Category: Suggested Reading

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Outline and final exam. Economic and Political Ideas, Taylor. 2nd term, 1947-48

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overton H. Taylor described his book, A History of Economic Thought: Social Ideals and Economic Theories from Quesnay to Keynes (McGraw-Hill, 1960), as “an outgrowth from, or reduction to book form of, a part of the course of lectures, covering the same ground, which I have given annually for many years at Harvard University.”  This post provides the undergraduate course outline and final examination for the second half of his course that began with mercantilism and ended with New Deal liberalism and Keynesian economics.

Material from the first half of the course for the immediately following academic year (covering much the same material but stopping at the end of the 19th century) has been posted earlier:

Syllabus. Economics 115 (Fall Term, 1948-49). Economics and Political Ideas in Modern Times.

Final Exam. Economics 115 (Fall Term, 1948-49). Economics and Political Ideas in Modern Times

A much earlier version of the material for a one semester course has likewise been posted:

Syllabus. Economics 1b (Spring Term, 1940-41). The Intellectual Background of Economic Thought.

Final Exam. Economics 1b (Spring Term, 1940-41). The Intellectual Background of Economic Thought.

Greater emphasis on the economic theory was given in his graduate course:

Syllabus. Economics 205a (Fall Term, 1948-49). Main Currents of Thought in Economics and Related Studies over Recent Centuries.

In the Preface to his 1960 book Taylor described his purpose in writing as follows:

Perhaps I have a desire to be a ‘missionary’ in both directions–to convert as many noneconomist or lay readers as I can into interested students of economic theory and its history, and to convert more fellow-economists into interested students, also, of the diverse, general views or perspectives on all human affairs which formerly concerned all philosophical political economists.

 

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 15a. Dr. Taylor.—Economics and Political Ideas in Modern Times (F).

Total 100: 5 Graduate, 44 Seniors, 40 Juniors, 8 Sophomores, 1 Radcliffe, 2 Other.

 

[Economics] 15b. Dr. Taylor.—Economics and Political Ideas in Modern Times (Sp).

Total 33: 2 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Radcliffe, 2 Public Administration.

 

Source: 15a, Fall term ; 15b, Spring term: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1947-48, pp. 68, 89.

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Economics 15b (115)
Spring Term, 1948
Outline

I. February 5 — 14. 17th Century Political Absolutism and Mercantilism. Liberalism.

Reading due February 14:

(1) Hobbes Leviathan, Chs. 1-6, incl.; 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 24;
(2) Locke, Civil Government II, Chs. 2, 3, 5, and 7-12, Incl.; and
(3) Gray, Economic Doctrines, Chs. 1-3.

Lectures

Th., Feb. 5, Introductory lecture about the course.

Sat, Feb. 7, Western civilization in the 17th Century, and the philosophy and political theory of Hobbes.

Tu., Feb. 10, Mercantilism and its economic theory.

Th., Feb. 12, 18th Century liberalism vs. political absolutism and mercantilism; and Locke’s theory of the free society.

Discussion

Sat., Feb. 14, Class discussion of the reading in Hobbes, Locke, and Gray.

II. February 17 — 28. 1705-1850. Foundations of the Classical, Liberal Theory of Political Economy.

Reading due February 28:

(1) Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments: Part I, sec. I, and Part II, secs. I, II or (1a) Selby-Bigge, British Moralists, Selection from A. Smith, Moral Sentiments;
(2) Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book I, 1-7, incl.

Lectures

Tu., Feb. 17 Newton, Locke, and the 18th century’s vision of “the natural order.”

Th., Feb. 19 The philosophy and economic theory of the Physiocrats.

Sat., Feb. 21 Adam Smith’s philosophy, theory of morals and law, and economic theory.

Tu., Feb. 24 Hume and Bentham vs. natural law. Utilitarian liberalism.

Th., Feb. 26 Malthus and Ricardo. The classical theory of political economy.

Discussion

Sat., Feb. 28 Class discussion of the Adam Smith reading.

III. March 2 — 13. Early 19th Romantic and Positivistic Attacks and Alternatives.

Reading due March 13

(1) Spann, History of Economics, Chs. [no chapters given, but would appear to be Spann’s Chapter 8A of the 1930 translation “Types of Economic Theory”]
(2) Comte, Positive Philosophy, pp.[no pages given, but note Introd. Ch. 1; Book VI, 1, 2 were assigned by Taylor in his graduate course Econ 205a]
(3) J. S. Mill, Essays, Utilitarianism, and Liberty.

Lectures

Tu., March 2, The romantic movement and the anti-liberal reaction.

Th., March 4, Carlyle and Ruskin vs. the economists and utilitarians.

Sat., March 6, The romantic reaction in Germany, and types of political and economic thought it produced there.

Tu., March 9, August Comte’s philosophy, and critique of the classical, liberal economic theory.

Th., March 11, Early socialism; and J. S. Mill’s attempted synthesis.

Discussion

Sat., March 13, Class discussion of the Spann, Comte, and Mill reading.

IV. March 16 — 27. Marxism.

Reading due March 27:

Burns, Handbook of Marxism, Chs. [no chapters given here, but note Chs. 1, 13, 14, 22, 26, 29, 30 were assigned by Taylor in his graduate course Econ 205a]

Lectures

Tu., March 16, Antecedents and elements of Marxism: “utopian” socialism, Hegel’s philosophy of history, and Ricardo’s economic theory.

Th., March 18, Marx: theory of history.

Sat., March 20, Marx: economic theory of capitalism: value, wages, and profits.

Tu., March 23, Marx: theory of capitalism’s destined evolution and self-destruction.

Th., March 25, Marx: theory of the revolution and the new society.

Discussion

Sat., March 27, Discussion of the Marx reading.

March 28—April 4, Spring Recess

V. April 5 — 17. 1870-1914. Victorian Conservative Liberalism and Neo-Classical Economics.

Reading due April 17:

(1)  C. Brinton, English Political Thought in the 19th Century, Ch. III, Secs. 1, 2; IV, 1, 2, 3, 4; and
(2) A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, Book I, Chs. 1-3; III; IV, Chs. 1-3 and 8-13; and V, Chs. 1-5.

Lectures

Tu., April 5, The epoch and ideology of Victorian conservative liberalism.

Th., April 7, The renaissance and new ideas of liberal economic theory in this epoch. The discoverers of “marginal utility”—Jevons, the Austrians, Walras, and Marshall.

Sat., April 9, The market mechanism of the free economy and its equilibrium.

Tu., April 13, Marginal productivity and incomes; Clark and Carver.

Th., April 15, Alfred Marshall.

Discussion

Sat., April 17, Discussion of the political ideas of Brinton’s Victorians, and Marshall’s economics.

VI. April 20 — May 1. Present Day Ideologies and Economic Theory.

Reading due May 1:

(1) Sabine, History of Political Theory, Chs. 28 to end of book, omit 31;
(2) John Dewey, Liberalism and Social Action; and
(3) Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Part II, Sec. 2, and III through Sec. 5.

Lectures

Tu., April 20, Russian Communism versus Democracy and Liberal Capitalism or Liberal Socialism.

Th., April 22, Ideas of and about Fascism.

Sat., April 24, From 19th century to present day Liberalism.—continuity and contrast. The New Deal and the American tradition.

Tu., April 27, The economic theory of monopolistic competition, and liberal policy.

Th., April 29, “Keynesian” economic theory, and liberal policy.

Discussion

Sat, May 1, Discussion of the Sabine, Dewey, and Beveridge reading.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Reading Period
May 3—15, 1948

Economics 15b: Read one of the following:

Schumpeter: Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Parts 1, 2, and 4.

Lionel Robbins: Nature and Significance of Economics.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists I Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-1948 (1 of 2)”

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1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 15b
[Final examination, May 1948]

Answer in all five questions, including 7a or 7b; and make one of your answers a one hour essay, so marked in your blue book.

  1. “Although the classical economists were free market liberals, the picture presented in their economic theory of the ‘natural’ working of the free market economy was not a picture of utopian perfection. They acknowledged a number of real flaws in the system. Then Marx, professing to build on but actually distorting the classical theory, exaggerated those flaws into evils held to be destined to destroy the system. And later the neo-classical economists, in opposition to Marx and in the effort to buttress laissez-faire more thoroughly, revised the old classical theory into one which appeared to support an unqualified optimism.”
    Explain and discuss each part of the statement. What flaws did old classical theory find in the system? What graver ones did Marx impute to it, and what were the chief similarities and differences between his and Ricardo’s doctrines in this connection? What novel concepts and doctrines in neo-classical theory contributed to its purer optimism; and how did they do so, and how legitimately?
  2. “The trouble with the free enterprise or free market economic system is that its long-run effects on a society’s culture and internally prevailing human attitudes, eventually destroy the kind of milieu which alone can enable this economic system to serve the general welfare, and survive. Where and as long as there is a real community, held together by a real moral consensus holding the competition of private interests within the bounds of mutual fair play, the free market system can develop and function well. But in time the growth of competitive, acquisitive ambitions and skills, in the mass of individuals and private groups, breaks through and dissolves the moral consensus and the bonds uniting the community. Competition then becomes warfare and anarchy, and coercive public controls must be developed to take the place, if possible, of the agreement in self-control by all severally, which has broken down.”
    What truth if any do you think is contained in this argument? What might be cited as some times of historical and contemporary evidence at least appearing to support it, and help convincingly in your judgment can it be thus supported? How might an economic theorist still thoroughly devoted to free-market liberalism, reply to the argument, and how if at all would you criticize his (best) reply to it?
  3. “The theory of monopolistic competition proves that, instead of harmonizing all private interests with the public interests, most actual business competition has characteristics which make the maximizing of private gains decidedly injurious to the economic welfare of society.”
    Explain and discuss. What characteristics of “most actual business competition” are referred to? Explain the proof of their socially undesirable consequences, and discuss any criticisms or limitations of this proof that you think may be valid. Do you think “decidedly injurious” is an overstatement? Why or why not?
  4. “Classical economics denied that there ever could be any deficiency of total demand for a full-employment output of the economy. Marx saw inevitable, chronic deficiency of total demand as one of the ‘internal contradictions’ bound eventually to destroy private capitalism. Keynes agreed with Marx about the deficiency, but, having a different theory of its causes, thinks it can be remedied by a simple type of governmental action within the capitalist framework.”
    Explain and discuss. How did the classical view support its denial of the possibility of deficient demand? Why is demand deficient according to Marx? Wherein does Keynes agree, and disagree with Marx? On what assumptions may the Keynesian remedy be held come consistent with retention of private capitalism; on what other assumptions, inconsistent with that?
  5. Describe and discuss all the main, admitted, and (in your opinion) likely ultimate, curtailment of individual freedoms in the Beveridge program for assuring “full employment in a free society.” Would you fear an eventual loss of virtually all freedom – “totalitarian” outcome – if the whole program were adopted in this country? Why or why not?
  6. Discuss the common and the divergent elements of the old classical liberalism, the liberalism of the Roosevelt New Deal, and the outlook of the average present day American exponent of “free enterprise.” As between our “New Dealers” and conservative “free enterprisers,” which group more nearly represents the main essentials of the older liberalism, in your opinion? Explain and defend your opinion on the last point carefully.
  7. (a) If you read Schumpeter in the reading period, explain and discuss his theory of the ways in which capitalism is preparing its own demise and the way for socialism.
    (b) If you read Robbins, state in your own words, and discuss critically, his definition of what economic science deals with and accomplishes.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Box 15, Papers Printed For Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…,Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. May 1948.

Image source: O. H. Taylor in the Harvard Class Album, 1942.

Categories
Exam Questions M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. National Income and Employment Theory. Readings and Final Exam. Domar, 1960-61

 

 

For this post I have transcribed Evsey Domar’s graduate core macroeconomics course outline/reading list along with the questions for the final examination from the first term of the 1960-61 academic year at M.I.T. Students from both course XIV (economics) and XV (management) took this course.

Note: Evsey Domar distributed a questionnaire to the students to obtain feedback on his course.  The next post provides the results from that survey. It is fairly apparent that Domar did not cover the last topic on the course reading list (economic growth).

Final exam grade distribution (50 exams)

A 16%
A- 12%
B+ 10%
B 20%
B- 14%
C 18%
D 8%
F 2%

Fun Fact. Among the students enrolled in the course and who took the final examination: Michael D. Intriligator, Peter A. Diamond, Ann Fetter Friedlaender, and Stephen Goldfeld.

The much expanded course reading list/bibliography and  both the midterm and final examinations from the 1965-66 academic year have been posted earlier.

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MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

THEORY OF NATIONAL INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT
14.451 Reading List
E. D. Domar Fall Term 1960-61

The purpose of this list is to suggest to the student the sources in which the more important topics of the course are discussed from several points of view. His objectives should be the understanding of these topics and not the memorization of opinions and details.

Items marked with an * are strongly recommended. (I don’t like to use the expression “required” in a graduate reading list.)

No term paper will be required, but each student is expected, in addition to his general reading, to choose one of the eight major divisions of the course (except that Part VIII should not be taken without prior consultation with the instructor) as a field of concentration. A part of the final examination will be designed to test his broader knowledge of the chosen field.

 

I. NATIONAL INCOME AND RELATED ITEMS

*Kuznets, S., National Income and Its Composition, (New York, 1941), particularly Vol. 1, Chapter 1

*Jaszi, G., “The Statistical Foundations of the GNP,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 38, 1956)
Ruggles, R. and N., National Income Accounts and Income Analysis (New York, 1956)

*U.S. Department of Commerce, U. S. Income and Output, A Supplement to the Survey of Current Business, 1958

*National Bureau of Economic Research, The National Economic Accounts of the United States, Review, Appraisal and Recommendations, General Series 64, Washington, 1958

Ruggles, “The U.S. National Accounts,” American Economic Review, March, 1959
Organization for European Economic Co-operation, A Standardised System of National Accounts, Paris, 1952

Gilbert, M. and I. B. Kravis, An International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies, A Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, Organization for European Economic Cooperation, Paris, 1954

Nove, A., “The United States National Income A La Russe,” Economica, Vol. 23, 1956

Gilbert, M., Comparative National Products and Price Levels, A Study of Western Europe and the United States, Organization of European Economic Cooperation, Paris, 1958

*Leontief, W. W., “Output, Employment, Consumption and Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1944

Leontief, W. W. The Structure of American Economy (New York, 1951)

*Dorfman, R., “The Nature and Significance of Input-Output,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 36, 1954

Stewart, I. G., “The Practical Uses of Input-Output Analysis,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 5, (Feb. 1958)

Dosser, D. and A. T. Peacock, “Input-Output Analysis in an Under-Developed Country: A Case Study,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, Oct. 1957

*Sigel, S. J., “A Comparison of the Structures of Three Social Accounting Systems,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Input-Output Analysis: An Appraisal, The Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 18, pp. 253-89

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Flow of Funds in the United States 1939-53 (Washington, D. C., 1955)

 

II. GENERAL AGGREGATIVE SYSTEM

Students without prior training in this field are advised to study D. Dillard, The Economics of John Maynard Keynes (New York, 1948), A. H. Hansen, A Guide to Keynes (New York, 1953), or K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics (New York, 1956).

*Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (New York, 1936)

*American Economic Association, Readings in Business Cycle Theory (Philadelphia, 1944), Essays 5, 7

Harris, S. E., The New Economics (New York, 1947), essays 8-19, 31-33, 38-46.

*Lerner, A. P., Economics of Control (New York, 1944), chapters 21-23, 25

*Kurihara, K. K., Post Keynesian Economics (New Brunswick, N. J., 1954), essays 1, 11*

*American Economic Association, Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution (Philadelphia, 1946), essay 24

Klein, L. R., The Keynesian Revolution, (New York, 1947), chapters 3-5.

Ellis, H. S., A Survey of Contemporary Economics (Philadelphia, 1948), Vol. 1, chapter 2

*Income, Employment and Public Policy, Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen (New York, 1948), essay I

*Burns, A. F., “Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of Our Times,” in his The Frontiers of Economic Knowledge, (Princeton, 1954), or in the Twenty-Sixth Annual Report of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. (New York, 1946). See also the discussion by Hansen and Burns in the Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1947

Dillard, D., “The Influence of Keynesian Economics on Contemporary Thought,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 1957

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices (Evanston, Ill., 1956).

 

III. THEORY OF INTEREST

Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, essays 22, 23, 26

*Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital (Oxford, 1957), Chapters 11-12

Readings in Monetary Theory, essays 6, 11, 15

*Gurley, J. G., and E. S. Shaw, “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, September, 1955)

Hart, A. G., Money, Debt and Economic Activity, Second Ed., (New York, 1953)

Patinkin, D., “Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds: Stock and Flow Analysis,” Economica, Vol. 25, November, 1958

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices (Evanston, Ill., 1956).

*Lydall, H., “Income, Assets, and the Demand for Money,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 40, Feb. 1958

Lutz, F. A., “The Interest Rate and Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” American Economic Review, Dec. 1945

See also Section VI — INVESTMENT DECISIONS

 

IV. CONSUMPTION FUNCTION

*Duesenberry, J. S., Income, Saving, and the Theory of Consumer Behavior (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1949)

Haley, B. F., A Survey of Contemporary Economics (Homewood, Illinois, 1952), Vol. II, essay 2

Davis, T. E., “The Consumption Function as a Tool of Prediction,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, August 1952

Heller, W. W., Boddy, F. M., and C. L. Nelson, Savings in the Modern Economy, a Symposium (Minneapolis, 1953)

*Friend, I., and S. Schor, “Who Saves?,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 41, May, 1959, Part 2

*Friend, I., and I. B. Kravis, “Entrepreneurial Income, Saving and Investment,”American Economic Review, June, 1957, pp. 269-301

Zellner, Arnold, “The Short-Run Consumption Function,” Econometrica, (Oct. 1957

*Ferber, R., “The Accuracy of Aggregate Savings Functions in the Post-War Years,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 37, May, 1955

*Tobin, J., “On the Predictive Value of Consumer Intentions and Attitudes,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 41, Feb., 1959

Dennison, E. F., “A Note on Private Saving,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1958
Post-Keynesian Economics, essay 15

Friedman, M., A Theory of the Consumption Function (Princeton, N. J., 1957)

Friedman, M., and G. Becker, “A Statistical Illusion in Judging Keynesian Models,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 65, Feb., 1957

Klein, L. R., “The Friedman-Becker Illusion,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 66, Dec., 1958

Morgan, J. N., Consumer Economics (New York, 1955)

Katona, G., and E. Mueller, Consumer Expectations 1953-56 (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1956)

Klein, L. R., ed., Contributions of Survey Methods to Economics (New York, 1954)

 

V. MULTIPLIER AND ACCELERATOR

*Kahn, R. F., “The Relation of Home Investment to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, 1931. Republished in Hansen and Clemence, Readings in Business Cycles and National Income (New York, 1953), essay 15

*Readings in Business Cycle Theory, essays 11-12

*Haavelmo, T., “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, 1945; reprinted in Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 335-343

*Salant, William A., “Taxes, Income Determination, and the Balanced Budget Theorem,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May, 1957

Peston, M. H., “Generalizing the Balanced Budget Multiplier,” and “Comment” by W. A. Salant, The Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1958

Bowen, W. G., “The Balanced-Budget Multiplier: A Suggestion for a More General Formulation,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May, 1957

*Kuznets, S., “Relation Between Capital Goods and Finished Products in the Business Cycle,” in Economic Essays in Honor of Wesley Clair Mitchell, (New York, 1935)

*Knox, A. D. “The Acceleration Principle and the Theory of Investment: A Survey,” Economica, Vol. 19, 1952

*Tsiang, S. C., “Accelerator, Theory of the Firm, and the Business Cycle,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 65, 1951

*Tinbergen, “Statistical Evidence on the Acceleration Principle,” Economica, Vol. 5, 1938

Harrod, R. F., Towards a Dynamic Economics (London, 1948)

Hicks, J. R., A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle (Oxford, 1950)

Goodwin, R. M., “Problems of Trend and Cycle,” Yorkshire Bulletin, Vol. 5, August, 1953

Ott, A. E., “The Relation Between the Accelerator and the Capital Output Ratio,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, June, 1958

Minsky, H., “Monetary Systems and Accelerator Models,” American Economic Review, Vol. 47, 1957

See also VI — INVESTMENT DECISIONS.

 

VI. INVESTMENT DECISIONS

Lutz, F. A., and V., The Theory of Investment of the Firm (Princeton, 1951)

*Heller, W. W., “The Anatomy of Investment Decisions,” Harvard Business Review, March, 1951, pp. 95-103

*Pitchford, J. D. and A. J. Hagger, “A Note on the Marginal Efficiency of Capital,” The Economic Journal, Vol. 48, 1958

*Meade, J. E., and P. W. S. Andrews, “Summary of Replies to Questions on Effects of Interest Rates,” and “Further Inquiry into the Effects of Rates of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, No. 1, 1938 and No. 3, 1940

*Ebersole, J. F., “The Influence of Interest Rates,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 17, 1938, pp. 35-39

*Henderson, H. D., “The Significance of the Rate of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, October, 1938, pp. 1-13

Andrews, P. W. S., “Further Inquiry into the Effects of Rates of Interest,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb., 1940, pp. 32-73

Sayers, R. S., “Business Men and the Terms of Borrowing,” Oxford Economic Papers, Feb., 1940, pp. 23-31

*White, W. H., “Interest Inelasticity of Investment Demand—The Case from Business Attitude Surveys Re-examined,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1956, pp. 565-587

Brockie, M. D., and A. L. Gray, “The Marginal Efficiency of Capital and Investment Programming,” Economic Journal, Vol. 46, December, 1956

White, W. H., “The Rate of Interest, the Marginal Efficiency of Capital, and Investment Programming,” Economic Journal, Vol. 48, March, 1958

Grey, A. L., and M. D. Brockie, “The Rate of Interest, Marginal Efficiency of Capital and Net Investment Programming: A Rejoinder,” Economic Journal, June, 1959

Spiro, A., “Empirical Research and the Rate of Interest,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 40 (February, 1958).

*Duesenberry, J., Business Cycles and Economic Growth (New York, 1958), Chapters 1-8

Meyer, John R., and Edwin Kuh, The Investment Decision (Cambridge, Mass., 1957)

Cunningham, N. J., “Business Investment and the Marginal Cost of Funds,” Metroeconomica, Vol. 10, August, 1958

Cunningham, N. J., “Business Investment and the Marginal Cost of Funds,” Part II, Metroeconomica, Dec., 1958

Wilson, T., “Cyclical and Autonomous Inducements to Invest,” Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 5, 1953

Hirschleifer, J., “On the Theory of Optimal Investment Decision,” The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 66, Aug., 1958

Lydall, H. F., “The Impact of the Credit Squeeze on Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Firms,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47, Sept., 1957

*Penrose, E., “Limits to the Growth and Size of Firms,” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, May 1955, pp. 531-43

Friend, I., and J. Bronfenbrenner, “Business Investment Programs and Their Realization,” Survey of Current Business, December, 1950

*Foss, M. F., and V. Natrella, “Ten Years’ Experience with Business Investment Anticipations,” Survey of Current Business, January, 1957

*Foss, M. F., and V. Natrella, “Investment Plans and Realizations—Reasons for Differences in Individual Cases,” Survey of Current Business, June, 1957

See also III—THEORY OF INTEREST and V—MULTIPLIER AND ACCELERATOR

 

VII. PRICE FLEXIBILITY AND EMPLOYMENT

*Pigou, A. C., “The Classical Stationary State,” Economic Journal, Dec., 1943

*Lange, O., Price Flexibility and Employment (Bloomington, Indiana, 1944)

*Friedman, M., “Lange on Price Flexibility and Employment,” American Economic Review, Sept., 1946

Readings in Monetary Theory, Essay 13

Schelling, T. C., “The Dynamics of Price Flexibility,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1949

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices (Evanston, Illinois, 1956)

Hicks, J. R., “A Rehabilitation of ‘Classical Economics’,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47, June, 1957

*Power, J. H., “Price Expectations, Money Illusion and the Real Balance Effect,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 67, April, 1959

*Mayer, T., “The Empirical Significance of the Real Balance Effect,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 73, May, 1959

 

VIII. THEORY OF GROWTH

*Domar, E. D., Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth (New York, 1957), Foreword, Essays I, III-V

Fellner, W., Trends and Cycles I Economic Activity, (New York,1956)

Hansen, A. H., Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles (New York, 1941)

*Harrod, R. F., Towards a Dynamic Economics (London, 1948), Part III

Leontief, W. W., Studies in the Structure of the American Economy, (New York, 1953)

Robinson, J., The Accumulation of Capital, (London, 1956)

*Kuznets, Simon, “Towards a Theory of Economic Growth,” R. Leckachman, ed., National Policy for Economic Welfare at Home and Abroad, (New York, 1955)

*Solow, R. M., “A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb. 1956, pp. 65-94

*Solow, R. M., “Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1957, pp. 312-320

 

Source:  Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Evsey D. Domar, Box 15, Folder “Macroeconomics, Old Reading Lists”.

 

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Economics 14-451
E. D. Domar

FINAL EXAMINATION—Three Hours
January 24, 1961

Please use a separate book for each question.

 

Part I—One Hour

Write an essay in the field of your concentration as instructed in class. Please be specific.

 

Part II—Two Hours

Answer the THREE questions which are furthest removed from the topic discussed in Part I. They carry equal weights.

  1. “Thus the rate of interest is what it is because it is expected to become other than it is: if it is not expected to become other than it is, there is nothing left to tell us what it is…”
    1. Can you identify the author of this famous statement?
    2. Can you recognize whose interest theory he referred to?
    3. Explain and evaluate that theory critically.
    4. Present your own (original or otherwise) theory of interest.
  2. Write an essay on the subject of “The treatment of intermediate products in:
    1. National Income and Product Accounting
    2. Input-output method
    3. Flow-of Funds system
    4. Federal reserve Index of Industrial Production.” (Don’t panic if you can’t do (d), but if you can you’ll get a premium.
      Hint: there is more in this question, and particularly in part (a) than meets the eye. Consider the whole rationale of the methods.
  3. Write a comprehensive essay on the subject of “The Rationale of Investment Decisions.” Consider as many cases as you can, but in each case specify clearly the assumptions made. (Don’t forget to include an undeveloped country case.) Can you generalize?
  4. Write a comprehensive and critical essay on the subject of “Price Flexibility and Employment.” Survey the relevant literature beginning with Keynes’ General Theory, and indicate clearly the nature of the assumptions, the definition of the concepts (hint: money), and the essence of the conclusions. What practical recommendations follow from your discussion?

 

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Evsey D. Domar, Box 16, Folder “Macroeconomics, Final Exams”.

Image Source: Evsey D. Domar photo at the M.I.T. Museum website.

Categories
Economic History Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate Yale

Yale. Undergraduate Economic History of Europe. Cohen, 1972

 

Today’s post is the course outline with readings for the undergraduate course on the economic history of Europe since the Industrial Revolution that I took at Yale during the Spring semester of my junior year (1972). The course was taught by assistant professor Jon S. Cohen. 

From the perspective of today it is hard to imagine the sheer abundance of courses in economic history offered at that time. I have already posted the course outlines for Harry Miskimin’s course on the Economic History of Europe through the Industrial Revolution and William Parker’s course on U.S. Economic History, as well as Ray Powell’s course on History of the Soviet Economy.

While I must confess that I cannot summon any particular memory from the class itself beyond what I have managed to internalize from the readings below, a mere bibliographic residual, there was a later paper written by Cohen along with another one of my M.I.T. professors that possessed the needed  salience to survive in my memory to this day:

Jon S. Cohen and Martin Weitzman. A Marxian model of enclosures. Journal of Development Economics, 1975, vol. 1, issue 4, 287-336.

____________________

American Economic Association Membership Listing (1981)

Cohen, Jon S. Div. of Soc. Sci., Scarborough Coll., U. of Toronto, West Hill, ON M1C 1A4, Canada. Birth Year: 1939. Degrees: B.A. Columbia Coll., 1960; M.A., U. of Calif. at Berkeley, 1964; Ph.D., U. of Calif. at Berkeley, 1966. Prin. Cur. Position: Associate Prof., U. of Toronto, 1972-. Concurrent/Past Positions:  Asst. Prof., Yale U., 1966-72. Research: European economic history and th eeocnomics of education.

Source: Biographical Listing of Members. American Economic Review, Vol. 71, No. 6. (Dec., 1981), p. 101.

List of Publications: 1996-2019.

____________________

 

Economic History of Europe
Since the Industrial Revolution
Economics 81b (History 60b)
Spring 1972

Mr. J. Cohen
501 SSS
Ex. 63246

You are expected to read all (or large parts) of the following books:

David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus

Paul Mantoux, The Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century

E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class

T.S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830

J. H. Clapham, The Economic Development of France and Germany, 1815-1914

An attempt will be made to devote at least one class meeting each week to discussion of these books and other assigned readings. Topics which will be covered and suggested reading are listed below.

I. Preliminaries to Industrialization:

A) Trade and Political Change

W. E. Minchinton (ed.), The Growth of English Overseas Trade, Introduction.

B. Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Chapter I.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 2.

B) Population Change

Michael Drake (ed.), Population in Industrialization, Introduction, Chapters 3, 6, 7.

C) Agricultural Change

E. L. Jones (ed.), Agriculture and Economic Growth, Introduction, Chapter 44.

[addition, handwritten] Marx Vol. I, Part 8—Accumulation of Capital. Chapters 27-30.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 3.

II. Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

A) Industrial Change

D. Landes, Chapters 2-3.

T. Ashton, Chapter 3.

P. Mantoux, Part I, Chapter 1; Part II.

[addition, handwritten] Karl Polanyi, Great Transformation

B) Finance and Capital

P. Deane, The First Industrial Revolution, Chapters 10, 11, 13.

T. Ashton, Chapters 4-5.

C) Social and Economic Conditions

P. Mantoux, Part III.

E. P. Thompson, Part II.

T. Ashton, Chapters V-VI.

D) The Course of Economic Change After 1830

E. J. Hobsbawm, Chapters VI-IX. [Industry & Empire]

M. Dobb, Studies in the Development of Capitalism, Chapter 9.

III. Industrialization on the Continent

D. Landes, Chapters III-V.

A. Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, Chapter 1.

J. H. Clapham, selected chapters on France and Germany [1848-1915 Germany]

B. Supple (ed.), The Experience of Economic Growth, selected chapters. [Landes, Cameron,

[addition, handwritten] Cameron (ed.), Essays in French Economic History. Claude Fohlen, Ind. Rev. in France.

IV. The International Economy to 1914

R. Triffin, Our International Monetary System, Part I, Chapter I.

R. Winks (ed.), British Imperialism, 11-51, 82-96.

V. The Interwar Period and After

W.A. Lewis, Economic Survey, 1919-1939, selected chapters.

[handwritten addition to bottom of page]

Gallagher and Robinson, The Imperialism of Free Trade. E.H.R., 1953

Eckstein (ed.), Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

Rosovsky (ed.), Industrialization in Two Systems

[handwritten addition, back of the second page of syllabus]

Possible paper topics.

  1. Enclosures and population movements in Great Britain in the 17th century
  2. Patters of enclosure in France
  3. Land markets in 18th century Britain
  4. Colonial policy in Britain—Sources of policy. Interest groups.
  5. Eric Williams—impact of slavery on Industrialization
  6. Labor movement and progress of England. Awareness, Consciousness
  7. Rise of protection and aggressive foreign policy.

Source:  Personal Copy, Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Jon S. Cohen webpage at the University of Toronto.

 

 

Categories
Harvard Seminar Speakers Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Social Influences on Economic Actions, outline and readings. Musgrave and Spechler, 1973

 

The outline below for an ambitious Harvard course organized jointly by Richard Musgrave and Martin C. Spechler in 1973 comes from John Kenneth Galbraith’s papers. Galbraith was invited to give a lecture on institutional economics and a couple of pages of keywords in the folder would appear to confirm that Galbraith indeed lectured on the topic.

Biographical information for Richard Musgrave was provided a few blog postings ago. Martin Spechler too was a Harvard alumnus (indeed all three of his academic degrees come from that institution) and so I’ll first insert the chronology of his academic jobs so one can meet another economic Ph.D. alumnus. Spechler’s main research field was comparative economic systems complemented by a strong interest in the history of economics (see the link to his 2007 c.v. below). 

______________________

Martin C. Spechler (b. January 25, 1943, New York City)

A.B. in Social Studies (1964), A.M. in Economics (1967), Ph.D. in Economics (1971). Harvard

1965-1971. Harvard. Teaching fellow in economics and social studies.
1971-1973. Harvard. Lecturer on economics and on social studies.
1971-1974. Harvard. Head tutor in economics.
1973-1975. Harvard. Assistant professor of economics.
1974-1980. Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Department of Economics, lecturer.
1980-1982. Tel Aviv University. Department of Economics and School of General History. Senior lecturer (acting).
1982-1983. University of Washington, Seattle. School  of International Studies. Visiting associate professor.
1983-1984. University Iowa, Iowa City. Visiting associate professor.
1984-1986. Indiana University, Bloomington. Visiting associate professor of economics and research associate, West European Studies.
1986-1990. Indiana University, Indianapolis. Associate professor of economics
1990-. Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis. Professor of economics.

Source:  Martin C. Spechler c.v. (December 2007).

______________________

ECONOMICS 2080
Tentative Lecture Schedule
[1973]

1. September 27 Spechler on Marxism
2. October 4 Unger on Weber
3. October 9 (Tues.) Galbraith on institutionalism
4. October 18 Duesenberry on consumer behavior
5. October 25 (?) on entrepreneurs
6. November 1 M. Roberts on government bureaucracy
7. November 8 J. Bower on corporate organization
8. November 15 Doeringer on workers and unions
9. November 20 (Tuesday) Bowles (?) on Marxian theory of the state
10. November 29 D. Bell (?) on elite theory
11. December 6 J. Q. Wilson on pluralism
12. December 13 Hirschman on trade policy
13. December 20 Musgrave on objectivity in economics and social science

 

Harvard University
Economics 2080

Social Influences on Economic Action
Fall Term, Thursday 4-6

Martin C. Spechler
Holyoke 833, Office; 10-12 (daily)

Richard Musgrave
Littauer 326

            Designed to be taken in one semester to be followed by a seminar, this course examines the social context of economic activity. It covers theoretic and applied writings in several significant traditions: Marxist, Weberian, institutionalist, and liberal. The list includes a more thorough reading of Marx and Weber than is usually available elsewhere and articles reporting contemporary research of a scale suitable for dissertations. Since certain topics of interest, such as stratification, are treated elsewhere in the Economics or allied departments, the range of topics is intentionally incomplete. But each topic includes competing paradigms and case studies making use of them. Each topic takes off from the limits of conventional economics to show that different assumptions and procedures show promise of answering important questions about economic life.

It is envisioned that the course will be taught during the first year in a conference format, with guest lecturers but with one or two Department members responsible for the entire course and always present in class. The course will culminate in the writing of a long (30-40 pages) case study, employing some or all of the theoretical perspectives which have been presented. There will also be a shorter paper early on to fix the theoretical perspectives in mind.

The course is intended for graduate students with some preparation in economics. To facilitate discussion, one might have to limit enrollment, though a diverse group would be highly desirable.

Works marked (*) are assumed as background; those marked (**) are supplementary.

A. The Content and Limits of Modern Economics: A Point of Departure

*Lord Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (2nd ed. 1935).

Emile Gruenberg, “The Meaning of Scope and External Boundaries of Economics.”

Kenneth E. Boulding, “The Verifiability of Economic Images.” Both in Sherman Roy Krupp, The Structure of Economic Science. (Prentice Hall, 1966), pp. 129-165.

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Analytical Economics (Harvard University Press, 1966), Part I (especially pp. 92-129).

B. Three Social Perspectives on Economic Action

What are the hallmarks of “modern” — now misleadingly termed “Western” — society? What changes in productive relations, in ethos, and in political arrangements favored its development? This section examines in depth three major interdisciplinary systems which undertake to define, explain, and analyze the working of modern society, particularly the limits placed on the market by social forces.

Week 1 (September 27) Marxism

Karl Marx, “Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy”

________, “Estranged Labor”

________, “Private Property and Communism”

________, “The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society”

________, “The German Ideology”, Part I

________, “Wage Labor and Capital”

________, “Capital”, Vol. 1 (selections) all in The Marx-Engels Reader (ed. By Robert C. Tucker), Norton Publ., pp. 306 [30-36 intended?], 56-83, 110-164, 167-317, 577-588.

Friedrich Engels, “Letters on Historical Materialism” in Tucker, ed., pp. 640-651 and 661-664.  OR

Ernest Mandel, Marxist Economic Theory, Vol. I, chapters 5, 11; Vol. II, 12-14.

Week 2 (October 4) Weber

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, entire.

________, The Religion of China, IV, V, and VIII.

________, *General Economic History, Part IV

“Power, Capitalism and Rural Society in Germany,” and “National Character and the Junkers,” all in Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, pp. 159-195, 363-395.

Week 3 (October 11) Institutionalism

Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, in Max Lerner, The Portable Veblen (Viking pb) chapters IV, VI.

________, “On the Merits of Borrowing,” from Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, pp. 349-363 in M. Lerner, The Portable Veblen, op. cit.

________, The Theory of Business Enterprise, chapters III, IV, VII.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economics and the Public Purpose (Houghton-Mifflin, 1973), chapters V, IX-XIV, and XIX.

Possible paper topics (illustrative only) for section B. Due October 18:

Paper: What do Marxist, Weberian, and Historical-institutional theories have to say about kinds of modern economies which have developed in the world?

**England, 1642-1851

David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus, introduction and chapter 1.

Barrington, Moore, Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, chapters I and VI.

E.J. Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire, chapters 1-7.

**Japan and China Compared

M. J. Levy, “Contrasting Factors in the Modernization of China and Japan,” in Simon Kuznets, Economic Growth: Brazil, India, Japan (Duke, 1955), pp. 496-536.

Henry Rosovsky, “Japan’s Transition to Modern Economic Growth, 1868-1885,” in Henry Rosovsky (ed.) Industrialization in Two Systems: Essays in Honor of Alexander Gerschenkron (Wiley, 1966). Bobbs-Merrill Reprint No. Econom-264.

Thomas C. Smith, “Japan’s Aristocratic Revolution,” Yale Review V (50), 1960-61, pp. 370-83, reprinted in R. Bendix and S.M. Lipset, Class, Status and Power (2nd ed.), pp. 135-40. The samurai class as modernizers.

Barrington Moore, Jr., Social Origins, op. cit., IV, V, VIII, IX. Particular attention to feudal land patterns as an obstacle to economic and political modernization.

or R.H. Tawney, Land and Labour in China (Octagon, 1964)

or Johannes Hirschmeier, The Origins of Entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan (Harvard, 1964).

**Indonesia, 1945-

Clifford Geertz, Peddlers and Princes (Chicago, 1963). An excellent example of economic anthropology in the Weberian tradition.
[Other suggestions and bibliography available from the instructors.]

C. How do Consumers, Workers, and Entrepreneurs form their Preferences for Market Activities?

This section examines the empirical evidence to date on the relative role of material incentives and job characteristics on productivity, on the effects of advertising on consumer attitudes, and on the relationship between historical experience and decisions about the future.

Week 4 (October 18) Consumer Behavior

*Robert Ferber, “Research on Household Behavior,” American Economic Review, Vol. 52 (1962), pp. 19-63. Reprinted in A.S.C. Ehrenburg and F.G. Pyatt, Consumer Behavior (Penguin, 1971).

*Karl Marx, “Alienated Labor,” and “Needs, Production, and the Division of Labor,” from Early Writings, ed. J. B. Bottomore, pp. 120-134.

*James S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving, and the Theory of Consumer Behavior, chapters I-IV.

J.K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, (Revised edition), chapter 11.

Lester Telser, “Advertising and Cigarettes,” Journal of Political Economy (October, 1962), pp. 471-99).

Tony McGuiness and Keith Cowling, “Advertising and the Aggregate Demand for Cigarettes: An Empirical Analysis of a U.K. Market,” paper no. 31, Centre for Industrial Economic and Business Research, University of Warwick, England. On reserve in Littauer.

Lester D. Taylor and Daniel Weiserbs, “Advertising and the Aggregate Production Function,” American Economic Review, (September 1972), pp. 642-55.

George Katona, Burkhard Strumpel and Ernest Zahn, Aspirations and Affluence (McGraw-Hill, 1971), chapters 6-12. The effects and causes of consumer attitudes in the United States and Western Europe.

Week 5 (October 25) Entrepreneurs

Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, (Harper Torchbook, 1962), chapter XI-XIV.

Thomas C. Cochran, “Cultural Factors in Economic Growth,” and David Landes, “French Business and the Business Man: a Social and Cultural Analysis,” in Hugh G.J. Aitken, Explorations in Enterprise (Harvard University Press, 1965), pp, 122-38, 184-209.

Alexander Gerschenkron, “Social Attitudes, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development,” in Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Harvard, 1962), pp. 52-71. [note: workers’ attitudes will be discussed in week 8.]

D. How Do Large Organizations Behave?

The opportunities created by market power and the size of the hierarchy in modern economic bureaucracies probably allowed behavior far from the competitive norm. What are the elements of structure, control, and attitudes which influence corporate behavior? The readings include the Weberian, and the “bureaucratic politics” points of view; and the case comparisons include the U.S. Navy, French enterprise, the Society of Jesus, the Soviet industrial planning system, and the most important American public enterprise.

Week 6 (November 1) Government Bureaucracy

Max Weber, “Bureaucracy,” in Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber, pp. 196-244.

Charles Lindblom, “The Politics of Muddling Through,” Bobbs-Merrill Reprint, Public Administration Review XIX (Spring, 1959), pp.79-88: why strict means-end rationality is impossible in government bureaucracies.

A. Wildavsky, The Politics of the Budgetary Process, (Little, Brown, 1964) chapter 2.

Stanley Surrey, “Congress and the Tax Lobbyist: How Tax Provisions Get Enacted,” Harvard Law Review (1957), pp. 1145-70.

Sandford F. Borins, “The Political Economy of ‘The Fed,’” Public Policy (Spring, 1972), pp. 175-98.

Sanford Weiner, “Resource Allocation in Basic Research and Organizational Design,” Public Policy (Spring, 1972), pp. 227-55.

Benjamin Ward, The Socialist Economy: A Study of Organizational Alternatives, chapters 5 and 6.

The latter considers whether socialization, such as occurs in the Jesuits and the Navy, would overcome some of the control anomalies which have frustrated Soviet planning.

**Joseph Berliner, Factory and Manager in the U.S.S.R. (Harvard, 1957); a classic on informal organizations versus system goals.

Week 7 (November 8) Corporate Organization

A Harvard Business School case will be distributed for discussion.

*R.H. Coase, “The Nature of the Firm,” Economica, (1937) reprinted in G. J. Stigler and Kenneth Boulding,Readings in Price Theory (AEA, 1952), pp. 331-351.

Armen A. Alchian and Harold Demsetz, “Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,” American Economic Review (December, 1972), pp. 777-95.

Philip Selznick, Leadership in Administration (Row Peterson, 1957), chapter 4.

David Granick, Managerial Comparisons of Four Developed Countries (MIT, 1972), chapters 1-5, 9-13.

**Alfred Chandler, Jr. Strategy and Structure, chapters 1-3, 5-7, conclusion.

**Philip Selznick, TVA and the Grass Roots (Harper pb, 1966).

**Michelle Crozier, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (Phoenix pb, 1964).

**Alfred Chandler. Pierre Dupont and the Modern Corporation.

Joseph L. Bower, “The Amoral Organization,” in R. Marris and E. G. Mesthene, Technology, the Corporation, and the State (forthcoming) or Harvard Business School 4-372-285.

Week 8 (November 15) Workers and Unions

Victor Vroom,”Industrial Social Psychology,” in Gardner B. Lindzey and Elliott Aronson, eds., The Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. V. (2nd ed.), 1969, pp. 196-248.

Work in America, report of a Special Task Force to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (MIT Press, 1973), chapters 1, 2, 4, 5.
Mancur Olsen, Logic of Collective Goods (paperback, rev. ed., 1971), chapter III, pp. 66-97.

Suggested:

**John Goldthorpe et al., The Affluent Worker in the Class Structure, Cambridge University Press, 1969, pb).

**Andre Gorz, A Strategy for Labor (Beacon pb., 1968), chapter 4.
Leonard Goodwin, Do the Poor Want to Work? (Brookings, 1972).

E. Does Economic Power Give Rise to Political Power?

            Marxist, elite and pluralist theorists all answer differently as to under what circumstances market power and material privilege are translated into political power and what sorts of groups (classes, corporations, trade associations, ideological coalitions, parties) contend for ascendancy. The readings examine such mechanisms as control of mass media, the common training and outlook of American and European elites, pressure group influence on Congressional elections, and the weakening of countervailing interests.

*Otto Eckstein, Public Finance (2nd ed.), chapters 1-2.

Week 9 (November 20, Tuesday) Marxian Theory of the State

Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society (Basic Books), entire.

Week 10 (November 29) Elite Theory

C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, chapters 1-13.

G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America? (Spectrum pb. 1967), 1-5, 7.

Week 11 (December 6) Pluralism

Arnold M. Rose, The Power Structure, (Oxford pb, 1967), pp. 1-10, 15-24, 26-39, 70-78, 89-127, 131-133.

**J.K. Galbraith, The New Industrial State, chapters I-IX, XXV, and XXXV: A strong statement of the technological impetus towards convergence.

**Walter Adams, “The Military-Industrial Complex and the New Industrial State,” American Economic Review (May, 1968), pp. 652-665.

Stanley Lieberson, “An Empirical Study of Military-Industrial Linkages,” American Journal of Sociology, (1971), pp. 562-82.

George J. Stigler, “The Theory of Economic Regulation,” Bell Journal of Economic and Manag. Sci., (Spring, 1971), pp. 3-17.

Joseph C. Palamountain, Jr., The Politics of Distribution (Harvard University Press, 1955), II, IV, VII, VIII.

J.Q. Wilson, “Politics of Business Regulation” (revised ed.), mimeographed.

Week 12 (December 13) Trade Policy

Raymond A. Bauer, Ithiel de Sola Pool, and Lewis Anthony Dexter, American Business and Public Policy, The Politics of Foreign Trade (Aldine, 2nded., 1972), Parts II, IV-VI.

F. Validation of Theories about Economic Action

Week 13 (December 20) Objectivity in Economics and Social Science

*Milton Friedman, “The Methodology of Positive Economics.”

Max Weber, “The Meaning of ‘Ethical Neutrality’ in Sociology and Economics,” and “’Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy,” in Max Weber, The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Free Press, 1949), pp. 1-112.

Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge Cambridge University Press pb. (Essays by T.S. Kuhn, S.E. Toulmin, K.R. Popper, and I. Lakatos), pp. 1-24, 39-59, 91-196.

Term papers due by January 17.

Source:  John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers. Series 5 Harvard University File, 1949-1990, Box 521, Folder “[courses]: Economics 280: Musgrave Lecture. 9 October 1973”.

Image Source: Martin C. Spechler from the Department of Economics webpage, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis archived at the Wayback Machine (February 18, 2003).

 

 

Categories
Columbia Lecture Notes Suggested Reading

Columbia. First semester graduate economic analysis. First weeks’ notes. Hart, 1955.

 

 

Based on what we see of the first few weeks of the content of this first graduate economics theory course at Columbia taught by Albert Gailord Hart (Chicago PhD, 1939) in 1955, it appears that the level of analysis in the course barely attained that of a contemporary average intermediate course in micro- or macroeconomics. Jumping to the end of this post, we find that Hart’s poll of the students in his class revealed that one-third of the aspiring graduate students in economics brought with them no math skills beyond what was taught in high-school (calculus was not taught in high-schools in the US at that time). Only one-third had been economics majors at college. One third had either zero economics or could not even recall the name the textbook that was used in their principles of economics class.

One can imagine the fare of Alfred Marshall, George Stigler and Kenneth Boulding would have been hard to digest for many, if not the majority, of Hart’s first-year graduate students. 

_______________________

Course Announcement

Economics 101-102—Economic Analysis. Professor Hart and Dr. Mosak.

Section 1—2:10-4. Dr. Mosak. 201 Fayerweather.
Section 2—M. W. 12. Professor Hart. 201 Fayerweather.

Detailed analysis of the reactions of producing units (firms) and consuming units (households); determination through the market of resource allocation, outputs, prices, and incomes; capital and interest; theories of general equilibrium (Walrasian and Keynesian); introduction to “dynamics.”

Students who have not completed Economics 101 are admitted to Economics 102 only with the permission of the instructor.

 

Source:  Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions 1955-1956. From the Columbia University Bulletin of Information. Fifty-fifth Series, No. 25 (June 25, 1955), p. 34.

_______________________

ECONOMICS 101 (Section 2), autumn 1955
AGH 10/3/55
101-1

Role of the course is basic training in theoretical analysis.

  1. This is today’s version (though differently arranged) of the traditional “value and distribution” course – staple of the graduate curriculum, and counterpart of the key section of “Principles” courses.
  2. The two “sections” are independent courses aim to provide this basic training; interchangeable as prerequisites for later work, but not guaranteed interchangeable in January 1956.
  3. Prerequisites for 101 are simply some previous economics (minimum: a “Principles” course) and high-school mathematics.
  4. Because of the wide range of backgrounds, the course opens each topic at an elementary level, and then pushes the topic to a professional level. All questions are welcome.

Books:

  1. Contrary to most fields, theoretical analysis boasts several textbooks that are first-hand jobs by productive men in the field and belong in personal working libraries. Students in the course should own either:
    1. Stigler, THEORY OF PRICE, 2nd ed., or
    2. Boulding, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, 3rd ed.
      Choice is a matter of temperament.
  2. All economists should own Alfred Marshall, PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS (8th ed.) – obsolescent for over 40 years, never superseded.
  3. Stigler & Boulding (eds) READINGS IN PRICE THEORY has several items we will use; so does
  4. American Economic Association, READINGS IN THE THEORY OF DISTRIBUTION.

Plan of the Course will be shaped partly by background of its members; to start:

Introduction, Oct. 3, 5.
Read introductory chapters of Marshall, Boulding Stigler.

Preliminary supply-and-demand analysis, Oct. 10, 12, 17, 19.
Read Marshall, Book V; examine Boulding’s first part as attempt to deal at this level.

Next stage (starting about October 24) we’ll be on the theory of the firm and Marshallian industry (short-run).

Place of theoretical analysis in economics is to my mind central.

  1. Economic theory is a logic of economic quantity-networks.
    1. By general consent, economics is about problems of scarcity.
    2. To mitigate any one scarcity requires substitution – which intensifies some other scarcity. (Example: wartime petroleum.)
    3. Therefore scarcity situations interlock.
    4. Characteristic problems are of the sort represented by simultaneous equations. (Example: oil-rich sheik. [See note below for 10/5/55])
  2. A widespread skepticism about the theoretical tradition must be recognized.
    1. There is very proper skepticism about people who claim to have applicable knowledge a priori–an offense of which theorists can sometimes be convicted. (Example: fish [sic] taxonomy.)
    2. As maybe seen from curricular tendencies in general social science courses, the “basic social science” group aspire to build an adequate social analysis without drawing on our theoretical tradition.” (Background on this at next meeting.)
    3. In many departments, theory is taught as a parlor accomplishment, or at best as a tool on a par with historical or statistical methods.
  3. My claims for theoretical analysis are ambitious:
    1. Proposed substitutes for theory can so far not touch things it can do.
    2. While some economic topics lack historical or statistical angles, none lack scarcity-and-substitution angles.

 

ECONOMICS 101 (Section 2), autumn 1955
AGH 10/5/55
101-2

Economic Theory in Social Science is not such an anomaly as it might seem if you relied on (say) a sociologist’s interpretation.

  1. The basic difficulty is that economic theory is about the inter-relations of economic quantities, while social science is supposed to be about the inter-relations of people.
  2. The economist’s first answer is that one of the most pervasive social relationships is that of markets and division of labor, which cannot be understood without a logic of economic quantities.
  3. At a slightly more fundamental level, the economist must insist on the human content of his economic quantities and his patterns of relationship among them.
    1. The focus of economic analysis is choice (alias decision); in setting up our models, we take account of the psychology of individual and group decisions.
    2. Behind choices lie estimates of future consequences; our models take account of human fallibility, and of the way people learn from experience.
    3. Even such apparently mechanical relations as a “production function” have human content.
      1. We visualize the production function as a table of figures (or an algebraic formula), designed so that if we know the inputs we can look up or calculate the output.
      2. It is tempting to look at such a table or formula as embodying a set of impersonal “natural laws” of physics, chemistry and biology.
      3. But insofar as such “natural laws” come in questions, what counts is not the ultimate truth but the understanding held by the decision-maker; thus the production function for steel has changed from one using charcoal to one using coke.
      4. Many of the quantities involved are intensely human—especially the overwhelmingly important quantity called labor input.
      5. Input-output relations hinge on patterns of cooperation among workers and between workers and management.
    4. Thus the human content is not drained out of economics by adopting the economic-quantity approach.
    5. At the same time, it is worth remembering that economists as such are not expert on many relevant aspects of human relations, and can profit from criticism.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Data on the oil contract with the Arab potentate: The executive negotiating the contract agreed tentatively to deliver 2500 gallons weekly at his oasis. Engineers report that a tank-truck’s round trip requires 0.09 gallons of gasoline per pound of loaded weight at the start, and that the truck will weigh 2½ tons plus 10 pounds for each gallon of capacity.
Then (1) G = 2500 + 0.09W and (2) W = 5000 + 100.

 

ECONOMICS 101 (Section 2), autumn 1955
AGH 10/10/55 (compilation of 5/5/55[possibly “65”]
101-3[?]-c[?]

Demand Data for Fruits and Vegetables

To test the presumption that price and quantity-demanded of individual commodities are negatively related, a promising experiment is to locate an array of price-quantity data where supply is apt to have changed erratically enough to give a variety of experiences, and where price structure, tastes, income and expectations can be supposed similar.

The adjacent years 1951-52 happen to lie close in other characteristics than chronology. Price averages rose about 2%, without great changes in general structure; population rose about 2% real income per capita, after taxes, rose about 1%. The years being adjacent, drastic changes in tastes are unlikely.

A promising body of price-quantity data is the list of 32 types of “truck” and 10 kinds of fruit for which output and price are reported in Statistical Abstract of the United States (1953 volume, pp. 668-669). For the 20 items whose output-change exceeded 10% up or down, data run as follows:

Commodity

% change in output

% change in price

[comment]
Shallots +45% -22%
Artichokes +35% -12%
Broccoli +27% -9%
Eggplant +26% -1% Weak or mildly parallel relation
Mint (for oil) +25% -4%
Corn, sweet +19% +0.5% Weak or mildly parallel relation
Cucumbers +13% +11% Strong failure of inverse relation
Lettuce +10% -8%
Garlic -11% +88%
Beets -12% +11%
Beans (snap) -14% +15%
Tomatoes -16% +12%
Spinach -17% +11%
Apples -18% +31%
Peas, green -20% +1% Weak or mildly parallel relation
Pimientos -20% +8%
Prunes -21% +28%
Brussels sprouts -31% +6%
Plums -40% +64%
Honeyball melons -46% +36%

 

ECONOMICS 101 (Section 2), autumn 1955
AGH 10/12/55
101-4
Topic I

Note on Class’s Background from preliminary tabulation of data slips:

  1. Only about 1/3 were economics majors as undergraduates. In view of the plea in the catalogue to get background rather than over-concentrate, it is my business to see that non-majors are not penalized.
  2. About 1/3 have had no formal economics, or a “weak principles”—meaning that they can’t identify the text, in many cases! Recommended they have one of the stronger elementary texts for review & reference.
  3. Mathematical background of 1/3 includes nothing beyond high school level—distributed rather evenly over economics background. Those who are weak both in previous economics and in math may need extra time for the course.
  4. In view of this state of the class’s background, do not shy off from raising a question that bothers you for fear it is too elementary!

Assignment:

In Stigler: Read chapters 1, 2, and 4 (treating 3 as a reference work).
Work out to your own satisfaction his exercises no’s 2-4 on p. 67.

In Boulding: Read chapters 7-8 (3rd ed.)
Work out to your own satisfaction his exercise no. 1 on pp. 165-166.

Source: Columbia University Archives.  Albert Gailord Hart Collection, Box 62, Folder “TEACHING: Sec. 4 ColUniv 1955/56. Ec 101/2 MICRO”.

Image Source: Albert Gailord hart, Economist, Dead at 88. Columbia University Record. Vol. 23, No. 5 (October 3, 1997).

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Monetary economics, reading lists. Ando and Modigliani, 1960-61

 

 

Franco Modigliani first came to M.I.T. as a visiting professor in 1960-61 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology before returning in 1962 after only one year at Northwestern. His former Carnegie Tech student Albert K. Ando was already on the M.I.T. faculty and the partial reading lists for their jointly taught courses can be found in Modigliani’s papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive. 

Readings and final exam from the monetary theory course taught by Modigliani at Northwestern in 1961 have been posted earlier.

Note: I have inserted part of the reading list on monetary policy from Modigliani’s course at Carnegie Tech in the term immediately preceding his visiting professorship at M.I.T. This insertion is motivated by last sentence in the course description in the M.I.T. catalogue that includes the topic “the role of money in policy”.

_____________________

Monetary Economics course enrollments
1960-61

Fall 1960.  14.461 Monetary Economics, A. K. Ando. 14 students.

Spring 1961.  14.192 Economics Seminar—Monetary Economics. Ando/Modigliani. 7 students.

Source: M.I.T. Archives. Department of Economics, Records. Box 3, Folder “Teaching Responsibility”.

_____________________

Course Announcement
Fall, 1960

14.461 Monetary Economics

Prereq.: 14.451 [Theory of Income and Employment]
Year: G(1)

Review of theory of income determination, with explicit attention to monetary parts of the model. Examination of sources and determinants of supply of money with attention to role of commercial banks, Federal Reserve System, and the Treasury. Exploration of both theory and fact about demand for money for transactions and for speculative purposes. Discussion of general equilibrium theory of money, interest, prices and output, and role of money in policy.

Ando, Modigliani

Source:   Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, 1960-61, p. 243.

_____________________

Modigliani
Ando
Fall, 1960

Monetary Economics
14.461

We assume that students are familiar with the elementary price theory and income theory, i.e., that they have taken 14.121, 14.122, 14.451, and 14.452. We also assume that students have some material ordinarily covered in the elementary course in Money and Banking. Those who feel that they need to refresh their memory of the latter may consult:

Steiner, Shapiro, Solomon, Money and Banking, Parts I, II, and III.

Day and Beza, Money and Income, Parts I and III.

Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity, 2nd edition, Part I.

Chandler, The Economics of Money and Banking, 3rd edition.

  1. The nature of money and the position of money in the balance sheet for the United States: An Introduction

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chs. 1 and 2.

Robertson, D. H., Money, Chs. 1 to 3.

Meade, J. E., “The Amount of Money and the Banking System,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

The Federal Reserve System—Purposes and Functions, Chs. I to VIII and XIII.

Modigliani, F., Lecture Notes No. 1-3.

Federal Reserve Bulletin, August, 1959, “A Quarterly Presentation of Flow of Funds, Saving, and Investment.”

Roosa, R. V. Federal Reserve Operations with Money and Government Securities Market.

  1. Demand for Money

This year, we shall postpone the discussion of the demand for money arising from various forms of uncertainty until later in the course, and confine ourselves in this section to dealing with the demand for money due to the existence of the cost of transaction.

    1. Why is demand for money different from demands for consumption goods?

Samuelson, P. A., Foundations, pp. 117-124

Marschak, J., “The Rationale of the Demand for Money and of ‘Money Illusion’,” Metroeconomica, August, 1950, Sections 1 and 2.

    1. Classical theory (Equation of Exchange and Cambridge Equation).

Fisher, I., The Purchasing Power of Money, Chs. 1 to 6 and 8.

Robertson, D. H., Money, Chs. 4 to 6.

Marshall, A., Official Papers, pp. 32-54.

Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, Chs. 9-19.

Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices, Chs. 3 and 5 to 8.

Gregory, T. E., The Gold Standard and Its Future, Chs. 1 and 2.

Hicks, J. R., “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Ch. 15.

Pigou, A. C., “The Value of Money,” AEA Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 162-185.

Friedman, M., “The Restatement of the Quantity Theory of Money,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

    1. More modern theory of transaction demand for money.

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chapter 4, Sections 1 and 2, Appendix to Chapter 4.

Tobin, J., “The Interest Elasticity of Transaction Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1956, pp. 241-47.

Baumol, W. J., “The Transaction Demand for Cash,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1952.

Lecture notes, 3-6, 9 and 10.

    1. Some empirical evidence.

Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation, Chs. 2, 4, and 5 (see also J. Robinson’s review in Economic Journal, September, 1938).

League of Nations, The Course and Control of Inflation, Part I.

Cagan, P., “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyper-Inflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, (M. Friedman, ed.)

Kisselgoff, A., “Liquidity Preference of Large Manufacturing Corporations,” Econometrica, October, 1945.

Latane, H. A., “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1954, pp. 456-460.

Polak, J. and White, W. H., “The Effect of Income Expansion on the Quantity of Money,” in IMF Staff Papers, August, 1956.

Stedry, A.C., “A Note on Interest Rates and the Demand for Money,” RENS August, 1959.

Those who are not familiar with the elementary theory of inventory management should consult any one of the following:

Whitin, T., Theory of Inventory Management, Chapters 2 and 3.

Arrow, K. J., Karlin, and Scarf, Studies in the Mathematical Theory of Inventory and Production, Chapters 1 and 2.

Arrow, K. J., Harris, and Marschak, “Optimal Inventory Policy,” Econometrica, July 1951.

  1. Analysis of the place of money in the economy—general equilibrium theory of money, prices, and employment.
    1. Neo-classical theory: the case of flexible prices and perfect markets.

Marschak, J., “The Rationale of the Demand for Money and Money Illusion,” Metroeconomica, 1950, pp. 71-160.

Modigliani, F., Preliminary Notes on the Theory of Money and Interest, Part I, II, and III, Section A to D (2).

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices, An Integration of Monetary and Value Theory.

Patinkin, D., “A Reconsideration of the General Equilibrium Theory of Money,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 18, 1950-51.

De Scitovsky, T., “Capital Accumulation, Employment, and Price Rigidity,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 8, pp. 69-88.

Pigou, A. C., “Economic Progress in a Stable Environment,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

Metzler, L., “Wealth, Saving, and the Rate of Interest,” JPE, April, 1951.

Archibald, G. C., and Lipsey, R.G., “Monetary and Value Theory: A Critique of Lange and Patinkin,” Review of Economic Studies, October, 1958.

    1. Keynesian theory: the effects of rigid prices.

Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Chs. 2, 6, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21 including appendix.

Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics,” Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory

Modigliani, Preliminary Notes, Part IV.

Pigou, A. C., Employment and Equilibrium.

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Chs. 5-6.

(To be continued)

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

From: Course outline and major references, GI-583—Advance Economics III (Monetary Theory and Macro-Economic Analysis), Carnegie Institute of Technology, Spring Term 1960.

[Applications of the model to Economic Analysis and Policy]

  1. a) The causes of unemployment

(i) “Monetary” causes

(ii) Effective demand and the limits of monetary policy—Fiscal policy.

(iii) Real wage rigidity, market structures and the limits of monetary and fiscal policy

b) Creeping inflation and its causes—Cost push and demand pull

c) Implications for economic policy

Modigliani, Preliminary notes, Part IV section A.6 and C.6

Hart, A. G., Money, Debt and Economic Activity, Part V

Timlin, P., A MODEL OF THE CURRENT INFLATION—B.A. Thesis, Swarthmore College (Mimeographed) Ch. I

Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress—THE RELATIONSHIP OF PRICES TO ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH—COMPENDIUM March, 1958

(See especially: A. P. Lerner, “Inflationary Depression and the Regulation of Administered prices”) and G. Ackley, “A Third Approach to the Analysis and Control of Inflation”)

Selden, R., Cost Push versus Demand Pull, JPE Feb. 1959

WAGES, PRICES, PROFITS AND PRODUCTIVITY—The American Assembly, Columbia University

Schultze, C. THE RECENT INFLATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Joint Economic Committee, 1959

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

List of Suggested Books
for Review in 14.461

Pigou, A. C., Employment and Equilibrium

Friedman, M., A Program for Monetary Stability

Hansen, B., Theory of Inflation

Hansen, B., Economic Theory of Fiscal Policy

Gurley, J. G., and Shaw, E., Money in a Theory of Finance

Faxen, K. O., Monetary and Fiscal Policy under Uncertainty

Botha, D. J., A Study in the Theory of Monetary Equilibrium

Hall, C. A., Fiscal Policy for Stable Growth

Buchanan, J. M., Public Principles of Public Debt

Musgrave, R. A., The Theory of Public Finance

Patinkin, D., Money, Interest, and Prices

Robinson, J., Accumulation of Capital

Sraffa, P., Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

_____________________

Course Announcement

14.192 Economics Seminar

Prereq.: 14.121 [Economic Analysis (first term)]
Year: G(1)

Special social problems or economic problems of particular industries. (Open to graduate students only.)

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin, 1960-61,  p. 242.

_____________________

Spring Term, 1961
Franco Modigliani
Albert Ando

14.192
Monetary Economics

  1. Preliminary Discussion of the Theory of Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Friedman, M., “Choice, Chance, and Personal Distribution of Income,” Journal of Political Economy, 1953, pp. 277-290.

Friedman, M., and Savage, L. J., “The Utility Analysis of Choices involving Risk,” JPE, 1948, pp. 279-304, reprinted in AEA Readings in Price Theory.

Dreze, J., and Modigliani, F., Consumer’s Behavior under Uncertaintydittoed notes.

Tobin, J., “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” The Review of Economic Studies, February, 1958

Tobin, J., Manuscript, Ch. 3

Markowitz, H. M., Portfolio Selection

Hirschleifer—“Risk, the Discount Rate and Investment Decisions”—AER, Vol LI, No. 2 May 1961, pp. 112-120

Those who are not familiar with the standard theory of decision making under uncertainty should consult the following:

Luce, R. D., and Raiffa, H., Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey, Chs. 2, 13, and 14

Raiffa, H., and Schlaifer, R. O.,Applied Statistical Decision Theory, Preface and Introduction, Ch. 1.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Franco Modigliani Papers. Box T6, Folder “Economic Fluctuation and Growth, 1961”.

Image Source: Albert K. Ando from the MIT Museum, People Records. Franco Modigliani from Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s History of Economic Thought website.

 

Categories
Exam Questions History of Economics M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. History of Economic Thought. Misc. Readings and exams. Samuelson, 1973-78

 

Scattered across several folders in the Paul Samuelson Papers at Duke are course materials from the graduate history of economic course regularly offered by Samuelson in the 1970s. Not included below are a few class lecture handouts and class lists also in the folders. Instead I have just transcribed the suggested reading lists or Dewey library course reserve lists and two final exams found in the folders. 

I did not take this course, once having sat in on a Marxian economics lecture that consisted of Paul Samuelson commenting on his textbook’s appendix “Rudiments of Marxian Economics”. Perhaps the arrogance of my youth got the better of me, but I thought there were other courses that were going to teach me something that I had not already learned so I am now condemned to trying to reconstruct his course content from such scraps as these we find in his archival record. Maybe a visitor to this page of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has saved notes from the course?

_________________

14.132 FALL 1973
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. SAMUELSON

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

T. Kuhn
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schumpeter (1912), Heilbroner.

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes
ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY

Schumpeter
TEN ECONOMISTS

H. Spiegel
GREAT ECONOMISTS ON GREAT ECONOMISTS

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. S. Schumpeter
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Marc Blaug
ECONOMIC THEORY IN RETROSPECT

3. ON RICARDO, you should at least sample

Sraffa edition
PRINCIPLES

Useful readings are:

Blaug

Baumol
ch 2 in ECONOMIC DYNAMICS

Stigler in
HISTORY OF ECONOMICS

Sraffa
his introduction to the PRINCIPLES

Kaldor
his brief section in 1954 RES “Alternative Theories of Distribution”

Models of Ricardo-like systems

Pasinetti
Samuelson
Edelberg

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1973”.

_________________

14.132 FALL 1974
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. SAMUELSON E 52-394

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

T. Kuhn
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schumpeter (1912), Heilbroner, Cannan, Recktenwald’s POLITICAL ECONOMY: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes
ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY

Schumpeter
TEN ECONOMISTS

H. Spiegel
GREAT ECONOMISTS ON GREAT ECONOMISTS

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. S. Schumpeter
HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Marc Blaug
ECONOMIC THEORY IN RETROSPECT

3. First Topic of land and the interest rate: Turgot, Böhm-Bawerk and Keynes-Modigliani

Böhm-Bawerk, Vol I, Ch. 4
„Land and the Rate of Interest“: also Samuelson (1958, 1968, 1974)
Modigliani (1954, 1974)
Diamond (1965)

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1973”.

_________________

14.132 Fall 1975
STORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
P. A. SAMUELSON E52-394
FRIDAY 1:30-3:30

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. FOR BACKGROUND

Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution
and parts or all of any sample of secondary sources, such as those by Roll, Gray, Gide-Rist, brief Schupeter (1912), Heilbroner, Cannan’s Review of Economic Theory, Recktenwald’s Political Economy: A Historical Perspective.

FOR BIOGRAPHY

Keynes, Essays in Biography

Schumpeter, Ten Economists

H. Spiegel, Great Economists on Great Economists [not in Dewey Library]

2. BASIC BACKGROUND REFERENCE

Perhaps the basic background reference is the posthumous, uneven classic:
J. A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis

A valuable, MIT-graduate-school kind of reference is
Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect

For fruits of Marx’s hours in the British Museum, see
K. Marx, Theories of Surplus Value (many volumes, and sometimes called Vol. IV of Das Kapital)

Readable and scholarly essays are collected in
G. J. Stigler, Essays in the History of Economics

3. First topic of Quesnay’s Tableau Economique:

Any text like Gray, Peter Newman, Roll, Schumpeter;
Meek on Physiocracy, and edited volume;
A. Phillips, QJE, 1955;
S. Maital, QJE, 1972.

4. Topic of land and the interest rate: Turgot, Böhm-Bawerk and Keynes-Modigliani

Böhm-Bawerk, Vol I, Ch. 4, “Land and the Rate of Interest,” also,
Samuelson (1958, 1968, 1974)
Modigliani (1954, 1974)
Diamond (1965)

5. Modern model of Ricardo

6. Transformation problem of Marx

7. Smith, Adam

8. ….

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Fall 1975”.

_________________

Samuelson
To be placed on reserve for 14.132

Mass. Inst. Tech.
FEB 14 1977
DEWEY RESERVE

McLellan. Karl Marx: His Life and Thought

Luxemburg. Accumulation of Capital

Sweezy. Theory of Capitalist Development

Robinson. An Essay on Marxian Economics

Dobbs. History of Theories of Distribution [sic, Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith: Ideology and Economic Theory]

Morishima. On Marxian Economics [sic, Marx’s Economics]

Schumpeter. History of Economic Analysis

Roll. History of Economic Thought 

Alexander Gray. The Development of Economic Doctrine

[Metzler Lloyd] Festschrift. (Trade, Stability and Macroeconomics) edited by G. Horowitz and P. Samuelson.

Reprints

Samuelson

Samuelson’s “Reply on Marxian Matters”

Insight and Detour in the Theory of Exploitation: A Reply to Baumol

Understanding the Marxian Notion of Exploitation: A Summary of the So-Called Transformation Problem Between Marxian Values and Competitive Prices

Marx as a Mathematical Economist

 

Journals

Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 2, 1934-35

American Economic Review, March 1938.

 

[Appendix: Rudiments of Marxian Economics (from Samuelson Economics, pp. 858-)]

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

_________________

14.132 Final Exam
History of Economic Thought
P. A. Samuelson
May 20, 1977

ANSWER (1) OR (2) QUESTIONS.

  1. Describe any aspects of the classical economists’ system that primarily interests you.
  2. Describe the doctrines of some one historical economist or school in which you have an interest.
  3. Analyze any aspects of Marxian economics that you think are of relevance to economic history and policy.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

_________________

Reserve List, MIT Libraries
14.132 History of Economic Thought
Spring 1978

D. L. Thomson, Adam Smith’s Daughters, Exposition Press, 1973.

L. Robbins. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. Macmillan, 1935 and 1962.

M. Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect. Richard D. Irwin, 1962.

I. H. Rima. Development of Economic Analysis. Irwin, 1972.

H. W. Spiegel,The Growth of Economic Thought. Prentice-Hall, 1971.

Alexander Gray, Development of Economic Doctrines. Longman, Green and Co. 1934.

T. W. Hutchinson, A Review of Economic Doctrines, 1870-1929. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1953.

Thomas Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, Princeton U. Press, 1974.

Eric Roll, A History of Economic Thought. Faber and Faber, 1973.

Eric Roll, The World After Keynes, Praeger, 1968.

J. A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis. Oxford U. Press, 1954.

G. L. S. Shackle. The Nature of Economic Thought. Cambridge U Press, 1966.

J. A. Schumpeter, Ten Great Economists. Oxford, 1965.

R. L. Meek. Precursors of Adam Smith. Dear (London), 1973.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1978”.

_________________

14.132 Take-Home Exam
Spring 1978

Answer any one of these questions or any two or all three.

  1. Describe some topic covered in this course that you find to be of interest. Discuss its broad significance; or concentrate in depth on any aspect of the problem that you believe to be worth exploring. Do not hesitate to let your imagination soar.
  2. Describe some aspect or aspects of what we call neoclassical economics. If you wish, compare and contrast it with earlier classical economics; or with later Keynesian economics; or with the Marx-inspired economics that developed around the same time.
  3. Thomas Kuhn attempted to throw light on how the natural sciences tend to develop. If any part of his paradigms seems to you useful in any part of the history of economic thought, describe the use. If you have criticisms to make of the Kuhnian methodology, feel free to enlarge on them.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul Samuelson Papers, Box 33, Folder “14.132 Spring 1977”.

Image Source:  Capture of the photos page from the Paul Samuelson memorial webpages at the MIT economics department (date of Wayback Machine capture May 22, 2011)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Statistics Suggested Reading

Harvard. Final exam for course on national income accounting. Crum, 1938

 

William Leonard Crum (1894-1967) taught economic statistics at Harvard from 1923-1948 before finishing his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught an undergraduate one-semester course, “The National Income”, only twice. In the extensive but incomplete Harvard archival collection of course final examinations I have only been able to find the final for the second term of the 1937-38 academic year. Full course reading lists were not in the course syllabi and outlines collection, but the reading period assignments for both years could be found.

_________________

Course Enrollments,

1937-38

[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.

Total 7: 1 Graduate, 4 Seniors, 2 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1937-38, p. 85.

 

1938-39

[Economics] 21b2 hf. Professor Crum — The National Income.

Total 3: 2 Graduates, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1938-39, p. 98.

_________________

Reading Period

May 9- June 1, 1938

Economics 21b: Read either of the following:

Colin Clark, National Income and Outlay, Chs. I-V, and VII.
R. F. Martin, National Income and Its Elements (entire).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1937-1938”.

 

May 8- May 31, 1939

Economics 21b: Choose one of the following:

National Industrial Conference Board, National Income in the United States, 1799-1938 (entire book).
Simon Kuznets, Commodity Flow and Capital Formation, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1938 (Part II and Part III).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1938-1939”.

_________________

Final exam, 1938

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 21b2

(Omit two of the first six questions, and omit one of the last two)

  1. (a) Outline the main items, listing as plus and minus, which must be covered in estimating national income by the net value product method.
    (b) Discuss the chief theoretical and practical points relating to the estimated allowance for depreciation.
  2. (a) Comment upon the main problems encountered in determining the net value product of “government”, considered as an “industry”.
    (b) Name two chief “transfer” items, and indicate – for each – how it should be treated in national income estimates, and why.
  3. (a) Discuss with care the way in which the accounting practice relative to inventory valuation affects estimates of national income.
    (b) Comment upon the place of “additions to business surplus” in the simple concepts of national income. Indicate whether this surplus-additional item can be estimated directly, or only indirectly.
  4. (a) What is meant by “entrepreneurial withdrawals”, and on what basis are they in general estimated? Give your view of the validity of such estimates, with reasons.
    (b) To what extent do the methods customarily employed in estimating the distribution of national income according to particular categories give a satisfactory appraisal of any oneof the four main types discussed in economic theory – wages, interest, rent, profits?
  5. (a) Discuss the place of capital gains in national income estimates.
    (b) What is meant by capital formation? What are the leading obstacles to a satisfactory measurement thereof?
  6. (a) Given an online account of the relation between size of income (of individuals) and the main sources from which income is derived. How, in general, does the business cycle affect these relationships?
    (b) What is meant by real income? Name and discuss two chief obstacles to the measurement thereof.
  7. (Clark) Name, and common briefly upon, the chief differences in method of estimating national income, as between Great Britain and the United States.
  8. (Martin) Four main types of entrepreneurs are distinguished – farmers, retail-store proprietors, service establishment owners, professional practitioners. Comment upon the data available for estimating incomes of these groups, and give your views as to the validity of such estimates.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 3, Folder “Final examinations, 1937-1938”.

Image source: Portrait of William Leonard Crum from the Harvard Class Album, 1946.

 

Categories
Economic History Economists Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate Yale

Yale. Undergraduate European Economic History through the Industrial Revolution. Miskimin, 1971

 

Reflecting on my own academic upbringing, I am increasingly amazed at the sheer abundance of economic history courses still offered at Yale and MIT in the 1970s. My first taste of economic history came with Harry Miskimin’s course on the economic history of Europe up through the Industrial Revolution. I later took a graduate course he offered on French mercantilism. I remember well the sage advice he gave me to postpone work in economic history to first get trained in the analytic tools of economics, since he thought I apparently could handle the demands of economics graduate school. I believe he was the only professor I ever had who actually smoked (cigarettes) in class. 

From the Yale Daily News Archives I learned that Harry Miskimin later served as president of the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). There is a low-resolution picture of Miskimin in his mature years in the article linked.

Below are the assigned readings for the European economic history course from the Fall Term, 1971-72.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
100% Yalie

Harry Alvin Miskimin, Jr. was born September 8, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey. He died October 24, 1995.

B.A. Yale, 1954; M.A. Yale, 1958; Ph.D. Yale, 1960. From instructor to professor history Yale University, New Haven, since 1960, associate professor, 1964-1971, professor history, since 1971, chairman department history, 1986-1989, Charles Seymour Professor of History, since 1991.

_________________

Harry Miskimin
Obituary Note

Post by Wendy Plotkin
H-Urban Co-Editor
14 January 1996

1995 saw the death of Harry A. Miskimin, the Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University in October. According to a press release received from H-Net Central in December, Professor Miskimin was

“An authority on the economic history of medieval and early modern Europe” and “the author of five books, including The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe, 1300-1460and The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe, 1460-1600both of which were translated in Spanish and Portuguese; Money and Power in Fifteenth Century France, Money, Prices and Foreign Exchange in Fourteenth Century Franceand Cash, Credit and Crisis in Europe, 1300-1600.”

Professor Miskimin was general editor of four volumes of the Cambridge University Press series “The Economic Civilization of Europe.”

Of special interest to H-Urban subscribers, Miskimin co-edited THE MEDIEVAL CITY with A. Udovitch and D. Herlihy (Yale University Press, 1977). This collection included:

    1. The Italian City

Herlihy, “Family and property in Renaissance Florence”
Krekic, B., “Four Florentine commercial companies in Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in the first half of the fourteenth century”
Lane, F. C. “The First Infidelities of the Venetian Lire”
Cipolla, C. M. “A Plague Doctor”
Kedar, B.Z. “The Genoese Notaries of 1382”
Hughes, D. O. “Kinsmen and neighbors in Medieval Genoa”
Peters, E. Pars, parte: “Dante and an Urban Contribution to Political Thought”

    1. The Eastern City

Udovitch, A. L. “A Tale of Two Cities”
Goitein, S. D. “A Mansion in Fustat”
Prawer, J. “Crusader Cities”
Teall, J. “Byzantine Urbanism in the Military Handbooks”

    1. The Northern City:

Miskimin, H. A. “The Legacies of London”
Munro, J. “Industrial Protectionism in Medieval Flanders”
Strayer, J.R. “The Costs and Profits of War”
Hoffmann, R. C. “Wroclaw Citizens as Rural Landholders”
Cohen, S. “The Earliest Scandinavian Towns”

Professor Miskimin was noted for his work on the “beginning of the transition from medieval to modern economies.” I am interested in reflections on this and other work of Professor Miskimin.

After obtaining his undergraduate and graduate education at Yale, he spent the rest of his career teaching at Yale College, serving as director of graduate studies for the Economic History Program after 1967.

On leave from Yale, Miskimin was for a period director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris. Although his intellectual work was on the medieval period, he participated in present day activities in his community, serving as a zoning commissioner for the Town of Woodbridge 1976-85, a member of the Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee and a board member of the Woodbridge Town Library.

Professor Miskimin was born in 1932 in East Orange, New Jersey, graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1950, and was in the U.S. Army from 1955-57.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online

_________________

Yale University
History 51 a – Economics 80a
Mr. Miskimin
Fall Term 1971-72

The readings from this course will be in diverse sources but the student may find it convenient to purchase the books of Herbert Heaton (Economic History of Europe rev. ed., Harper & Bros., New York, 1948) and Henri Pirenne (Economic and Social History of Mediaeval Europe, Harvest Books, Harcourt, Brace, New York.)

Sept. 17

 First Class

20

 Heaton, Chapters 4, 5

22

 Heaton, Chapters 6, 7

24

 Pirenne, pp. 38-86

27

 Pirenne, pp. 87-140

29

 Pirenne, pp. 141-188

Oct. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 8

4

 Heaton Chapters 9, 10

6

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 2, pp. 433-441, 456-92

8

 Pirenne, pp. 188-end
(Rec. Miskimin, The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe.)

11

 Heaton, Chapters 11, 12

13

 Hamilton, E. J., American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1601-1650. Scan thoroughly

15

 Continue Hamilton

18

 Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. IV, pp. 1-95.

20

 Nef, J. U., Industry and Government in France and England, 1540-1640, Great Seal Books, Cornell University Ithaca, 1957. Also in Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. XV, 1940. First half.

22

 Finish Nef

25

 Green, R.W., ed., Protestantism and Capitalism—The Weber Thesis and its Critics, D.C. Heath & Co., Boston. First half.

27

 Finish Green

29

 Heaton, Chapters 13, 14

Nov. 1

 Heaton, Chapter 15

3

 Heaton, Chapter 16

5

 Viner, Jacob, Studies in the Theory of International Trade, Harper Brothers, New York. Chapter 1

8

 Viner, Chapter 2

10

 Cipolla, C. M., “The Decline of Italy,” Economic History Review, 1952, pp. 178-87. Hamilton, E. J., “The Decline of Spain,”Economic History Review, 1938, pp. 168-79

12

 Review Heaton, Chapters 13-16

15

 Hour Test (paper may be substituted)

17

 Wilson, C.H., “The Economic Decline of the Netherlands,” Economic History Review, 1939, pp. 111-127

19

 Heckscher, Eli, Mercantilism. Rev. ed., George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, 1955, Vol. I, pp. 78-109

22

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 137-78

24

 Heckscher, Vol. I, pp. 178-220

26

 Helleiner, K.F., ed., Readings in European Economic History, University of Toronto Press, 1946. Section by R. H. Tawney, pp. 143-82

29

 Helleiner, Section by Tawney, pp. 183-223

Dec. 1

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, An Economic History of Europe since 1750, pp. 45-66; Cambridge Economic History, IV, chapter V, pp. 276-308

3

 Bowden, Karpovitch, and Usher, pp. 146-96

6

 Ashton, T.S., The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830. First third.

8

 Ashton, Second third

10

 Finish Ashton

13

 Taylor, Philip, ed., The Industrial Revolution—Triumph or Disaster? D.C. Heath & Company, Boston.

15

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 1-35

17

 Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a Non-Communist Manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960, pp. 36-72

 

Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Harry Miskimin’s 1954 Yale yearbook portrait.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings and Exams for Methods of Social Reform. Carver, 1902-03

Thomas Nixon Carver

 

“The trouble with radicals is that they only read radical literature, and the trouble with conservatives is that they don’t read anything.”

Thomas Nixon Carver quoted by John Kenneth Galbraith (A Life in Our Times)

This conservative Harvard economic theorist regularly taught the course on schemes of economic reform at Harvard early in the 20th century. He was certainly more forgiving than sympathetic to his radical subjects. 

Variations of this course syllabus have been transcribed earlier here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

___________________

Course Description

[Economics] 14. Methods of Social Reform, including Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc. Tu.,Th, at 1.30. Professor Carver.

The purpose of this course is to make a careful study of those plans of social amelioration which involves either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with an historical study of early communistic theories and experiments. This is followed by a critical examination of the series of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of Anarchism and Nihilism, of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.

Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths, Ely’s French and German Socialism, Marx’s Capital, Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, and George’s Progress and Poverty will be read, besides other special references.

The course will be conducted by means of lectures, reports, and classroom discussions.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1902-03. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902), p. 42

___________________

Course Enrollment
(Harvard, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 15: 2 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

___________________

Course Enrollment (Radcliffe, 1902-03)

[Economics] 14. Professor Carver.— Methods of Social Reform.

Total 6: 4 Undergraduates, 2 Others.

Source: Radcliffe College. Report of the President of Radcliffe College, 1902-03, p. 43.

___________________

Economics 14
[handwritten note: 1902-03]

Topics and References
Starred references are prescribed

COMMUNISM

A
Utopias
1. Plato’s Republic
2. *Sir Thomas More.   Utopia.
3. *Francis Bacon.   New Atlantis.
4. *Tommaso Campanella.   The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
5. Etienne Cabet.   Voyage en Icarie.
6. Wm. Morris.   News from Nowhere.
7. Edward Bellamy.   Looking Backward.

 

B
Communistic Experiments
1. *Charles Nordhoff.   The Communistic Societies of the United States.
2. Karl Kautsky.   Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
3. W. A. Hinds.   American Communities.
4. J.H. Noyes.   History of American Socialisms.
5. J. T. Codman.   Brook Farm Memoirs.
6. Albert Shaw.   Icaria.
7. G.B. Landis.   The Separatists of Zoar.
8. E.O. Randall.   History of the Zoar Society.

 

SOCIALISM

A
Historical
1. *R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
2. Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
3. John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
4. Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
5. W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
6. Wm. Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
7. [Jessica Blanche] Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.

 

B
Expository and Critical
1. *Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
2. Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
3. *Karl Marx. Capital.
4. *Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
5. Frederick Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
6. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
7. E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
8. Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
9. The Fabian Tracts.
10. R. T. Ely. Socialism: An Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
11. Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
12. Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
13. Sydney and Beatrice Webb. Problems of Modern Industry.
14. Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
15. Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
16. Vandervelde. Collectivism [and Industrial Evolution].

 

ANARCHISM

1. *Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
2. Wm. Godwin. Political Justice.
3. Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
4. Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22:149.
5. Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 45: 627. [May 1884]

 

RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM

1. Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
2. Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
3. *Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
4. Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
5. Josiah Strong. Our Country.
6. Josiah Strong. The New Era.
7. William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of William Morris.
8. Ruskin. The Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
9. Carlyle. The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works. [Volume 1; Volume 2]

 

AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

1. *Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
2. Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
3. Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.

 

STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

1. R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
2. J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.

 

WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM

1. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
2. *D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
3. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
4. *Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
5. W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1902-1903”.

______________________

Economics 14
Mid-year Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give an account of More’s Utopia.
  2. Is there any ground for supposing that Utopian schemes have influenced social development? Give reasons.
  3. What were the periods of greatest activity in the founding of communistic settlements in America? What stimulated the activity in each period, and what were the general conditions favorable to such activity?
  4. Does the history of communistic experiments in America throw any light on the probable success or failure of socialism on a large scale? Give reasons.
  5. Give an account of the communistic plans and activities of Etienne Cabet.
  6. Describe the Communist Manifesto. What place does it hold in socialistic literature, and why?
  7. Compare the socialism of Rodbertus with that of Karl Marx.
  8. Outline Marx’ theory of surplus value.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).

______________________

Economics 14
Year-End Examination, 1902-03

  1. Give some account of Fourier and the Fourieristic experiments in the United States.
  2. Distinguish between Utopian and Scientific Socialism.
  3. What part has religion played in the history of Communistic Experiments?
  4. How does Karl Marx explain the existence of poverty?
  5. Trace briefly the history of the German Social Democratic Party.
  6. Distinguish between land and other forms of property.
  7. How do you account for the share of the capitalist in distribution?
  8. Is there any relation between the unequal distribution of workers among different occupations and the unequal distribution of wealth?
  9. What is meant by the term “Natural Monopolies.”
  10. Define “Christian Socialism” and explain how it differs from Marxian Socialism.

Source:  University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1906.