), Bacon’s New Atlantis (1629), Campanella’s City of the Sun (1520), Hall’s Mundus Alter et Idem (1607)).
Cabet, E., Voyage en Icarie (1839)
Bellamy, E., Looking Backward (1887).
Morris, W., News from Nowhere.
Hertzka, Freiland.
Bellamy, E., Equality (1897).
Wells, H. G., Anticipations (1902).
________, Mankind in the Making (1904).
Parry, The Scarlet Empire (1906, anti-utopian).

III. Communistic Experiments (American books in chronological order).

Kautsky, Karl, Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
Cabet, E., Icaria (history of the society in America, 1852).
Noyes, J. H., History of American Socialisms (1870).
Nordhoff, Charles, The Communistic Societies of the United States (1875).
Hinds, W. A., American Communities (1878, and later revised edition).
Shaw, Albert, Icaria, a Chapter in the History of Socialism (1884).
Codman, J. T., Brook Farm; Historic and Personal Memoirs (1894).
Randall, E. O., The Zoar Society (1899).
Landis, G. B., The Separatists of Zoar.
Lockwood, George B., The New Harmony Communities.
Broom, Isaac, The Last Days of the Ruskin Coöperative Association (1902).
Hillquist, M., History of Socialism in the United States (1903).

IV. Religious and Altruistic Socialism

Lamennais, Les Parole d’un Croyant.
Kaufman, Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
Kingsley, Charles, Alton Locke.
Stubbs, Charles Kingsley.
Woodworth, A. V., Christian Socialism in England (1903).
Gladden, Washington, Tools and the Man, A View of Christian Socialism.
Strong, Josiah, Our Country (1885), The New Era (1893).
Ballon-Adin, Practical Christian Socialism.
Nitti, F., Catholic Socialism (trans. 1895).
Carlyle, Thomas: “The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle,” a selection of chapters by W. D. P. Bliss.
Ruskin, John: “The Communism of John Ruskin,” a selection by W. D. P. Bliss from Unto This Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
“William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist,” a collection of his socialistic writings, by F. W. Lee.

V. History and Exposition of Collectivism (alphabetic by authors).

Dawson, W. H., German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle (1888).
Ely, R. T., French and German Socialism (1883); Socialism, an examination of its nature, strength, and weakness (1895).
Flower, B. O., How England Averted a Revolution of Force (1903).
Gonner, E. C. K., The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus (1899).
Graham, William, Socialism, New and Old.
Kirkup, Thomas, A History of Socialism.
Peixotto, Jessica B., The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism (1901).
Rae, John, Contemporary Socialism (2d ed. 1891).
Russell, Bertrand, German Social Democracy.
Schaeffle, Albert, The Quintessence of Socialism (1874).
Sombart, Werner, Socialism and the Social Movement in the 19th Century (1st ed. translated; 5th ed. revised, in German, 1905).
____________, Der moderne Capitalismus, 2 vols.

VI.  Collectivist arguments.

German.

Karl Marx and F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1847).
Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867).
Engels, F., Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
Bebel, A., Woman in the Past, Present and Future (trans. 1894).
Kautsky, K., The Social Revolution (trans. 1903).
Bernstein, E., Ferdinand Lassalle (trans. 1893).
_________, Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus (1899).
_________, Zur Geschichte und Theorie des Sozialismus (2d ed. 1901).

English and American.

Hyndman, H. M., The Economics of Socialism (English of the Marxist school).
Webb, Sydney and Beatrice, Problems of Modern Industry.
Fabian Essay in Socialism, B. Shaw and others.
Fabian Tracts, 1-86 (1884-1899).
Blatchford, R., Merrie England (1895).
Gronlund, L., The Coöperative Commonwealth (1895).
_________, The New Economy (1898).
Bliss, W. P. D., A Handbook of Socialism (1895).
Vail, Modern Socialism (1899).
Ghent, W. J., Our Benevolent Feudalism.
_________, Mass and Class.
London, J., War of the Classes.
Spargo, John, Socialism (1906).

Various.

Selections from Fourier.
Jaures, J., Studies in Socialism (trans. 1906).
Ensor, R. C. K., Modern Socialism as set forth by Socialists (collection of 29 articles, 1904).
Labriola, A., Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History (trans. 1904).
Vandervelde, E., Collectivism.

VII. Anti-Collectivist Arguments.

Brunhuber, Dr. Robert, Die heutige Sozialdemokratie (1906).
Cathrein, Rev. Victor, Socialism Exposed and Refuted (trans. 1902).
______________, Socialism, its Theoretical Basis and Practical Application.
Gilman, N. P., Socialism and the American Spirit.
Gonner, E. C. K., The Socialist State.
Guyot, Y., The Tyranny of Socialism.
Le Bon, G., Psychology of Socialism (trans. 1899).
Mackay, T., A Plea for Liberty.
Malloch, W. H., Labor and the Popular Welfare (new ed., 1894).
___________, Classes and Masses.
___________, Aristocracy and Evolution (1898).
Menger, A., The Right to the Whole Produce of Labor (trans. 1899).
Sanders, G. A., Reality, or Law and Order vs. Anarchy and Socialism, a reply to E. Bellamy (1898).
Schaeffle, A., The Impossibility of Social Democracy (1884).
Simonson, G., A Plain Examination of Socialism (1900).
Spencer, H., The Coming Slavery.

VIII. Land Nationalization.

Favorable.

George, H., Progress and Poverty.
______________, Our Land and Land Policy.
Wallace, A. R., Studies, Scientific and Social (in Vol. II, articles on land nationalization).
Loria, A., Problèmes Sociaux Contemporains.
George, H., Jr., The Menace of Privilege.
Shearman, T. G., Natural Taxation.

Unfavorable.

Cathrein, Rev. Victor, The Champions of Agrarian Socialism, A Refutation of Lavelèye and George (trans. 1889).
Huxley, T. H., Evolution and Ethics (chs. on single tax, 1894).
_________, Social Diseases and Worse Remedies (1891).
Rae, John, Ch. 12 of Contemporary Socialism.
Smart, W., Taxation of Land Values (1900).
Walker, F. A., Land and Its Rent (1883).

General.

Epps, Land Systems of Australia.
Lefèvre-Shaw, English Commons and Forests.

IX. The Extension of State Action

Adams, H. C., The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
Ely, R. T., Problems of To-day (chs. 17-23).
Hobson, J. A., The Social Problem, Life and Work (1901).
Jevons, W. S., Methods of Social Reform (last 5 chs.).
Ritchie, D. C., Principles of State Interference.
_________, Darwinism and Politics.
Taylor, F. M., The Right of the State to Be (1891).
Willoughby, W. W., Social Justice.

X. Anarchism and Nihilism.

Godwin, William, Political Justice; on Property.
Tolstoi, L., The Slavery of Our times (1900).
Kropotkin, The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
______________, The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22: 149.
Reclus, Elisée, Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 14: 627.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1906-1907).

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Economics Departmental (General) Exam for A.B., 1939

Majors in economics at Harvard had to pass a battery of examinations in their Junior and Senior years (7.5 hours for non-honors candidates and 10.5 hours for honors candidates) before they could graduate. A printed copy of questions for thirteen component A.B. examinations in economics at Harvard for the academic year 1938-39 (over thirty pages!) are to be found in the Lloyd A. Metzler papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Project. 

Concentrators in Economics will have to pass in the spring their Junior year a general examination on the department of Economics, and in the spring of their Senior year an examination correlating Economics with either History or Government (this correlating exam may be abolished by 1942), and a third one on the student’s special field, which is chosen from a list of eleven, including economic theory, economic history, money and banking, industry, public utilities, public finance, labor problems, international economics, policies and agriculture.
Courses in allied fields, including Philosophy, Mathematics, History, Government, and Sociology, are suggested by the department for each of the special fields. In addition, Geography 1 is recommended in connection with international policies or agriculture.
[SourceHarvard Crimson, May 31, 1938]

This posting gives the questions from the Departmental Examination and the topics for the Essay Paper that all economics majors were required to take.  

  • One Departmental Examination from the Department of Economics consisting of two parts:

Essay Paper (May 5, 1939; 1.5 hours)
Departmental Examination (May 8, 1939; 3 hours)

  • One of the Five Division Special Examinations. (May 10, 1939; 3 hours)

Economic Theory,
Economic History since 1750,
Money and Finance,
Market Organization and Control,
Labor Economics and Social Reform.

  • One of the Six Correlation Examinations given to Honors Candidates. (May 12, 1939; 3 hours)

Economic History of Western Europe since 1750,
American Economic History,
History of Political and Economic Thought,
Public Administration and Finance,
Government Regulation of Industry,
Mathematical Economic Theory.

 

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below.  There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

 

 

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENTAL EXAMINATION
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
[1939]

(Three hours)

Answer SIX questions; at least ONE question must be answered in each part. A senior may not take more than ONE question in that section of Part II which covers his special field.

PART I

  1. How may industrial fluctuations affect the distribution of income?
  2. Explain and discuss the probable immediate economic consequences in this country of the outbreak of a general European war in the near future. If we should stay out of it, what might be some of the long-run effects of the war on our economy?
  3. What various causes may lead to an increase in the general level of real wages in the country?
  4. Discuss some of the economic implications of declining population growth.
  5. Do you think that abolition of the institution of inheritance would have important social and economic consequences?
  6. If there were one hundred automobile manufacturing firms, would the process of determination of the prices of automobiles be different from what it is now? Do you think that the prices would be different? Explain.
  7. Explain briefly the principal short-run and long-run consequences in an economy of a succession of cost-reducing innovations by individual firms.
  8. Name and explain briefly as many of the possible economic consequences of the New England hurricane as you can think of.

PART II

A
STATISTICS AND ACCOUNTING

  1. What problems would be met in an endeavor to obtain a curve of marginal cost by an analysis of the actual monthly expense data of the firm?
  2. How would you treat a time series of employment data to reveal (a) the rate of change in secular growth and (b) changes in the intensity of cyclical fluctuations?
  3. What differences do you find between concepts used by accountants and those used by economists in analyzing profits? Do you think that these differences should be eliminated? Explain.
  4. Discuss the relevance to different situations of various methods of measuring appreciation.

B
PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE
(As Aspects of Modern Economic History)

  1. Discuss the causes, course, and outcome, and the interests and the views represented on both sides, of the struggle over the money question in this country in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.
  2. “The achievements in economic policy of America’s liberal or progressive statesmen have always been limited, because they have approached their tasks in this field too largely as moral crusaders against ‘predatory’ business interests, and too little as unbiased students of the technical economic problems involved.” Discuss, with special reference to the career of either Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson.
  3. What British statesman, during the 19th century, made the most important contributions in developing or establishing the public policies which chiefly aided, or removed impediments to, or reformed abuses connected with, Great Britain’s industrial development? Name several statesmen and the principal measures or policies each one stood for, and discuss the career and achievements of one man in some detail.
  4. Sketch the social security legislation in Germany prior to 1910. Do you think that this legislation had any influence on the strength and achievements of the Social Democratic Party in the post-war period?

C
MONEY AND FINANCE

  1. How do you account for changes in the velocity of circulation of money in bank credit? What are some of the consequences of changes in velocity? Can velocity be controlled by the central bank authorities?
  2. “The whirling dervishes of deflation and the experts of castor-oil economics assure us that ultimately we arrive at some mysterious automatic equilibrium point from which recovery can proceed.”
  3. Discuss the natures and effects on world economic conditions of some of the principal new types of restrictions on international trade imposed by various countries in the last two decades.
  4. “The disappearance of the gold standard is the disappearance of one of the safeguards of private property. For in giving the State a free hand to manage the money and credit supply, we are giving political pressure-groups a potent weapon for effecting arbitrary changes in all property-values and in the distribution of wealth.”
  5. Discuss the possible effects of each one of three different kinds of taxes on the annual amount of new investment in capital goods in the community.
  6. Would you advocate return of all the leading nations to a gold standard of the pre-war type? If not, what sort of international monetary arrangements do you favor?
  7. “The advocates of public spending as the way to open ‘save capitalism’ are either disingenuous about their objective, or ignorant of the nature of capitalism. For the continuance of capitalism requires economy in public, as well as in private spending.”

 

D
MARKET ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL

  1. “Corporate reorganization is merely a family squabble among investors over a pie which turned out to be a donut. The results have no significance to consumers or to labor.”
  2. Explain why you favor or oppose government ownership and operation (in the United States) of the railroads or of the bituminous coal industry.
  3. “Once recovery has been attained most agricultural problems can be left to the market.”
  4. Should differences in electric rates to different consumers reflect only differences in costs?
  5. “The law should be revised so as to prevent any business from becoming bigger than it can grow when subjected to the test of the free market.”
  6. Discuss the problem of improving efficiency in the distribution of some one farm product, or group of products, with respect to obstacles, possible achievements, and possible results to farmers, processors, middlemen, and consumers.
  7. “The price-cutter is worse than a criminal – he is a fool. He not only pulls down the standing of his goods; he pulls down himself and his trade. He scuttles the ship in which he himself is afloat. Price-cutting is not business any more than smallpox is health.”

 

E
LABOR ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL REFORM

  1. Discuss the relative merits, from the standpoints of labor and the public, under present-day American industrial conditions, of the principles of labor organization represented by the A. F. of L. And those represented by the C. I. O.
  2. “The rise of Fascism is due to the failure of events to bear out one of the predictions of Marx. In Germany and in Italy the lower-middle-class, instead of disappearing, has become not only desperate enough but strong enough to impose its patriotic will on both the plutocracy and the proletariat.”
  3. Do you think that a spread of collective bargaining in a community is likely to have any appreciable consequences for the total national income and the total amount of employment?
  4. “A vigorous labor movement always has as its basis in the motives and mentality of the workers, much less their economic interests as individuals, than their capacity for emotional loyalty to an ideology and a fighting ‘cause’ which plays the role, in their lives, of a class religion.”
  5. What basic tenets of Marxism in economic theory underlie both its explanation of capitalist crises or depressions, and its explanation of imperialist wars? Explain the underlying theory and how it leads to these two theories, and discuss the basic issues as issues in economic theory.
  6. What is your opinion of the view that redistributing wealth by taxation would be an ineffectual method of reform because it would leave untouched the unequal distribution of power.
  7. “If we wish to preserve our democratic, liberal, and capitalistic or ‘free enterprise’ society, by making it possible for the masses to be and remain contented with it, no means to this end is more important than development of an adequate program of social security.”

 

PART III

  1. “The idea that the sins and the errors of judgment of businessmen bring on depressions is a groundless myth. The business cycle is the product of impersonal forces, and would follow the same course even if all men were invariably honest and made no mistakes.”
  2. “To such extent as possible people are able to engage in competition upon the basis of quality and service, rather than price, trade will be raised to a higher level, and will be more to the advantage of the general public.”
  3. “If all employers agreed to pay the same wages then higher wages will hurt no employer, but will, instead, benefit all employers by increasing demand for their products.”
  4. “So long as consumers do not have purchasing power there is no need for further investment to increase facilities for production. If no one can buy, the facilities are not needed.”
  5. “Stabilization of individual prices is inherent in our financial structure because industry is based largely on a credit structure and any radical drop in prices makes fixed charges unbearable.”
  6. “Unemployment is a problem which Society must solve and we believe it is a better solved by businessmen than by passing it over to the government for solutions.”
  7. “The prices created in the process of buying and selling regulate our lives far more minutely than could an efficient despot – and often as arbitrarily as a capricious tyrant.”
  8. “Practical questions no more form part of the science of Political Economy and navigation forms part of the science of astronomy. The conclusions of the economic of the economist do not authorize him in adding a single syllable of advice.”

May 8, 1939.

 

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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS

 

ESSAY PAPER
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

(One hour and a half)

Candidates for honors may write on ONE topic only. Others may, if they prefer, write on TWO topics. Please note on the front cover of the bluebook the number of each topic upon which you write.

  1. The meaning and significance of economic progress.
  2. Economics of war – planning and financing.
  3. Would political and economic isolation be the best course for the United States?
  4. The concept of ideal output in a community.
  5. “The disappearance of the free competitive market must mean the eventual disappearance of liberty and democracy, political and economic.”
  6. The significance of specialization in economic activity.
  7. Effects of the business cycle on farmers, labor, investors, professional men, retailers.
  8. “The New Deal efforts at recovery were supported by theory, especially by doctrines explaining prosperity, that had gained popularity during the New Era of the twenties.”
  9. A book review giving your assessment of An Economic Program for American Democracy.
  10. The concept of ideal distribution of income.
  11. “The competitive price system is a scheme of social organization without resort to mass forces.”
  12. The significance of monopoly elements, of various sorts, in an economy.
  13. The functions of the study and teaching of economics.
  14. “The twentieth century clearly does not offer any comfortable prospect of a smoothly functioning economic Utopia.”
  15. A comparison (for the United States or for the world at large) of the principal features of the period of boom and depression in the 1920’s and to 1930’s with those of any period of boom and depression in the nineteenth century.
  16. The economic consequences of the next European war.
  17. “The growing acceptance of the idea that there must be a large, permanent body of unemployed is a passive recognition of the defeat of private capitalism.”
  18. The importance, and the outlines of the skillful integration of government policies with respect to money, public finance, industry, agriculture, public utilities, and labor into a consistent whole, for the purpose of achieving full use of the country’s economic resources.
  19. “The economic order of the western world is undergoing in this generation set of structural changes no less basic and profound in character and that transformation of economic life and institutions which we are wont to designate by the phrase ‘Industrial Revolution_.”
  20. Can economic theory be of practical value to business executives?
  21. Can economic theory aid in the development of public policy?
  22. Can economic theory explain “what goes on” in the economy of a totalitarian state?

May 5, 1939.

Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Lloyd A. Metzler Papers, Box 7; [Harvard University], Division of History, Government and Economics, Division Examinations for the Degree of A.B., 1938-39.

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Schumpeter’s Socialism Course. Syllabus and Exam, 1946

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have already assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment below….

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…Regular vistors to this blog have seen that an economics course on socialist thought and movements was a regular part of the curriculum at Harvard during the first half of the twentieth century. Up to this posting I have included material from the following courses: Thomas Nixon Carver’s SINGLE TAX, SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM (1919-20), Edward Mason and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1938), and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1940).

This course became part of Joseph Schumpeter’s teaching portfolio in the 1940s. His course outline and exam for the winter semester of 1943-44 has been posted as well.

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[Course Announcement]

Economics 11b. Economics of Socialism

Half-course (spring term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at  10. Professor Schumpeter.

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1945-46. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 42, No. 8 (March 31, 1945), p. 36.

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[Enrollment]

[Economics] 11b (spring term) Professor Schumpeter. –Economics of Socialism.

5 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 8 Radcliffe, 9 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1945-46, p. 58.

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ECONOMICS 11b
1945-46
OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS

[Joseph A. Schumpeter]

I.   FIRST TWO WEEKS: The Socialist Issue.

Socialist ideas and socialist parties. Socialism and the labor movement. Laborite and intellectualist socialism. The definition of socialism.

*H. W. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements, 1944, esp. Parts V and VI.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, article on Socialist and Labor Parties.

II. THIRD TO FIFTH WEEK: The Theory of Centralist Socialism., 1938

*O. Lange and F. M. Taylor, The Economic Theory of Socialism, 1938.
[A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, 1944.]

III. SIXTH TO NINTH WEEK: The Economic Interpretation of History. The Class Struggle, and the Marxist Theory of Capitalism.

*Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, chs. I, IV, V, VI.
Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto.
*Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, 1942, chs. I-VI
(pp. 1-108).

IV. TENTH TO TWELFTH WEEK: The Socialist Theory of the State and of the Proletarian Revolution, Imperialism, National Socialism.

V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution, 1926.
[M. Dobb, Political Economy and Capitalism, ch. VII.]
Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. XIII-XIX.

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read E. Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism, 1909, especially pp. 18-95, and survey again the items in the reading list marked *.

NOTE: The items in square brackets are recommended but not assigned. So is: Bienstock, Gregory, and Schwartz, Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, 1944.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1945-1946 (1 of 2)”.

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1945 – 46
Harvard University
Economics 11b

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. What is Syndicalism?
  2. Characterize the type, aims, and importance of the group that called itself Fabians.
  3. “Rational allocation of factors of production presupposes the existence of prices. Prices presuppose free markets. Hence the problem of rational allocation of factors of production would be insoluble in a socialist society.” Criticize.
  4. Discuss the various methods by which investment could be financed (that is, the resources for the extension of the productive apparatus could be provided) in a socialist society.
  5. Explain and criticize what is known as the Marxist Theory of Exploitation.
  6. What meaning do you attach to, and what do you think of, the proposition that Socialism is “inevitable?”

Final, May 1946

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes Box 2, Folder “Course notes (Jan 1950—Found in Drawer—Cambridge Study) Misc 1945-1947”.

Image Source: Harvard Album 1947.

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of Socialism. Mason and Sweezy, 1938

Between one slice of two weeks of pre-Marxian socialism and a slice of two weeks of the economics of planning, Mason and Sweezy offered their students a full portion of Marxian economics with an added dash of Leninism. This posting provides the enrollment, syllabus and final examination questions for 1938. Future Nobel prize laureate James Tobin was a student in the course and he took excellent notes! Here  a link to the Economics of Socialism that Paul Sweezy taught by himself in 1940.

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Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

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[Course Enrollment: Economics of Socialism]

[Economics] 11b 2hf. (formerly 7d). Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.—Economics of Socialism.

1 Graduate; 27 Seniors; 23 Juniors; 1 Sophomore: Total 52.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard and Reports of Departments for 1937-38, p. 85.

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ECONOMICS 11 b
Outline and Reading
1937 – 38

Week of

Feb. 7-12
Mason
a.  Outline of Course
b.  Utopian and Scientific Socialism
c.  Nature of Socialism as Utopia
Feb. 14-19
Mason
a.  Saint-Simon
b.  Fourier
c.  Robert Owen
Reading:

Engels, Anti-Dühring, Part III
Strachey, Theory and Practice of Socialism, Part III
Gide and Rist, History of Economic Doctrines, Book II,
Chs. 2 & 3

Feb. 21-26
Mason
a.  Life and Works of Marx and Engels
b.  Dialectical materialism and
c.  Historical materialism
Reading:

Riazanov, Marx and Engels

Feb. 28-Mar. 5
Mason
a.  Theory of Classes
b.  Theory of the State
c.  The State and Revolution
Reading:    Handbook of Marxism [Burns],

Ch. I (Communist Manifesto)
Ch. IV (Class Struggles in France),
Ch. V (18th Brumaire),
Ch. VII (Civil War in France),
Ch. XX (Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy)

Mar. 7-12
Mason
a.  Theory of Value
b.  Theory of Value
c.  General Tendencies of Capitalist Development
Mar. 14-19
Mason
a.  Concentration and Centralization of Capital
b.  Monopoly Problem in Capitalism
c.  According to Marx and Lenin
Mar. 21-26
Mason
a.  Marxian and Modern Views on
b.  Wages and Technological Unemployment
c.  Marxian Theory of Crises
Mar. 28-Apr. 2
Sweezy
a.  Marxian Theory of Crises
b.  Imperialism
c.  Imperialism
Reading:

Handbook of Marxism, Ch. XXI (Capital)
Capital, Vol. I, Part VII, Ch. XXV, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4
Lenin, Imperialism

VACATION

Apr. 11-16
Mason
a.
b.  The Socialist Movement After Marx
c.
Apr. 18-23
Mason
a.
b.  Marxian Schools of Thought

Reading:

Sidney Hook, Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx, Part I
Further assignment to be announced.

Apr. 25-May 7
Sweezy
Two weeks to be devoted to the following topics:
1.  Marxian and Orthodox Economics
[Handwritten note:] Rev of Ec Studies June ‘35
2.  The Allocation of Resources in Socialist Society
Reading:

Lange, Marxian Economics and Modern Economic Theory                         [Handwritten note:] Rev of Ec Studies June ‘35
Hayek, Collectivist Economic Planning, Chs. I, III, V
Pigou, Socialism versus Capitalism

Reading Period:

Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Soviet Communism, Vol. II
Chs. VIII, IX

[Handwritten additions:]
Ch 6 Lippman

Oct. 36 Rev of Ec Studies—Lange—On the Economic Theory of Socialism—
Taussig memorial—Sweezy—Economist in Socialist State.

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1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11b/2 

I

(About one hour)
Reading Period Question

  1. What features of the Russian economic system do you think could be adopted by a capitalist country? What features seem to you to be peculiarly the product of socialism and hence inapplicable under a capitalist system? 

II

Answer four questions

  1. “The most egregious error committed by the Marxist theorists is in misunderstanding and underrating the strength of the middle classes.” Discuss.

 

  1. What arguments does Mises use to support his claim that socialism is impossible? Do you agree with these arguments? State your reasons.

 

  1. Summarize the fundamentals of Lenin’s theory of imperialism. What do you regard as the particular merits or weaknesses of this theory?

 

  1. “To what extent is it true to say that the doctrine of the ‘withering away of the state’ implies anarchism as the ultimate goal of Marxian socialism?

 

  1. State and criticize the Marxian theory of value.

 

  1. Do you think that Marxists are justified in regarding crises and depressions as inevitable under capitalism? What grounds are there for believing that they might be eliminated under socialism?

 

Final. 1938

Source: Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives. James Tobin Papers, Box 6.

Image Source: Mason and Sweezy portraits from the Harvard Album 1939.

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. International Trade, Finance & Policy. Haberler, 1949-51

 

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have already assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment below….

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Gottfried Haberler’s two term Harvard graduate course sequence in International Economics at mid-century was divided along Theory vs. Policy lines as opposed to the (real) Trade & Commercial Policy vs. (monetary) International Finance & Exchange used in current textbooks.

I have taken the liberty of combining the Fall term in 1949 with the Spring term of 1951 for which I have the reading lists. I could not find the latter at Harvard, but spotted a copy in Milton Friedman’s papers in a folder for other people’s syllabi.

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[Economics 243a International Trade. Enrollment, Fall Term 1949]

Total 36:   23 graduates, 1 senior, 12 other (of which 1 MIT, 4 Radcliffe).

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments, 1949-1950, p. 75.

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Economics 243a
Professor Haberler – Fall Term, 1949

During the first half year, the theory of international trade, including the theory of tariffs and other international trade policies, will be discussed in a systematic fashion. The subject of the spring term will be selected topics in the field of international economic relations.

Outline for First Half-Year

  1. International trade and national income. The importance of trade for various countries. Measures of importance.
  2. International accounts. International transactions of the national economic budgets.
  3. Foreign exchanges. Demand and supply for exports and imports. The market for foreign currency. Purchasing power parity theories.
  4. The balance of payments mechanism. Price effects, income effects, the foreign trade multiplier. The transfer problem.
  5. The international division of labor. The theory of comparative cost. Modern developments of the theory of comparative cost. Ohlin’s general equilibrium theory of interregional and international trade.
  6. The welfare implications of international trade theory. The theory of tariffs and protection in general. Monopoly and monopolistic competition in international trade.
  7. International trade theory and location theory.

 

Reading Assignments and Suggestions
General

The literature in the subject is so rich that students can acquire the knowledge necessary for the course in many different ways. Students are invited to make their own choice from the suggestions below. Two extensive bibliographies have been prepared in former terms for other courses. One may be obtained from Ms. Buller, Littauer 322; the other from Professor Williams’ secretary, Littauer 231. Each student is expected to have read one or the other of the following general monographs or texts:

Ellsworth: International Economics
Enke and Salera: International Economics
Haberler: Theory of International Trade
Harris (Editor): Foreign Economic Policy for the U.S. (especially Part V)
Harrod: International Economics (3rd edition, 1939)
Marshall: Money, Credit, and Commerce, (Part III and Appendix g)
Meade and Hitch: Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy (Part III)
An excellent discussion of recent developments will be found in: Metzler: “The Theory of International Trade,” Chapter. 6, Survey of Contemporary Economics (1948)
Readings in the Theory of International Trade contains an excellent collection of articles on all phases of the course
Taussig: International Trade (1927)
Tinbergen: International Economic Cooperation (1945)
Whale: International Trade

Assignments and Suggestions to Subjects Listed Above

(in addition to relevant chapters in general texts)

  1. The Post-War Foreign Economic Policy of the United States. 6th Report of the House Special Committee on Post-War Economic Policy and Planning. House Report No. 541. Washington, 1945. (This report was written by Lloyd Metzler.)
    The United States in the World Economy, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1943.
    Buchanan and Lutz: Rebuilding the World Economy (1947)
    J. Brown: Industrialization and Trade (1943)
    A. J. Brown: Applied Economics (1948), Ch. VI
    Readings, Chs. 21 and 22, by D. H. Robertson and J. Finder
  2. Balance of Payments Yearbook, 1938-1941-1947 (International Monetary Fund)
    Hicks: The Social Framework of the American Economy, Ch. XII, “Foreign and National Income”
    The Survey of Current Business (monthly publication of Dep. of Commerce) has frequent articles on trade and balance of payments statistics.
    The United States in the World Economy (U.S. Department. of Commerce, 1943)
  3. Nurkse: International Currency Experience (League of Nations, 1944)
    J. Robinson: “Foreign Exchanges,” Essays on the Theory of Employment (1st ed., 1938; 2nd ed., 1947), Part III; reprinted in Readings, Chapter 4.
    J. Robinson: “Beggar-My-Neighbor Remedies for Unemployment,” Readings, Ch. 17.
    Machlup: “The Theory of Foreign Exchanges,” Economica, 1939 (two articles); Readings, Ch. 5.
    Pigou: “The Foreign Exchanges,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1922, Reprinted in Essays in Applied Economics (1927)
    Metzler: op. cit.
    Harris (Editor): Foreign Economic Policy for the U. S., Part V, Chs. 20, 21, 22.
  4. Keynes and Ohlin on German Reparations in Economic Journal, 1929; and Readings, Chs. 6 and 7.
    Iversen: International Capital Movements, 1935.
    Machlup: International Trade and the National Income Multiplier (1943)
    Harris (Editor): The New Economics, Part V, especially essays by Bloomfield and Nurkse.
    Williams: Post-War Monetary Plans and Other Essays (3rd edition, 1947).
  5. In addition to general texts, see:
    Edgeworth: Papers Relating to Political Economy, Vol. II, p. 3-60.
    Ellsworth: “A Comparison of International Trade Theories,” American Economic Review, June, 1940.
    Leontief: “The Use of Indifference Curves in the Analysis of Foreign Trade,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1933; Readings, Ch. 10.
    Mill: Principles
    Ohlin: op. cit. Parts I, II, and possibly III.
    Readings, Chs. 12, 13, 15, by J. H. Williams, E. Heckscher, and W. Stolper and P. Samuelson
    Ricardo: Principles
    Taussig: International Trade
    Viner: Studies in the Theory of International Trade (last two chapters)
  6. Samuelson: “The Gains from Trade,” Readings, Ch. 11.
    Scitovszky: “A Reconsideration of the Theory of Tariffs,” Readings, Ch. 16.
    Henderson: “The Restriction of Foreign Trade,” in The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, Volume 14, January, 1949.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 5, Folder “Economics 1949-1950, 3 of 3”.

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1950-51
Economics 243b
Spring Term—Professor Haberler

International Economic Policy

with special emphasis on the theoretical foundations

  1. Introduction
    Theory and Policy
    Aims of Economic Policy
    International Trade, Economic Welfare and National Income
    International Trade and Employment
    The Quantitative Importance of International Trade
  2. Brief Sketch of the Historical Evolution of Theory of International Trade and International Economic Policy
    Pre-Mercantilist Views
    Mercantilism
    Classical Liberalism
    Reaction to Liberalism: Historical School
    From the Repeal of the Corn Law to 1914
    The Interwar Period
    –The 1920’s
    –The 1930’s
    Recent developments
    The Rise of Socialism and Planning and their Impact on Trade Policy
  3. Free Trade and Protection: A Theoretical Analysis
    The Case for Free Trade: The Theory of Comparative Cost
    Arguments for Protection: “Economic” vs. “Non-economic” Arguments
    Infant Industry Argument: Problems of Economic Development
    Terms of Trade: Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition in International Trade
    Trade Policy and Unemployment
  4. Balance of Payments, the Exchange Rate and International Monetary Policy
    The International Accounts
    –Balance of Payments and National Economic Budget
    Stable Exchanges
    –Gold Standard
    –Gold Exchange Standard
    Currency Depreciation
    –Demand and Supply for Exports and Imports
    –Market for Foreign Exchange
    –Stability Conditions
    The Transfer Problem
    Dollar Shortage
  5. Quantitative Restrictions
    Quotas
    Exchange Control
  6. Most-Favored-Nation Principle, Discrimination and the Economics of Regional Blocs
    Preferential Tariffs
    Customs Unions
    Economic Unions
    Monetary, Clearing and Payments Unions

 

Literature

General Treatises and Historical

  1. Descriptive and Historical
    Brown: Industrialization and Trade (1943)
    Buchanan and Lutz: Rebuilding the World Economy (1947)
    Condliffe: The Commerce of Nations (1950)
    League of Nations: The Network of World Trade (1942)
  2. Theoretical
    Ellsworth: International Economics (1938)
    Ellsworth: The International Economy (1950)
    Haberler: Theory of International Trade
    Harrod: International Economics (1938)
    Metzler “Theory of International Trade” in Survey of Contemporary Economics
    Ohlin: Interregional and International Trade
    Taussig: International Trade
    Marshall: Money, Credit, and Commerce
    Meade and Hitch: Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy (Part V)
    J. S. Mill: Principles, Book III, Ch. 17, 18, 20, 21; Book V, Ch. 4 (reprinted in Selected Readings)
    Enke and Salera: International Economics
    Ellis and Metzler: Readings in the Theory of International Trade (quoted as “Readings”)
    Taussig (Editor): Selected Readings in International Trade and Tariff Problems (quoted as “Selected Readings”)
    Viner: Studies in the Theory of International Trade
    Williams: Postwar Monetary Problems and Other Essays

Reading for Individual Sections of Outline

  1. No specific reading.
  2. No specific reading.
  3. Practically all theoretical texts mentioned above. See especially:
    Ellsworth
    Haberler
    Readings: Chs. 10, 11, 15, 16
    Selected Readings, Chs. 1, 2, 9
    In addition: Haberler: “Some Problems in the Pure Theory of International Trade,” Economic Journal, June, 1950.
    A. Henderson: “The Restriction of Foreign Trade,” in The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, Vol. 14, January 1949.
    J.E. Meade: “A Geometrical Representation of Balance of Payments Policy,” Economica, November 1949.
    John Robinson: “The Pure Theory of International trade,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XIV, 1946-47.
    J.S. Mill, Principles.
  4. Balogh: Dollar Crisis (1949)
    Ellis: The Economics of Freedom
    Ellis: The Progress and Future of Aid to Euorpe (1950)
    Kindleberger: Dollar Shortage (1950)
    Harris: Foreign Economic Policy of the U.S., Part V. Essays by Haberler, Samuelson
    Harris: (Editor) The New Economics, Part V, especially the essays by Bloomfield and Nurkse
    Hicks: The Social Framework, Ch. 12.
    Metzler’s article in Survey.
    Nurkse: International Currency Experience, League of Nations, 1944.
    Readings, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 17.
    Williams, op.cit.

 

Source: The Hoover Institution Archives. Milton Friedman Papers, Box 80, Folder 80.8 “Syllabi by others”.

Categories
Economists Harvard Johns Hopkins M.I.T.

MIT. Francis Amasa Walker Eulogized by Charles F. Dunbar in 1897

Francis Amasa Walker only lived to the age of 56. Reading this biographical sketch written by his Harvard colleague Charles F. Dunbar, one wonders how Walker was able to get it all done. Maybe stress got him in the end. Anyway I have pepped up the biography with links to the published works referred to in this memorial piece. Also: Carroll D. Wright, “Francis Amasa Walker.” Publications of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 5, n.s. No. 38, June 1897, pp. 245-275.

A later post provides the bibliography of Walker’s writings.

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FRANCIS AMASA WALKER.

[by Charles F. Dunbar, 1897]

Francis Amasa Walker, late President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Fellow of this Academy from October, 1882, was born in Boston, July 2, 1840, and died of apoplexy in that city, January 5, 1897.

His father, the late Amasa Walker of North Brookfield, was a well known figure in the political life of Massachusetts for many years. He was a leader in the Free Soil movement of 1848, and in the subsequently combined opposition to the Whig party. He served in each branch of the Legislature, was for two years Secretary of the Commonwealth, was a Presidential Elector in 1860, and a member of the lower House of Congress for the session of 1862-63. From 1842 to 1848 he lectured on political economy in Oberlin College, and was afterwards a frequent writer for periodicals, especially upon topics connected with finance and banking, in which he also showed special interest when in Congress. From 1859 to 1869 he was Lecturer upon Political Economy in Amherst College, publishing during that time his well known book, the “Science of Wealth,” and died in 1875. [Memoir of Hon. Amasa Walker, LL.D. by Francis A. Walker, Boston: 1888]

Francis Amasa Walker, the son, thus grew up with an inherited predilection and aptitude for economic study, strengthened by the associations of boyhood and youth. When he graduated from Amherst College in 1860, however, his first step was to enter as a student of law the office of Charles Devens and George F. Hoar of Worcester, — both gentlemen destined, like himself, soon to attain national reputation. On the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Devens at first took the field as an officer of militia, and, when later he raised the Fifteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry in Worcester County, young Walker enlisted and was mustered into the service as Sergeant Major, August 1, 1861. Ten days later, he was commissioned and assigned to the staff of General Couch. From that time he was upon duty with the Army of the Potomac, serving with advancing rank upon the staff of Generals Warren and Hancock through some of the severest campaigns of the war. He resigned his commission in January, 1865, from illness contracted while a prisoner within the Confederate lines, received the brevet rank of Brigadier General “for distinguished service and good conduct,” and returned to civil life bearing the honorable scars of the brave. It afterwards fell to his lot, in his “History of the Second Army Corps” (1886), and his “Life of General Hancock” (1894), to write the narrative of events no small part of which had passed before his eyes. Little of his own history is to be found in those glowing pages, but every line bears witness to the intense enthusiasm with which he never failed to kindle when he recalled his army life, and to his devotion to the great captains under whom he served.

Like many other young men, who, as soldiers in the War for the Union, drank the wine of life early, General Walker came home with his character matured, his capacities developed, his intellectual forces aroused and trained, — a man older than his years. The career in which he was to win new distinction did not open for him at once upon the sudden return of peace. For three years he was a teacher of the classics in Williston Seminary, and in 1868, being compelled by an attack of quinsy to seek a change of occupation, he became an assistant of Mr. Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican. From this place he was drawn into the public service at Washington, by the agency of Mr. David A. Wells, who was then Special Commissioner of the Revenue, and in search of a new Chief for the Bureau of Statistics. The work of the Bureau had fallen into some discredit, and was far in arrears, and the inability of the former Chief of the Bureau to command the confidence of Congress seriously embarrassed the continuance of an important work. By Mr. Wells’s advice General Walker was made Deputy Special Commissioner and placed in charge of the Bureau, and a new career was at once opened before him, for which he was fitted in a peculiar manner both by his intellectual interests and his administrative capacity. The Bureau was reorganized and its reputation was regained. The monthly publications were resumed, and soon showed that progressive improvement which has made them one of the most valuable repositories in existence for the study of the commercial and financial activity of a great country.

From his appointment to the charge of the Bureau of Statistics the steps in General Walker’s new career followed in rapid succession. In 1870 he was appointed Superintendent of the Ninth Census of the United States; in 1871 he was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs; in 1872 be was made Professor of Political Economy and History in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College; in 1876 he was Chief of the Bureau of Awards for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia; in 1878 he was sent as a Commissioner for the United States to the International Monetary Conference at Paris; in 1879 he was appointed Superintendent of the Tenth Census of the United States; in 1881 he was made President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; in 1882 he was elected President of the American Statistical Association; in 1885 he was elected first President of the American Economic Association; in 1891 he was elected Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences; in 1893 he was President-adjunct of the International Statistical Institute, at its session in Chicago.

General Walker’s successive appointments as Superintendent of the Census of 1870 and of that of 1880 were the direct result of the energy and skill with which, during the months of his service in the Bureau of Statistics, he had effected the reorganization of that office and its work. The opportunities given to him as a statistician, by having charge of these two censuses, were of a remarkable kind. The census of 1870, being the first taken after the Civil War, was for that reason by far the most interesting and important since 1790. It was to show the social and economic changes wrought by four years of prodigal expenditure both of life and of resources, and by the unparalleled revolution in the industrial organization of the former slave States. It was also to ascertain and record the conditions under which the nation entered upon a new and wonderful stage of its material growth. The census of 1880 was the unique occasion for what General Walker designed as a “grand monumental exhibit of the resources, the industries, and the social state of the American people,” made approximately at the close of a century of national independence.

The Census of 1870, to the great regret of all who had any scientific interest in the subject, was left by Congress to be taken under the provisions of the Census Act of 1850, by persons neither selected nor controlled by the Census Office. In the still disturbed condition of some of the Southern States, the work was thus thrown into the hands of men notoriously unfit for such employment, and the returns, especially of the black population, were vitiated at their source. In his Report of 1872, and in his Introduction to the “Compendium of the Census of 1880,” [Volume I, Volume II] General Walker described in strong language the difficulties which thus beset the work in 1870; and again in the Publications of the American Statistical Association for December, 1890, writing upon the “Statistics of the Colored Race in the United States,” he used his freedom from official relations in exposing the mischief done by legislative failure to provide intelligently for an important public service. As a whole, however, the Census of 1870 was the best and the most varied in its scope that had yet been obtained for the United States. It was, after all, a signal proof of what can be done by a competent head, even with imperfect legislation, and established the reputation of the Superintendent as an administrative officer, at the same time that his fresh and vigorous discussion of results secured him high rank among statistical writers. Great interest was excited, moreover, by the remarkable use made of the graphic method in presenting the leading results of this census, in his “Statistical Atlas of the United States” (1874).

The Act providing for the Census of 1880 was greatly modified, by General Walker’s advice, and the working force was for the first time organized upon an intelligent system, by the employment of specially selected enumerators in place of the subordinates of the United States marshals, to whom the law had previously intrusted the collection of returns. Highly qualified experts were also employed for the historical and descriptive treatment of different industries and interests, as demanded by the monumental character of the centennial census. Various causes delayed the completion of this gigantic undertaking. Those to whom a census is merely a compendious statement of passing facts became impatient at the slow issue of the twenty-two stately quartos, and complained that the work was on such a scale as to be obsolescent before its appearance. General Walker, in an article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics for April, 1888, explained some of the special causes of the delay in publication and took upon himself perhaps an undue share of responsibility for the difficulties caused by an original underestimate of the total cost of the census. But notwithstanding its misfortunes, the Census of 1880 is a great work of enduring value and not excessive cost,— great in its breadth of design, worthy of the nation and of the epoch, and a lasting monument of the power of its Superintendent to conceive and to execute. Following the Census of 1870, it won for him universal recognition as one of the leading statisticians of his time.

In the article to which reference has just been made, General Walker, in his discussion of future arrangements for the national census, offered as the fruits of his own experience some valuable suggestions, which deserve more attention than they have yet received. It is hardly necessary, however, to enter upon them here, except to recall the fact that he advised the organization of the Census Office as a permanent establishment, in order to secure the improved service and economy of a trained force of moderate size, constantly employed. Upon an office thus organized could be laid, at the regular intervals, the duty of collecting and preparing the returns of population and of agriculture for the decennial census required by the Constitution, and perhaps for an intermediate fifth year enumeration, and also in the intervals the systematic prosecution of other statistical investigations, to be charged upon the office from time to time as occasion might require.

General Walker’s appointment as Professor in the Sheffield Scientific School, in 1872, carried him beyond the boundary of statistics into the general field of political economy. His training for this extended range of work, although obtained by a less systematic process than is now usual, had begun early, and as opportunity offered was carried on effectively. In one of his prefaces, he remarks that he began writing for the press upon money in 1858, probably having in mind a series of letters to the National Era of Washington, beginning soon after the crisis of 1857, and continued for some months, noticeable for sharply defined views on the subjects of banking and currency, and also as to the merits of Mr. Henry C. Carey as an economist. In 1865, before going to Williston Seminary, he lectured upon political economy for a short time at Amherst in his father’s absence, and in I866 his father recognized with pride his important assistance in finishing the “Science of Wealth.” From the close of the war. he is otherwise known to have been a keen student of economics, although a student under such limitations and so hampered by pressing occupations as to make it difficult for him to do equal justice to all parts of his outfit. It was perhaps from this cause, in part, that his earliest important publications as an economist were two treatises on widely separated topics, “The Wages Question” and “Money.”

The earlier of these two books, “The Wages Question” (1876), instantly attracted the attention both of economists and of the general public by its lively and strong discussion of the central topic of the day, then more commonly treated either as a matter of dry theory, or as a problem to be settled by sentiment. Following Longe and Thornton, the author made an unsparing attack upon the wages fund theory, and, arguing that wages are paid from the product of labor and not from accumulated capital, he set forth with great vigor the influences which affect the competition between laborer and employer in the division of this product. General Walker’s earliest public statement of his now familiar opinions touching the wages fund, and the payment of wages from the product, was made, it is believed, in an address delivered before the literary societies of Amherst College, July 8, 1874, and he further developed the subject in an article contributed to the North American Review for January, 1875. Few books in political economy have taken a place in the foreground of scientific discussion more quickly than “The Wages Question.” Many economists followed the author’s lead with little delay, and those who were slower to admit that the object of his attack was in fact the wages fund of the older school, recognized his assault as by far the most serious yet made. Unquestionably it compelled an immediate review of a large body of thought by the great mass of economic students in the English speaking countries.

In “The Wages Question,” General Walker drew the line clearly between the function of the capitalist and that of the employer, or entrepreneur, and between interest, which is the return made to the former, and profits, which are the reward of the latter. It was however in his “Political Economy” (1883 [3rd ed., 1888]), that he worked out his theory of the source of business profits and of the law governing the returns secured by the employing class. This enabled him to lay down a general theory of distribution, to be substituted for that associated with the wages fund theory, which he regarded as completely exploded, and indeed “exanimate.” Of the four parties to the distribution of the product of industry, three, the owner of land, the capitalist, and the employer, in his view, receive shares which are determined, respectively, by the law of Ricardo, by the prevailing rate of interest, and by a law of business profits analogous to the law of rent. These shares being settled, each by a limiting principle of its own, labor becomes the “residual claimant,” be the residue more or less, and any increase of product resulting from the energy, economy, or care of the laborers “goes to them by purely natural laws, provided only competition be full and free.” So too the gains from invention enure to their benefit, except so far as the law may interfere by creating a monopoly. This striking solution of the chief problem of economics attracted wide attention, and was further expounded and defended by its author in the discussions which it provoked, as may be seen by reference to the earlier volumes of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Indeed, in his last published work, “International Bimetallism” (page 283), he prefaces a statement of his theory by saying, “I have given no small part of my strength during the past twenty years to the advocacy of that economic view which makes the laborer the residual claimant upon the product of industry.”

General Walker published his treatise, “Money” (1878), at a moment singularly opportune for the usefulness of the book and the advancing reputation of its author. Public opinion in the United States was in extreme confusion on the questions involved in the return to specie payment; there was a formidable agitation for the repeal of the Resumption Act, and Congress was entering upon its long series of efforts to rehabilitate silver as a money metal. At this juncture, when every part of the theory of money was the subject of warm discussion, scientific and popular alike, General Walker, using the substance of a course of lectures delivered by him in the Johns Hopkins University in 1877, laid before the public an elaborate and broad-minded survey of the whole field, claiming little originality for his work, but giving material help in concentrating upon scientific lines a discussion which was wandering in endless vagaries. On the general subject his views had no doubt been formed early, under the influence of his father, to whom, in more than one passage of this book, he makes touching allusion, and later in life he found in them little to change, although the long regime of paper money and its consequences suggested many things to be added. In 1879 he published, under the title of “Money in its Relations to Trade and Industry,” what was in some sense an abridgment of the larger work, made for use in a course of lectures in the Lowell Institute; and in his “Political Economy” [3rd ed., 1888] he again condensed his arguments and conclusions as to money, as part of his discussion of the grand division, Exchange.

When the International Monetary Conference met in 1878, by invitation of the United States, General Walker went to Paris as one of the commissioners for this country. His discussion of bimetallism had not been carried in “Money” much beyond a careful statement of the question and of the arguments on each side, but it was carried far enough to show that international bimetallism, and not the simple remonetization of silver by the United States, was, in his view, the proper method of securing what he deemed an adequate supply of money for this country and for the commercial world. Great emphasis was laid, in “Money, Trade, and Industry,” upon the necessity for “concerted action by the civilized states,” and this ground was consistently held by him until his share in the discussion ended with the publication of “International Bimetallism” (1896), a few months before his death. In this book, which was the outcome of a course of lectures delivered in Harvard University, after reviewing the controversy over silver, which had more and more engaged his attention as time went on, he declared more vigorously than ever his opinion of the futility of the policy of solitary action, adopted by the United States in the Act of 1878. “International Bimetallism” appeared in the midst of a heated Presidential canvass, in which the issues had taken such form that some, who like himself were supporters of “sound money,” found a jarring note in what they regarded as needless concessions to “free silver,” and in the sharp phrase in which his ardor and deep conviction sometimes found expression. But the book was not written for effect upon an election; it was the last stroke of a soldier, in a world-wide battle, — soon to lay aside his arms.

It was General Walker’s good fortune to enter the field as an economist when the study of economics was gaining new strength in the United States from the powerful stimulus of the Civil War, and of the period of rapid material development and change which followed. The revision of all accepted theories which set in did not displease him, and he took his share in the ensuing controversies, whether raised by himself or others, with equal zest. His own tendency, however, was towards a rational conservatism, and his modes of thought never ceased to show the influence of writers, French and English, of whom he appeared to the superficial observer to be the severe critic. “A Ricardian of the Ricardians” he styled himself in his Harvard lectures on land, published under the title of “Land and its Rent” (1883). His theory of distribution, if enunciated by one of narrower sympathies than himself, might have been thought to be designed as a justification of the existing order of things. In his monetary discussions he contended for a return to what he deemed the safe ways of the past. As for his view of the future, in a public address in 1890, after a remarkable passage describing the sea of agitation and debate which had submerged the entire domain of economics, and threatened to sweep away every landmark of accepted belief, he said, “I have little doubt that in due time, when these angry floods subside, the green land will emerge, fairer and richer for the inundation, but not greatly altered in aspect or in shape.”

The election of General Walker as the first President of the American Economic Association, in recognition of his acknowledged eminence, deserves a passing notice at this point. The Association was organized at Saratoga in 1885, under circumstances which threatened to make it the representative of a school of economists rather than of the great body of economic students in America, and with a dangerous approach to something like a scientific creed. General Walker cannot be said to have represented any particular school. He was both theorist and observer, the framer of a theory of distribution, and also an industrious student of past and current history. By a happy choice the new Association strengthened its claim upon public attention by electing him its resident, in his absence; and be wisely took his place at its head, with the conviction that its purposes were better than the statement made of them, and that the membership of the new organization gave promise of good results for economic science. Under his administration, which lasted until 1892, the basis of the Association was broadened, all appearance of any test of scientific faith disappeared, and American economists found themselves associated in catholic brotherhood. In part this change was no doubt due to the marked subsidence of the debate as to the deductive and the historical methods, but in part also it was due to the good judgment, personal influence, and perhaps in some instances the persuasive efforts of the President, who thus rendered no small service to economic science.

Which of General Walker’s contributions to economic theory are likely to have lasting value, is a question not yet ready for decision. The subjects to which he specially devoted his efforts are still under discussion. His theory of distribution is not yet established as the true solution of the great problem; the wages fund has not yet ceased to be controversial matter; it is not yet settled whether the advocates or the opponents of bimetallism are to triumph in the great debate of this generation. But whether as a theoretical writer he is to hold his present place or to lose it, there can be no question as to the importance of his work, in imparting stimulus and the feeling of reality to all economic discussions in which he had a part. His varied experience and wide acquaintance with men had made him in a large sense a man of affairs, lie watched the great movements of the world, not only in their broad relations, but as they concern individuals. He was apt to treat economic tendencies, therefore, not only in their abstract form, but also as facts making for the happiness or the injury of living men. Economic law was reasoned upon by him in much the same way as by others, but he never lost his vivid perception of the realities among which the law must work out its consequences. In his pages, therefore, theory seemed to many to be a more practical matter and nearer to actual life than it is made to appear by most economists. His words seemed to carry more authority, his illustrations to give more light, the whole science to become a lively exposition of the trend and the side movements of a world of passion and effort. A great English economist has said that Walker’s explanation of the services rendered by the entrepreneur remind one of passages of Adam Smith. A great service has been rendered to the community by the writer who, in our day, has been able thus to command attention to political economy as a discussion belonging to the actual world.

General Walker’s election to the Presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1881, placed him at the head of an institution badly in need of a vigorous, confident, and many-sided administrator, for the development of its great possibilities. The plan on which it should work had been prepared and its foundations laid broad and deep by President Rogers, but the work itself was still languishing, endowment and equipment were scanty, and the number of students declining. General Walker’s administration was signalized by a sudden revival of the school. Funds were secured, new buildings were built, the confidence of the public won, and at General Walker’s death the school of barely two hundred students, still maintaining the severe standard of work set by its founder, had upon its register nearly twelve hundred students and maintained a staff of one hundred and thirty professors and instructors of different grades. Of the qualities as an educator and administrator of a great technical school displayed by General Walker in this brilliant part of his career, a striking description, made from close observation, has been given by Professor H. W. Tyler of the Faculty of the Institute, in the Educational Review for June, 1897 [with portrait].

There was doubtless much in the circumstances attending the foundation of the Institute of Technology which any disinterested friend of scientific education must now regret. But time has healed wounds and removed jealousies which divided a former generation, and none can now be found to question either the practical or the scientific value of the great institution conceived by Rogers, and brought to its present deserved eminence under the successor of whose day he lived to see little more than the dawn.

At no period of General Walker’s life did he fail to take an active interest in the work of the community in which he lived. That he was already charged with great responsibilities was a reason, both with his fellow citizens and with himself, for increasing the load. An early instance of this was his service as Commissioner of Indian Affairs for one year while still in charge of the census of 1870, — a service marked by an annual report remarkable for its thorough review of the whole subject, and by the appearance of his book, “The Indian Question” (1874). At different times, in New Haven and in Boston, he was a member of the local School Board and of the State Board of Education. He was a Trustee of the Boston Public Library and of the Museum of Fine Arts, one of the Boston Park Commissioners, and an almost prescriptive member of any more temporary board or committee. In some of these capacities his labors have left their traces in his written works, n others his name gave weight to organizations in which he was not called upon for active effort. The number and variety of the appointments thus showered upon him marked not only the unbounded range of his own interests, but the confidence of others that every appeal to public spirit would stir his heart.

The bibliography of his written work, prepared at the Institute of Technology and revised with great care since his death, will be found in the Publications of the American Statistical Society for June, 1897. It is a remarkable record of intellectual activity, maintained for nearly forty years, and resulting in a series of important contributions to the thought of his time, — a manifold claim to eminence in the world of science and letters.

A complete list of the honorary degrees and other marks of distinction conferred upon General Walker by public bodies, at home and abroad, cannot be undertaken here. It is enough to say that he was made Doctor of Laws by Amherst, Columbia, Dublin, Edinburgh, Harvard, St. Andrews, and Yale, and Doctor of Philosophy by Amherst and Halle; that he was a member, regular or honorary, of the National Academy of Sciences, the Philosophical Society of Washington, the Massachusetts Historical Society and this Academy, of the Royal Statistical Society of London, the Royal Statistical Society of Belgium, the Statistical Society of Paris, the French Institute, and the International Statistical Institute; and that he was an officer of the French Legion of Honor.

General Walker was endowed by nature with peculiar gifts for a career of distinction. Iu any company of men he instantly drew attention by his solid erect form and dignified presence, by his deep and glowing eye, and by his dark features, cheerful, often mirthful, always alive. His instant command of his intellectual resources gave him the confidence needed for a leading place, and his friendly bearing, strong judgment, and easy optimism made others welcome his leadership. His convictions were deep, and his opinions, once formed, were shaken with difficulty, for in discussion he had the soldier’s quality of not knowing when he is beaten. His ambition was strong, and he liked to feel the current of sympathy and approval bearing him on, but he did not shrink from his course if others refused to follow. From first to last, he grappled with large undertakings and large subjects, conscious of powers which promised him the mastery. Such as his contemporaries saw him he will live for the future reader in many a sentence and page, — cheerful, courageous, hopeful.

Charles F. Dunbar.

 

Source: Charles F. Dunbar, “Francis Amasa Walker” Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Vol. 32, No. 17 (Jul., 1897), pp. 344-354

Image Source: Hoar, George Frisbie. Meetings held in commemoration of the life and services of Francis Amasa Walker. Boston, 1897, Frontpiece.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Harvard

Harvard. Political Economy Courses, 1888-89

We saw in an earlier posting that political economy was a one-professor affair with Charles Franklin Dunbar doing virtually all the economics teaching at Harvard in 1874-75.

Over a decade later in 1888-89, Dunbar is still at it with young Frank Taussig and two junior instructors expanding the Harvard economics course offerings. It is interesting to note that “Coöperation , Socialism” are included in a list of topics that include now standard fields Money, Finance (i.e. Banking), Taxation and “Labor and Capital” (i.e., labor economics, income distribution).

 

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Political Economy.
[Harvard, 1888-1889]

  1. First half-year: Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Dunbar’s Chapters on Banking.
    Second half-year: Division A (Theoretical): Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. Division B (Descriptive): Topics in Money, Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation, Socialism and Taxation. , Wed., Fri., at 9. Asst. Professor Taussig, Messrs. Gray and F. C. Huntington.
    All students in Course 1 will have the same work during the first half-year, but will be required in January to make their election between divisions A and B for the second half-year. The work in division A is required for admission to Courses 2 and 3.
  2. History of Economic Theory.—Examination of selections from Leading Writers.—Lectures. , Wed., (at the pleasure of the Instructor), and Fri., at 2. Asst. Professor Taussig.
  3. [Omitted in 1888-89.] Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions.—Short theses. , Th., at 3, and a third hour to be appointed by the Instructor.
  4. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War.—Lectures and written work. , Wed., Fri., at 11. Mr. Gray.
    Course 4 requires no previous study of Political Economy.
  5. [Omitted in 1888-89.] Economic Effects of Land Tenures in England, Ireland, France, and Germany.—Lectures and theses. Half-course. Once a week.
  6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. Half-course. Tu., Th., at 2, and a third hour at the pleasure of the Instructor (second half-year). Professor Taussig.
  7. Taxation, Public Debts, and Banking. , Wed., Fri., at 3. Professor Dunbar.
  8. History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Half-course. Tu., Th., at 2, and a third hour at the pleasure of the Instructor (first half-year). Professor Dunbar.
    It is recommended that Courses 6 and 8 be taken together.
  9. Management and Ownership of Railways. Half-course. Tu., Th., at 10, and a third hour at the pleasure of the Instructor (second half-year). Gray.

As a preparation for Courses 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 it is necessary to have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

  1. Special Advanced Study and Research.—In 1888-89, competent students may pursue special investigations of selected topics under the guidance of any one of the Instructors.

Course 20 is open only to graduates, to candidates for Honors in Political Science, and to Seniors of high rank who are likely to obtain Honorable Mention in Political Economy. It may be taken either as a full course or as a half-course, as may be determined by the Instructor concerned.

 

Source: Harvard University. Announcements of Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Harvard College for the Academic Year 1888-89. Cambridge, May 1888. pp. 18-19.

Image Source: Statue of John Harvard ca. 1891, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting. Schumpeter, 1948

Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting was a two semester graduate course at Harvard. The fall term (Economics 245a) was taught by Joseph Schumpeter and the spring term (Economics 245b) was jointly taught by Assistant Professor Richard Goodwin and Professor Gottfried Haberler. This posting includes a transcription of a carbon copy of the final exam questions for Schumpeter’s course along with his course reading list for the fall term of 1948. An undated note to the veteran’s office that identifies books that veterans be reimbursed for purchasing is included below.

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1948-49
Economics 245a
[Professor Joseph Schumpeter]
Fall Term

Work in this course will concentrate on a number of selected topics in business-cycle analysis and forecasting rather than aim at covering the entire field systematically. As much opportunity as possible will be given for discussion of, and essays on, individual problems. Some knowledge of advanced theory and advanced statistics is necessary in order to reap the full benefit from this course: providual [sic, individual] needs will be taken care of in consultation.

I.

a. Students are expected to be, or to make themselves, familiar with the two following standard works:

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1941.
Pigou, Industrial Fluctuations, 1929.

b. There are a number of useful textbooks that less advanced students may usefully consult for survey purposes: E. C. Bratt, Business Cycles and Forecasting, 3rd ed., 1948, is recommended (not “assigned”).

c. Attention is called to Readings in Business-Cycle Theory (Vol. II of the Blakiston Series of Republished Articles on Economics, 1944. See especially Nos. 2, 4, 10, 12, 14, 21 and Bibliography by H. M. Somers).
William Fellner, Employment Theory and Business Cycles in A Survey of Contemporary Economics (ed. H. S. Ellis, Blakiston, 1948)

d. Perusal of The Federal Reserve Board’s Chart Books I and II is strongly recommended, and so is the study of

e. E. Frickey, Economic Fluctuations in the United States (Harvard Economic Studies, 73) which should be supplemented by
E. Frickey, Production in the United States, 1860-1914 (Harvard Economic Studies, 82)

[f. This time, the program of the course does not include Business Cycles (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1946). Owing to its importance, the book is nevertheless mentioned here for the benefit of students who propose to specialize in business cycles.]

 

II. Further suggestions with reference to topics that will be dealt with in the course.

a. Books:

J. G. Stigler, Trends in Output and Employment (N. B. E. R., 1947)
J. M. Clark, Strategic Factors in Business Cycles, 193
A. H. Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, 1947
A. H. Hansen, Fiscal Policy and the Business Cycle, 1941.

b. Articles:

(1) S. H. Slichter, The Period 1919-36 in its Significance for Business-Cycle Theory, Review of Economic Statistics, 1937.
H. L. Beales, The Great Depression, Economic History Review, October, 1934.

(2) M. Kalecki, A Theory of the Business Cycle, Review of Economic Studies, February, 1937.
L. A. Metzler, Business Cycles and the Modern Theory of Employment, American Economic Review, June, 1946.
N. Kaldor, A Model of the Trade Cycle, Economic Journal, March, 1940.

(3) G. Haberler, Some Reflections on the Present Situation of Business-Cycle Theory, Review of Economic Statistics, 1936.
Hansen, Boddy, and Langum, Recent Trends in Business-Cycle Literature, Review of Economic Statistics, 1936.
H. S. Ellis, Notes on Recent Business-Cycle Literature, Review of Economic Statistics, 1938.
Jacob Marschak, A Cross Section Of Business-Cycle Discussion, American Economic Review, June, 1945.
J. Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business-Cycle Theories, Econometrica, April, 1942
T. Koopmans, The Logic of Econometric Business-Cycle Research, Journal of Political Economy, 1941.

(4) J. Einarsen, Reinvestment Cycles, Review of Economic Statistics, 1938.
W. Isard, A Neglected Cycle: The Transport-Building Cycle, Review of Economic Statistics, 1942.
O. Morgenstern, On the International Spread of Business Cycles, Journal of Political Economy, 1943.
Irving Fisher, The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions, Econometrica, 1933.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1948-1949 (2 of 2)”.

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[Final Examination]

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 245 A

One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.

  1. Describe the various underconsumption theories of depressions and discuss their explanatory value.
  2. Explain the mechanism of inventory cycles and state your opinion about the importance of the phenomenon.
  3. Prolonged periods of prosperity and depression have been traced to expansions and contractions in gold productions. Analyze the action of increases or decreases in gold stocks upon the economic process of the periods in which they occurred and show how they could, or could not, have produced the cycles or sequences of cycles attributed to them.
  4. Examine the validity of harvest theories of business cycles.
  5. Accepting, for the sake of argument, the innovation theory of cycles, how would you expect money wages and real wages to behave in the course of the cyclical phases?

Final, January 1949

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers (HUG(FP)-4.62). Lecture Notes Box 2, Folder “Business Cycle Lecture notes Fall 1948”.

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To the Veteran’s Office, with apologies for delay: [undated]

Note: Economics 203 and 245 are advanced courses in which no textbooks are assigned, and the assignments of other books are of the character of advice rather than of strict requirement. However, I mention below books which I do advise students to buy. Most of them are required in other courses.

I. For Economics 203

J. R. Hicks, Value and Distribution [sic, “Capital”], Oxford Press, New edition just out.
A. Marshall, Principles, Macmillan, any edition from 4th to 8th.
Lord Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Harcourt Brace, 1st edition, 1936.
E. H. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Harvard Press, last edition.
Irving Fisher, Theory of Interest, MacMillan, 1930
K. Wicksell, Lectures Vol. I, Routledge, 19334 (if available)

 

II. For Economics 245

Alvin Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, McGraw-Hill
Edwin Frickey: a) Fluctuations, b) Production, both Harvard Press
Burns and Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1819 Broadway, New York 23, N.Y.
Bratt, Business Cycles, 3rd edition, 1948, (Irwin).
[handwritten addition:] Reading in Bus. Cycles. Blakiston.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers (HUG(FP)-4.62). Lecture Notes Box 2, Folder “Misc course notes 1943-48 (found in Littauer M-5)”.

Image Source: Harvard Album, 1947.

Categories
Harvard

Harvard. Business Cycles. Goodwin and Haberler, 1949

Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting was a two semester graduate course offered in 1948-49. The fall term (Economics 245a) was taught by Joseph Schumpeter and the spring term (Economics 245b) was jointly taught by Assistant Professor Richard Goodwin and Professor Gottfried Haberler.

__________________________________

 

[From the Course Catalogue]

Economics 245b (formerly Economics 145a). Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting

Half-course (spring term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 9. Professor Haberler and Assistant Professor Goodwin.

 

Source: Harvard University. Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1948-49, p. 79.

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[Course enrollment]

[Economics] 245b (formerly Economics 145b). Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting (Sp).

Professor Haberler and Assistant Professor Goodwin.

16 Graduates, 2 Radcliffe, 1 M.I.T., 4 Other:   Total 23.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments for 1948-49, p. 78.

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Economics 245b
Spring 1949

Professors Goodwin and Haberler

This course will be conducted as a Seminar with a certain amount of lecturing. The students are expected to have taken a course in Cycles in addition to having done a fair amount of work in General Theory and Money and Banking. Each student is supposed to prepare a paper and possibly present it in class. Participation in discussion is also expected. Suggestions of topics for Student papers will be made during the first meetings.

Students are expected to do some general reading outside the area of their paper in order to be able to participate in the discussion. Choose reading from the following list. Books in List A have been authorized for purchase through Veterans Administration. Books in List B have not been authorized.

 

List A

Beveridge, W.: Full Employment in a Free Society. (Attention is drawn to Appendices A and C.)
Burns and Mitchell: Measuring Business Cycles. (See especially Chs. 1-4, 9-12.)
Hansen, A.H.: Economic Policy and Full Employment
Harris, S.E.: The New Economics (See especially Parts VI and VIII).
Harrod: Dynamic Economics
Kuznets: National Income: Summary of Findings
Pigou: Lapses from Full Employment
Schumpeter: Business Cycles (especially Vol. I).
Readings in the Theory of Business Cycles (see especially Chs. 1, 2, 4, 16, 21).
Survey of Contemporary Economics
Income, Employment and Public Policy

 

List B

Ames: “The Contributions of Burns, Mitchell and Frickey to Business Cycle Theory,” in Econometrica, October 1948.
Fellner: Monetary Policies and Full Employment
Tinbergen: Statistical Testing of Business Cycle Theories, Vol. I, League of Nations, 1939
Wilson, T.: Fluctuations in Income and Employment
Wilson, T.: “A Reconsideration of the Theory of Effective Demand” in Economica, November 1947.

Additional references to the literature will be given in class in connection with topics for seminar papers.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1948-1949. (2 of 2)”.

 

Image Source:  Collage from faculty pictures of Goodwin and Haberler in Harvard Album 1951.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Mathematical Economics. Leontief, 1948

There are only marginal differences to be found  from the course outline for 1941-42 and 1942-43, e.g. “Time lags and sequences” instead of “Cobweb Model” plus addition of Mosak (General Equilbrium Theory in International Trade) and Samuelson (Foundations of Economic Analysis) to the course bibliography. We also see that Marshall’s Mathematical Appendix was a “new” assignment for the reading period.  Midterm and Final exam questions are included in this posting.

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[Course Outline, Leontief]

Economics 4a
Spring Term, 1948

Introduction to the Mathematical Treatment of Economic Theory

  1. Introductory remarks
    Profit function
    Maximizing profits
  2. Cost functions: Total costs, fixed costs, variable costs, average costs, marginal costs, increasing and decreasing marginal costs.
    Minimizing average total and average variable costs
  3. Revenue function
    Price and marginal revenue
    Demand function
    Elasticity and flexibility
  4. Maximizing the net revenue (profits)
    Monopolistic maximum
    Competitive maximum
    Supply function
  5. Joint costs and accounting methods of cost imputation
    Multiple plants
    Price discrimination
  6. Production function
    Marginal productivity
    Increasing and decreasing productivity
    Homogeneous and non-homogeneous production functions
  7. Maximizing net revenue, second method
    Minimizing costs for a fixed output
    Marginal costs and marginal productivity
  8. Introduction to the theory of consumers’ behavior
    Indifference curves and the utility function
  9. Introduction to the theory of the market
    Concept of market equilibrium
    Duopoly, bilateral monopoly
    Pure competition
  10. Time lag and time sequences
  11. Introduction into the theory of general equilibrium

Bibliography:

R. G. D. Allen, Mathematical Analysis for Economists
Evans, Introduction into Mathematical Economics
Antoine Cournot, Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth
Jacob L. Mosak, General Equilibrium Theory in International Trade
Paul A. Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis

Reading Period Assignment: Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, Mathematical Appendix

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 4, Folders “Economics, 1947-1948 (1 of 2)”.  Copy also in Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers. Course Material Box 2 (HUG 4517.45); Folder “Spring 1948-Econ. 4A”.

 

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[Midterm Exam]

Economics 4a
Hour Examination
March 23, 1948

Answer two questions, including Question 3.

1.  Prove that the average costs tend either

(a) toward equality with the marginal costs, or
(b) toward infinity

as the output of an enterprise is reduced toward zero.

2. Describe the relationship between the cost curve and the supply curve of an enterprise.

3.  An industrial enterprise produces jointly two kinds of outputs, X and Y and uses one kind of input, Z. Given

(a)  the production function z = f(x,y), where z, x and y are quantities of Z, X and Y and
(b)  the prices Pz, Px and Py of Z, X, and Y

derive the equations the solution of which would determine the most profitable input-output combination. Don’t forget the secondary conditions.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers. Course Material Box 2 (HUG 4517.45); Folder “Spring 1948-Econ. 4A”.

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[Final Exam]

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4a

Please write legibly

Answer four questions including question 6.

  1. Show how a change in the magnitude of the fixed costs would affect the supply curve of a profit-maximizing enterprise selling its product on a competitive market.
  2. Given:

      The production function,

x = yz2

where x is the quantity of output, and y and z represent the amounts of two different inputs purchased at the fixed prices py and pz respectively,

Derive:

            The total cost curve of the enterprise. (A total cost curve represents the functional relationship between various outputs and the smallest total costs at which they can be produced.)

  1. A monopolistic producer sells his output in two separate markets. His cost curve is:

C = K + Q

where C represents the total cost, Q the total output, and K a positive constant. The demand curves in the two markets are:

p1 = A q1

p2 = Bq2,

p1, p2 and q1, q2 represent the prices charged and quantities demanded in the two markets respectively. A and B are positive constants.

What prices would the monopolist charge in the two markets in order to maximize his total net revenue?

  1. A worker maximizes his utility function:

u(c, l)

where c represents his consumption and l the number of hours worked. The hourly wage rate is w dollars.

Determine the equation showing how many hours of labor, l, the worker will supply at any given wage rate, w. Analyze the conditions under which an increase in the wage rate might reduce the number of hours worked.

  1. Discuss the problem of measurability of utility.
  2. A consumer receives a fixed income y1 in “year I” and a fixed income y2 in “year II.” He is free to augment his consumption during year I by borrowing money from the outside on condition that it be paid back with interest out of the income of year II. He can also spend during the first year less than his total income y1. The resulting savings plus the accrued interest will be added in this case to the second year’s consumption. No transfer of any savings beyond the second year and no borrowing against the income of the later years is allowed.

Given:

(a) the utility function,

u(x1, x2)

to be maximized where x1 and x2 stand for the consumption of the first and the second year, and

(b)  the rate of interest i

Derive:

(1) the equations which determine the optimum amount of savings (or borrowings) s;

(2) the formula showing the effect of an infinitesimal change in the rate of interest i on the amount of savings (or borrowings) Interpret the meaning of such a formula.

 

Final. May, 1948.

Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers. Course Material Box 2 (HUG 4517.45); Folder “Spring 1948-Econ. 4A”.

Image Source: Harvard Album, 1947.