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Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory, Schumpeter, 1941-42

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According to the Presidential Report of Harvard University, in 1941-42 nine graduate students were enrolled in Joseph Schumpeter’s full-year course, Economics 103, Advanced Economic Theory. Reading lists and exam questions are provided here for both semesters.

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[Course Announcements 1941-42]

For Undergraduates and Graduates

The Courses for Undergraduates and Graduates, unless otherwise stated, are open only to students who have passed in Course A [Principles of Economics]

[…]

*Economics 1. Economic Theory

Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructors) Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, Dr. O. H. Taylor, and Associate Professor Leontief.

This course will be conducted mainly by discussion. It is open only to candidates for the degree with honors.

[…]

*Economics 103. Advanced Economic Theory

Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 10. Professor Schumpeter.

Economics 1, or an equivalent training, is a prerequisite for this course. It may be taken as a half-course in either half-year.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 38, No. 11 (March 19, 1941). Provisional Announcement of the the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1941-42, pp. 56-59.

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ECONOMICS 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42

This course is to serve the two purposes, first, of a critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory as improved by later work on the same lines; second, of an introduction into modern “dynamics” and into the problems arising out of the necessity of fitting theory to time-series material. The first purpose will be dominating in the work of the first, the second in the work of the second semester.

First Semester

 

I. Preliminaries. The nature of economic variables and equilibria. Various meanings of Stability. Structural and confluent relations. Statics and Dynamics vs. stationary and evolutionary states. Comparative Statics. One to two weeks.

No reading assignments.

II. Monetary and “real” processes. Aggregative Models. One to two weeks.

Keynes, General Theory.

Lange, “The rate of interest and the optimum propensity to consume,” Economica, February 1938.

III. The (traditional) theory of the individual household and the individual firm.

Rest of semester.

The background of this theory is Marshallian. Marshall’s Principles and Wicksell’s Lectures, Vol. I, should be thoroughly familiar to, and frequently referred to, by every student. No specific references will hence be made to them in what follows. In addition, general reference is here made to:

J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
E. H. Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.

A. Walras’ static equilibrium relations. One week.

No additional reading (but refer to Wicksell and Hicks).

B. Statics of the family budget. Indifference maps. Engels curves. Two weeks.

Hicks, first part.
Frisch, New Methods of Measuring Marginal Utility (1932).
Suggestion: Allen and Bowley, Family Expenditure, 1935.

C. Statics of the individual firm. Production functions and isoquants. Cost calculation. Depreciation. The Marshallian supply curves. Two weeks.

Kaldor, “The Equilibrium of the Firm,” Economic Journal, 1934.
Machlup, “The Common Sense of the Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, 1935.
Sraffa, “The Laws of Return under Competitive Conditions,” Economic Journal, 1926.
Robinson, “Imperfect Competition and Falling Supply Price,” Economic Journal, 1932.
Robinson, “What Is Perfect Competition?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.
Viner, “Cost and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Kahn, “Some Notes on Ideal Output,” Economic Journal, 1935.

D. Problems of monopolistic and oligopolistic price policy. Oligopoly and bilateral monopoly. Discrimination. Two weeks.

Hicks, “The Theory of Monopoly,” Econometrica, 1935.
Lerner, “The Concept and Measurement of Monopoly Power,” Review of Economic Studies, 1934.
Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Books II, IV, V.
Leontief, “The Theory of Limited and Unlimited Discrimination,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1934.

E. Locational Problems. One week.

Hotelling, “Stability in Competition,” Economic Journal, 1929.
Hoover, Location Theory and the Shoe and Leather Industries, Harvard Economic Studies, No. LV.

Reading Period Suggestion:

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

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1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

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

  1. Define the nature of economic equilibria. Give examples of the various types of them. Distinguish between equilibrium, determinateness, and stability.
  2. Explain the difference between Dynamics and Comparative Statics. In what respects do you consider the first approach to be superior to the second?
  3. Keynes’ General Theory, as thrown into a system of equations by Oscar Lange, purports to give a model of the economic process. So does the system of equations written by Walras. What are the principal differences between the two and what do you think of their relative merits a) in general, b) with respect to particular set of problems?
  4. We have replaced the old concept of marginal utility by the concept of marginal rate of substitution. What were the reasons for this and what have we gained thereby?
  5. Define the surface of consumption and discuss the three curves which are traced out by the sections of that surface by planes perpendicular to the three axes.
  6. What is meant by elasticity of substitution? And what are the principal uses for this concept?
  7. Explain the nature of a linear production function that is homogeneous of the first degree and state the reasons why many economists are so partial to it. Should we, or should we not, make that particular assumption about the form of our production functions?
  8. In what sense is it time to say that, in framing a rational price policy, firms should take no account of overhead but only of marginal cost?

Mid-Year, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, Sp & Fall 41-42”.

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Economics 103
Program of Course and Reading List
1941-42
Second Semester

I

The work of this semester is, first, to complete the critical survey of “traditional” (Marshall-Wicksell) theory begun in the first semester; and to deal with modern “dynamics” and some of the problems arising out of the fact that economic theory is under the necessity of using time-series material. The general background will be supplied, as it has been in the first semester, by the following treatises to which no further reference will be made in this Reading List:

Alfred Marshall, Principles.
Knut Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I.
Edward H. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
J. R. Hicks, Value and Capital.
J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

II

Not assigned, nor necessary in order to fulfill course requirements, but suggested are the following works (this suggestion also covering the usual Reading Period assignments):

A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium, 1941.
Erik Lundberg, Studies in the Theory of Economic expansion, Stockholm Economic Studies, 1936).
J. Tinbergen, Statistic Testing of Business-Cycle Theories, II, Business Cycles in the United States of America: 1919-1932, League of Nations, Geneva, 1939. (This work, which may seem to be far removed from the field of pure theory, nevertheless constitutes a most important contributions to it.)

III

(1) Distinction between Dynamics and the Theory of Economic Development. Disturbances, Transitional States, and the Long-Run Normal. Economic Hysteresis and Walras Reaction. Microdynamic and Macrodynamic Models.

No reading assignments.

(2) Lagged Reaction. The Hog-Cycle Case. (Cobweb). Buyers reacting to current price, sellers reacting to a previous price. The case of durable goods; the shipbuilding cycle.

(Tinbergen: Ein Schiffbauzyklus? Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, July, 1931, not assigned.)

(3) Other “dynamising” factors: reaction to current rate of change of price; reaction to weighted average of past prices. Friction. The Theory of Expectations.

N. Kaldor, “Speculation and Economic Stability,” Review of Economic Studies, October, 1939.
L. M. Lachmann, “Uncertainty and Liquidity Preference, “ Economica, August, 1937.
F. A. von Hayek, “Economics and Knowledge,” Economica, February, 1937.
F. Lavington, “An Approach to the Theory of Business Risks,” Economic Journal, June, 1925.

(4) Statistical Demand and Cost Curves.

Henry Schultz, Statistical Laws of Demand and Supply, 1928. (This will stand instead of the much more significant, but also much more difficult work of the same author: Theory and Measurement of Demand, 1940.
Joel Dean, The Relations of Cost to Output (National Bureau of Economic Research, Technical Paper No. 2, 19).

(5) Problems of Price Policy.

(See First-Semester Reading List, III/D.)

(6) Some Aspects of the Theory of Capital and interest.

G. Mackenroth, “Period of Production, Durability and the Rate of Interest,” Journal of Political Economy, December, 1930.
F. H. Knight, “Capital, Time, and the Interest Rate,” Economica, August, 1934.
F. Machlup, “Professor Knight and the Period of Production,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1935.
John B. Canning, The Economics of Accountancy, 1929. (Chapter on Depreciation.)
Irving Fisher, The Theory of Interest, 1916.

(7) Some Macrodynamic Models

F. R. Harrod, “An Essay in Dynamic Theory,” Economic Journal, March, 1939.
N. Kaldor, “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, March 1940.
M. Kalecki, “A Theory of the Business Cycle,” Review of Economic Studies, February, 1937. (Reprinted in Essays on the Theory of Economic Fluctuations.)
(R. Frisch, “Impulses and Propagation Waves,” Essays in Honor of Gustaf Cassel; technically difficult.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUG(FP)—4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 12, Folder: “Ec 103, Fall 1942”

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1941-42
Harvard University
Economics 103

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

  1. Consider the micro-dynamic model which is usually referred to as the “cobweb” pattern. Explain the commonsense of the underlying theory. Discuss its value in interpreting reality.
  2. A dynamic model may yield damped, stationary or anti-damped (explosive) solutions. Should we exclude the anti-damped ones on the ground that they are unrealistic because as a matter of fact economic patterns do not explode?
  3. In what sense can it be said that increasing returns are incompatible with perfect (pure) competition?
  4. Assume that the only purpose of the Practice of Depreciation is to allocate the costs of durable instruments of production among the periods of account (“years”) covered by the service life of those instruments. Given that purpose, what is the correct principle of figuring out the amount of depreciation?
  5. State the classical (Marshallian) theory of the influence of commodity speculation (trade in futures) on the time-shape of values (fluctuations in prices and in quantities sold). How does modern theory differ from that picture? What is your own opinion about the influence of speculation?
  6. Let a statistical demand curve be derived by plotting the prices of a commodity, divided by a wholesale price index, against the corresponding amounts of its per capita consumption. What do you think of such a procedure and how would you judge such a demand curve?
  7. If a firm owns several plants, how will it distribute a given amount of output among them?
  8. Show that, in the absence of further information, price is indeterminate in the case of Bilateral Monopoly.

Final, 1942.

Source: Harvard University Archives, HUG(FP)-4.62. Joseph Schumpeter Papers, Box 4, Folder “Ec 103, sp & Fall 41-42”.

Categories
Bibliography Chicago Harvard

Laughlin’s List: Recommended Teacher’s Library of Economics, 1887.

 

 

While still an assistant professor of political economy at Harvard, J. Laurence Laughlin (who went on to become professor and first head of  the Chicago department of political economy) included the following bibliography of works that together would constitute “A Teacher’s Library”. I provide here links to almost every item on the Laughlin List. When I could not find the exact edition that Laughlin referenced, I have taken the liberty of substituting the closest edition I was able to find quickly.

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A TEACHER’S LIBRARY,
SELECTED FROM ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN AUTHORS.

[By J. Laurence Laughlin, 1887]

General Treatises.

John Stuart Mill’s “Principles of Political Economy.” Abridged, with critical, bibliographical, and explanatory notes, and a sketch of the History of Political Economy, by J. Laurence Laughlin. A textbook for colleges (1884).

Professor Fawcett’s “Manual of Political Economy” (London, sixth edition, 1883) is a brief statement of Mill’s book, with additional matter on the precious metals, slavery, trades-unions, co-operation, local taxation, etc.

Antoine-Élise Cherbuliez’s “Précis de la science économique” (Paris, 1862, [Vol. 1, Vol. 2]) follows the same arrangement as Mill, and is considered the best treatise on economic science in the French language. He is methodical, profound, and clear, and separates pure from applied political economy.

Other excellent books in French are: Courcelle-Seneuil’s “Traité théorique et pratique d’économie politique” (1858), (Paris, second edition, 1867, [Vol. 1, Vol. 2), and a compendium by Henri Baudrillart, “Manuel d’économie politique” (third edition, 1872).

Roscher’s “Principles of Political Economy” [Die Grundlagen der Nationalökonomie (1854 edition); (1897, 22nd edition)] is a good example of the German historical method: its notes are crowded with facts; but the English translation ([Vol. 1, Vol. 2] New York, 1878) is badly done. There is an excellent translation [Vol. 1, Vol. 2] of it into French by Wolowski.

A desirable elementary work, “The Economics of Industry” (London, 1879; second edition, 1881), was prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall.

Professor Jevons wrote a “Primer of Political Economy” (1878), which is a simple, bird’s-eye view of the subject in a very narrow compass.

 

Important General Works.

Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (1776). The edition of McCulloch is, perhaps, more serviceable than that of J. E. T. Rogers [Vol. 1, Vol. 2].

Ricardo’s “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817).

J. S. Mill’s” Principles of Political Economy” (2 vols., 1848, sixth edition, 1865, [7th edition. W. J. Ashley, ed. (1909)]).

Schönberg’s “Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie” (1882) [3rd edition (1890)]. This is a large co-operative treatise by twenty-one writers from the historical school.

Cairnes’s “Leading Principles of Political Economy” (1874); “Logical Method ” (1875), lectures first delivered in Dublin in 1857.

Carey’s ” Social Science ” (1877), in three volumes [Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3]. This has been abridged in one volume by Kate McLean.

F. A. Walker’s “Political Economy” (1883). This author differs from other economists, chiefly on wages and questions of distribution.

 

Treatises on Special Subjects.

W. T. Thornton’s “On Labor” (1869).

H. George’s “Progress and Poverty” (1879). In connection with this, read F. A. Walker’s “Land and Rent” (1883).

J. Caird’s “Landed Interest” (fourth edition, 1880), treating of English land and the food-supply.

MacLeod’s “Theory and Practice of Banking” (third edition, 1875-1876) [Vol. 1 (4ed, 1883), Vol. 2 (4ed, 1886)]

Goschen’s “Theory of Foreign Exchanges ” (eighth edition, 1875) [10ed, 1879].

A. T. Hadley’s “Railroad Transportation” (1885).

F. W. Taussig’s “History of the Present Tariff” (1886).

W. G. Sumner’s “History of Protection in the United States.” (1883)

Giles B. Stebbins’s “[The American] Protectionist’s Manual.” (1883).

Erastus B. Bigelow’s “The Tariff Question.” [1862]

W. G. Sumner’s “History of American Currency” (1874).

John Jay Knox’s “United States Notes” ([2ed] 1884).

Jevons’s “Money and the Mechanism of Exchange” (1875).

J. L. Laughlin’s “History of Bimetallism in the United States” (1885). [2ed (1888),  4ed (1898)]

Tooke and Newmarch’s “History of Prices” (1837-1856), in six volumes.
[Vol. 1, 1838; Vol. 2, 1838; Vol. 3, 1840; Vol. 4, 1848; Vol. 5, 1857; Vol. 6, 1857]

M. Block’s “Traité théorique et pratique de statistique” (1878). [2e, 1886]

Leroy-Beaulieu’s “Traité de la science des finances” (1883) [5ed (1891/2), Vol. 1, Vol. 2]. This is an extended work, in two volumes, on taxation and finance; “Essai sur la répartition des richesses ” (second edition, 1883).

F. A. Walker’s “The Wages Question ” (1876); “Money” (1878).

M. Louis Reybaud’s “Études sur les réformateurs, ou socialistes modernes ” (seventh edition, 1864). [Vol. 1; Vol. 2]

Rae’s “Contemporary Socialism” (1884) gives a compendious statement of the tenets of modern socialists. See, also, R. T. Ely’s “French and German Socialism” (1883).

D. A. Wells’s “Our Merchant Marine.” [1890]

Dictionaries.

McCulloch’s “Commercial Dictionary ” (new and enlarged edition, 1882).
[Published 1880 by Longmans in London, edited by Hugh G. Reid.]

Lalor’s “Cyclopaedia of Political Science” (1881-1884) is devoted to articles on political science, political economy, and American history. [Vol. 1 (Abdication—Duty), 1883; Vol. 2 (East India Company—Nullification), 1883; Vol. 3 (Oath—Zollverein), 1890]

Coquelin and Guillaumin’s “Dictionnaire de l’économie politique ” (1851-1853, third edition, 1864), in two large volumes. [Vol. 1 (1864); Vol. 2 (1864)]

 

Reports and Statistics.

The “Compendiums of the Census” for 1840, 1850, 1860, and 1870, are desirable. The volumes of the tenth census (1880) are of great value for all questions; as is also F. A. Walker’s “Statistical Atlas ” (1874); and Scribner’s ” Statistical Atlas of the United States,” based on the census of 1880.

The United States Bureau of Statistics issues quarterly statements; and annually a report on “Commerce and Navigation,” and another on the “Internal Commerce of the United States.” [e.g. 1877 report]

The “Statistical Abstract” is an annual publication, by the same department, compact and useful. It dates only from 1878.

The Director of the Mint issues an annual report dealing with the precious metals and the circulation. Its tables are important.

The Comptroller of the Currency (especially during the administration of J. J. Knox) has given important annual reports upon the banking systems of the United States.

The reports of the Secretary of the Treasury deal with the general finances of the United States. These, with the two last mentioned, are bound together in the volume of “Finance Reports,” but often shorn of their tables.

There are valuable special reports to Congress of commissioners on the tariff, shipping, and other subjects, published by the Government.

The report on the “International Monetary Conference of 1878” contains a vast quantity of material on monetary questions.

The British parliamentary documents contain several annual “Statistical Abstracts” of the greatest value, of which the one relating to other European states is peculiarly convenient and useful. These can always be purchased at given prices.

A. R. Spofford’s “American Almanac” is an annual of great usefulness. [e.g. (1887)]

J. H. Hickcox, Washington, publishes a very useful catalogue of the Government publications, entitled ” United States Publications.” [Vol. 1 (1885), Vol. 2 (1886), Vol. 3 (1887)]

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Source:  J. Laurence Laughlin (1887). The Elements of Political Economy with some Applications to Questions of the Day. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

An earlier version with essentially the same Teacher’s Library also found in: J. Laurence Laughlin (1885). The Study of Political Economy. Hints to Students and Teachers. New York: D. Appleton and Company.

 

Image Source: J. Laurence Laughlin in Plans of National Currency Reform. 78th meeting of the Sunset Club, December 6, 1894 held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago, p. 3. Found in the University of Chicago Archives, Papers of J. Laurence Laughlin, Box 1, Folder 17.

 

 

 

 

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Courses Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Principles of Sociology Exam. First Semester, Carver 1922-23.

In the previous post we have a syllabus with links to the assigned readings for the full-year course Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, taught at Harvard by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver. This copy of the printed exam questions for the first term of the academic year 1922-23 was found in the papers of Vernon Orval Watts in the Hoover Institution archives.  The examination questions for the final examination for the second semester has been posted as well.

Watts’ own notes for the course are for following academic year. A brief c.v. for Watts and his obituary from the Los Angeles Times provide some biographic detail for Vernon Orval Watts. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1932 in economics for the dissertation “The development of the technological concept of production in Anglo-American Thought.” His autobiography Recollections of an Unplanned Life is available to read on-line at hathitrust.org.

From Watts’ course notes we can see the following major differences between the 1917-18 syllabus and what was taught in 1923-24.

  • More chapters in Lucius Moody Bristol’s Social Adaptation were discussed in the lectures (Watts’ papers included his notes on Chapters 1-13);
  • Added were the published Sigma Xi Lectures delivered at Yale University, 1921-22 (George Alfred Baitsell, ed., The Evolution of Man. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1922);
  • Added for the second term was the newly published textbook by Frederick A. Bushee, Principles of Sociology. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1924.

Watts’ course notes also show that Carver still assigned the vast bulk of his book of readings in sociology (Sociology and Social Progress, 1905) as well as a collection of his essays published in 1915. Indeed it appears to me that reading the first 13 chapters of Bristol and these two Carver books would have been quite sufficient for a student to get a good grade in the course.

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1922-23
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 8

  1. Would you call sociology a branch of economics or economics a branch of sociology? Explain why.
  2. How would you determine whether a given social change is progressive or not?
  3. Do men work together in groups because they are socially minded, or do they become socially minded because it pays economically to work together in groups?
  4. What are the chief eugenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  5. What are the chief dysgenic agencies now at work in this country? Defend your answer.
  6. To which group of factors, the moral or the intellectual, does Buckle attach the greater importance in the promotion of civilization? Why?
  7. What are meant by “self-appraisal,” “consciousness of kind,” sympathy, and imitation, and how is each related to the process of socialization?
  8. How are “self-appraisal” and “consciousness of kind” related to what is known as the race problem?
  9. How does Ross dispose of the “economic interpretation of history”?
  10. Discuss the question: Are human instincts the primary social factors?

Mid-Year. 1923.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box No. 8. Folder: “Harvard Univ. 1922-23 Notes on readings”.

 

 

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Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Sociology Syllabus. Carver, 1917-18


Economics 8, Principles of Sociology, was taught by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver in 1917-18. The course could be taken by both undergraduates and graduate students. 17 students were registered (7 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 2 other classifications). Links to all readings are provided!

Added later to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror: mid-year exam questions (from February 1923 for a later version of the course) and the final examination questions from June 1918.

 

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ECONOMICS 8
I
Introduction

1.  Various definitions of Sociology.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part I, chaps. 1.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 1-14 and 65-70

2.  Sociology considered.

1) As the study of the development and progress of social groups, particularly the sovereign group called the state or the nation.
2) As a study of human adaptation as it is affected and modified by the social group.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 88-120.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part II, chaps. 1-6.

3.  Adaptation.

(a) Passive.
(b) Active.

    The Environment.

(a) Physical.
(b) Social.

Bristol, Social Adaptation, Preface and Introduction.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 174-270.

4.  The method of trial and error, or of variation and selection in adaptation.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 276-391.

 

II
Physical Adaptation

5.  The Problem of race improvement.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 392-418, 631-715.

6.  Heredity and Environment as factors in the determination of individual character.

Bristol, Social Adaptation. Chaps. 4, 5, and 6.

7.  Tests of fitness for survival.—The validity of the economic and commercial as compared with the political tests.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 121-126, 419-471, and 522-576.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chap. 7.

8.  The selective agencies at work in modern society.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 676-715.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chap. 5.

 

III
Moral Adaptation

9.  The breeding up of a tame, domesticated, or socialized variety of the human species as opposed to a wild, unsocial or criminal variety.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 577-592.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part III, chaps. 1-3, and 9-12.

10. Morality considered as the economizing and utilizing of human energy, and immorality as the wasting or dissipating of that energy.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part IV, chaps. 1, 11, and 12.
Carver, Essays in Social Justice. 1 and 2.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 577-592.

11. The variation and selection of moral codes.

Sumner, Folkways. Sections 1-40; 159-165; 712-728.

12. Forms of conflict.

(a) Destructive.
(b) Deceptive.
(c) Persuasive.
(d) Productive

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Chaps. 3, 4, and 5.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 133-173.

13. The earmarks of a good religion.

Carver, The Religion Worth Having.

14. Sympathy; Imitation; Consciousness of Kind.

Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 472-521.

15. Earmarks of a good man.

A. Knowledge of environment.

(a) physical.
(b) social.

B. Forethought.

(a) industry.
(b) thrift.

C. Dependability.

(a) honesty.
(b) sobriety.
(c) courage.
(d) fidelity.

Ross, Social Control. Pages 1-88; 432-442.
Bristol, Social Adaptation. Pages 301-304.

 

IV
Control of the Physical Environment

16. Scarcity; Economy; Wellbeing.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part VI, chaps. 1, 2, 3, 21, 22, 23.

17.  Desire and repugnance; attainment of good and avoidance of harm.
Production and destruction.

Spencer [sic, “Carver” is correct], Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 127-132.
Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part VI, chaps. 1, 15, 16

18. Proportionality.

(a) of consumers’ goods.
(b) of producers’ goods.

19.  Valuation.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 85-202.

Cost.
Coördination of labor performed:

(a) at different places.
(b) at different times.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 203-263.

20. The storing of social energy.
The standard of living.

Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise. Pages 1-82, 133-150.

21. The battle of the standards.
Economic competition.

Taussig, Principles of Economics. Vol. II, pages 443-478.

22. Poverty and the uneconomic distribution of human talent.
Summary—The earmarks of a good industrial system.

A. An ample product.
B. Distributed in proportion to merit.
(see Earmarks of a good man)
C.  Consumed rationally.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 264-375.

 

V
Control of the Social Environment

23. Purpose of social control.

(a) release,
(b) direction,
(c) storing of social energy.

Right of the state to be.
Limits of state interference.

Carver, Essays in Social Justice. Pages 376-429.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 788-808.

24. Source of social control.

Is monarchy a more highly evolved form of government than democracy?
Republican and democratic theories.
Psychology of self-government.

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part V, chaps. 1, 2, 17, 18.

25. Voting a means of increasing governmental sensitiveness.
Can democracy select good men?

Spencer, Principles of Sociology. Part V, chap. 19.
Carver, Sociology and Social Progress. Pages 716-788.

26. Can democracy discipline itself?
The earmarks of a good government.

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

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Columbia Economics’ Market Share in 1900

The School of Political Science at Columbia University was divided into three groups of subjects: History and Political Philosophy, Public Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, and Economics and Social Science.

Economics and Social Science comprised the two subject groups: Political Economy and Finance; Sociology and Statistics. 

Seligman figured that of the approximately 135 graduate students specializing in economics in 1899-1900 in the seven eastern departments (Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale), about 75 were at Columbia.

___________________

SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Department of Economics.—Since the recent reorganization of the work in economics, there has been a marked increase in the number, as well as in the quality of the students. Numbers, indeed, constitute no adequate test of the real work done by the various departments within a university; for the subject which attracts the fewest students may possess the highest scientific value and may be presided over by the ablest professors. But, when an institution is compared with others of about the same grade and size, the relative number of students in any one department affords a fair indication of the importance to be assigned to it. Hence, the following table is of much interest:

 

1900_ColumbiaEconomics

*By graduate student is meant a student holding a first degree.
1 Attending for three terms.
2 Including Economics and Public Law.
3 Including Economics, Politics and History.

The number of graduate students in economics and social science at Columbia is much greater than the number in any other American institution. If we compare Columbia with six Eastern universities,—Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Princeton,—we find that Columbia has almost as many such students as all six, that is, 75 as against 89. And if it were possible to separate the students working primarily in economics at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Cornell (where the figures include other students in political science as well), it is practically certain that Columbia would be found to possess more graduate students working primarily in economics and social science than the other six institutions together. Assuming that half of the students returned in Johns Hopkins, Yale and Cornell are working primarily in economics,—a very liberal assumption, —we should have a total of 60 in the six Eastern universities, as against 75 in Columbia. This is a remarkable showing.

In order that it may not be supposed that the basis of classification varies, it may be added that each of the students at Columbia is enrolled primarily under the Faculty of Political Science and is a candidate for the master’s or doctor’s degree, with the major subject in economics and social science. Every such student is required to attend a seminar. In addition to the seminar, 35 of the 75 students are taking 3 or more courses in economics or social science and 20 are taking 2 such courses. The remainder, who are taking one course in addition to the seminar, are chiefly students who have taken most of their lecture work in previous years.

The following figures, as to enrollment in economics and social science, will prove instructive:

Graduate students, primarily enrolled in political science, taking graduate courses (whether as a major or minor) 95
Graduate students (male) in the whole university taking graduate courses 123
Non-graduates (male), primarily registered in political science, doing chief work in economics 22
Students, graduates and non-graduates (male, but exclusive of seniors and other college students) in the whole university, taking graduate courses 149
Enrollment of students, as above (not deducting duplicates), in graduate courses in economics and social science 559
Enrollment of under-graduates in Columbia College 179
Enrollment of students of all kinds (male) pursuing these studies 738
Enrollment of Barnard students 140
Total enrollment in the University 878

The relative importance of the university work may also be seen by this comparison with Harvard:

Harvard Columbia
Total students primarily registered in non-professional (graduate) schools 341 331
Total graduates in non-professional (graduate) schools 323 292
Total graduates in political science 52 or 16% 114 or 39%
Total graduates primarily in economics and social science 8 or 2½% 17 or 26%

This showing is doubtless due in part to the system on which the work in economics and social science at Columbia is organized. The department has four full professors, one instructor and two lecturers. The work has been so apportioned that each professor devotes himself primarily to his own specialty—Professor Mayo-Smith to statistics and practical economics, Professor Clark to economic theory, Professor Giddings to social science, and Professor Seligman to economic history and finance. Another explanation of the large numbers is the facility afforded to students to combine with their studies in economics the courses in history, public law and general political science.

Among the recent graduates in economics of the School of Political Science, no less than 25 are now giving instruction in economics at other institutions, including Yale, Cornell, Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Syracuse, the Universities of Illinois, Indiana, and Colorado, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A number of graduates have become editors of important daily or weekly papers, in New York, Buffalo, Omaha and other cities, and a large number occupy administrative positions in the service of the national and state governments. Among the latter may be mentioned one of the chief statistician in the census office, a number of expert agents and chief clerks in the departments of the treasury and of agriculture in Washington; and the deputy commissioner of labor statistics and the sociology librarian in the State Library at Albany.

E. R. A. S. [Edwin R. A. Seligman]

___________________

Source: Columbia University Quarterly, Vol. 2, June, 1900, pp. 284-287.

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Courses Curriculum Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard Courses in Political Economy, 1874-75

Excerpts from the Harvard Catalogue for 1874-75 with principal texts and examination questions for political economy together with some information about the A.B. distinction between “prescribed” and “elective” studies.

Incidentally, one finds that annual fees for a full course load at Harvard ran $120/year and a copy of John Stuart Mill’s Principles cost $2.50. Cf. today’s Amazon.com price for N. Gregory Mankiw’s Economics which is $284.16. If tuition relative to the price of textbooks had remained unchanged (and the quality change of the Mankiw textbook relative to Mill’s textbook(!) were equal to the quality change of the Harvard undergraduate education today compared to that of 1874-75(!!)), Harvard tuition would only be about $13,600/year today instead of $45,278. Just saying.

_________________________________

HARVARD COURSES OF INSTRUCTION 1874-75

COURSE OF STUDY
FOR THE DEGREE OF A.B.

The course of study to be pursued by a candidate for the Bachelor’s degree is made up in part of studies which are prescribed, and pursued by all students alike, and in part of studies selected by the student himself out of the various courses of instruction which are given in the College.

PRESCRIBED STUDIES.

The prescribed studies occupy the whole of the Freshman year and about one-third of the Sophomore and Junior years. In the Senior year only certain written exercises are prescribed.

Anticipation of Prescribed Studies.

The prescribed studies of the Sophomore and Junior years being of an elementary character, students who wish to be relieved from attendance at College exercises in one or more of them will be excused from such attendance, if they pass a satisfactory examination in such study or studies at the beginning of the year in which they would regularly pursue the study or studies in College, or at the time of their examination for admission to College. Studies which are pursued only in the second half-year may also be anticipated in the same way in the middle of the year. No such examination will be deemed satisfactory unless the student shall succeed in obtaining at least one-half of the maximum mark. The mark obtained when the examination is successful will be credited to the student as his mark on the Annual Scale of the study which forms the subject of the examination. Preparation for these examinations can often be made while the student is preparing for College or in the long vacation, and time may be thus gained for higher courses of study. Students who intend to present themselves for such examination in any required study for 1875-76 must give notice to the Dean in writing before September 1, 1875.

Information concerning the requirements for passing the examination in any study can be obtained from the instructor in that study.

ELECTIVE STUDIES.

In addition to the prescribed studies, each Sophomore is required to pursue courses, chosen by himself from the elective studies, [ftnt: The prescribed Philosophy of the Junior year may be taken as an elective by Sophomores.] amounting to eight exercises a week for the year; each Junior, courses amounting to eleven exercises a week; and each Senior, courses amounting to twelve exercises a week. Students are at liberty to attend the instruction in as many other subjects as they may have time and taste for pursuing. In choosing his electives, the student must satisfy his instructors that he is qualified by his previous training to pursue those which he selects. With this limitation, all the courses given in the College are open to him in making his choice; but he is strongly recommended to make his choice with great care, under the best advice, and in such a manner that his elective courses from first to last may form a rationally connected whole.

Undergraduates who intend to study Engineering are recommended by the Scientific Faculty to take, as extras, the courses of Drawing and Surveying in the Scientific School; and those who intend to study Medicine are advised by the Medical Faculty to pay special attention to the study of Natural History, Chemistry, Physics, and the French and German languages, while in College.

It will be seen that students who prefer a course like the usual prescribed course of American colleges can perfectly secure it, under this system, by a corresponding choice of studies; while others, who have decided tastes, or think it wiser to concentrate their study on a few subjects, obtain every facility for doing so, and still secure in the briefer prescribed course an acquaintance with the elements of the leading branches of knowledge.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, pp. 46-47

_________________________________

IV. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar

Sophomore Year.

Fawcett’s Political Economy for Beginners.—Constitution of the United States (Alden’s Science of Government, omitting the first four and the last three chapters).

Two hours a week. Second half-year.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 54.

_________________________________

III. PHILOSOPHY

ELECTIVES
Senior Studies

[…]

Philosophy 7. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — Fawcett’s Manual of Political Economy. — Blanqui’s Histoire de l’Économie Politique en Europe. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street.

Three hours a week. 19 Seniors, 14 Juniors.

 

Philosophy 8. — Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar.

Political Economy. — J. S. Mill’s Political Economy. — Bagehot’s Lombard Street. — Subjects in Currency and Taxation.

Three hours a week. 65 Seniors, 33 Juniors.

 

Courses 7 and 8 are parallel Courses, Course 7 being preferable for students of History.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 56.

_________________________________

III. PHILOSOPHY

PRESCRIBED STUDIES

[…]

Prescribed Political Economy.—Prof. [ Charles Franklin] Dunbar and Mr. Howland.

Elements of Political Economy.—Constitution of the United States.

Two hours a week. Second half-year. Sophomores and Juniors.*

*In 1873 the prescribed Study of Political Economy was transferred from the Junior to the Sophomore Year, and was pursued during the year 1873-74 by both classes.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 215.

_________________________________

PRESCRIBED POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Political Economy.

Those who are also to pass in the Constitution may omit questions marked *.

  1. Define (a)wealth; (b) value; (c)price; (d) capital; (e) money.
  2. What are the qualities which make gold and silver suitable materials for a currency? What are the objections to a double standard of value?
  3. Explain the action of demand and supply upon the prices (a) of raw materials; (b) of manufactured articles.
  4. Show how rents would be affected by suddenly doubling the productiveness of all lands under cultivation. Prove that rent does not enter into the price of agricultural produce.
  5. State and illustrate the causes which produce a difference in the rate of wages in different employments.
  6. Suppose the amount of the (gold) currency of a country to he suddenly doubled, what would be the effect upon (a) values; (b) prices; (c) exports and imports?
  7. Define direct and indirect taxation. What are the objections to an import duty on raw materials? What is the incidence of a tax levied on the rent of land and paid by the tenant?
  8. [*] Define productive and unproductive consumption. If the latter were to cease altogether, what would be the ultimate effect upon production?
  9. [*] Show how the cost of labor is affected, (a) if the efficiency of labor is increased; (b) if the margin of cultivation sinks.
  10. [*] What are the elements of which profits are composed? Why does the rate of profits vary (a) in different employments; (b) in different countries?
  11. [*] Explain the several ways in which credit promotes production. What are the disadvantages of an irredeemable paper currency?
  12. [*] Explain the use of bills of exchange. What is meant by an unfavorable balance of exchange?
  13. [*] Discuss the question, whether temporary and permanent incomes should be taxed alike.

 

Constitution of the United States.

Those who are also to pass in Political Economy may omit questions marked *.

  1. [*] When and by whom was the Constitution framed, and what were the principal steps leading to its formation and adoption?
  2. Define citizenship.
  3. What changes have the abolition of slavery and the consequent amendments of the Constitution made in the system of representation?
  4. State the method of electing the President, and the difference between the present method and that at first adopted.
  5. [*] By whom are questions settled which affect the validity of elections (a) of representatives, (b) of senators, (c) of President?
  6. [*] What provision does the Constitution make for the removal, death, resignation, or inability to serve of the President or Vice-President, or for a failure to elect either officer or both?
  7. [*] What powers over the militia are given to Congress or to the President?
  8. What are the provisions of the Constitution affecting the subject of currency
  9. What are the provisions relating to taxation, and what are direct taxes under the Constitution?
  10. [*] What are the provisions relating to impeachment?
  11. Under what provision did Congress claim and exercise the power of prohibiting slavery in the territories
  12. What is the extent of the judicial power of the United States, and where is it vested? What is the provision for amending the Constitution?

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 218-9.

_________________________________

ELECTIVES.

[…]

  1. Political Economy.—Prof. Dunbar.

J. S. Mill’s Political Economy.—Bagehot’s Lombard Street.—Sumner’s History of American Currency.

Three hours a week. 70 Seniors, 1 Junior.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 220.

 

_________________________________

 

FEES AND BONDS.

The fees to be paid by Bachelors of Arts or Science who receive instruction as candidates for the Degree of Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, or Doctor of Science, or who attend lectures or recitations without being members of either professional school, are as follows : —

For not more than three hours of instruction a week $50.00 a year.
For more than three, but not more than six hours of instruction a week $90.00 a year.

 
For more than six hours of instruction a week $120.00 a year.
For a year’s instruction in any of the laboratories or in

the Museum of Comparative Zoology

 $150.00
The fees to be paid for examination are as follows :—
For the examination for the Degree of Master of Arts $30.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy $60.00
For the examination for the Degree of Doctor of Science $60.00

 

There is no additional charge for the right to use the Library. The fees for instruction, but not those for examination, will be remitted to meritorious students who need such help.

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 137.

_________________________________

[Advertisement of Macmillan & Company’s Books]

Logic. Professor Stanley Jevons’s Elementary Lessons in Logic, Deductive and Inductive. 18mo, cloth $1.25.

Political Economy for Beginners. By Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 18mo. $1.00.

 

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 317.

_________________________________

[Advertisement of Lee and Shepard Books]

POLITICAL ECONOMY. Principles of Political Economy. By John Stuart Mill. New and revised edition. Lee and Shepard, Publishers. Boston. Complete in 1 vol. Crown 8vo.   $2.50

Source: Harvard University Catalogue, 1874-75, p. 336.

 

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Top Eleven Economics PhD Programs in US, 1934

A listing of 22 U.S. graduate programs in economics judged by majority vote of a jury of 54 individuals (identified by name) to be adequately staffed and equipped for work leading to the doctorate in Economics. Eleven of those programs were designated to be “distinguished”.

________________________________

Excerpt from:

American Council on Education.
Report of Committee on Graduate Instruction.
Washington, D. C., April 1934.

…In preparing a list of graduate schools the following procedure was followed:

  1. A list of 50 fields of knowledge in which it seemed possible to study the graduate work was prepared. The study as concluded covered only 35 fields.
  2. A list of the 50 fields was sent to the Dean of the graduate school of every institution known to be offering work for the doctorate. The Dean was requested to check the fields in which graduate work for the doctorate was offered, to indicate the number of doctorates conferred in the last 5 years, and to submit a list of the graduate faculty in each field. The responses of the deans varied in accuracy and comprehensiveness.
  3. From the reports of the deans, supplemented by study of catalogs, lists of institutions offering graduate work for the doctorate in each field, were prepared, complete so far as our information went.
  4. The secretary of the national learned society in each field was requested to provide a list of 100 well-known scholars distributed, as far as possible, among the various special branches of the field.
  5. To each of these scholars was sent a list of all the institutions offering work for the doctorate in the field with their respective graduate staffs in the field. Each scholar was requested to check those institutions which in his judgment had an adequate staff and equipment to prepare candidates for the doctorate; and to star the departments of the highest rank, roughly the highest 20 per cent.
  6. The returns from these scholars were summarized, and those institutions accorded a star by the majority voting were placed in the starred group; those checked by a majority, but failing of a majority of stars, were placed in the group of those adequately staffed and equipped….

…Many votes on departments came in too late for inclusion in tabulations.

[…]

ECONOMICS
100 ballots sent out.
61 returns; majority, 31 votes.
535 doctorates were conferred in the period 1928-1932: 53 institutions offered work for doctorate.

Composite ratings were made from reports of the following persons: James W. Angell, George E. Barnett, J. W. Bell, A. B. Berglund, Roy G. Blakey, E. L. Bogart, O. F. Bouche, F. A. Bradford, T. N. Carver, J. M. Clark, Clive Day, F. S. Deibler, Paul Douglas, F. A. Fetter, Irving Fisher, F. B. Garver, Carter Goodrich, C. E. Griffin, M. B. Hammond, Alvin Hansen, C. D. Hardy, B. H. Hibbard, H. E. Hoagland, Grover G. Huebner, John Ise, Jens Jensen, Eliot Jones, Edwin Kemmerer, James E. LeRossingnol, H. L. Lutz, David McCabe, H. A. Millis, Broadus Mitchell, Wesley C. Mitchell, H. G. Moulton, C. T. Murchison, E. G. Nourse, E. M. Patterson, Carl Plohn, C. O. Ruggles, W. A. Scott, Horace Secrist, S. H. Slichter, T. R. Snavely, W. E. Spahr, R. A. Stevenson, G. W. Stocking, Frank P. Stockton, H. C. Taylor, Jesse Tullock, Francis Tyson, Jacob Viner, G. S. Watkins, A. B. Wolfe.

The jury named above has by a majority vote approved the following institutions as adequately staffed and equipped for work leading to the doctorate in Economics, starring which it considers most distinguished:

Brown University

*

 University of Chicago

*

 Columbia University University of Illinois

*

 Cornell University University of Iowa

*

 Harvard University—Radcliffe College

*

 University of Michigan
Johns Hopkins University

*

 University of Minnesota
New York University University of Missouri
Northwestern University

*

 University of Pennsylvania
Ohio State University University of Texas

*

 Princeton University University of Virginia
Stanford University

*

 University of Wisconsin

*

 University of California

*

 Yale University

[…]

 

Source: Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library. William Vickrey Papers, Box 35, Folder “510.7/1934/Am3”.

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Harvard

Harvard. Readings Ph.D. Preparation. Banking, ca 1913

From the fact that E. E. Day last taught courses in money and banking in 1913 and based on the last dates of items of the reading list we can date this list to 1912 or 1913. Dates of publication have been added by me, as have links to the individual readings.

____________________________

(COPY)

E. E. DAY.

SUGGESTED READING IN PREPARATION OF PH.D. EXAMINATION.
SUBJECT: BANKING.

(Familiarity with the better texts—e.g., Dunbar [1901, revised], White [1908, 3rd edition]—is assumed.)

A. K. Fiske, The Modern Bank [1904, revised ed. 1919]

Holdsworth & Dewey, The First and Second Banks of the United States. (National Monetary Commission Publications)

D. R. Dewey, State Banking before the Civil War. (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1910]

O. M. W. Sprague, History of Crises under the National Banking System (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1910]

Report of the Indianapolis Monetary Commission [1897]

C. F. Dunbar, Economic Essays (those upon banking)[1904]

Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance [1909]

D. Kinley, The Independent Treasury of the United States (N. M. C. Pubs.)

J. G. Cannon, Clearing Houses (N. M. C. pubs.)[1910]

G. E. Barnett, State Banks and Trust Companies (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1911]

W. Bagehot, Lombard Street

H. Withers, The Meaning of Money [1909, revised 1916]

A. Liesse, Evolution of Credit and Banks in France (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1910]

Miscellaneous Articles on German Banking (N. M. C. Pubs.)

R. M. Breckenridge, History of Banking in Canada, (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1910]

J. F. Johnson, The Canadian Banking System (N. M. C. Pubs.) [1910]

(Candidate should have some acquaintance also with the other publications of the National Monetary Commission.)

____________________________

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics Records. UAV 349.10, Box 25, Folder “Suggested Readings”.

 

 

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Harvard

Harvard. General Exam: Railroads. Readings, 1933-34

1933-34

Additional Readings for General Examination
Railroads

Interstate Commerce Commission: Reports

W. Z. Ripley: Report on Consolidation, 1921

Splawn: Report on Railroads, 1930

Grodinsky: Railroad Consolidation

W. Z. Ripley: Railroads, Rates, and Regulation

Railroads, Finance, and Organization

Railway Problems

Bonbright and Means: The Holding Company

Dewing: Corporation Finance OR

Lyons: Corporation Finance OR

Meade: Corporation Finance

Daggett: Railroad Reorganization

Bauer: Effective Regulation of Public Utilities

Sharfman: Interstate Commerce Commission

Keezer and May: Public Control of Business

Frankfurter: Cases under the Interstate Commerce Commission

Cherington: British Railways

Locklin: Railroad Regulation since 1920

Buck: The Grange Movement

Eliot Jones: Principles of Railway Transportation

Vanderblue and Burgess: Railroads: Rates, Service, Management

Daggett: Principles of Inland Transportation

Sharfman: American Railroad Problems

Cunningham: American Railroads

 

Recent Valuation Cases

 

Additional Readings on Public Utilities:

Colson: Railway Rates and Traffic

New York State Report on Revision of Public Utility Laws

Jones and Bigham: Principles of Public Utilities

Mason: The Street Railway in Massachusetts

Nash:    Public Utility Regulation

Public Utility Rate Structures

Mosher and Crawford: Public Utility Regulation of Competitive Practices

____________________________

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics Records. UAV 349.10, Box 25, Folder “Suggested Readings”.

Categories
Harvard

Harvard. General/Special Exams: Public Finance. Readings, ca 1933

[probably 1933]

Readings in Public Finance for General and Special Examinations

Students preparing for the special examination in public finance should read all the references listed under I. In II the student should read a substantial portion of six or eight books, selecting topics which he considers of most interest and value to him. In III the student should read a substantial portion of three or four of the books listed, again following his own requirements or interests.

 

I. Required Reading

A. Smith Wealth of Nations, Book 5
J. S. Mill Principles of Political Economy, Book 5, ch. 1-8
C. F. Bastable Public Finance (3rd edition). Read pages: 1-149; 153-257; 261-421; 425-442; 443-464; 465-468; 469-494; 504-573; 611-711.
H. L. Lutz Public Finance
C. J. Bullock Selected Readings in Public Finance (3rd edition). Read pages: 1-51; 76-147; 156-268; 278-379; 445-490; 533-607; 755-902; 921-982
A. Wagner Finanzwissenschaft, Vol. II. Read all the coarse print; use judgment on the fine print.
P. Leroy-Beaulieu Traité des Finances, Vol. I (8th edition, 1912). Read pages: 1-10; 28-92; 92-133; 134-143; 172-249; 367-387; 394-437; 439-482; 483-517; 539-626; 626-703
D. R. Dewey Financial History of the United States
The Colwyn Report Great Britain: Report of the Committee on National Debt and Taxation, 1927. Read pages: 73-244. (Cmd. 2800; Econ. 5389.27)

 

II. Reading Recommended

Mills and Starr Readings in Public Finance and Taxation. Read Pages: 41-150; 168-195; 205-264; 369-453; 482-607; 763-808
A. C. Pigou A Study in Public Finance
B. Moll Lehrbuch der Finanzwissenschaft (1930)
E. Allix Traité élementaire de Science des Finances (6th edition, 1931). Read pages: 1-81; 151-204; 216-256; 285-312; 341-382; 437-573; 870-902; 910-958; 1011-1050;1091-1134.
L. Suret Théorie de l’Impôt progressif
J. Stamp Fundamental Principles of Taxation
T. G. Shearman Natural Taxation
H. L. Lutz State Tax Commissions
S. Leland The Classified Property Tax
A. L. Harding Double Taxation of Property and Income
E. Cannan History of Local Rates
A. F. Macdonald Federal Aid
J. W. Grice National and Local Finance
A. E. Buck Municipal Finance
The May Report Great Britain: Report of the Committee on National Expenditure, 1931 (Cmd. 3290; Econ. 5389.31)
National Tax Association Proceedings, 1933, Report of Committee on Model System of State and Local Taxation

III. Other Reading

G. F. Shirras Science of Public Finance
E. R. A. Seligman Progressive Taxation
——————— Essays in Taxation
——————— Income Tax (chapters on Great Britain, Germany, France, U.S.A.)
——————— Shifting and Incidence of Taxation
H. A. Silverman Taxation, Its Incidence and Effects
A. Comstock Taxation in the Modern State
J. P. Jensen Property Taxation in the United States
W. G. Schultz Taxation of Inheritances
R. G. Blakey Taxation in Minnesota
R. M. Haig The Taxation of Excess Profits in Great Britain
National Industrial Conference Board General Sales or Turnover Taxation
National Industrial Conference Board Sales Tax
A. G. Buehler General Sales Taxes
R. Magill, editor Lectures on Taxation
R. Stourm The Budget
W. F. Willoughby The National Budget System
H. S.[sic, should be “H. C.”] Adams Public Debts
M. L. Walker Municipal Expenditure
Britain’s Industrial Future, pp. 426-447. H.U. Library, Econ 6069.28.5
Joseph Sykes British Public Expenditures, 1921-1931
Report of New York Commission for Revision of the Tax Laws, 1932, Part III.

____________________________

 Source: Harvard University Archive. Department of Economics Records. UAV 349.10, Box 25, Folder “Suggested Readings”.