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Johns Hopkins. Midyear and Final Exams for Five Economics Courses, 1932-1933

While on the whole I find these examination questions uninspired, I do wonder how one would have answered the last of the mid-year examination in economic history “Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?”

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1C. Elements of Economics.

Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. [George H.] Evans [Jr.], Thurs., Fri., Sat., 8.30, Maryland Hall 110; Section 2: Associate Professor [Broadus] Mitchell, Mon., Tues., Wed., 8.30, Gilman Hall 313; Section 3: Associate Professor [William O.] Weyforth, Mon., Tues., Wed., 11.30, Gilman Hall 314.

Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.

Required of all students before graduation.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Evans
February 1, 1933

  1. Under what conditions do lower prices mean higher profits?
  2. How do overhead costs affect the nature of competition?
  3. A country innkeeper hires a man to cripple the automobiles of passers-by. Is this man a producer? Explain.
  4. If each of our states were a separate nation, would we have less specialization than we have today? Explain.
  5. “The marginal utility of a ton of coal to a householder is $7.20.”
    1. Explain just what is meant by this statement.
    2. Why is the marginal utility of coal different now from what it was during the war? Explain carefully.
  6. Trace the history of bimetallism in the United States. What classes would be benefited if bimetallism were adopted in the United States in the near future?
  7. “The price of each good is determined by the willingness of buyers to purchase the last unit of the supply that is sold.” Discuss.
  8. A manufacturer buys out all his competitors. Assuming demand to be unchanged, can he now sell the former aggregate output at an advanced price? Explain.
  9. From the following figures for three firms which constitute the only producers or possible producers in the field, construct the combined long run supply curve and also the combined average cost curve which would prevail in the long run
  Average Costs of Production for Each Firm
No. of Units X Y Z
1 5 7 9
2 4.5 6 7.5
3 4.67 6 7.33
4 5 6.25 7.5
5 5.4 6.6 7.8
6 5.83 7 8.17

If the price in the market remains at $8 for a long period of time, how many articles will be supplied; what quantity will be produced by each firm? Suppose the price dropped to $7 and remained there.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 6, 1933

  1. Give a definition of Political Economy.
  2. What are the relative importances today of Production, Exchange, Distribution, and Consumption of wealth?
  3. Is the enterpriser gaining or losing in importance as an economic agent?
  4. Define capital and discuss the capitalistic method of production and exchange of wealth.
  5. Explain the marginal utility concept of value.
  6. Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition.
  7. Discuss (a) monopoly price; (b) class price.
  8. What would be your definition of money?
  9. What is the argument of the inflationists at the present time?
  10. Give the organization and functions of the Federal Reserve System.
  11. Tell what you know of Technocracy, with your comment upon it.
  12. What are the main indictments which the present depression brings against the capitalist economic system?
  13. What are some reasons for believing that there is a decided drift toward collectivism in the United States now?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Weyforth
February 2, 1933

  1. Describe the more important changes that came about in the economic life of England as a result of the industrial revolution.
  2. How under a system of free enterprise is the overproduction of any article remedied? How is underproduction remedied?
    “Free enterprise is a self-regulating device for producing maximum satisfaction with a minimum of sacrifice.” Explain and criticize this statement.
  3. What is meant when it is said that modern industry is a capitalistic organization?
    A municipality which owned a street railway might find it desirable to give service at less than cost. Why? Could a capitalistically controlled company do this? Explain.
  4. “The use of machinery is limited by the extent of the market.” Why? In what sense is it equally true that the extending of markets has depended upon the development of the machine technique?
  5. Explain the nature of a corporation. How does it come into existence? Who owns it? How is it controlled and managed? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages?
  6. What functions do trade unions perform in our present economic system? Why did they not exist during the middle ages? What is meant by the “closed shop”? What justification is there for unions employing this device?
  7. In what way do commercial banks provide a medium of exchange? Why may it be said that banks create deposits? The national banking laws require that national banks maintain a certain reserve against deposits How does this limit the ability of banks to make loans?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Mitchell
June 5, 1933

  1. Explain and discuss the underlying economic theory and the proposals of the Single tax. Tell something of the life of Henry George.
  2. State and discuss three theories of wages.
  3. Distinguish between “pure profits” and “wages of superintendence”. In what ways do pure profits arise?
  4. Explain the time discount theory of interest.
  5. “The business cycle is inherent in the capitalist economic system.” Discuss this statement.
  6. What are the main arguments for and against fiat money inflation?
  7. Explain the difficulties in combining economic planning with the price-and-profit system.
  8. What developments in American economic life appear to recommend socialism today?
  9. Enumerate and discuss the conditions under which trade and labor unions may raise the wages of their members without being injured by the boomerang of unemployment due to decreased demand for their products.
  10. Identify: Nassau Senior, John Stuart Mill, Charles Kingsley, Robert Owen, Friedrich Engels, Richard Arkwright, Charles Fourier, Samuel Gompers, David Ricardo, Mathew Carey.
  11. Discuss economic nationalism as applicable to the present day.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Evans
May 31, 1933

  1. What is meant by monetary inflation in the United States?
    How is it to be effected; what are its advantages and disadvantages?
  2. To raise revenue to pay the interest on a three billion dollar loan for the purpose of carrying out a public works program, it has been proposed that the federal government increase the income and gasoline taxes. A general manufacturer’s sales tax has apparently been rejected. Criticize the plan.
  3. The wages of federal employes were recently cut by approximately the same per cent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics index of the cost of living has fallen. What theory of wage determination was involved in this action? What theory of wages seems to you to explain wages most completely?
  4. What is meant by the incidents of ownership? Discuss them in connection with the various legal forms under which business units operate.
  5. If the prices of commodities rise in the near future, what will probably happen to rates of interest? Why? What is your prediction concerning the future of pure interest?
  6. Criticize some of the arguments for the tariff.
  7. Do the credit structure and the type of organization under which business units operate have anything to do with determining the recipient of profits?
  8. Is it necessary to give special assistance to the agriculturists in order to pull this country out of the depression? What characteristics of agriculture make it so difficult to do much for the farmers? What program should the government follow in its efforts?

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2C. Statistics. Dr. Evans.

Three hours weekly through the year. Th., Fri., Sat., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first half-year attention is directed to the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, and study is made of the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the application of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.

Prerequisite: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Mid-year Examination
February 3, 1933

  1. The average deposit per individual depositor in savings banks in the United States was $437.89 in 1913. By 1926 this figure had risen to $633.10 per depositor, indicating that savings bank depositors were noticeably more thrifty than at the earlier date. Is the conclusion a sound one?
  2. Upon the following data construct price indices of the simple geometric type for 1901 and 1902, using 1900 as the base.
Commodity 1900
Price		 1901
Price		 1902
Price
A 1 2 3
B 3 3 3
C 1 1.5 2

In which year is the dispersion of the price relatives the larger? What is the significance of your observations upon the dispersions.

  1. A Japanese speaker argued recently that the apparently high birth rate of the Japanese in California was due to the fact that an unusually large proportion of the Japanese population was between the ages of 15 and 45, and that later this high birth rate would be reduced as the age distribution of the population became more normal. Discuss the validity of this argument.
  2. How would you verify the law of statistical regularity and the principle of inertia of large numbers?
  3. Without constructing what is technically called a ratio chart, plot the following figures so as to give the same effect as that produced by the ratio chart.
1900 2.4
1903 5.8
1904 7.3

How could your chart be converted into a ratio chart?

  1. Draw up in the rough a table with title, captions, stubs, etc., to provide for a complete cross-classification of the population of a city according to color, sex, marital status and age. (Note: emphasize the characteristics in the order named.)

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. Discuss the limitations upon the use of statistical method.
  2. Describe how and when the estimation of the value of one variable can be made from a known value of another variable by the use of the scatter diagram.
  3. How can the period of lag of one series in relation to another be determined.
  4. What is meant by “normal” business conditions and how may mathematical measurements of normal be made?
  5. In obtaining a seasonal index, can cyclical and erratic influences be largely eliminated? How? Describe two methods of eliminating the effects of seasonal variation from time-series data.
  6. Explain “mathematical methods of trend fitting are not fool-proof”. What are the various methods of determining a line of trend?
  7. What kinds of situations make necessary the use of index numbers? Give the methods of constructing index numbers.

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3B. Money and Banking.
Associate Professor Weyforth.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 9.30, Gilman Hall 311.

In this course an analysis of the functions of money, credit and banking in our modern economic life will be made. There will be a description of various types of monetary systems, of the forms of credit and of banking and financial institutions. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between money, bank credit and prices; to the effects of price fluctuations upon individuals and upon general business conditions; to the problems of stabilizing prices and controlling business fluctuations by means of a deliberately directed monetary and credit policy. The Federal Reserve System will be studied with special emphasis upon its problem of credit control. Some time will also be devoted to the relationship between the money market and the stock market, to the problem of brokers’ loans, and to the financial operations involved in our international trade.

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Mid-year Examination
January 31, 1933

  1. Describe the functions performed by money and explain its importance in our present economic system.
  2. What is meant by “standard” money? Describe as many types of standard money as you can. Explain the difference between standard money and legal tender money. Illustrate the latter by examples from the United States currency.
  3. What factors were responsible for the rapid depreciation of German currency after the war? Why did prices rise more rapidly than the volume of currency? Can this be reconciled with the quantity theory of money? Explain.
  4. Explain the difference between fixed and circulating capital. What problems does this distinction create in regard to the financing of business enterprises? Explain fully.
  5. What is meant by the value of money? How do we measure changes in it? Explain the economic consequences of changes in the value of money.
  6. Distinguish between the functions of an investment banker and of a commercial bank. Explain how the commercial banks create deposits and show the limitations upon their powers in this respect.
  7. Describe the history of the monetary standard in the United States.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Final Examination
May 30, 1933

  1. Describe the more important types of loans and investments made by commercial banks. Describe the changes in the nature of their business since the war and the reasons for these changes.
  2. Explain the defects in our banking system prior to the establishment of the Federal reserve system and give a brief description of the steps toward reform.
  3. Explain the circumstances under which shipments of gold occur between two countries both of which are on a gold standard.
  4. Is there any limit to the extent to which the market rate of exchange may fluctuate between two countries when one or both of them does not provide for redemption of its currency in gold? Explain the operation of the factors involved.
  5. What is the importance of an elastic currency? What provision was made in the Federal Reserve Act for such a currency? What are the provisions of the laws passed during the present depression enlarging the note issues of national banks and Federal reserve banks?
  6. Explain the various methods which Federal reserve banks may employ to control credit and show how they operate.
  7. Explain and criticize the various principles that may be employed by Federal reserve banks as guides to their credit policy.
  8. What do you think of inflation as a means of promoting recovery from the depression?

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4B. Labor Problems. Professor [George E.] Barnett.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course the problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied, e.g., child labor, industrial accidents, unemployment. It includes a critical discussion of the ameliorative measures which have been adopted in the leading industrial countries. Special attention will be given to an analysis of the principles underlying the schemes of social insurance against sickness, old age, and unemployment, so generally put into effect in recent years in European countries. In the second part of the course the history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are considered. Particular attention will be given to the working of representative systems of collective bargaining and an analysis of the conditions under which these systems have attained their greatest strength. An appraisal of rival forms of wage fixation, such as individual bargaining governmental intervention and shop committees will conclude the course.

Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C and 12 B.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Mid-year Examination
January 30, 1933

  1. On what principles, should an economic man divide his income between expenditure and saving?
  2. On what principles, should he divide his expenditure among different objects of expenditure?
  3. How and why should he divide his savings between investment and insurance?
  4. Describe briefly the various causes of unemployment.
  5. Discuss the effects of shortening the hours of labor.
  6. Why are the risks of unemployment, old age, etc. a part of the labor problem?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Final Examination
May 29, 1933

  1. Define “trade union” and distinguish trade unions from such associations as medical societies, bar associations.
  2. Describe the relations among the various units (local union, national unions, etc.) making up the structure of American trade unionism.
  3. Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions against employers.
  4. Discuss “picketing”.
  5. What is the object of trade unions to the injunction?
  6. What is “scientific management” and how has it influenced the employer in his attitude toward labor?
  7. Outline the chief lines of approach to the governmental adjustment of industrial disputes.
  8. Is the labor market a good market?

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12B. Economic History. Associate Professor Mitchell.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 1 p.m., Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course a study is made of English economic history, the purpose being to show not only the industrial development of the English people as such but the way in which the economic motive has influenced the whole of social life. Particular attention is given to the characteristic forms of economic organization—the manorial system, the guild system, the entrance of capitalism and the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Special reference is made to those features of English economic history which have influence industrial life in the United States. The second part of the course is a survey of the economic history of our own country. Here the same effort is made, as in the case of England, to show the bearing of economic considerations on political evolution, especially in the direction of the growing importance of the Federal Government.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 3, 1933

  1. What is meant by the economic interpretation of history?
  2. Describe the manor and the main steps in its disappearance.
  3. Contrast Wat Tyler and George Washington.
  4. How did the medieval city under the craft gilds differ from Baltimore today, economically, socially, and politically?
  5. What was Mercantilism? Are there tendencies toward a return to Mercantilism now? If so, is this movement wise or unwise, and why?
  6. What developments preceded the Industrial Revolution?
  7. Describe the Industrial Revolution.
  8. Make an argument that mankind would be better off had the inventors of the eighteenth century never lived.
  9. Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. State and discuss what you consider to have been the main tendencies in American economic life.
  2. Give an outline history of the tariff until the time of the Civil War.
  3. Sketch the history of banking in the United States from 1791 to 1863.
  4. “The essential cause of the Civil War was the difference in economic pursuits of North and South.” Explain this statement.
  5. Describe the causes of the panics of 1837 and 1873.
  6. In what respects have Hamilton’s policies been borne out by American economic and political development?
  7. What considerations have turned the American people from approval of Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of “trust busting” to Franklin Roosevelt’s policy of relaxing the anti-trust acts?
  8. Give the main developments in “internal improvements” to the present time.
  9. State briefly what you think you will recall from this course twenty-five years from now.

Sources:

Course announcements from The College of Arts and Sciences, 1932-33 (February, 1932). The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1932, No. 2, Whole Number 434, pp. 38-39.
Course examinations from Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6, Curricular materials. Box 2, Folder “Exams 1930-1935.”

Image Source:  Photo of Gilman Hall from the 1924 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.

 

 

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Popular Economics Syllabus

Chautauqua University Extension. Three Lectures on Labor Movement. Ely, 1889

While preparing a later post on the economics component of the 1889-90 C. L. S. C. (Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle), I came across a reference to a syllabus for a series of lectures given by Richard T. Ely in Chautauqua, New York. I tracked down the three reports of the syllabus (transcribed for this post below) in the Chautauqua Assembly Herald which can be consulted on-line from what appear to be scans of microfilm images.

For a brief history of the Chautauqua Education Movement in the United States.

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Chautauqua University Extension.
Lectures on the Labor Movement in the Hall of Philosophy
by Dr. Richard T. Ely.

I.
The Nature of the Labor Problem, August 7, 1889.
SYLLABUS OF TOPICS

  1. Introductory Remarks
    1. University Extension lectures are primarily for instruction and not for entertainment. They are to give popular presentations of serious subjects. Those who do not care for this sort of lectures are advised to remain away rather than annoy the lecturer and disturb the rest of the audience by coming and going.
    2. The character of the present course, which is an adaptation of class-room work.
    3. The examination at the close of the course.
  2. Comments on the Annotated Bibliography.
  3. The Existence of Social Classes.
    1. What is meant by classes? Stormonth gives this definition: “A number of persons in society supposed to have the same position with regard to means, rank, etc.” Webster’s definition is as follows: A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics.” Modern classes are industrial, especially in republics, but industrial pursuits are everywhere acquiring increasing importance in class-formation.
    2. Ancient and modern classes compared. The influence of occupation in early times seen in the castes of India. “Sir Henry Maine.”
    3. Law and industry as a basis of classes compared. Economic forces often more powerful than legal forces. Illustrated by the contrast between nominal and actual freedom. “The Tribe of Ishmael.”
    4. It is a mistake to shut our eyes to the fact of the existence of classes in the United States, and to the further fact that with us class lines are becoming more inflexible and difficult to cross. America is becoming more like European countries.
    5. The good and evil effects of the existence of classes. The ideal is the harmonious and helpful co-existence of classes. “For…the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that body being many are one body…But God hat tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor so that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; if one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.”—St. Paul, First Epistle to the Corinthians. This bring us naturally to
  4. The solidarity of social classes.
    Modern society cannot prosper unless all parts participate in this prosperity, but wealth may increase while society decays. The oneness of society and the oneness of social life, illustrated by Professor Burrough’s Chautauqua sermon of Sunday, July 7, of this year.
    “While there is a single guilty person in the universe, each innocent one must feel his innocence tortured by that guilt”—Hawthorne in the Marble Faun.
  5. The labor problem, a problem of such real living importance that it may be called the problem of problems, but it must never be regarded as a class-problem.
    The error of the more radical forms of socialism in treating the labor problem as merely a class-problem, thereby promoting class-hatred and delaying social reform.
    The emancipation of the laboring classes can never be accomplished by the laboring classes alone.
  6. The true meaning of this phrase of Gladstone. The individual and social standpoint contrasted. The social standpoint illuminated by the labor problem.
    “A sense of wrong is a mighty strong eyewash. It will clear out a lot of sophisms which blind men’s eyes.”—Dr. Heber Newton—Also true of love. Illustrations taken from American and English experience, of social benefits from the agitation of the labor problem.

Source: Chautauqua Assembly Herald. Vol. XIV, No. 13 (August 7, 1889), p. 3.

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II.
The Causes of Existence of the Modern Labor Problem
August 8, 1889.
SYLLABUS OF TOPICS

  1. Introductory Remarks
    The multiplicity of causes render their comprehension difficult.
  2. The organic character of all forms of social life, and the youthful features of the present politico-economic organism in civilized nations.
    The hopefulness of this view.
  3. Movement the law of life.
    The newness of our present economic life. Illustrations.
    1. Transportation one hundred years ago.
      Adam Smith, in 1776, assumes that beef and grain are too bulky to be transported with profit from Ireland to England. These are his words:
      “Even the breeding countries of Great Britain never are likely to be much affected by the free importation of Irish cattle. *** Even the free importation of Irish corn could very little affect the interests of the farmers of Great Britain. Corn is a much more bulky commodity than butchers’ meat. *** The small quantity of foreign corn imported, even in times of greatest scarcity, may satisfy our farmers that they have nothing to fear from the freest importation.” With this, contrast American competition in the supply of wheat and beef in 1889, in its effects on European agriculture.
    2. Banks One Hundred Years Ago.
      Banks have increased in number, and their functions have changed within fifty years.
      “in [illegible] the fourth bank was established, the Bank of Maryland, in the city of Baltimore, if I am not mistaken; and that bank was open one year before a single depositor came to its counters. Bagehot, the English authority, says that as late as 1880 all the discussions of bankers were upon the circulation and not at all upon the deposits of their banks. *** I looked at the bank statements of the banks of New York the other day, and the figures were these: The circulation of all banks was $5,000,000; the deposits of the banks in the same week were over $400,000,000.
      Seth Low in a speech before Boston Merchants’ Association, January 8, 1889.
    3. Corporations one hundred years ago compared with corporations and trusts to-day.
      One hundred years ago Adam Smith expressed the belief that corporations could not succeed on account of their inability to hold their own in competition with individuals and private firms. Now, the conviction is expressed that the individual as such is disappearing in industrial life, and Mr. Seth Low holds that this must be offset by increasing the importance of the individual in political life.
    4. Free Trade in Land a modern fact.
      Former system of land tenure in Europe and America.
    5. The Relative freedom of Trade and Commerce likewise Recent.
    6. The Free Choice of Occupations a new right.
    7. The freedom of migration a nineteenth century right.
      Illustrations of the former condition of the law taken from Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations.”
    8. The right of free combinations of labor and capital likewise a modern fact.
    9. The universal, personal freedom of the manual laboring classes, in all civilized lands, is a fact not a generation old.
      The opinion of Aristotle on slavery quoted.
    10. Capital, as we understand it, a force peculiar to modern times.
      “Such war cries as we find, Lassalle raising against capital would not have been understood among the ancients and the oppressed classes of the middle ages.”—Kaufman.
      Confirmation of this view found in Aristotle. The word “capital” not found in the index of Jowett’s Aristotle’s “Politics.”
    11. Railroads, telegraphs, telephones and other applications of steam and electricity very recent facts.
    12. The division of labor as now understood a recent fact.
    13. Our present manufacturing class a recent creation.
      The use of the word “manufacturer” in 1776.
    14. Some common materials are new discoveries.
      Cotton, anthracite coal, and protection.
  1. A new industrial world requires a new industrial organization and a new industrial science, but both the organization and the science are incomplete.
    As a consequence of the foregoing, progress produces long-continued social distress.
  2. Some of the results of the above described changes on the laboring classes.
    The changes a condition without which the labor problem would be an impossibility.

    1. Deterioration in the condition of the masses may be relative or absolute.
      The condition of the masses must be examined in both respects.
    2. Diminished security of [illegible word, “asistence”?]
      Illustrations taken from North and South.
    3. Irregularity of employment and income, and attended evils.
    4. Increased reparation of classes.
    5. Changed and deteriorated environment of the majority of wage-earners.
      “Beyond a doubt, sickness is the greatest foe of the poor. It absorbs their savings, creates poverty and pain, and fills our public and private institutions. It is the tenement house system that creates or fosters most of the prevalent disease, degradation, misery and pain. It invites pestilence and destroys morals.”— F. Wingate. [Charles F. Wingate]
      Father Huntington’s testimony quoted.
    6. Industrial and moral evils attendant on frequent migrations of wage-earners.
    7. Machinery both a blessing and a curse.
    8. Increased wants and their effect on the industrial situation.
      Character of these increased wants, some good, some bad.
      Table showing comparative percentage expenditure of working men’s families in Illinois and Massachusetts.
Items. ILLINOIS. MASS.
Subsistence 41.38 49.28
Clothing 21.00 15.95
Rent 17.42 19.74
Fuel 5.63 4.30
Sundries 14.57 10.73
[Totals] [100.00] [100.00]

Source: Chautauqua Assembly Herald. Vol. XIV, No. 14 (August 8, 1889), p. 3.

Cf. Table on p. 282 of Ely’s An Introduction to Political Economy (1889) .

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III.
Industrial Evils and Their Remedies,
August 9, 1889.
SYLLABUS OF TOPICS

  1. Child Labor.
    “The number of males over sixteen engaged in manufacturing in 1880 was 2,019,035, an increase in ten years of 24.97 per cent. The number of females over fifteen was 531,639, an increase in the same time of 64.2 per cent. and of children 181,921, an increase of 58.79 per cent. ** The employment of women in all gainful occupations is increasing fifty per cent. faster than the population, or than the employment of men, and the same is true to still greater degree of the employment of children, save in the very few states which have stringent factory laws and make any genuine effort to enforce them.”— W. Bemis in the article “Workingmen in the United States,” in the American edition of the Encylopaedia Britannica. A workingman’s paper quoted on child labor in the coal mining regions. The testimony of President Crowell.
  2. The increasing number of women wage-
  3. The dwellings of the laboring classes in cities.
  4. Sunday work an evil of increasing magnitude.
    The opinion of workingmen on the “abolition of Sunday.” Is there any law of New Jersey in defense of Sunday? If so, why is it not enforced against the railroad corporations? When laboring men violate any law of the money power it is anarchy, and the law breakers are imprisoned or hanged. But when the money power violates all laws, both human and divine there is neither penalty nor remedy.
    “Look at the Central Railroad of new Jersey running coal trains every Sunday, compelling its employes to work upon that day. ** God knows it is hard enough to work for a mere pittance six days in the week, but it is intolerable to be compelled to work on Sunday for nothing as we do—to desecrate the Sabbath and to be deprived even of the boon of preaching. If this is not anarchy, what is it? And how much longer shall the Golden Calf rule in New Jersey?—Correspondence of John Swinton’s Paper.” Comment on the statement, “work on Sunday for nothing.”
    The agitation for a free Sunday on the part of the bakers in New York and Philadelphia. Remarks of the former secretary of the Journeyman Bakers’ National Union in a letter to the lecturer.
    The agitation of the Sunday question by other workingmen in New York; also in Chicago. Editorial in the “Knights of Labor” on Sunday slavery.
    The American Sabbath Union and the testimony of its secretaro, Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts.
    The true spirit of Sunday observance and the Sunday reform socially considered.
  5. Over-work and night-work:
  6. Excessive mortality of the wage-earning classes, especially of their children.
    This evil economically and socially considered. The principal causes of death are social. “Some 16,000 children under five die every year in New York—just twice the normal mortality for a large city. ** If viewed rightly, this would be called simply massacre.”— F. Wingate.
    Mortality among the white and colored people of the South:
WHITE. COLORED.
Memphis, 1888 19 37
Average for nine years 19 37
Chattanooga, 1888 16 33
Knoxville, 1888 13 29
Average for 8 years 14 31
Clarksville, av. for 2 years 13 28
Columbia, av. for 2 years 13 16

These cities are in Tennessee. Statistics for Columbus, Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia, for Richmond, Mobile and Charleston, are similar in significance.
Dr. G. W. Hubbard, of Meharry Medical School, gives four causes of the large mortality of colored people, viz., poverty, ignorance of the laws of health, superstition and lack of proper medical attendance.
“At present the average age at death among the nobility, gentry and professional classes in England and Wales was 55 years; but among the artisan classes of Lambeth it only amounted to 29; and while the infantile death rate among the well-to-do classes was such that only eight children died in the first year of life out of 100 born, as many as 30 per cent. succumbed among the children of the poor in some districts of our large cities. The only real cause of this enormous difference in the position of the rich and the poor with respect to their chances of existence lay in the fact that at the bottom of society wages were so low that food and other requisites of health were obtained with too great difficulty.”
Dr. C. H. Drysdale, in report of Industrial Remuneration Conference, 1885. Investigations of Joseph Korosi, director of municipal statistics of Buda Pesth. Comments on other data.

  1. Intemperance as an Industrial Evil
    Intemperance must be regarded both as with cause and effect.
    Music as a remedy for intemperance. Experiments in London where oratorios like “St. Paul,” the “Messiah,” “Elijah,” and Spohr’s “Last Judgment” have been appreciated by “crowds of the lowest classes, some shoeless and bonnetless, and all having the savor of the great unwashed; who sat in church for two hours ‘quietly and reverently.’” See Barnett’s “Practicable Socialism” p. 56. Testimony: “If I could hear music like that every night I should not need the drink.” A New York experiment.
    Positive measures required for the cure of intemperance and not merely negative. Working-men’s halls. The efforts of working-men in Baltimore. Modified Prohibition considered.
  2. Other Evils.
    “Pluck-me Stores.” Excessive immigration, monopolies, accidents, a wide-spread spirit of lawlessness, pauperism.

Source: Chautauqua Assembly Herald. Vol. XIV, No. 15 (August 9, 1889), pp. 6-7.

Image Source: The University of Wisconsin yearbook, The Badger 1894.

 

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Activities of department of political economy, 1935-1936

 

Annual reports by university presidents often include chapters submitted by individual faculties, schools, and/or departments about their instructional, research, and outreach activities. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is as good a place as any to serve as a digital depository of such dispersed material that can document time-lines for individual economics departments and economists. It would be boring for both the curator and subscribers to be subject to a long continuous stream of such material from any one department, so from time to time, I’ll just add additional years and gradually complete the time-series of reports.

_____________________

1935-1936
POLITICAL ECONOMY
[at Johns Hopkins University]

The instruction in Political Economy was directed by Professor Hollander, who met students daily in seminary organization for formal study and for cooperative research. The courses were designed to afford systematic instruction in general economic principles, intimate acquaintance with special fields of economic activity, and, most important of all, knowledge of and ability to employ sound methods of economic research. Dr. George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics; Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. George H. Evans, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Howard E. Cooper, Associate in Political Economy; and Dr. Roy J. Bullock, Associate in Political Economy, assisted in the conduct of the work.

ECONOMIC SEMINARY

The papers and reports presented to the Seminary were as follows: Gregory King, the Political Arithmetician, by Professor Barnett; The History of British Preference Shares, by Dr. Evans; The Baltimore Wholesale, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market, by Mr. Deupree; Tench Coxe and the Federal Constitution, by Mr. Hutcheson; Hamilton’s Early Financial Papers, by Dr. Mitchell; Constitutional Restrictions on Economic Liberty, by Dr. Kahn; The Historical Development of the Massachusetts Municipal List, by Mr. Hickman; Food Marketing and Public Policy, by Dr. Bullock; The Baltimore Clearing House Association, by Mr. Hales; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Maryland, by Miss Wolman; The Trade Acceptance in America, by Mr. Wilcox; The Banking Principle and the Currency Principle, by Dr. Weyforth; The Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, by Mr. Douglas; The Literary and Economic Influences upon Alexander Hamilton, by Mr. Rappeport; Tench Coxe’s Plea for a National Economy, by Mr. Hutcheson; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Baltimore, by Miss Wolman; Administrative Control of Labor Relations, by Mr. Ziskind; The Fiduciary Nature of the Savings Bank, by Mr. Hickman; The Street Railway Industry, by Mr. Saks; The History of Marsh Market, by Mr. Deupree; The Origin of the Baltimore Clearing House, by Mr. Hales; Industrial Corporate Surplus, by Dr. Cooper; The Concept of Self Interest in Adam Smith and Related Writers, by Mr. Lovenstein; The Growth of Municipal Indebtedness in the United States, by Mr. Shattuck; Investment Affiliates in Recent American Banking, by Mr. Peach; Small Scale Enterprise in the Anthracite Coal Fields, by Mr. Lanyon.

Appreciable progress has been made by members of the Seminary in the study of special aspects of the several questions chosen for investigation. The income of the Lessing Rosenthal Fund for Economic Research has been of aid in connection with Mr. W. Braddock Hickman’s study of “The Legal Control of Savings Bank Investments in Massachusetts” and with Mr. Harold Hutcheson’s study of “Tench Coxe.” The Fund was also drawn upon for temporary advances toward defraying the cost of publication by the Johns Hopkins Press of Dr. Evans’ “British Corporation Finance,” of Dr. Wyckoff’s “Tobacco Regulation in Colonial Maryland,” and also a second impression of five numbers of the Economic Tracts, out of print.

The Hutzler Collection has continued to add to its works disclosing the development of American economic thought and American economic history. During the present session we have also acquired an admirable copy of the rare first edition of Graunt’s “Bills of Mortality,” and photostat copies of important writings of Gregory King and Charles Davenant for use in the forthcoming series of Economic Tracts. The recataloguing and the rearrangement of the collection, in progress for the past two years, will be completed in the coming months.

Professor Hollander lectured one hour a week on the Development of Economic Theory and one hour a week on Theory and Practice of Public Expenditure.

Professor Barnett lectured one hour a week throughout the year on American Trade Unionism.

Associate Professor Weyforth lectured one hour a week throughout the year on Industrial Fluctuations.

Associate Professor Mitchell lectured one hour a week throughout the year on The Slave South.

Associate Professor Evans lectured one hour a week during the first half-year on Index Numbers.

Dr. Cooper gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on The Interpretation of Financial Statements.

Dr. Bullock gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on Marketing of Consumers’ Goods by Manufacturers.

Members of the staff were called upon for public service in various capacities. Professor Barnett continued his service as a representative of the American Economic Association on the Advisory Committee of the Census. He was also appointed chairman of the Nominating Committee of the American Economic Association and Vice-President of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Weyforth was reappointed to the Maryland State Board of Examiners of Public Accountants. Dr. Mitchell served as consultant to the Director, Division of Review of the N. R. A. from November 1935 to March 1936. He was elected for the second time to membership on the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association.

The following undergraduate courses were given:

1. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth, Associate Professor Mitchell, and Associate Professor Evans.

2. Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Evans.

3. Money and Banking. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth.

6. Corporation Finance and Investments. Three hours weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

11. Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

12. Economic History. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Mitchell.

14. Advanced Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

16. The Money Market. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Hollander.

18. Wages and Employment. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

20. Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

21. Advanced Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

22. Commercial Law. Two hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Howell.

23. Mathematics of Finance and Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Richeson.

 

EVENING COURSES IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

During the past twenty years The Johns Hopkins University has offered a series of Evening Courses in Business Economics under the general direction of the Department of Political Economy. Such instruction is made available at hours and under conditions designed to meet the convenience of those likely to make use thereof. While designed in the main to offer instruction to young men and women actually engaged in or contemplating entrance into business, industry and commerce, the courses are planned to meet the needs also of those who have a more general interest in the subjects. The following courses were offered during the year:

Current Economic Problems, Professor Hollander; Investments, Professor Barnett; Money and Banking, Associate Professor Weyforth; Political Economy, American Economic History, Associate Professor Mitchell; Business Statistics, Corporation Finance, Associate Professor Evans; Corporation Accounting, Dr. Cooper; Elements of Business Administration, Marketing, Dr. Bullock; Elementary Accounting, Dr. Bryan; Mercantile Credit, Mr. Clautice; Auditing Principles and Practice, Federal and State Tax Accounting, Mr. Baker; Advanced Commercial Law, Dr. Watkins; Salesmanship and Salesmanagement, Mr. Ramsen; Advanced Auditing and Accountant’s Working Papers, Mr. Stegman; Applications of Psychology to Business, Dr. Bentley; Advanced Accounting Problems, Mr. McCord; Principles of Advertising, Mr. Corner; Commercial Law, Mr. Thomsen; Specialized Accounting, Cost Accounting, Mr. Smith; Business English, Public Speaking, Dr. Lyons.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

The academic year 1935-36 marked the fourteenth year of operation of the School of Business Economics. The School was established to take care of the increasing need of specialized academic training for men contemplating a business career. In planning the curriculum of the School of Business Economics there was kept in mind the need for an adequate training in certain fundamental subjects, as well as for specialized instruction in economics and business subjects. Accordingly, during the first two years the studies are rather closely prescribed and are selected so as to furnish an essential background for a career in any field of business. In these years the curriculum is very similar to that which would be taken in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the third year greater latitude is allowed the student in the selection of subjects, and in the fourth year nearly all the subjects are elective. During these last two years it is intended that there should be intensive specialization in studies in business economics.

Students in the School of Business Economics are called upon, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics, to submit in the last year of residence an essay dealing with some business or economic subject. A wide range of choice is permitted to students in the selection of subjects. A suggested list of topics is submitted to them, but they are not restricted to such topics. It is believed that one of the principal benefits that a student may derive from the writing of such an essay is the experience obtained in the independent gathering and organization of material; and the industry and zeal of the student is likely to be enhanced if the subject on which he is working is one of special interest to him. The subjects on which essays were written in the year 1935-36 included the following: Interest as a Cost to Manufacture; The Chain Store Movement in Men’s Wear Merchandising; Control and Planning of Department Store Merchandising; Accounting Presentation for the Executive; Production Indexes; Should Public Utility Holding Companies be Eliminated?; Advertising Agencies in the United States; Investment Value of Low, Medium, and High Priced Common Stocks; Public Policy Toward Chain Stores; The Federal Securities Act of 1933 and Its Amendments; Revaluation of Fixed Assets; The American Paper Industry; The Baltimore Consumer Market. Several students wrote on the Analysis of Financial Statements, each one selecting a different corporation as the basis of his study.

In 1936, 17 students were graduated. These students were awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics.

PUBLICATIONS

George E. Barnett.

Review of History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932, volumes III and IV, in American Economic Review, June 1936, pp. 339-342.

George Heberton Evans, Jr.

British Corporation Finance 1775-1850; A Study of Preference Shares. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press), pp. 208.

Jacob H. Hollander.

Two Letters on the Measure of Value by John Stuart Mill, 1822 (Editor). Fourth number of fourth series of Reprint of Economic Tracts. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1936), pp. 24.

Broadus Mitchell.

American Radicals Nobody Knows, in South Atlantic Quarterly, October 1935, pp. 394-401.

Economists and the Depression, in Social Frontier, April 1936, pp. 215-217.

Articles in Dictionary of American Biography, as follows: vol. XV—Enoch Pratt, pp. 171-172; John Rae, pp. 321-322; vol. XVI—Edward Van Dyke Robinson, pp. 42-43; Jacob Schoenhof, pp. 450-451; XVII—Stephen Simpson, pp. 183-184; Lysander Spooner, pp. 466-467; XVIII—Philip Evan Thomas, pp. 442-443; Robert Ellis Thompson, pp. 469-470; Daniel Augustus Tompkins, pp. 581-583.

—and reviews as follows:

Parmelee, Farewell to Poverty, in Social Frontier, January 1936, p. 122.

Lawrence, Stumbling into Socialism, in The Annals, January 1936, pp. 281-282.

Ely and Bohn, The Great Change, in The Annals, November 1935, pp. 191-192.

Douglas, Controlling Depressions, and Fledderus and van Kleeck, On Economic Planning, in New Republic, August 28, 1935, p. 81.

Harvey, Samuel Gompers, in Journal of Political Economy, February 1936, pp. 106-107.

Baker, Concerning Government Benefits, in The Survey, June 1936, p. 188.

Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, in Virginia Quarterly Review, July 1936, pp. 453-457.

William O. Weyforth.

Review of A New Monetary System of the United States (Related Studies), in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, November 1935, pp. 308-309.

Jacob H. Hollander,
Abram G. Hutzler Professor of Political Economy.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. University Circular. Annual Report of the President, 1935-1936, Vol. 481, (November 1936), pp. 99-103.

Categories
Economists Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Career of economics Ph.D. alumnus (plus doctoral exams), George H. Evans, 1925

 

This post began as a straightforward transcription of the final Ph.D. examinations of George Heberton Evans, Jr. who was to stay on at Johns Hopkins, becoming professor of political economy, then long serving chairman of the department (1942-1960), and finally serving as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy (1959-1966).  But as I was typing the questions below, I had the feeling that I had seen these questions before and began to fear that maybe I was senselessly duplicating a previous post at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. 

It turns out that the Johns Hopkins Department of Political Economy engaged in a fairly vigorous recycling of final Ph.D. examination questions over the years. I remember wondering what sense there was in having written final doctoral examinations in May for a degree to be awarded in June, literally weeks away. This practice of posing virtually identical examination questions would seem to indicate that the department did not regard the examinations as much more that an academic formality.

Cf. the very high correspondence of questions with those of the 1933 examinations. Incidentally the economic theory questions below are completely identical to those of the May 19, 1927 exam and in the applied economics questions below six of the questions are the same as the May 21, 1927 exam.

_______________________

Vital dates, George Heberton Evans, Jr.

Born January 20, 1900 and died October 12, 1979 in Baltimore, Maryland.

_______________________

Awarded the Ph.D. at the 1925 Commencement
of Johns Hopkins University

George Heberton Evans, Jr., of Maryland, A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1920. Political Economy, Political Science, Psychology

Dissertation Title: Apartment Rents in Baltimore, January 1917 Through October 1923.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Conferring of Degrees at the Close of the Forty-Ninth Academic Year (June 9, 1925), p. 8.

_______________________

AEA 1969 Biographical Listing

Evans, George Heberton, Jr., academic; b. Baltimore, Md., 1900; A.B., Johns Hopkins U., 1920, Ph.D., 1925. DOC DIS. Apartment Rents in Baltimore January 1917 through October 1923, 1925. FIELDS 1bc, 7a, 6b. PUB. Business Incorporations in the United States, 1800-1943, 1948; Principles of Investment, 1940; British Corporation Finance, 1775-1850: A Study of Preference Shares, 1936. RES. History of American Business Corporations, 1800-1950. Prof. political economy, Johns Hopkin U. since 1942, dean, Faculty of Philosophy, 1959-66. ADDRESS Political Economy Dept., Johns Hopkins U., Gilman Hall 411, Charles and 34th Sts., Baltimore, MD 21218.

Source: American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 6. 1969 Handbook of the American Economic Association (January, 1970), p. 127.

_______________________

G.H. EVANS, JR.
May 21, 1925

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY AS A PRINCIPAL SUBJECT
(Principles of Political Economy)

  1. What is the relation of Political Economy to economic history in scope and method of investigation?
  2. What important economic doctrines had been clearly formulated prior to the year 1600? [sic, in several other exams with nearly identical content “1800” so probably “1800” is correct]
  3. Discuss the personal contacts and doctrinal contrasts of Quesnay and Adam Smith.
  4. Contrast the theories of distribution formulated by (a) Adam Smith, (b) David Ricardo, (c) Alfred Marshall.
  5. What has been the development of the principle of population since the time of Malthus?
  6. Discuss the origin and development of the wage fund theory.
  7. What have been the most important contributions of the Austrian economists?
  8. What scientific theory of wages have your own studies of wage conditions tended to confirm?
  9. What assignable limit is there to the size of the modern industrial unit?
  10. What would be the theoretical effects of a horizontal increase of ten per cent in general wages upon the several classes of society?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

G.H. EVANS, JR.
May 22, 1925

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY AS A PRINCIPAL SUBJECT
(Applied Economics)

  1. What principles should govern the governmental commission in the fixture of railway rates?
  2. Outline the history of (a) metallic and (b) paper money in the United States since the adoption of the federal constitution.
  3. Discuss the history, the defects and the incidence of the General Property Tax.
  4. State and criticize the Quantity Theory of Money.
  5. On what grounds can the sale of protected manufactures in foreign markets at less than domestic prices be justified?
  6. Discuss modern industrial combinations in the light of an assignable limit to the growth in the size of the modern industrial unit.
  7. Trace the progress of the U.S. Tariff since the Civil War.
  8. State the theory of large numbers and explain the relation of the theory to the logic of chance.
  9. Compare the administrative organization of the Bank of France and the Reichsbank.
  10. What is the relation of labor legislation to economic organization? What are the natural limits of labor legislation?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 6. Box 3/1, “Graduate Exams 1903-1932.”

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Graphic and Pictorial Collection. George Heberton Evans at approximately 40 years old.

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. International Economics Reading List. Balassa, 1968

 

The content of the course titled “International Economics” taught by Bela Balassa at Johns Hopkins University in 1968 was actually limited to pure trade theory, commercial policy and economic integration. The reading list for Balassa’s other course at Johns Hopkins University, “Trade and Economic Development“, was posted earlier. 

___________________

Department of Economics
International Economics 641
Fall, 1968
Dr. Balassa

Bibliography and Reading List

Abbreviations of Books

Books are referred to by authors unless otherwise noted.

RIT, Readings in International Economics

RTIT, Readings in the Theory of International Trade

Balassa, B., The Theory of Economic Integration

Baldwin et al, Trade, Growth and the Balance of Payments

Caves, R., Trade and Economic Structure

Haberler, G., The Theory of International Trade

Johnson, H.G., International Trade and Economic Growth

Linder, S.B., An Essay on Trade and Transformation

Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce

Meade, J. E., Trade and Commerce

_________, A Geometry of International Trade

Mill, J. S., Principles of Political Economy

Ohlin, B., Interregional and International Trade

Ricardo, D., The Principles of Political Economy

Scitovsky, T., Economic Theory and Western European Integration

Travis, W.P., The Theory of Trade and Protections

Vanke, J., International Trade: Theory and Economic Policy

Viner, J., I, Studies in the Theory of International Trade

_________ II, The Customs Union Issue

Abbreviations of Periodicals

AER, American Economic Review

BOUIS, Bulletin of Oxford University Institute of Statistics

Econ., Economica

EI, Economia Internazionale

EJ, Economic Journal

ER, Economic Record

IEP, International. Economic Papers

JPE, Journal of Political Economy

Ky, Kyklos

OEP, Oxford Economic Papers

QJE, Quarterly Journal of Economics

RES, Review of Economics and Statistics

RESt, Review of Economic Studies

WA, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv

NOTE: The non-starred items are assigned, the starred ones recommended .

General Surveys

Haberler, G., A Survey of International Trade Theory, Special Papers in International Economics, No. 1, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Corden, W.M., Recent Developments in the Theory of International Trade, ibid., No. 7

Bhagwati, J., “The Pure Theory of International Trade,” Economic Journal, March, 1964

Chipman, J.S., “A Survey of the Theory of International Trade,” Econometrica, July, October,1965, January, 1966

Caves, R.E., Trade and Economic Structure

Kemp, M.C., The Pure Theory of International Trade

I. The Classical Theory of International Trade

Ricardo, ch. 7

Mill, Book III, ch. 17, 18, 25

Marshall, Appendix J.

Haberler, ch. IX-XII

Viner, I, ch. VIII

*Mynt, H., “The Classical Theory of International Trade and the Underdeveloped Countries,” EJ, June, 1958.

*Vanek, J., “An Afterthought on the ‘Real Cost-Opportunity Cost’ Dispute and some Aspects of General Equilibrium Under Conditions of Variable Factor Supplies,” RESt, June, 1959.

*Walsh, V.C., “Leisure and International Trade,” Econ., August, 1959

II. Criticisms and Extensions of the Classical Theory

Williams, J.H., “The Theory of International Trade Reconsidered,” RTIT, ch. 12

Graham, F.D., “The Theory of International Values Re-Examined,” RTIT, ch. 14

Whitin, T.M., “Classical Theory, Graham’s Theory, and Linear Programming in International Trade,” QJE, November, 1953.

Ohlin, ch. I-VI, Appendix III.

Robinson, R., “Factor Proportions and Comparative Advantage,” RIT, ch. 1

Kenen, P.B., “Nature, Capital, and Trade,” JPE, October, 1965

*Metzler, L., “Professor Graham’s Theory of International Values,” AER, June, 1950

*Posner, M.V., “International Trade and Technical Change,” OEP, October, 1961

*Becker, G.S., “A Note on Multi-Country Trade,” AER, September, 1952.

*Kravis, I.B., “Availability and Other Influences on the Commodity Composition of Trade,” JPE, April, 1956

*Michaely, M., “Factor Proportions in International Trade: Current State of the Theory, ” Ky, 1964 (4)

III. Comparative Costs and International Trade: Further Developments

Leontief, W., “The Use of Indifference Curves in the Analysis of Foreign Trade,” RTIT, ch. 10

Samuelson, P., “Social Indifference Curves,” QJE, February, 1956

Haberler, G., “Some Problems in the Pure Theory of International Trade,” RIT, ch.13

Isard, W., and M.J. Peck, “Location Theory and International and Interregional Trade,” QJE, February, 1954

Linder, ch. 3

Balassa, B., “Tariff Reductions and Trade in Manufactures Among Industrial Countries,” AER, June, 1966

*Lösch, A., “A New Theory of International Trade,” IEP, Vol. 6

*Posner, M.V., “International Trade and Technical Change,” OEP, October, 1961

*Grubel, H.G., “Intra-Industry Specialization and the Pattern of Trade,” CJEPS, August, 1967

*Matthews, R.C.O., “Reciprocal Demand and Increasing Returns,” RESt (1949- 50)

*Vanek, ch. XII-XIV

*Ohlin, ch. X-XII

*Meade, II, ch. I-III

IV. Comparative Cost Theory: Empirical Verification

Leontief, W., “Domestic Production and Foreign Trade,” RIT, ch. 30 and RES, November, 1956

Vanek, J., “The Natural Resource Content of Foreign Trade, 1870-1955, and the Relative Abundance of Natural Resources in the United States,” RES, May, 1959

Keesing, D.B., “Labor Skills and International Trade,” RES, August, 1965

Gruber, W., Mehta, D., and Vernon, R., “The R & D Factor in International Trade and International Investment of United States Industries,” JPE, February, 1967

MacDougall, G., “British and American Exports: A Study Suggested by the Theory of Comparative Costs,” EJ, December, 1951

Balassa, B., “An Empirical Demonstration of Comparative Cost Theory,” RES, August, 1963

*Comments on the Leontief-Paradox:

Ellsworth, RES, August, 1954
Swerling, RES, August, 1954
Valavanis-Vail, JPE, December, 1954
Buchanan, EI, November, 1955
Valavanis, Robinson, Elliott, Vaccale, Leontief, RES, February, 1958
Kreinin, AER, March, 1965

*Minhas, B.S., An International Comparison of Factor Costs and Factor Use.

*Moroney, J.R., and Walker, J.M., “A Regional Test of the Heckscher-Ohlin Hypothesis,” JPE, December, 1966

V. Factor-Price Equalization and Income Distribution

Heckscher, E., “The Effect of Foreign Trade on the Distribution of Income,” RTIT, ch. 13

Samuelson, P., “International Factor Price Equalization Once Again,” RIT, ch. 3

Johnson, H.G., “Factor Endowments, International Trade and Factor Prices,” in Johnson, ch. 1 and RIT, ch. 5

Balassa, B., “The Factor-Price Equalization Controversy,” WA, Vol. 87, No. 1 (1961)

Rybczynski, T.M., “Factor Endowments and Relative Commodity Prices,” RIT, ch. 4

Stolper, W., and Samuelson, P., “Protection and Real Wages” RTIT, ch. 15

*Lancaster, K., “Protection and Real Wages: A Restatement,” EJ, June, 1967

*Bhagwati, J., “Protection, Real Wages and Real Income,” EJ, December, 1959

*Pierce, I., McKenzie, L.W., and Samuelson, P., “More About Factor Price Equalization,” IER, October, 1967

*Samuelson. P., “Equalization by Trade of the Interest Rate Along With the Real Wage,” in Baldwin, pp. 35-52

*Jones, R.W., “The Structure of Simple General Equilibrium Models,” JPE, December, 1965

*Minabe, N., “The Stolper-Samuelson Theorem, the Rybczynski Effect, and the Heckscher-Ohlin Theory of Trade Pattern and Factor Price Equalization,” CJEPS, August, 1967

Travis, ch. II, III

VI. Gains from Trade

Viner, J, ch. IX (up to p. 565)

Samuelson, P., “The Gains from International Trade,” RTIT, ch. 2

Samuelson, P., “The Gains from International Trade Once Again,” EJ, December, 1962

Meade, I , ch. IX

Baldwin, R.E., “The New Welfare Economics and Gains in International Trade,” RIT, ch. 12

*Giersch, H., “The Trade Optimum,” IEP, Vol. 7

*Kenen, D.B., “On the Geometry of Welfare Economics,” QJE, August, 1957

*Kemp, M.C., “The Gains from International Trade,” December, 1962

*Vanek, ch. XV

VII. The Theory of Tariffs

Scitovsky, T., “A Reconsideration of the Theory of Tariffs,” RTIT, ch. 16

Metzler, L.A., “Tariffs, International Demand, and Domestic Prices” RIT, ch. 2

Johnson, “Optimum Tariffs and Retaliation,” in Johnson, ch. II

_________, “The Cost of Protection and the Scientific Tariff,” JPE, August, 1960

Balassa, B., “Tariff Protection in Industrial Countries : An Evaluation,” RIT, ch. 3

Corden, W.M., “The Structure of the Tariff System and the Effective Protective Rate,” JPE, June, 1966

*Meade II, ch. VI

*Vanek, ch. XVI

*Lerner, A.P., “The Symmetry Between Import and Export Taxes,” RIT, ch. 11

*Fleming, J.M., “The Optimal Tariff from an International Point of View,” RES, February, 1956

*Baldwin, R.E., “The Effect of Tariffs on International and Domestic Prices,” QJE, February, 1960

*Johnson, H.G., “A Model of Protection and the Exchange Rate,” RESt, Vol XXXIII No. 2

*Bhagwati, J., “On the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas,” in Baldwin, pp. 53-67

VIII. Trade and Factor Movements

Mundell, R.A., “International Trade and Factor Mobility,” RIT, ch. 7

McDougall, G.D.A., “The Benefits· and Costs of Private Investment from Abroad: A Theoretical Approach,” RIT, ch. 10

Corden, W.M., “Protection and Foreign Investment,” ER, May, 1967

Vernon, R., “International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle,” QJE, May 1966

Johnson, H.G., Comparative Cost and Commercial Policy Theory in a Developing World Economy (Stockholm, Alqvist and Wiksell, 1968)

Jones, R. W., “International Capital Movement and the Theory of Tariffs and Trade,” QJE, February, 1967

*Olivera, J.H.G., “Is Free Trade a Perfect Substitute for Factor Mobility?”, EJ, March, 1967

*Corden, W.M., “The Economic Limits of Population Increase,” ER, November, 1955

*Jasay, A.E., “The Social Choice between Home and Overseas Investment,” EJ, March, 1960

*Frankel, M., “Home vs. Foreign Investment,” BOUIS, August, 1960.

*Penrose, E., “Foreign Investment and the Growth of the Firm,” EJ, June, 1956

*Kemp, M.C., “Foreign Investment and National Advantage,” ER, March, 1962

IX. Economic Integration

Viner, II, ch. I-IV, VII

Balassa, B., ch. 1-12

Scitovsky, ch. I, III

Lipsey, R.G., “The Theory of Customs Unions: A General Survey,” EJ, September·, 1960

Spraos, “The Conditions for a Trade Creating Customs Union,” EJ, March, 1964;

Mishan, “Comment,” March, 1965; Spraos, “Rejoinder,” September, 1965

Johnson, H.G., “An Economic Theory of Protectionism, Tariff Bargaining, and the Formation of Customs Unions,” JPE, June, 1965

Balassa, B., “Trade Creation and Trade Diversion in the European Common Market,” EJ, March, 1967

*Lipsey, R.G. and Lancaster, K., “The General Theory of the Second Best,” RESt, 1956-57 (1)

*Dosser, D., “Welfare Effects of Tax Unions,” RESt, June, 1964

*Meade, J.E., The Theory of Customs Unions

*Cooper, C.A., and Massell, B.V., “A New Look at Customs Union Theory,” December, 1965

*Michaely, M., “On Customs Unions and the Gains from Trade,” EJ, September, 1965

*Flanders, June, “Measuring Protectionism and Predicting Trade Diversion,” JPE, April, 1965

*Krause, L.B., The Meaning of European Economic Integration for the United States, Ch. 2-3

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 5/6. Box 6/1, Folder “Course Outlines and Reading Lists c. 1900, c. 1950, 1963-68”.

Image Source: Portrait of Bela Balassa in the Johns Hopkins University Yearbook, Hullabaloo 1976. Note that the image posted on the Béla Belassa page at the website Alchetron mistakenly uses a photo of Balassa Sándor Erkel Ferenc.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Doctoral exams taken by Helen Potter, 1942

 

The previous post introduced us to the life and professional career of Helen Potter, Vassar (AB, 1933) and Johns Hopkins (PhD, 1942). One is hard-pressed to explain the purpose of such (rather easy) exit exams administered six weeks before commencement. Perhaps as a crude way to document that the submitted dissertation was not merely bought and paid by someone with abolutely no knowledge of economics. Anyone have a clue?

_____________________

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Economic Theory)

Miss Helen Potter
April 21, 1942

  1. Explain Keynes’ theory concerning the factors that determine the volume of employment.
  2. Discuss the origin and development of four concepts that are basic in modern economic thinking.
  3. What are some of the more important forms of an equation of exchange showing the relationship between money and prices? Explain the meaning of the various forms and discuss critically.
  4. Discuss briefly: backward sloping supply curves; kinked demand curves; pure competition; indifference curves; monopsony; the coefficient of acceleration; the widening and deepening of capital; Hayek’s concept of the lengthening of the period of production.
  5. Explain the fundamental economic theories involved in the working of an international gold standard, and show their application to the problem of reestablishing such a standard.
  6. Discuss equilibrium.
  7. Explain the main features of Schumpeter’s theory of business cycles.
  8. Discuss price under monopolistic competition.

_____________________

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Applied Economics)

Miss Helen Potter
April 22, 1942

  1. Is there any justification for price increases in a war economy? Explain the more important problems involved in any attempt to put into effect a program of price-fixing.
  2. From an economic point of view wherein is the corporation superior to other forms of business organization?
  3. Explain the problem of war financing. What factors need to be taken into consideration? Suggest a program that you think meets the requirements.
  4. How does trading on the equity by a bank differ from trading on the equity by a public utility? How is a bank to protect itself when trading on the equity?
  5. Explain the nature of the control over credit exercised by the Federal Reserve System. Contrast the relative importance of Federal Reserve policy and fiscal policy under the New Deal. Consider only the situation prior to the inauguration of the defense program.
  6. What is the role of probability in the formulation of scientific laws?
  7. Analyze the probable effect of a general increase in wages upon business activity during a period of depression.
  8. Define: an average; an index number; frequency distribution; a trend; seasonal variation; random sampling:
  9. Discuss the most important problems that would arise in connection with national planning.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 6. Box 3/1, Folder “Graduate Exams, 1933-1965”.

Image Source: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University from the 1924 yearbook Hullabaloo.

Categories
Economists Gender Home Economics Johns Hopkins Vassar

Johns Hopkins University. Economics Ph.D. Alumna, social economist/home economist, Helen Potter, 1942

 

Looking for examination artifacts to transcribe, I went through my files for the Johns Hopkins University Department of Political Economy and decided (arbitrarily) to sample from the 1941-42 academic year’s graduate examinations. The exams in the folder were tailored as exit exams for those candidates for the PhD  who had completed dissertations. The name of the PhD candidate for two of the exams (transcribed in the next post) was Helen Potter. I figured this was serendipity begging for an addition to the Meet-an-economics-PhD-alumna/us gallery. And so the hunt was on to find out what ever became of Helen Potter.

While I have not been able to double-check every academic claim listed in the materials included below, in particular confirmation of degrees from New York University and Purdue (perhaps honorary), the main stations of Helen Potter’s professional career can indeed be verified. One may presume her 1969 AEA biographical listing would have included an assistant professorship at Johns Hopkins, if she ever had one (It doesn’t! But her Lafayette obituary does.).

Helen Potter, a 1933 Vassar graduate, almost immediately became active in the newly founded Catholic Economists’ Association (later re-named Association for Social Economics) upon receiving her PhD from Johns Hopkins in 1942. Her service included decades of editorial work for the Association’s journal as well as the establishment of the Helen Potter award in 1975 which turns out to harvest most of the Google-hits found when conducting a search on her name. The Association for Social Economics can be fairly characterised as one of the older heterodox bins of economics. Ultimately Helen Potter was able to return home to Lafayette, Indiana for a professorship in Home Management and Family Economics at Purdue University.

Helen Potter’s papers at Purdue: included in the collection of her father’s (Andrey A. Potter) papers:   Personal Papers of Dr. Helen C. Potter, ca. 1920’s-1986

Fun-fact: Helen Potter’s parents were personal friends of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth of Cheaper by the Dozen fame. Frank Gilbreth, a scientific management guru, was a colleague of Helen’s father on the faculty at Purdue University.

___________________________

AEA Biographical Listing 1969

POTTER, Helen Catherine, academic; b. Manhattan, Kan., 1911; A.B., Vassar Coll., 1933; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins U., 1942. DOC. DIS. Federal Protection for the Consumer, an Economic Analysis, 1942; History of Life Insurance Companies in the U.S., 1934 [published in volume 8 of the Vassar Journal of Undergraduate Studies].  FIELDS 10b, 4a, 6b. PUB. “Consumption,” Chapt. 27, Modern Econs., 1952; Money Management and Mental Health, Jour. of Psychiatric Therapy, 1969; Guidelines for Consumer Education-one of authors of this curriculum guide line for high schools of Illinois, 1969. RES. Evaluation of Consumer Education Today—Purdue Grant from U.S. Office of Ed.; Family Financial Management—Grant Purdue Experiment Station. Asso. prof. econs., Seton Hill Coll., 1943-51; asso. specialist family econs., U. Calif., Davis, 1951-53; asso. prof. fin., Loyola U., 1953-68; prof. family econs., Purdue U. since 1968. ADDRESS 517 Russell St., W. Lafayette, IN 47906.

Source: Biographical Listings of Members, The American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 6, 1969 Handbook of the American Economic Association (Jan., 1970), p. 349.

___________________________

PURDUE STUDENT KILLED IN WRECK NEAR LAFAYETTE
(September 1933)

Raymond H. Hilb, 21, of Chicago, a Senior in the mechanical engineering school at Purdue, was instantly killed, and Miss Helen Potter, 18, student at the Lafayette Business College was severely injured last Friday night on the new Delphi-Lafayette paved road, 25, when an automobile in which they were riding with two other persons, was struck by another car driven by George Weckerly, of Delphi, and occupied by Glen Clark, 16-year-old high school student, and Misses Dorothy Gerbens and Mildred Bowman, Delphi high school students. According to Clark’s version of the accident the car in which Hilb was riding drove onto the highway from the Black and White filling station and barbecue, where the car had been filled with gasoline. It was hit in the rear by the car driven by Weckerly. The collision came with terrific force and Hilb was thrown to the pavement, suffering a fractured skull. In the car with Hilb and Miss Potter were Bernard Amber of Gary, and Miss Mary Mitchell, of Lafayette. Hilb was manager of the Purdue University base ball team and was very popular on the college campus.

Source: Flora Hoosier Democrat of Flora, Indiana (September 23, 1933).

___________________________

Work for the National Catholic Community Service
(& Consumers League of NY, BLS, Wells College, Western College)

“Miss Helen Potter, West Lafayette, Ind., has recently taken up her duties as Resource Secretary for the Division.” [Women’s Division of the National Catholic Community Service]…”Miss Potter has served as field worker for the Consumers League of New York, Social Economist in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Instructor of Economics at Wells College Aurora, N.Y., and Western College, Oxford, O.”

Source: Catholic News Service, Newsfeeds, 30 June 1941.

___________________________

Ph.D. 1942, Johns Hopkins University

Helen Potter of the District of Columbia, A.B. Vassar College, 1933.

Political Economy. Thesis: “Federal protection for the consumer: an economic analysis”.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Commencement. June 2, 1942.

___________________________

Miss Potter Joins Purdue Faculty as Prof
(Feb. 21, 1968)

Miss Helen C. Potter has been appointed professor in the Department of Home Management and Family Economics at Purdue university effective Sept. 1.

Miss Potter, a native of Kansas, grew up in West Lafayette where her parents, Dean Emeritus and Mrs. A. A. Potter, still reside. She received her AB degree at Vassar College and her PhD degree from Johns Hopkins University in Political Economy.

She is professor in the Department of Finance at Loyola University in Chicago. Prior to her appointment to Loyola, Miss Potter taught at the University of California at Davis; Seton Hill College in Pennsylvania; Western College in Ohio, and Wells College in New York.

She has been an associate economist in the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also has been associated with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor.

[…]

Source:   Journal and Courier of Lafayette, Indiana (Feb. 21, 1968), p. 26.

___________________________

Prof. Helen Potter Comes Home to Teach
(Dec. 4, 1968)

[…]

Prof. Potter grew up in West Lafayette where her father — Dean Emeritus A. A. Potter — still resides. She received her AB degree at Vassar and her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in political economy.

Presently, she is a professor in the Department of Home Management and Family Economics at Purdue, but the road home for her was a long one by way of New York, California and Washington, not to mention a great portion of the Midwest where she taught or consulted in the exciting and complex world of finance.

Her professional experience includes many years as a professor of economics, at several American universities including Loyola of Chicago. In addition she has had government posts with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor.

What’s a professor of finance doing in Purdue’s School of Home Economics? “It’s simple,” explains Miss Potter. “Consumer economics and the relations between business and customer are extremely important parts of our curricula.”

At the core of this education it is the individual who looks at himself to see what he wants out of life and how he can most effectively attain it. “It teaches the consumer how to make decisions for using limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants,” says the fragile looking professor who’s spent the last 15 years teaching male executives from some of the largest businesses about their dependence on society and their reciprocal responsibilities.

Equally important to Miss Potter is teaching the consumer how to use his time, energy and money to obtain a better life. “While showing him the relevance of economic principles to personal economic competence, it gives him the basic understanding which is a requisite for citizenship,” she added.

[…]

In addition to her teaching, Prof. Potter is involved in the research assignment of cataloging present consumer education in this country — a gigantic task. For her, it is tremendously exciting. “You might even say it’s a hobby,” she muses, “for all my life I’ve collected materials in consumer education.”

Looking thoroughly relaxed, surrounded by hundreds of volumes on property insurance, statistical methods and investments, the animated professor speaks warmly about her homecoming. “I’ve found life here very exciting both in the community and at the university. The inter-disciplinary activity among the schools is splendid, and I find my students to be the best I’ve ever had.”

Having taught men for so many years, Miss Potter had the notion that women would be less interested in the subject matter and that they would be weighted down with insurmountable family problems, since all are graduate students some returnees with growing children and much family responsibility. Instead, she finds them hardworking, studious and dedicated.

[…]

Source: Journal and Courier of Lafayette, Indiana (Dec. 4, 1968), p. 12.

___________________________

Helen C. Potter, 75, retired Purdue professor
Obituary (October 23, 1986)

Helen C. Potter, 75, a, retired professor of home management and family economics at Purdue University, died at 9:46 a.m. Tuesday in St. Elizabeth Hospital, where she had been a patient one week. Miss Potter, 814 S. 14th St., was the daughter of the late Professor A.A. and Eva Burtner Potter. He was a former dean of engineering at Purdue. The new engineering building was named in his honor.

Miss Potter was born March 18, 1911, in Manhattan, Kan. She received degrees from Vassar College, Johns Hopkins University, New York University and Purdue. She graduated from West Lafayette High School in 1928.

She taught and lectured at the University of California, Davis, was an associate professor and chairman of -the department of economics at Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pa., was assistant professor at St. Francis College in Lafayette, was an instructor and chairman of the department of economics at Western College in Oxford, Ohio, was an assistant professor in the Department of political economy at Johns Hopkins University.

She also was an assistant at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, taught at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., and was an associate professor in the Department of Finance at Loyola University.

Besides her teaching responsibilities, Miss Potter spent one year at the Library of Congress doing research on economics, worked for the Better Business Bureau in Pittsburgh, Pa., was an associate economist of human nutrition and home economics for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., was a statistician and director of personnel for the National Catholic Community Service, and was a junior social economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

She organized and served as chairman of the Tippecanoe Consumers Council, worked with the League of Women Voters, National Council of Catholic Women, the American Association of University Women, and was active in the National Association for Social Economics.

Miss Potter was a member of St. Boniface Catholic Church, Mary L. Mathews Home Economics Club and the Parlor Club. She also served as deanery president of the National Council of Catholic Women in the Lafayette Diocese.

Surviving is a brother, James G. Potter of Indialantic, Fla.

Source: Journal Courier of Lafayette, Indiana (October 23, 1986), p. 22.

___________________________

A Memorial Tribute from the Association for Social Economics

Member of the first (May 1948) board of editors of the journal Review of Social Economy, associate editor up to her death October 21, 1986. Also an official portrait Helen C. Potter in included with the brief note.

Source: “IN MEMORIAM.” Review of Social Economy 45, no. 3 (1987).

___________________________

Helen C. Potter Scholarship, Johns Hopkins University

This scholarship is awarded to students in the field of political economy.

________________________

Helen Potter Award of the the Association for Social Economics

The Helen Potter Award was created and endowed in 1975. It is presented each year to the author of the best article in the Review of Social Economy by a promising scholar of social economics. Award recipients receive a plaque and a $500 prize.

Recent recipients:

2019 Céline Bonnefond & Fatma Mabrouk
2018 C. W. M. Naastepad & Jesse M. Mulder
2017 Michael J. Roy & Michelle T. Hackett
2016 Caroline Shenaz Hossein
2015 Karen Evelyn Hauge
2014 Peter-Wim Zuidhof
2013 Ayman Reda
2012 Pavlina Tcherneva
2011 Adel Daoud
2010 Aurelie Charles
2009 Huascar F. Pessali
2008 Sebastian Berger
2007 Nuno Martins
2006 Mark Hayes
2005 Benedetta Giovanola
2004 Ellen Mutari
2003 Geoffrey E. Schneider
2002 Stephen T. Ziliak
2001 Wilfred Dolfsma
2000 John E. Murray

Source: The Association for Social Economics website.

 

Image Source:  Portrait of Helen C. Potter, A.B., Instructor of Social Science.  Western College for Women (Oxford, Ohio) Yearbook, Multifaria 1941.

Categories
AEA Berkeley Chicago Cornell Economist Market Economists Johns Hopkins M.I.T. Princeton Stanford Yale

M.I.T. Memo regarding potential hires to interview at AEA Dec meeting, 1965

 

This artifact provides us a glimpse into the demand side of the market for assistant professors of economics in the United States as seen from one of the mid-1960’s peak departments. The chairperson of the M.I.T. economics department at the time, E. Cary Brown, apparently conducted a quick survey of fellow department heads and packed his results into a memo for his colleagues who in one capacity or the other would be attending the annual meeting of the American Economic Association held in New York City in the days following the Christmas holidays of December 1965. The absence of Harvard names in the memo probably only indicates that Brown presumed his colleagues were well aware of any potential candidates coming from farther up the Charles River.

From Brown’s memo, Duncan Foley (Yale) and Miguel Sidrauski (Chicago) ended up on the M.I.T. faculty as assistant professors for the 1966-67 academic year. John Williamson was a visiting assistant professor that year too.

_____________________________

Dating the Memo

The folder label in the M.I.T. archives incorrectly gives the date Dec. 28-30, 1969, where the 1969 has been added in pencil.

Two keys for dating the memo.  Brown’s comment to John Williamson (York): “Wants a semester here, Jan.-June 1967″.  “Solow is hearing paper at meetings” (Conlisk of Stanford) who presented in the invited doctoral dissertation session “The Analysis and Testing of the Asymptotic Behavior of Aggregate Growth Models” (affiliation given as Rice University (Ph.D., Stanford University) where Solow was listed as a discussant. AEA’s 78th Annual Meeting was held in New York City at the end of December 1965.

_____________________________

Memo from E. Cary Brown to M.I.T. faculty going to Dec. 1965 AEA meeting

[Pencil note: “Put in beginning of 1966-7”]

Memorandum Regarding Personnel Interviews in New York

To: Department Members Attending AEA Convention
From: E. C. Brown

University of Chicago

Sidrauski, Miguel (26). International Trade, Monetary Theory, Economic Growth, Mathematical Economics

Thesis—“Studies in the Theory of Growth and Inflation” under Uzawa
References: Harberger, Johnson, Lewis

[He came here a year ago to ask about a short-term appointment before he returned to Argentina. Griliches believes him to be tops. Had him in class myself and he was first rate. Called him on phone last week and he still wants to be had.]

 

Thornber, Edgar H. (24). [H. = Hodson] Econometrics, Mathematical Methods, Computers

Thesis—“A Distributed Lag Model: Bayes vs. Sampling Theory Analyses” under Telser
References: Griliches, Zellner

[Supposed to be equal of Sidrauski. Heavily computer oriented. Doesn’t sound interesting for us, but we should talk to him.]

 

Treadway, Arthur. Mathematical Economist

Thesis on the investment function

[A younger man who, according to Svi [sic], regards himself as the equal of the above. Stronger in mathematics, and very high grades. Wasn’t on market because thesis didn’t appear as completable. Now it seems that it will be and he wants consideration.]

 

Evenson, Robert E. (31). Agricultural Economics and Economic Growth, Public Finance

Thesis—“Contribution of Agricultural Experiment Station Research to Agricultural Production” under Schultz
References: Gale Johnson, Berg

[He is just slightly below the others. Mature and very solid and combines agriculture and economic growth where we need strength.]

 

Gould, John (26).

(Ph.D. in Business School)

[Bud Fackler mentioned him as their best. Uzawa and Griliches are trying to get the Econ. Dept. to hire him. Franco knows him and is after him.]

 

Princeton

Klevorick, Alvin (22). Mathematical Economics, Econometrics, Economic Theory

Thesis: “Mathematical Programming and the Problem of Capital Budgeting under Uncertainty” (Quandt)
References: Baumol, Kuhn

[Apparently the best they have had for some time. Young and very brash.]

 

Monsma, George N. (24). Labor Economics, Economics of Medical Care, Public Finance

Thesis: Supply and Demand for Medical Personnel” (Harbison)
References: Patterson, Machlup

[Dick Lester was high on him. While not a traditional labor economist, he works that field.]

Silber, William L. (23). Monetary Economics, Public Finance, Econometrics

Thesis: “Structure of Interest Rates” (Chandler)
References: Goldfeld, Musgrave, Quandt

[One of their best four. Not sure he sounds like what we want in fields, however.]

 

Grabowski, Henry G. (25). Research and Development, Econometrics, Mathematical Economics

Thesis: “Determinants and Profitability of Industrial Research and Development” (Quandt)
References: Morgenstern, Baumol

[Lester says he is good all around man. His field makes him especially interesting.]

 

Stanford

Conlisk [John]— Economic growth and development

[Arrow has written about him, recommending him highly. His field should be interesting. Solow is hearing paper at meetings.]

 

Bradford [David Frantz]— Public finance

[Has been interviewed up here, but more should see him who wish to.]

 

Yale

Foley [Duncan Karl] (Probably not at meetings. Best Tobin’s had.]

Bryant [Ralph Clement] (Now at Federal Reserve Board. Number 2 for Tobin]

 

York

Williamson, John

[Wants a semester here, Jan.-June 1967. Alan Peacock at meetings.]

 

Johns Hopkins

[Ask Bill Oakland]

 

University of California, Berkeley

[Ask Aaron Gordon or Tibor Scitovsky.]

 

Cornell

Bridge [John L.] — Econometrics, Foreign Trade

Lindert [Peter]— International Economics

[Their two best as indicated in their letter to Department Chairman.]

 

Buffalo

Mathis, E.J. [Ask Mitch Horwitz if it’s worth pursuing.]

 

Columbia U.

[Ask Bill Vickrey]

 

Pittsburgh

Miller, Norman C. (26). International Economics; Money, Macro, Micro and Math Economics

Thesis: “Capital Flows and International Trade Theory” (Whitman)
References: Marina Whitman, Jacob Cohen, Peter Kenen, Graeme Dorrance

[Letter to Evsey Domar from Mark Perlman (Chm.) recommending him to us for further training.]

 

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections. MIT Department of Economics records, Box 1, Folder “AEA Chairmen MEETING—Dec. 28-30, 1969 (sic)”.

Image Sources:  Duncan Foley (left) from his home page. Miguel Sidrauski (right) from the History of Economic Thought website.

Categories
Bibliography Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Trade and Economic Development, Course Reading List. Balassa, 1968

 

Perhaps the story is apocryphal and/or I have confounded my European economists but I believe I remember having heard once upon a time during the Cold War that when Janos Kornai was asked how he could explain the relative abundance of successful Hungarian émigré economists, he replied “Oh we don’t export our best economists”. If the story is true, then certainly one of the Hungarian émigrés implicit in the question was likely to have been Bela Belassa. He attained textbook immortality as a co-parent of the Balassa-Samuelson Effect.

____________________________

The Johns Hopkins University
Department of Political Economy
Spring, 1968
Mr. Balassa

Trade and Economic Development
Bibliography and Reading List

Abbreviations of Books

Books are referred to by author unless otherwise noted.

Balassa, Bela, Trade Prospects for Developing Countries

Ellis, H.S., ed. Economic Development in Latin America

Hicks, J.R., Essays in World Economics

Harrod, Roy, ed., International Trade Theory in a Developing World

Johnson, H.G. I International Trade and Economic Growth

Johnson, H.G. II Money, Trade and Economic Growth

Johnson, H. G. III Economic Policies towards less Developed Countries

Meier, G.M., International Trade and Development

Mikesell, R.F., U.S. Private and Government Investment Abroad

Nurkse, R., Equilibrium and Growth in the World Economy

Pincus, J., Trade, Aid, and Development

Wionczek, M.S., ed. Latin American Integration

Abbreviations of Periodicals

AER      American Economic Review
Econ    Economica
EDCC   Economic Development and Cultural Change
EJ         Economic Journal
ER        Economic Record
JPE       Journal of Political Economy
Ky        Kyklos
LBR      Lloyds Bank Review
MS       Manchester School
Met     Metroeconomica
OEP     Oxford Economic Papers
QJE      Quarterly Journal of Economics
RES      Review of Economics and Statistics
RESt     Review of Economic Studies

I Foreign Trade and Economic Growth

Meier, ch. 2

Hicks, ch. 4 and Note B

Johnson, II, ch. 4

Johnson, I, ch. 4

Bhagwati, J., “International Trade and Economic Expansion” AER, December 1958

*Mishan, E.J. “The Long-Run Dollar Problem: A Comment” OEP June 1955

*Corden, W.M., “Economic Expansion and International Trade: A Geometric Approach,” OEP June 1956

*Findlay, R. and Grabert, H. “Factor Intensity, Technological Progress and the Terms of Trade,” OEP, February 1959

*Bhagwati, J., “Immiserizing Growth: A Geometrical Note,” RESt, June 1958

*Srinivasan, T.N., “Foreign Trade and Economic Development,” Met, January-August, 1965

II Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Controversy

Nurkse, R., ch. 10 I, 11

Prebisch, Raul, “Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries” AER, May 1959

Pincus, Part II

Seers, Dudley, “A Model of Comparative Growth Rates in the World Economy,” EJ, March 1962

Meier, ch. 7

*Haberler, G., International Trade and Economic Development National Bank of Egypt, Cairo Lectures

*Viner, J., International Trade and Economic Development

*Cairncross, A.K., “International Trade and Economic Development,” Ky 1960 (4)

*Mynt, H., “The Gains from International Trade and to Backward Countries,” RESt, 1954-55

*Flanders, M.J., “Prebisch on Protectionism: An Evaluation,” EJ, June 1964

 

III Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Facts

Balassa, ch. 1, 3, 4

Balassa, “Economic Growth, Trade, and Balance of Payments into Developing Countries”, mimeo, ch. 1, 2

Baer, W., “The Economics of Prebisch and ECLA” EDCC, January 1962, Comment by Flanders and Reply by Baer, ibid April 1964

Massell, B.F., “Export Concentration and Fluctuations in Export Earnings,” AER, March 1964

Morgan, T., “Trends in Terms of Trade, and their Repercussions on Primary Producers,” Harrod, ed. ch. 3

Meier, ch. 3

*Haberler, G., “Terms of Trade and Economic Development,” in Ellis, ch. 10.

*United Nations, International Compensation for Fluctuation in Commodity Trade, New York 1961

*United Nations, World Economic Survey, 1962, part I ch. 2

*Kindleberger, C.P., The Terms of Trade: A European Case Study

 

IV Trade Relations between Developed and Developing Countries: The Policies

Balassa, B., The Impact of the Industrial Countries’ Tariff Structure on their Imports of Manufactures from less-Developed Areas, Econ. November 1967

Johnson III, ch. 5, 6

Pincus, ch. 6, 7, 9

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Preferences and other Policy Measures to Stimulate Exports of the Developing Countries, Trade Intelligence Paper No. 7, 1966

Swerling, B. Current issues in Commodity Policy, Princeton Essays in International Finance No. 7

*Patterson, G., “Would Tariff Preferences Help Economic Development?” LBR, April 1965

*Johnson, H.G., “Trade Preferences for Developing Countries,” LBR, April 1966

*UNCTAD, The Question of the Granting and Extension of Preferences in Favour of Developing Countries, May 31, 1967

*Wallich, H.C., “Stabilization of Proceeds from Raw Material Exports” in Ellis ed.

*International Monetary Fund, Compensatory Financing of Export Fluctuations

*New Directions for World Trade, Proceedings of a Chatham House Conference, 1964

V Trade Policies in Developing Countries

Chenery, H.B., “Comparative Advantage and Development Policy,” AER May 1961

Hagen, E.E., “An Economic Justification of Protectionism,” QJE November 1958

Mynt, H., “Infant Industry Arguments for Assistance of Industries in the Setting of Dynamic Trade Theory,” Harrod, ch. 7

Balassa, B. and Schydlowsky, D., “Effective Tariffs, the Domestic Cost of Foreign Exchange, and the Equilibrium Exchange Rate,” JPE, April 1958

Corden, W.M., “The Vernon Report,” ER, March 1966

Meier, ch. 6

*Black, J., “Arguments for Tariffs,” OEP June 1959

*Bruno, M., “The Optimal Selection of Export-Promoting and Import-Substituting Projects, Planning the External Sector: Techniques, Problems and Policies United Nations, 1967

*Kemp, M.C., “The Mill-Bastable Infant-Industry Dogma,” JPE, February 1960

*Lewis, W.A., “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor,” MS May 1954

*Chenery, H.B. and Bruno, M., “Development Alternatives in an Open Economy: The Case of Israel, EJ, March 1962

*Sheahan, J., “International Specialization and the Concept of Balanced Growth,” QJE, May 1958

 

VI Economic Integration among Less Developed Countries

Balassa, B., Economic Development and Integration

Balassa, B., “Integration and Resource Allocation in Latin America” mimeo

Mikesell, R.T., “The Theory of Common Markets as Applied to Regional Arrangements among Developing Countries,” Harrod, ch. 9

Massel, B.F. and Cooper, C.A., “Toward a General Theory of Customs Unions for Developing Countries,” JPEOctober 1965

*Wionczek, M.S., “Latin American Free Trade Association,” International Conciliation, January 1965

*Hansen, R.D., Central America: Regional Integration and Economic Development, National Planning Association, 1967

*United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, The Latin American Common Market, 1959

*Urquidi, V., Free Trade and Economic Integrity in Latin America

VII Capital Needs of Developing Countries and Foreign Aid

Johnson III, ch. 4

Pincus, ch. 8

Chenery, H.B. and Strout, A.M., “Foreign Assistance and Economic Development,” AER September 1966

McKinnon, R., “Foreign Exchange Constraints in Economic Development and Efficient Aid Allocation, EJ June 1954

Pincus, J., “The Cost of Foreign Aid,” RES November 1963

*Little, I.M.D. and Clifford, J.M., International Aid

*Fei, J.C.H. and Paauw, D.S., “Foreign Assistance and Self-Help: A Reappraisal of Development Finance,” RESAugust 1965

*Rosenstein-Rodan, P., “International Aid for Underdeveloped Countries,” RES May 1961

*Vanek, J., Estimating Foreign Resource needs for Economic Development: Theory, Method, and a Case Study of Colombia

 

VIII Foreign Investment and Economic Development

Nurkse, ch. 7, 10 II

MacDougall, D., “The Benefits and Costs of Private Investment Abroad: A Theoretical Approach, ER March 1960

Singer, M., “the Distribution of Gains between Investing and Borrowing Countries,” AER, May 1950

Alter, G.M., “The Servicing of Foreign Capital Inflows by Underdeveloped Countries,” Ellis, ch. 6

Meier, ch. 5

*Mikesell, Part II

*Avramovic and Gulhati, Debt Servicing Problems of Low Income Countries

*Mikesell, R.F., Public International Lending for Development

*Bernstein, M.D. Foreign Investment in Latin America

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 5/6. Box 6/1, Folder “Course Outlines and Reading Lists c. 1900, c. 1950, 1963-68”.

Image Source: Portrait of Bela Balassa in the Johns Hopkins University Yearbook, Hullabaloo 1976. Note that the image posted on the Béla Belassa page at the website Alchetron mistakenly uses a photo of Balassa Sándor Erkel Ferenc.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Graduate economics exams, M.A. and Ph.D., 1933

 

 

This post began innocently enough as simple transcriptions of the single A.M. and the two Ph.D. examinations in political economy for 1933 from the Johns Hopkins Archives. Because the names of the examinees are included on the typed carbon copies of the examination questions, I dug a little bit deeper to find out more about these degree candidates. From the official commencement programs, we are able to determine that these written examinations were in almost all cases administered as “exit examinations” a month before the degrees were actually awarded, so the exams were not “prelim” exams to establish degree candidacy and also not part of a dissertation defense. This seems late in the game for a final hurdle of this nature.

The commencement programs provide the titles of the theses/dissertations submitted for the degrees. Digging further, I was even able to find pictures of all the examinees.

________________________

The Graduate Degree Examinees
Johns Hopkins University, May 1933

Lawrence Nelson Bloomberg, of Virginia, A.B. University of Richmond 1930. Political Economy.
A.M. Johns Hopkins University, Thesis.“Goodwill: Its Nature and Valuation.” [p. 8 of 1933 Commencement program]
PhD Dissertation. “The Investment Value of Goodwill.” [p. 11 of 1934 Commencement program]

Born September 27, 1909 in Richmond, Virginia; died August 13, 1989.
1940 worked in Washington, DC at the American Bankers Association.

Image Source:  Senior year photo of Lawrence Nelson Bloomberg in the University of Richmond yearbook, The Web–1930.

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Roy Johnson Bullock, of Maryland, A.B. Doane College 1925; M.B.A. Harvard University 1927. Political Economy. Ph.D. dissertation “A History of the Chain Grocery Store in the United States.” [p. 11 of 1933 Commencement program]

Born October 5, 1903 in Crete, Nebraska; died in Marco Island, Collier County, Florida Feb. 14, 1980.
1940 Census: teacher at Johns Hopkins University.
1942: worked in the Office of Price Administration, Washington, DC.
1961: senior staff consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. Also, the commencement speaker at Doane College’s 1961 commencement. Awarded honorary doctor of laws degree.

Image Source: Portrait of Roy Johnson Bullock (approximately 30 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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Abner Komaroff, of Palestine, B.V.A. American University of Beirut 1930.
Ph.D. Dissertation, “The Foreign Trade of the United States in Citrus Fruits.” [p. 12 of Commencement program 1933]

Image Source: Portrait of Abner Komaroff (approximately 20 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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Harold Edwin Peters, of Maryland, A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1930.
Ph.D. Dissertation, “The Foreign Debt of the Argentine Republic”. [p. 13 of Commencement program 1934]

Born October 15, 1908 in Baltimore,   died February 22, 1978 in Baltimore.
Apartment developer since the mid-1930’s, after teaching economics for a year at the College of Charleston. (Graduate of Calvert Hall College, then Johns Hopkins where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1930).

Image Source: Portrait of Harold Edwin Peters (approximately 25 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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Evelyn Ellen Singleton, of Maryland, A.B. Goucher College 1930. Political Economy.
PhD dissertation, “Workmen’s Compensation in Maryland”. [p. 13 of Commencement program 1933]

Born October 9, 1909 in Lancaster, PA; died May 29, 2002.
Married Robert William Thon, Jr. (see next graduate) April 1, 1936 in Elkton, MD.

Image Source: Portrait of Evelyn Ellen Singleton (approximately 20 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Robert William Thon, Jr., of Maryland. Political Economy. PhD Dissertation “Mutual Savings Banks in Baltimore.” [p. 14 of 1933 Commencement program]

Born Dec. 23, 1908 in Richmond, VA; died September 1983 in Baltimore MD.
Occupation: banker

Image Source: Portrait of Robert William Thon, Jr. (approximately 50 years old).  Johns Hopkins University. Sheridan Libraries. Special Collections. Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

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EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
for Master of Arts Degree
May 18, 1933

Mr. Bloomberg

  1. Discuss Adam Smith’s canons of taxation.
  2. Describe Malthus’ principle of population and the changes which it underwent.
  3. What arguments are used to justify the sale of a manufactured article at a lower price abroad than at home?
  4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the general Property Tax?
  5. Explain and criticize the quantity theory of money.
  6. How are freight rates determined?

 

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Economic Theory)
May 18, 1933

Miss Singleton
Messrs. Thon, Bullock, Peters, Komaroff

  1. What is the relation of Political Economy to economic history in scope and in method of investigation?
  2. What important economic doctrines had been clearly formulated prior to the year 1800?
  3. Discuss the personal contacts and doctrinal contrasts of Quesnay and Adam Smith.
  4. Contrast the theories of distribution formulated by (a) Adam Smith, (b) David Ricardo, (c) Alfred Marshall.
  5. What has been the development of the principle of population since the time of Malthus?
  6. Discuss the origin and development of the wage fund theory.
  7. What have been the most important contributions of the Austrian economists?
  8. Discuss the law of increasing returns and its application to modern business.
  9. Criticize the various theories of entrepreneur profits that have been proposed.
  10. What are the present conspicuous gaps in economic theory and by what means are they to be repaired?

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
(Applied Economics)
May 19, 1933

Miss Singleton
Messrs. Thon, Komaroff , Bullock, Peters

  1. Discuss the history, theory, incidence and the defects of the General Property Tax.
  2. Discuss modern industrial combinations in the light of: (1) An assignable limit to the growth in the size of the modern industrial unit; and (2) the imminence of Socialism.
  3. Discuss the policy of selling protected manufactures in foreign markets at less than domestic prices.
  4. Is a compulsory Board of Arbitration practicable, and what principles should govern its decisions?
  5. Criticize the principle of fixing railway rates according to “What the traffic will bear”, in the light of the recent tendency towards cost of service rate.
  6. Outline the history of (a) metallic and (b) paper money in the United States since the adoption of the Federal constitution.
  7. Discuss the use of the chief forms of averages; for example, the mean, the median and the simple average.
  8. Outline the history of English legislation relating to joint stock companies.
  9. State the chief points in controversy between the Banking School and the Currency School.
  10. Discuss the economic justification for the chief forms of labor legislation.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6/Series /, Subseries 1, Box 3/1, Folder “Department of Political Economy, Graduate Exams 1933-1965”.

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1951.