Category: Suggested Reading

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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of socialism. Outline, readings, final exam. Schumpeter, 1943-44

 

Earlier Economics in the Rear-view Mirror posted the course outline and final examination for Joseph Schumpeter’s course on the economics of socialism that was given in the second semester of 1945-46. None of the final examination questions were shared between these two years, so together the exams provide a better idea of what was actually covered than either alone.

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Course Announcement

Economics 11b. Economics of Socialism

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

 

Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1943-44. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 40, No. 21 (September 29, 1943), p. 33.

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Course Enrollment

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

Total 26:  3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 13 Navy.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1943-44, p. 56.

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ECONOMICS 11b
1943-44
OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS

  1. FIRST TWO WEEKS: The Socialist Issue.

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

H. W. Laidler*, History of Socialist Thought, 1927.
T.M. Sogge, “Industrial Classes in the U. S.  in 1930,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, vol. 28 (1933), pp. 199-203.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, article on Socialist and Labor Parties.

  1. THIRD TO FIFTH WEEK: The Theory of Centralist Socialism.

O. Lange and F. M. Taylor*, The Economic Theory of Socialism.
H. D. Dickinson, Economics of Socialism, 1939.

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

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

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

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

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

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

 

Source:Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1943-1944 (2 of 2)”.

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1943-44
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11b
[Final. February, 1944]

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

  1. Describe briefly the emergence of either the English Independent Labour Party or the German Social Democratic Party.
  2. In the Second International, opinion was divided on the question whether socialists should or should not participate in bourgeois governments. What were the arguments that were adduced for and against? Which groups expressed the one and which the other view? Which view prevailed eventually within the Second International?
  3. What are the rules of rational allocation of productive resources in a socialist society, and how do they differ from the corresponding rules in a capitalist society (a) under conditions of perfect competition and (b) under conditions of monopolistic competition?
  4. State and criticize the Marxian proposition known as the Theory of Increasing Misery (“immiseration”).
  5. Most socialist writers recognize that the transition from the capitalist to the socialist form of life will raise a number of problems that are distinct from the problem of how to run a socialist society when established. What are those “transitional problems” and what methods have been suggested for dealing with them?
  6. What is meant by Reformism? By Revisionism? By Laborism?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 8, Folder “Final examinations, Winter term, 1943-44”.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1942.

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Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Readings and Exam Questions for Graduate Money. Friedman, 1963

 

 

The reading list for Milton Friedman’s graduate money course, Economics 331, for the Winter Quarter of 1970 at the University of Chicago has been posted earlier. Here I have transcribed the (shorter) reading list from late 1963 along with the final exam questions and the take-home essay to be handed in on the day of the exam.

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ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Autumn Quarter, 1963

READING LIST

Milton Friedman

[NOTE: Readings marked with an asterisk (*) cover the essential substantive material.]

  1. Introductory Material

Milton Friedman*, The Quantity Theory, (forthcoming Encyclopaedia article)
D. H. Robertson, Money
David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” in Essays and Treatises

  1. The Quantity Equation

Irving Fisher*, The Purchasing Power of Money (Macmillan, 1913), chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8
A. C. Pigou*, “The Value of Money” in Readings in Monetary Theory [, Lutz, F. A., and Mints, L. W. (eds.)]
J. M. Keynes*, Tract on Monetary Reform (1924), chap. II; chap. III, Sec. I
Wesley C. Mitchell*, Business Cycles, The Problem and Its Setting (New York, 1927), pp. 128-39
Henry Thornton, An Enquiry into the Nature and Effect of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802), Library of Economics edition (Allen and Irwin, 1939), chaps. III and XI
Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade (Harpers, 1937), pp. 119-289
Alfred Marshall, Official Papers, “Evidence before the Indian Currency Committee (1889),” questions 11758-62 (pp. 267-69); “Evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (1887-88).” questions 9629-86 (pp. 34-53); testimony to Royal Commission on The Depression of Trade and Industry (1886), answers to question 8(i), pp. 7-15

  1. The Demand for Money

Milton Friedman*, “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, ed., M. Friedman
______________ “The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1959), pp. 327-51
H. G. Johnson*, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” American Economic Review (June, 1962), Part II
W. J. Baumol, “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1952)
James Tobin, “The Interest Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics (August, 1956)
__________, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” Review of Economic Studies (August, 1956), pp. 241-47
J. M. Keynes*, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, chaps. 13 and 15
J. R. Hicks*, “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Joan Robinson, “The Rate of Interest,” Econometrica, Vol. 19 (1951), reprinted as chap 1 of The Rate of Interest and Other Essays
Allan H. Meltzer, “The Demand for Money: The Evidence from the Time Series,” Journal of Political Economy (June, 1963)
[handwritten marginal note:
(Allan H. Meltzer, ) “The D. for M: A Cross Section Study of Bus Firms” Q.J.E., Aug. 1963]
Phillip Cagan*, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, esp. pp. 25-35 and 86-91
H. A. Latane, “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics (November, 1954) and (November, 1960)
James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 19 (May, 1947), 130-31
Clark Warburton, “Monetary Velocity and Monetary Policy,” and Tobin’s rejoinder, Review of Economic Statistics, XXX (November, 1948), 310-17
John V. Deaver, “The Chilean Inflation and the Demand for Money,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1961)
Edgar Feige, “The Demand for Liquid Assets: A Temporal Cross-Section Analysis,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Spring, 1963)
George R. Morrison, “Liquidity Preferences of Commercial Banks,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1963)

  1. The Supply of Money

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz*, “Appendix B: Proximate Determinants of the Nominal Stock of Money,” from A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 [copies on reserve]
H. G. Johnson*, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” Section III
Phillip Cagan, “The Demand for Currency Relative to the Total Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1958)
A. J. Meigs, Free Reserves and the Money Supply (University of Chicago Press, 1962)
William Dewald, “Free Reserves, Total Reserves, and Monetary Control,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1963)
Lloyd W. Mints, A History of Banking Theory, pp. 9-12, 29-35, 217-22, 236-40, 247-57, 265-87
Milton Friedman, A Program for Monetary Stability, chapter 2
Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, 171 (June, 1907), 213-20
Federal Reserve System: Purposes and Function
A. G. Hart, “The ‘Chicago’ Plan of Banking Reform,” Readings in Monetary Theory
George Tolley, “Providing for Growth of the Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (December, 1957), pp. 465-85

  1. Liquidity and Financial Intermediaries

Edward Simmons, “The Relative Liquidity of Money and Other Things,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Roland N. McKean*, “Liquidity and a National Balance Sheet,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Phillip Cagan*, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1958)
J. G. Gurley, “Liquidity and Financial Institutions in the Postwar Period,” Study Paper No. 14, Joint Economic Committee, January, 1960
H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices, and Monetary Theory,” Readings in Price Theory
J. G. Gurley and E. S. Shaw, Money in a Theory of Finance
Alvin Marty, “Gurley and Shaw on Money in a Theory of Finance,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1961)

  1. The Monetary Standard and International Monetary Arrangements

Lloyd Mints*, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society, chaps. 4 and 5
Milton Friedman*, “Commodity Reserve Currency” and “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” Essays in Positive Economics
H. G. Johnson, International Trade and Economic Growth, chaps. 6 and 7
J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform, chap. III, secs. 2, 3, 4; chaps. IV and V (*especially chap. III, sec. 2; chap. IV, sec. 2)
J. M. Keynes, “Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill,” in Essays in Persuasion
Egon Sohmen, Flexible Exchange Rates (University of Chicago Press, 1961)
“Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium.”* Session at 1962 meeting of American Economic Association, with papers by H. G. Johnson, Richard E. Caves, and Peter B. Kenen, and Discussion by J. Marcus Fleming, Harry C. Eastman, and J. Herbert Furth, American Economic Review (May, 1963), pp. 112-46

  1. The Process of Adjustment: Inflation, Business Cycles

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz*, “Money and Business Cycles,” Supplement to Review of Economics and Statistics (Feb., 1963), containing proceedings of Conference on Monetary Economics. Also, comments by H. Minsky, A. Okun, and C. Warburton
Clark Warburton, “The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business-Fluctuation Theory,” Readings in Monetary Theory
Friedman, “The Inflationary Gap,” in Essays in Positive Economics
Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money
Eugene M. Lerner, “Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money
Arnold C. Harberger, “The Dynamics of Inflation in Chile,” in C. Christ, et al., Measurement in Economics (Stanford University Press, 1963)

[Handwritten note at the end of the section:
Reuben A. Kessel and Armen A. Alchian, “Effects of Inflation”, J.P.E., Dec. 1962]

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ECONOMICS 331 – Autumn, 1963
M. Friedman

Problem for Reading Period

[Due on Final Exam 1:30 P.M., December 13, 1963.]]

In recent years, commercial banks have frequently complained about competition from other financial intermediaries, notably savings and loan associations, and have pressed the Reserve System to raise the maximum rate member banks are permitted to pay on time deposits.

At least one representative of savings and loan associations has argued that commercial banks are being extremely short-sighted, that they are not in any way harmed by the expansion of savings and loan associations, and are only hurting themselves by competing vigorously for time deposits and offering higher interest rates to get them. Indeed, the argument goes, the commercial banks would be wise to get out of the time deposit business altogether.

The fundamental constraint on the commercial banks, it is argued, is the total volume of reserves made available to them by the Federal Reserve System. True because of lower reserve requirements on time than on demand deposits, commercial banks can have larger total deposits if they expand the fraction which are in the form of time deposits. However, competition from financial intermediaries forces commercial banks to pay a rate of interest on time deposits that roughly matches earnings from them. And time deposits do absorb some reserves. Hence, with a given volume of reserves made available by the Fed, the expansion of time deposits reduces the aggregate amount of demand deposits, on which banks pay no interest and with respect to which they have no competitors. Each bank thinks it gets time deposits at the expense of financial intermediaries or other banks, but all banks together get them only at the expense of demand deposits.

Analyze this argument. Do so, first, on the assumption that the volume of reserves made available to commercial banks would be precisely the same whether the commercial banks did or did not offer time deposit facilities. Next, indicate whether this assumption is or is not plausible; if so, why; if not, why not and in what direction it is wrong.

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ECONOMICS 331
Final Examination – Autumn 1963

M. Friedman
December 12, 1963

  1. Indicate briefly but specifically the key idea you got out of each of the following readings on the reading list.
    1. W. C. Mitchell, Business Cycles
    2. J. R. Hicks, “A Suggestion for Simplifying the Theory of Money”
    3. Phillip Cagan, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations”
    4. J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform.
  2. “In the early history of our country there was a dearth of currency and specie. It was difficult to have cash on hand, especially when most of the specie was used to pay for imports.” (E. R. Taus, Central Banking Functions of the United States Treasury, 1789-1941, p. 22.)
    Discuss the economic meaning of these sentences. Do they make sense as they stand? If so explain. If not, can you suggest any interpretation of them that does make sense? In your answer, emphasize analysis, not economic history.
  3. In class, it was pointed out that (a) it is widely believed that “easy” money tends to make for low interest rates and “tight” money for high interest rates yet (b) in fact interest rates generally tend to be rising or high when the stock of money is expanding rapidly and to be falling or low when the stock of money is expanding slowly or declining, whether the comparison is made among countries at one point in time [e.g., currently, Brazil or Chile vs. the U.S.; Japan vs. Switzerland], or over time for one country [e.g., 20’s vs. 1929-33 in U.S.].
    1. Give the theoretical analysis underlying (a).
    2. Give a theoretical analysis to rationalize (b). Indicate whether this analysis is consistent with that given in (1.).
  4. Suppose U.S. Federal taxes are cut next year by an amount equal to $11 billion a year. Along strictly monetary theory lines, using as your framework the equation of exchange, analyze the effect on money income, prices, and interest rates under three alternative sets of circumstances:
    1. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal increase in the deficit, which is financed by increasing the stock of money at a rate of $11 billion a year more than it would otherwise have been increased.
    2. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal increase in the deficit, which is financed by borrowing from the general public with no effect on the stock of money.
    3. The cut in taxes is accompanied by an equal cut in expenditures, so there is no change in the deficit.

You are, of course, not expected to give quantitative answers but to indicate direction of effect and the economic parameters on which the magnitude of effect depends.

  1. Indicate the effect each of the following would have on the U.S. money supply under two alternative suppositions: A. The U.S. is on a gold standard; B. The U.S. is on a fiduciary standard with freely floating exchange rates.
    1. Increase in U.S. tariffs
    2. Increase in foreign tariffs
    3. Decline in legally required reserve ratio of commercial banks
    4. Rise in yield on productive investment and hence increase in demand for loanable funds.

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 77, Folder 8 “University of Chicago, Econ 331”.

Image Source:  Milton Friedman (undated) from University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-06231, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate economic analysis and public policy. Hansen and Slichter, 1946-47

 

While the paired Harvard graduate economic courses Economics 106a and 106b shared a common title “Economic Analysis and Public Policy”, it appears as though Alvin Hansen taught a course in macroeconomic analysis and his colleague Sumner Slichter taught a topics in public policy course (parallel play). Hansen’s course attracted 59 students while Slichter’s course had 25 enrolled students, so the two courses were hardly connected at the hip. For the first term course (Hansen) we have a detailed outline, reading list and exam questions, I could only find a rough outline (more of a course description), a very incomplete set of reading assignments, and the final exam for the second term course (Slichter).

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Course Enrollment
Fall term

[Economics] 106a. (fall term) Professor Hansen.—Economic Analysis and Public Policy

Total 59:  22 Graduates, 25 Public Administration, 3 Radcliffe, 9 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1946-1947, p. 70.

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ECONOMICS 106a
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC POLICY
1946-1947

General Outline of Course

  1. Concepts and Statistical Measures of Aggregate Income and Its Component Parts:

    1. Gross National Product.
    2. Net National Product.
    3. National Income.
    4. Income Payments.
    5. Factor Costs.
    6. Component Parts of National Income.

  2. Over-all Determinants of National Income:

    1. Consumption and Savings Functions: Investment and its Determinants; Acceleration and Multiplier Principles; Consumption and Income Distribution.
    2. The Interest Rate and the National Income.
      1. Classical vs. Monetary Interest Rate Theories: Loanable Fund Theory vs. Liquidity Preference.
      2. The Role of the Interest Rate: In Investment, Consumption, Income Distribution, etc.
      3. The Interest Rate and Economic Stability; The Case for
        1. Fluctuating Rates;
        2. Stable Rate;
        3. Declining Rate.
      4. The Interest Rate and Income Velocity of Money.
      5. The Role of Central Bank Credit in Income Formation.
    3. Costs and Profits.
      1. Wage Policy: Wages as Costs, and Wages as Purchasing Power; Wage Rates and Degrees of Utilization of Plant Capacity; Wages and Value of Output at Different Employment Levels.
      2. Price Policy: Profits and the Over-all Economy; Profits and Monopoly; Profits and Income Distribution; Profits and the Inducement to Invest; Profits and the Savings Function.
    4. The Role of the Government in Income Formation.
      1. Monetary Policy: Neutral vs. Positive Program.
      2. Tax Policy.
      3. Borrowing; Public Debt.
      4. Expenditure Policy; Standard Services; Developmental Outlays; Compensatory Spending.

  3. Income, Output, and Prices:

    1. Income Flows and the General Level of Prices.
    2. Income Elasticity and Price Elasticity in Different Industries.
    3. The Effect of Over-all Shifts in Income on Demand in Different Industries; Demand Schedules; Indifference Maps.
    4. The Effect of Over-all Shifts in Income on Supply.
      1. The Economics of the Firm: Marginal, Average, and Total Unit Cost Curves.
      2. The Economics of an Industry: Differential Cost; Increasing, Decreasing, and Constant Cost.
    1. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition: Marginal Revenue and Marginal Cost; Monopoly and Efficiency; Administrative Prices.
    2. Income Flows, Distributive Shares, and Income Distribution.
    3. Full Employment and the Problems of Wage Inflation.
    4. Planning vs. Automatic Adjustments in a Free Market.

 

Economic 106b: Public Policy Decisions: Analysis of the Effect of Public Policy Decisions Upon the Over-all Economy, Upon Various Producing Groups, and Upon Other Sectors of the Population.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

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ECONOMICS 106[a]
READING ASSIGNMENT

  1. Concepts and Statistical Measures of Aggregate Income and Its Component Parts:

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Hicks and Hart—The Social Framework of the American Economy, chapters 13-17.
      2. Livingston, S. Morris—Markets After the War, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
      3. Hansen, Alvin H.—Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters III-IV, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      4. Hansen and Perloff—State and Local Finance in the National Economy, (Norton, 1944), pp. 223-227.
      5. Basic Facts on Employment and Production, U.S. Senate Committee on Money and Banking, Print No. 4, 79th Congress, First Session.
      6. Survey of Current Business:
        1. May, 1942; pp. 9-13 (Gross National Product, 1929-1941).
        2. February, 1946; pp. 1-32 (The Economy of War and Transition).
      7. British White Paper on War Finance, British Government White Paper (Cmd. 6520) presented to Parliament on April 1944 (Reprinted in Federal Reserve Bulletin, July 1944, pp. 655-669).
      8. Federal Reserve Bulletin, August 1946 (Current Price Developments), pp. 833-843.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading:
      1. Clark Colin—The Conditions of Economic Progress, 1940.
      2. Kuznets, Simon—National Income and its Composition, 1919-1938, 1941.
      3. Martin, Robert F.—National Income in the U.S., 1799-1938, National Industrial Conference Board, 1939.
      4. The National Income of Principal Foreign Countries. The Conference Board Economic Record, August 3, 1939, Volume I, No. 4.
      5. Bowley, A. D.—Studies in the National Income, 1924-1938, 1942.
      6. Lindahl, Dahlgren, and Koch—National Income of Sweden, 1861-1930, 1937.
      7. Articles:
        1. Stone, Richard—“National Income in the United Kingdom and the United States”, Review of Economic Studies, Winter 1942-43, Volume X, No. 1.
        2. Kalecki, M.—“The White Paper on the National Income and Expenditure in the Years 1938-43”, Oxford Institute of Statistics Bulletin, July 1, 1944, Volume 6, No. 9.
        3. Dacey, W.M.—“The 1944 White Paper on National Income and Expenditure”, Economic Journal, June-September, 1944.
        4. Gilbert and Jaszi—“The 1945 White Paper on National Income and Expenditure”, Economic Journal, December 1945.

  2. Over-all Determinants of the National Income:

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Keynes, J.M.—General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (1936), Chapter 3, pp. 96-106; Chapters 9, 10, 13, 15, 18, 24.
      2. Meade and Hitch—Economic Analysis and Policy, (1938) Part I, Chapters 1-2; 5-9.
      3. Lerner, A. P.—The Economics of Control, (1944), Chapters 22, 23, 24.
      4. Robertson, D. H.—Essays in Monetary Theory, (1940), Chapter 1.
      5. British Government White Paper on Employment Policy, (Reprinted by MacMillan Co. as pamphlet entitled “Employment Policy”), 1944.
      6. Slichter, S. H.—“The Conditions of Expansion”, American Economic Review, March 1942.
      7. Hansen, Alvin H.—Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton, 1941), Part III, Chapters 11-15.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading
      1. Beveridge, Sir William—Full Employment in a Free Society, (1944).
      2. Haberler, G.—Prosperity and Depression, (1941), Chapters 8, 13.
      3. Cassel, Gustav—On Quantitative Thinking in Economics, (1935), Chapter 4.
      4. Robinson, Joan—Introduction to the Theory of Employment.
      5. Hicks, J. R.—Value and Capital, (1938), Chapters 20, 21, 22.
      6. Hansen and Perloff—State and Local Finance in the National Economy, (1944), Chapters 9, 11.
      7. Hansen, Alvin H.:
        1. Full Recovery or Stagnation, (Norton, 1938), Chapters 1, 2, and Appendix.
        2. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      8. Harris, S. E. (Editor):
        1. Economic Reconstruction, (McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapters 10-16.
        2. Postwar Economic Problems, (McGraw-Hill, 1943).
      9. Jobs and Markets, de Chazeau, Hart, and Others, Committee on Economic Development, (McGraw-Hill, 1946).
      10. Financing American Prosperity; A Symposium of Economists, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

  3. Income, Output and Prices; Economics of the Firm; Economics of an Industry; Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition, etc.

    1. Required Reading:
      1. Meade and Hitch—Economic Analysis and Policy, Part II, Competition and Monopoly, Chapters 1-8; Part III, The Distribution of Income, Chapters 1-5; Part IV, The Supply of the Primary Factors of Production, Chapters 1-4; Appendix on Graphs, pp. 411-424; Charts I, II (end of book).
      2. Boulding, K. E.—Economic Analysis, pp. 421-470; 485-509; 596-634; 658-663; (1941).
      3. Chamberlin, E. H.—The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, 1942, Chapters 4, 5, 8.
      4. Hicks, J.R.—Value and Capital, Chapters 1, 2, 3.
      5. Wicksell, K.—Lectures, Volume I, Part III.
    2. Suggestions for Additional Reading:
      1. Stigler—The Theory of Competitive Price.
      2. Robinson, E.A.G.—Monopoly, (Cambridge Series), Chapters 1-3; 6; 8-9;12.
      3. Burns, Arthur—Decline of Competition.
      4. Walker, E.R.—From Economic Theory to Policy, (University of Chicago Press), Chapters 1, 3, 4, 10, 12.
      5. Purdy, Lindahl, and Carter—Market Organization and Price Policy, Prentice-Hall.
      6. Hitch and Hall—Oxford Economics Papers, Volume I, Business Pricing Policy.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

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1946-47
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 106a

Final. January, 1947

(Write on any THREE questions)

    1. Explain what is meant by Gross National Product including in your discussion the following:
      1. Distinguish and compare Gross National Product, Net National Product, National Income, Income Payments, Disposable Income.
      2. Outline and discuss the component parts of the Gross National Product from two viewpoints: (a) Income-generation or outlays; (b) Disposal of income.
    2. State the savings-investment problem and show clearly the role of the consumption function (propensity to consume schedule) with respect to this problem. With respect to savings and investment discuss the ideas of Robertson and Keynes.
    3. Give an explanation of cost curves (marginal, variable and total unit costs) and show how this type of cost analysis throws light on the problem of inflation under conditions of full employment.
    4. Write an essay (about one hour) on any one (or two if you prefer) of the following:
      1. Keynes: General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.
      2. Beveridge: Full Employment in a Free Society.
      3. Lerner: Economics of Control.
      4. Chamberlin: The Theory of Monopolistic Competition.
      5. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, or Economic Policy and Full Employment.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001.Box 13, Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science. January, 1947.

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Course Enrollment
Spring term

[Economics] 106b. (spring term) Professor Slichter.—Economic Analysis and Public Policy

Total 25:  10 Graduates, 11 Public Administration, 1 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1946-1947, p. 70.

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READING ASSIGNMENT FOR ECONOMICS 106b
February 18, 1947

Pigou—Economics of Welfare

(Second Edition) Part III

Ch. XIV, pp. 520-542
Ch. XVI, pp. 553-566
Ch. XVIII, pp. 572-578

(Third Edition) Part III

Ch. XIV, pp. 548-571
Ch. XVII, pp. 592-604
Ch. XIX, pp. 611-617

(please post on bulletin board)

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

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March 19, 1947

Please put on reserve for Economics 106

Review of Economic Statistics, May 1938
American Economic Review Proceedings, May 1945
American Economic Review, September 1940
American Economic Review, December 1946

Sumner H. Slichter

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics. 1895-2003.(HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-1947 (2 of 2)”.

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[Final] May 19, 1947
Economics 106[b]
Economic Analysis and Public Policy

(Three Hours)

I

(a) Discuss the effect of increase in employment upon the size of the workforce.

(b) So long as there are substantial amounts of additional resources, increases in expenditures may be counted upon primarily to produce increases in employment rather than increases in prices. Discuss the validity of this statement.

II

“A wage structure based upon ability to pay would prevent the best distribution of men and resources among enterprises and would thus limit the output of industry.” Do you agree? Explain.

III

History shows that the price level has been subject to great fluctuations. The cost of living, for example, has risen 50 percent since 1940. Wholesale prices have risen even farther. Within several years after the First World War there was a substantial drop in the price level. In view of the history of prices, do you regard original cost as a fair guide for determining the rate base for public utilities?

IV

“A progressive income tax tends to reduce the attractiveness of risky ventures to investors more than the attractiveness of less risky ventures.” Do you agree? Can this effect be prevented? How? If two ventures offer an even chance of a return above 5 percent and below 5 percent, how would you determine which is the more risky?

V

It is asserted that import duties fall in part upon the foreigners who consume the goods exported by the country levying the duty. Analyze this proposition and point out its limitations.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 13, Folder “Final examinations, May 1947 ( 3 of 9)”.

Image Source:  Hansen and Slichter from Harvard Class Album, 1947.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. History of Commerce to 1750. Usher, 1929-30

 

This post provides the course description, enrollment figures, reading assignments, and final examination questions for Abbott Payson Usher’s course “History of Commerce: 1450-1750” that he taught at Harvard in 1929-30.

The economic historian, Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965), received his A.B. (1904), A.M. (1905), and Ph.D. (1910) all from Harvard. He taught ten years at Cornell and two years at Boston University before returning to his alma mater in 1922 where he remained on the faculty for the rest of his career. Usher was a visiting professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1949-51 and 1955-57.

A bibliography of Usher’s writings is included in the Festschrift for him, Architects and Craftsmen in History (1956).

A memorial essay written by Thomas M. Smith was published in Technology and Culture, vol. 6, no. 4 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 630-632 [gated].

A few other Abbott Payson Usher artifacts from courses at Harvard already transcribed at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror:

Economic History to 1450 [1934]
Modern Economic History [1937-41]
European Economic History [1921]

 ___________________

From Usher’s report to the Harvard Class of 1904
(15th anniversary, 1919)

ABBOT PAYSON USHER

Born: Lynn, Mass., Jan. 13, 1883. [Died: June 18, 1965]
Parents:  Edward Preston Usher, Adela Louise Payson.
School: High School, Grafton, Mass.
Years in College: 1900-1904.
Degrees:  A.B. 1904; A.M. 1905; Ph.D. 1910.
Married: Miriam Shoe, Grafton, Mass., Sept. 3, 1914.
Children: Eunice, Sept. 8, 1915.
Business: Teacher.
Address:  (home) 108 Linden Ave, Ithaca, N.Y. (business) 260 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, N.Y.

My contribution for the war was the preparation of a special report for Colonel House’s committee.

Publications: “The Technique of Medieval and Modern Produce Markets.” Journal of Political Economy, xxiii, p. 365, 1915. “Germanic Statecraft and Democracy.” Unpopular Review, vol. iv, p. 27, 1915. “Generalizations in Economic History.” Journal of Sociology, vol. xxii, p. 474, 1916. “Influence of Speculative Marketing on Prices.” Economic Review, vol. vi, p. 49, 1916. “England’s Place in the Sun.” Unpopular Review, vol. vi, p. 311, 1916. “The Parisian Bill Market in the Seventeenth Century.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. xxiv, p. 985, 1916. “The Government, the Speculators and the Food Supply.” Cornell Countryman, vol. xiv, p. 726, 1917. “The Content of the Value Concept.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxxi, p. 711, 1917. “The Unions and the Labor Problem.” Unpopular Review, vol. viii, p. 168, 1917. “Science and Learning in France.” Chicago: Society for American Fellowships in French Universities, 1917, p. 287-290.

[Reviews of] “Customary Acres and Their Historical Importance,” by F. Seebohm. American Acad. of Polit. and Social Science, lvii, p. 342, 1915. “Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History”; edited by P. Vinogeradoff. Vol. iv. Same, lvii, p. 343, 1915. “History of Commerce and Industry,” by C.A. Herrick. American Economic Review, vol. viii, p. 101, 1918.

Member: Ithaca Country Club.

Source:  Harvard College Class of 1904. Fifteenth Anniversary Report (1919), pp. 408-9.

___________________

Announcement of Usher joining Harvard Faculty in 1922 as Assistant Professor in economics

Abbott Payson Usher ’04, Professor of Economics at Boston University, has accepted an appointment at the University as Assistant professor of Economics and tutor in the Division of History, Government, and Economics.

Professor Usher took the degree of A.M. at the University in 1905, served as assistant and instructor in Economics until 1910, and in the latter year took the higher degree of Ph.D. For the next ten years he taught at Cornell, first as instructor in Economics and later as Assistant Professor. In 1920 he has called to Boston University as a full Professor and this year he is serving also as lecturer in Economics at Harvard.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, June 10, 1922 .

___________________

Course Description
1929-30

[Economics] 10a 1hf. The History of Commerce, 1450-1750

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 12. Associate Professor Usher.

A study of the expansion of Europe approached as a consequence of the great discoveries. The age of discovery is studied with special regard to the influence of improvements in the technique of ship-building and navigation. Changes in the physical volume of commerce and consumption will be studied by quantitative methods. The commercial policies and colonial systems of the leading countries will be studied.

Source:  Division of History, Government and Economics, 1929-30. Official Register of Harvard University, vol. 26, No. 36 (June 27, 1929), p. 70.

___________________

Course Enrollment
1929-30

[Economics] 10a1hf. Associate Professor Usher.—History of Commerce, 1450-1750.

Total 5:  4 Graduates, 1 Junior, 2 Others.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1929-30, p. 78.

___________________

Course Readings

Economics 10a.
1929-30
History of commerce: 1450-1750.

  1. The great discoveries. To be completed, Oct. 21.

Beazley, C.R. Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 1-123, 138-46, 160-78.
Olivera Martins, J.P. The golden age of Prince Henry the Navigator, pp. 61-84, 169-231.
Nunn, G.E. The geographical conceptions of Columbus, pp. 31-53.
Vignaud, H. Toscanelli and Columbus, pp. 52-74, 243-73.

  1. Portugal, Spain, and Holland. To be completed, Nov. 15.

Whiteway, R.S. The rise of Portugese power in India, pp. 1-57, 128-79.
Haring, C.H. Trade and navigation between Spain and the Indies, pp. 3-45, 96-200.
Day, C. The policy and administration of the Dutch in Java, pp. 39-82.
Moreland, W.H. From Akbar to Arungzeb. pp. 1-188.

  1. England and France. To be completed, Dec. 23

Thomas, P.J. Mercantilism and the East India Company. pp. 1-47, 67-166.
Scott, W.R. The history of the Joint Stock companies, vol. I, pp. 1-15, 105-28, 326-52, 439-73.
Unwin, George. Studies in economic history, pp. 133-220.
Weber, Max. General economic history, pp. 275-301, 315-51. pp. 275-301, 315-51.

  1. Reading period.

Lyall, A. History of British India, chapters 2-11.
or
Dodwell, Henry Dupleix and Clive. pp. 3-269.

 

Source:Harvard University Archives.Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1929-1930”.

___________________

Final Examination, 1930

1929-30
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10a1

Answer SIX questions.

  1. Sketch the history of geographical science from the death of Prince Henry the Navigator to the death of Mercator.
  2. Describe the place of the “Mesta” in the economic life of Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
  3. What were the distinctive features of Dutch colonial policy in Java?
  4. Describe and discuss the status and obligations of the natives to the government and to the Spanish settlers in the Spanish possessions in the New World in the sixteenth century.
  5. Sketch the development of the free trade policy in England in the seventeenth century, with special reference to the relation of the arguments of the Free Traders to analysis of international trade.
  6. What were the characteristic differences between the Regulated Company and the Corporation?
  7. What influence was exerted upon economic policy by Machiavelli’s treatise “The Prince”?
  8. Sketch the career of Dupleix or Clive.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers—Finals, 1930(vol. 72). Papers Printed for Final Examinations, History, New Testament,…Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science (January-June, 1930).

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1934.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Undergraduate economics course outline and exam for business cycles. Hansen, 1948-49

 

This post provides enrollment data, course outline, reading assignments and final examination questions for Alvin H. Hansen‘s undergraduate economics course on business cycles  for the first semester of the Harvard 1948-49 academic year.

The 1950-51 course outline only differs with respect to a few items. Beginning 1951-52 the material for this course was swept into the second semester of Economics 141. Money, Banking and Economic Fluctuations offered jointly by Alvin Hansen and John H. Williams.

_________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 145a (formerly Economics 45a). Business Cycles (F). Professor Hansen.

Total: 83 of which 48 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1948-49, p. 77.

_________________________

Economics 145a
Business Cycles                 1948-49                    Professor Hansen

Part I. Descriptive Survey

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 1,9.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. I, II.
Schumpeter, “The Analysis of Economic Change,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. I.
Federal Reserve Chart Book (available at the Coop.)

**********

Suggested Reading:

Mitchell, “Business Cycles,” in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106.
Kondratieff, “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 3.
Frickey, Economic Fluctuations in the United States.
Burns and Mitchell, Measuring Business Cycles.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Part II, Sec. 1 and Appendix A.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, pp. 161-174; 212-219.
Dewey and Dakin, Cycles, Ch. 1-9.

Part II. The Meaning and Genesis of National Product

Hansen, Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4.
Gilbert and Jaszi, “National Product and Income as an Aid in Economic Problems,” in Readings in the Theory of Income and Distribution, Ch. 2.
Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 10, only pp. 210-234.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. I.
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 8, Section 4, pp. 222-232; Ch. 13, Section 1, pp. 455-461.
Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XI, XII, XIII, XIV.

**********

Suggested Reading:

National Income, Supplement to Survey of Current Business, July, 1947.
Kuznets, (a) The National Income and its Composition, Ch. 1; (b) National Income, A Summary of Findings.
M. Hoffenberg, “Estimates of National Output, Distributed Income, Consumer Spending, Saving, and Capital Formation,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1943.
Polanyi, Full Employment and Free Trade, Ch. I.
Kaldor, “The Quantitative Aspects of the Full Employment Problem in Britain,” Appendix C in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
Smithies, “Forecasting Post-War Demand,” Econometrica, January, 1945.
National Planning Association, National Budgets for Full Employment.

Part III. Theory of Cycles and Investment

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 10, 11, and 3; Ch. 13, Section 3, pp. 473-479.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. XVI and XVII; (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 14-16.
Keynes, General Theory, ch. 22.
Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 21, 22.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 33.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. IV, Sections A, B, and C, pp. 130-161; Ch. VII, Section C., pp. 325-351.
Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 7-9.

**********

Suggested Reading:

Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, Macmillan, 1947. Ch. 1-4.
Long, Building Cycles and the Theory of Investment, Ch. I, II, VII, VIII, XII.
Haberler, Remainder of Prosperity and Depression, especially Chapter VIII.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 8-15; 18-19; 39-40.
Schumpeter, Further reading in Business Cycles, especially Chapters 6 and 7.
Tinbergen, Robertson, Hayek, Hawtrey in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 15, 16, 17.
Clark, Strategic Factors in Business Cycles.
Wilson, The Fluctuations in Income and EmploymentCh. 1-10.
Estey, Business Cycles, Ch. 1-16.
Hansen (a) Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 4, 8; (b) Full Recovery or Stagnation, Ch. 3 (Hayek); and Appendix Keynes’ Treatise, pp. 331-343.
Metzler, (a) “The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles,” in Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1941; (b) “Business Cycle Theory and the Theory of Employment,” in Am. Econ. Review, June, 1946.
Samuelson, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 12.
Samuelson, Chapter II in Harris’ Postwar Economic Problems: Income, Employment and Public Policy (Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen), W.W. Norton, 1948.
E. V. Morgan, Conquest of Unemployment, Samson-Low Co. London, 1948.

Part IV. Policy

Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies No. 3, Comar, Public Debt and National Income, pp. 53-68.
Harris, The New Economics, Ch. 16-17; 34-35.
Hansen, (a) Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Ch. 9. (b) Economic Policy and Full Employment, Ch. 5-13; 22.
C. E. D., Research Staff, Jobs and Markets, Ch. 8.
Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, Parts IV and V.
C. E. D., Taxes and the Budget, 1947.

**********

Suggested Reading:

Hicks, Ch. 24, in Readings in Income Distribution (Keynes and the Classics; also in Econometrica, Vol. 5, 1937).
Pigou, Lapses from Full Employment.
Kaldor, “Stability and Full Employment,” in the Economic Journal, Dec.1938.
Bd. of Gov. of Fed. Res. System, Postwar Studies, No. 3, Musgrave, “Federal Tax Reform,” pp. 22-52.
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. XV, XVI, XVII.
Harold Smith, Testimony in Hearings of Senate Committee Banking and Currency on Full Employment Act of 1945, S. 380, pp. 676-696.
Twentieth Century Fund, American Housing, Ch. 12, pp. 311-341.
Financing American Prosperity, Ch. 3, 5, 6, 7 (Clark, Hansen, Slichter and Williams).

 

READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT

Read one of the following four assignments:

  1. Morgan, Income and Employment, Ch. 10-18.
  2. Kaldor, Appendix C. (pp. 344-400) in Beveridge, Full Emploment in a Free Society.
  3. Polanyi, Free Trade and Full Employment, Ch. 3, 4, 6, 7; and H. Williams, “Free Enterprise and Full Employment,” Chapter 7 in Financing American Prosperity.
  4. Terborgh, George, The Bogey of Economic Maturity (entire book, disregarding appendices) and A. H. Hansen’s review of Terborgh’s book in Appendix B in Economic Policy and Full EmploymentandWright’s review in Review of Economic Statistics, February, 1946, pp. 13-22.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4. Folder: “Economics, 1949-1950 [sic] (2 of 3)”.

_________________________

1948-49
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 145a
[Final examination, January 1949]

Part I
(Answer any THREE questions)

  1. Certain theorists believe there is not one “business cycle,” but rather several of different duration and nature. Outline and discuss four types of cycle with particular reference to their interrelationships, if any.
  2. Discuss the factors that bring about a termination of the boom (the upper turning point). Introduce the views of different cycle theorists and critically examine their explanations.
  3. Gross National Product statistics provide an important tool in analyzing the cyclical nature of economic activity. Present the main components on (a) the expenditure side (b) the income (distributive shares) side of Gross National Product.
    Analyze the factors chiefly responsible for determining the level of: (a) investment, (b) consumption, (c) saving, in any period.
  4. (a) Using the Keynesian “instantaneous” analysis and assuming hypothetical values for the consumption function and the level of income, show how an increase of $10 billion in investment would affect income and consumption. Illustrate your answer graphically.
    (b) Show how the above analysis would be changed if the Robertsonian time period approach were used. What is the essential difference between the two forms of analysis, especially with regard to the multiplier.
  5. (a) Discuss the relative merits of fiscal and monetary policies as means of reducing business cycle fluctuations.
    (b) Discuss the proposals for stability and full employment contained in two CED publications: (1) Jobs and Marketsand (2) Taxes and the Budget.

Part II (Required of everyone)

Summarize the salient points in any oneof the following, and critically evaluate the conclusions reached by the author:

(a) Morgan: Income and Employment
(b) Kaldor: (Appendix C) in Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society.
(c) Polanyi: Free Trade and Full Employmentand Williams in Financing American Prosperity.
(d) Terborgh: The Bogey of Economic Maturity.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28, Box 16 of 284). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, February, 1949.

Image Source:  Harvard Album 1952.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Contemporary U.S. Economic History Seminar. Galbraith, 1973

 

 

Not really sure what was actually behind Galbraith giving up his “big course in the Social Sciences” for a cozy post-lunch seminar on Galbraith and the middle-two quarters of the twentieth century U.S. economic history. It seems that you could count the reasons on the middle finger of his right hand. But maybe it reveals nothing more nor less than a desire to simply reduce his teaching obligations to a delightful minimum. Still, not uninteresting to see how John Kenneth Galbraith chose to spend his Wednesday afternoons with a couple dozen Harvard undergraduates nearly a half century ago.

________________

March 16, 1973

Professor and Mrs. R. Paul Levine
Co-Masters, Currier House
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Dear Ursula and Paul:

I’ve given up my big course in the Social Sciences and I’m going to give a smaller seminar in contemporary economic history. Unfortunately there are some reasons why the Department wishes that this be an Economics course—it is something of a problem that, in recent years, my courses have been outside the Department. I wonder, however, if I might schedule it over in Currier House, and I wonder whether, as a further idea, it might be possible to schedule it, say, at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday, with the understanding that I would meet beforehand with any students who would like to join me for lunch. I propose to limit the attendance to 20 or 25—always assuming that many want to take it—so the congestion would not be too great. Perhaps you would let me have your thoughts.

Meanwhile my best to you both.

Yours faithfully,

John Kenneth Galbraith

JKG:mjh
cc: James S. Duesenberry

________________

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Economics 2365. Seminar: The United States Since the Great Depression
Professor John Kenneth Galbraith

The Crash and the Slump. The reputable view of cause and cure in the current economic orthodoxy. The collapse of banks, utilities, railroads. The agricultural crisis. Unemployment and the old labor movement. Roosevelt and the rationale of the recovery program. The process of recovery and the impact of Keynes. Radicalism and the rise of the CIO. The approach of World War II. The nature of the wartime economic mobilization. The transition to peace and the rise of economic evangelism. The Fifties and the economics of euphoria. The high tide of the New Economics. The new orthodoxy and the role of conditioned irrelevance.

Half course (fall term). Wednesday, 2-4 p.m.
For Graduates and Qualified Undergraduates. Enrollment limited as necessary.

________________

ECONOMICS 2365
AUTUMN TERM 1973-74
PROFESSOR JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

MEETINGS: This course will meet on Wednesday afternoons. Each week at 1:00 there will be an informal lunch in the Currier House private dining room. Class will be from 2:00 to 4:00 in the Currier House Binghem Room. There will be no meeting on Wednesday, November 21st. The course will observe the reading period.

REQUIREMENTS: The major course requirement is a twenty-five page paper due on January 14, 1974. It should develop critically one or another of the subjects discussed in the course. It is expected that the paper will display an understanding of the material presented in class and in the readings; unfamiliarity with relevant lectures and readings, however concealed or explained, will be adversely scored. Each student is to submit the proposed title of his paper by November 21st. Office hours will be arranged in early November for that purpose.

PREREQUISITES: There are no formal prerequisites.

 *  *  *  *  *

I. INTRODUCTION (Sept. 26)

II. THE GREAT CRASH AND ITS CAUSES (Oct. 3)

J. K. Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

III. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: DOMESTIC ASPECTS (Oct. 10)

L. Chandler, America’s Great Depression 1929-1941, Chapters 1-7.

IV. THE NATURE OF THE DEPRESSION: WORLD ASPECTS (Oct. 17)

A. Lewis, Economic Survey 1919-1939

V. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: I (Oct. 24)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 1-10

VI. THE LOGIC OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAM: II (Oct. 31)

A. Schlesinger, The Coming of the New Deal, Chapters 16-25.

VII. THE IMPACT OF KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS (Nov. 7)

J. K. Galbraith, “How Keynes Came to America,” in Economics, Peace, and Laughter. ***
R. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Chapter 9—“The Heresies of John Maynard Keynes.”
M. Stewart, Keynes and After, Chapters 4, 6, 11, 12.

VIII: THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION (Nov. 14)

J. K. Galbraith, A Theory of Price Control
W. K. Hancock, British War Economy, chapters 11, 12, 17 ***

IX. THE NATURE OF WARTIME ECONOMIC MOBILIZATION: THE COMPARATIVE BRITISH AND GERMAN ORGANIZATION (Nov. 28)

B. Klein, Germany’s Economic Preparation for War, (Omit statistical appendix)

X. CRITIQUE OF THE NEW ECONOMICS (Dec. 5)

J. K. Galbraith, The Affluent Society, Chapters 9-25.

XI. THE ECONOMICS OF THE COLD WAR AND VIETNAM (Dec. 12)

P. B. Baran and P. M. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital, Chapter 7—“The Absorption of Surplus: Militarism and Imperialism.”
G. W. Domoff, “Who Made American Foreign Policy 1945-1963.” ***
J. D. Phillips, “Economic Effects of the Cold War.” ***
R. Eisner, “The War and the Economy.” ***

XII. INFLATION AND THE PRESENT CRISIS (Dec. 19)

J. K. Galbraith, “Inflation.”
B. Bosworth, “The Current Inflation: Malign Neglect” in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1973. ***
M. Ulmer, The Welfare State, Chapter 4—“The Anatomy of Inflation and Unemployment.” ***

All of these readings are required. Unless otherwise indicated, the entire book should be read. Readings which are in xeroxed form as well as in book form are marked with a triple asterisk***. Copies of all readings are on reserve in Lamont, Hilles, and Littauer libraries.

 

Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. John Kenneth Galbraith Personal Papers.  Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 522, Folder “Economics 294: Spring term, 1968 (2 of 2) [sic]”.

Image Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Biographical Profile: John Kenneth Galbraith.

Categories
Suggested Reading Swarthmore Syllabus

Swarthmore. Honors Economic Theory Seminar. Stolper, ca. 1944

 

This seminar reading list and reports was probably typed by Wolfgang Stolper himself and given to a (the?) departmental secretary for preparing 25 mimeographed copies to distribute. While this typed seminar outline has no date, at least judging from the last item to be reported on, William Beveridge’s Full Employment in a Free Society, the outline probably dates from the 1944-45 academic year.

The course description remained the same throughout Stolper’s years at Swarthmore.

Paul Samuelson was an honors examiner in 1943.

Richard Musgrave also served as an external examiner in 1946.

______________________

Course Description
(taught by Stolper 1941-42 through 1946-47, 1948-49)

The following seminars prepare for examinations for a degree with Honors:

[…]

  1. Economic Theory. Mr Stolper. Each semester.

An advanced analysis of the processes by which the prices of goods and services and the incomes of the factors of production are determined under various market condition. A study of theories of the business cycle. Directed reading and discussion, supplemented by reports on the theoretical problems raised by factual studies.

Source:  Swarthmore College Catalogue, 1941-42 p. 62.

______________________

Stolper
Economics Theory Seminar
25 copies

(1) First Week

Assigned:

Joan Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Bk. I
E.H. Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1,2
Ricardo, Principles, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Introd. und Pt. I, Sec 1

Suggested:

J.St. Mill, Principles, Bk. III, except Ch. 5
J. Cassels, A Re-interpretation of Ricardo on Value, QJE, Vol. 49, p. 518

Topic:

Review of the Tools of Analysis

(2) Second Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Pt. I, pp. 29-100.  You may omit: p. 31 small print; p. 60-63 small print; p. 79, 2d last para- p. 81 top; p. 93-95, small print and diagram
J. Viner, Cost Curves and Supply curves
Marshall, Principles, Bk. V, Chs. 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 15

Topic:

Pure Competition. The Classical Statement of Value Theory

(3) Third Week

Assigned:

Marshall, op.cit. Bk. V., Chs. 12, 14
Chamberlin, op.cit., Chs. 3-6
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Pt. I, secs. 1, 2,4; Pt. II complete

Suggested:

Triffin, op.cit. Pt. I, Secs. 3, 5, note

Topic:

Monopolistic Competition

Report:

TNEC Monograph 21, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, by Clair Wilcox

(4) Fourth Week

Assigned:

Triffin, op.cit., Pt. III, secs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Suggested:

Triffin, Monopoly in Particular Equilibrium…,Econometrica. Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 121
J. Robinson, What is Pure Competition? QJE Vol. 49, p. 104
F.Y. Edgeworth, Pure Theory of Monopoly
Cournot, Mathematical Theory of Wealth

Topic:

Criticisms of Monopolistic Competition

Reports:

(a) The Problem of Excess Capacity(See Bibliography in Chamberlin, op.cit.)
(b) Price Discrimination between Markets

G. Haberler, International Trade, Ch. on Dumping
J. Robinson, op.cit., Ch. XV
For illustrative facts refer to the following:
TNEC Monog. 41, Price Discrimination in Steel
TNEC Monog. 42, The Basing Point Problem

(c) Price Policy

TNEC Monog. 1, Price Behavior and Business Policy
Hall and Hitch, Oxford Economic Papers No. 2, pp. 12-45
Clive Saxton, The Economics of Price Determination
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy

(d) F.P. Bishop, The Economics of Advertising

 (5) Fifth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 1, 2, 11
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 1. You may omit: pp. 127-129, small print. Don’t worry about the mathematics on pp. 127-131, 139-40
Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, Ch. XIII (old edition, Ch. XI)
J. Cassels, The Law of Variable Proportions, Explorations in Economics, pp. 223-228
Chamberlin, op.cit. Ch. VIII (also in Explorations, …., pp. 237-250)
Triffin, Pt. III, Sec. 2
Schumpeter, The Instability of Capitalism, Economic Journal, Vol 38 (1928)

Suggested:

Articles by Machlup, Hart, Smithies, and remainder of article of Cassels, in Explorations in Economics
G. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories

 (6) Sixth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 3, 4, 5 Bk. IV, Ch. 4, 5
Ricardo, Ch. 5
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Complete

Suggested:

A. C. Pigou, Theory of Unemployment
J.T.Dunlop, Wage Determination under Trade Unions

Topic:

Wage Theory and Wage Problems

Reports:

(a) Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, particularly, Chs. V-IX
(b) National Resources Planning Board, Problems of a Changing Population, pp. 1-138
Reddaway, Economics of a Declining Population
Malthus, Principles,
Myrdal, Population
Hansen, Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 366-85

(c) P. Douglas, Theory of Wages
National Income of the US, Chs. 1-4

(d) TNEC Monog. 22, Technology in our Economy
TNEC Hearing on Technological Progress, selections
Consult for further readings

(e) J.T. Dunlop, op, cit., Chs. I-VI, IX, X
(f) TNEC Monog. 5, Industrial Wage Rates, Labor Costs and Price Policies

(7) Seventh Week

Assigned:

Ricardo, Ch. 2, 3
Mill, Bk. III, Ch. 5
Marshall, Bk. V, Ch. 10, 11, Bk. VI, Chs. o,10
Chamberlin, op.cit. Appendix D

Report:

H.W. Singer, Index of Urban Land Rents, Econometrica, Vol IX,

(8) Eighth Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chs. 2, 3, 4
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. V, omitting B
Marshall, Bk, VI, Chs. 7, 8
R.A.Gordon, Explorations in Economics, pp. 306-317
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Pt. II, sec. 3

Reports:

(a) Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property
TNEC Monograph 29, The Distribution of Ownership in the 200 largest non-financial Corporations
(b) W.L.Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

Topic:

Profits. General Summary of Value and Distribution

(9) Ninth Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 2; Pt. III. You may omit: Sec D, pp. 172-184; pp. 203-5, small print; p. 216, 2d para—p. 217, 1stpara
Marshall, Bk, VI, Ch. 6
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. V, I
Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14
Higgins and Musgrave, Deficit Financing—The Case Examined, Public Policy Yearbook II, pp. 136-207
O. Lange, The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, No. 8

Suggested:

J.M. Keynes, General Theory
Readings…., Pt. II

Topic:

Interest Theory

Reports:

(a) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, Bks. I-III
(b) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Bks. IV to end
(c) F.A.Lutz, The Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. 55,

(10) Tenth Week

Assigned:

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1939 ed. or later, Chs. 8, 9, 13
Hicks, Value and Capital, Ch. 24
Hicks, Social Framework, Chs. XI-XVI, Appendices E and F
and either
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. 4
Kuznets, Review of Schumpeter, AER
or
Mitchell, Business Cycles, Ch. III

Suggested:

Readings…., Pt. I

Topic:

Measurement and Separation of Cycles

Reports:

(a) Burns, Production Trends in the US since 1870
(b) Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Chs. 6, 7
Kondratieff, Readings…, pp. 20-42
(c) Schumpeter, Cycles, Vol. II, Chs. 14, 15
(d) The Cob Web Theorem

(11) Eleventh Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 6
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
P.A.Samuelson, Readings…. pp. 261-289

Suggested:

Readings, Pt. III, IV, V.
Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business Cycle Theories, Econometrica, Vol. 10, pp. 129 ff

Reports:

(a) A.H.Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, particularly Pts. I, III, IV
P.A.Samuelson, A Synthesis of the Principle of Acceleration and the Multiplier, JPE, 1939
_______________, Fiscal Policy and Income Determination QJE, August 1942
(b) Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 4, 6, 7
Hansen, Business Cycle Theory
Readings, …., Pts. IV, V
(c) Wm. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society

Topic:

Business Cycles, Theory and Theories

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economist Papers’ Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Folder “S miscellaneous (2 of 3) Swarthmore Theory outline”.

Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).

Categories
Economists Michigan Suggested Reading Syllabus

Michigan. National Income Syllabus. Gardner Ackley, 1958

 

The following syllabus for Gardner Ackley’s 1958 course on Keynesian macroeconomics was found in the Martin Bronfenbrenner Papers at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. I have added three short biographical items for this midwestern economist who served as chairman of President Johnson’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1964-68. 

__________________

GARDNER ACKLEY
Minute of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

On February 12, 1998, University Professor Emeritus Gardner Ackley passed away at the age of 82, and the economics profession lost one of its true stars.

Gardner Ackley.

  • Served as a distinguished member of the Michigan faculty from 1940 until his retirement in 1984,
  • Chaired the department with great distinction from 1954 to 1961,
  • Published the textbook, Macroeconomics Theory (1961), which defined that field for a generation of economics students around the world,
  • Served President Lyndon Johnson as Chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers from 1964 to 1968,
  • Served the nation as American Ambassador to Italy during 1968-69, and,
  • Was rewarded by his profession with election to the Presidency of the American Economic Association in 1982.

These accomplishments and honors distinguish the career of Gardner Ackley as among the most stellar of his generation, and they define a standard worthy to inspire the succeeding generations of professional economists.

No celebration of Gardner Ackley, however, should conclude without mentioning at least the following two of the many significant challenges he shouldered during his distinguished career. His years as Chair of the Michigan Department of Economics included the period of challenge to academic freedom and McCarthyism. Gardner stood solidly in support of students and colleagues in those years in ways that marked him as a man of extraordinary courage and integrity. Later, as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, he stood up once again for what he believed, this time challenging the President of the United States to adopt a proper, if unpopular, anti-inflationary policy as the war in Vietnam stretched the economic capacities of an already fully-employed nation.

Those of us who knew Gardner, whether as a colleague, mentor, or teacher, feel privileged to have known him and appreciate the dimension of his loss.

Source:  University of Michigan, Faculty History Project. LSA Minutes, Gardner Ackley.

__________________

From the University of Michigan Alumni Magazine
February 13, 1954

GARDNER ACKLEY, AM. ’37, Ph.D. ’40, who was named Chairman of the Department of Economics effective February 1, has divided his time almost equally since 1940 between the University and the Federal government. He joined the faculty in 1940 as an Instructor, and became a full Professor in 1952. Professor Ackley’s government service has been with the National Resources Planning Board, the wartime OPA, the Office of Strategic Services, the Economic Stabilization Agency, and, during 1951 and 1952, as Economic Advisor and Assistant Director of the Office of Price Stabilization. Professor Ackley earned his A.B. at Western Michigan College; he is a member of the American Economic Association and the Econometric Society. He has served on numerous University committees, including the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Source: Classroom Profile. The Michigan Alumnus (February 13, 1954) p. 214.

__________________

Biography from Guide to Gardner Ackley Papers

(Hugh) Gardner Ackley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 30, 1915. In 1936, Ackley received his baccalaureate degree from Western State Teachers College (now Western Michigan University) in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1937, a master’s degree was conferred upon Ackley by the University of Michigan and in 1940 he received a doctoral degree from the same institution.

In 1939 and 1940, Ackley was an instructor at Ohio State University, returning to teach at the University of Michigan in late 1940. Throughout the Second World War he served as a member of the government in Washington. From 1941 to 1942, and again from 1944 to 1946 he worked at the Office of Price Administration. In 1943 and 1944 he was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services. Concluding his wartime service, Mr. Ackley returned to the University of Michigan where he resumed his academic career in the Department of Economics.

Ackley returned to government service in 1951, serving for two years as the assistant director of the Office of Price Stabilization. After completing this assignment he once again returned to Ann Arbor to carry on scholarly pursuits.

Gardner Ackley left Ann Arbor for Washington for the third time in August 1962 when President John Kennedy named him as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors. He served as a member of the council until November 14, 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson named him the new chairman of the CEA. Early in 1968, Mr. Ackley left the council to become ambassador to Italy, a post he held until 1969. After returning from Italy, Ackley again resumed his academic career at the University of Michigan.

From 1969 until 1984 Ackley was the Henry Carter Adams University Professor of Political Economy at the University of Michigan. During this same period, he served on many national commissions and councils devoted to economic issues. He was a member of the Trilateral Commission from 1977 to 1983 and during 1978-1979 he was a member of the Advisory Council on Social Security. He also served as president of the American Economics Association during 1982.

Among his many honors, Ackley received the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award at the University of Michigan in 1976 and he was also elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. Ackley has been professor emeritus since 1984.

Gardner Ackley died February 12, 1998.

Source:  University of Michigan. Bentley Historical Library. Guide to Papers of Gardner Ackley.

__________________

Syllabus 1958

[Handwritten note by Bronfenbrenner: G. Ackley (Michigan)]

Economics 151
NATIONAL INCOME I
Reading List

Second Semester, 1957-58

In the following list selected readings on topics to be covered in the course are arranged under two headings: “Assignments,” which all students should study, and “References,” which usually (but not always) present a more advanced or more specialized treatment, or a conflicting point of view. No effort is made to supply references on topics only lightly touched on in the course. Publisher and date of publication are given only upon first listing. Additional assignments may be made in class.

All students should purchase J. M. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Harcourt-Brace, 1936. (This will be referred to as “Keynes.”) In addition, each student should purchase, at the Cashier’s Office in the Administration Building, a “lab ticket” for this course (price $3.75). This will entitle him to receive a copy of the preliminary edition of G. Ackley, An Introduction to Macroeconomic Theory, which will be distributed in class. (This will be referred to as “Ackley.”)

Modern textbooks which treat the general field covered by this course include the following:

  1. R. and N. Ruggles, National Income and Income Analysis (McGraw-Hill, 2nded., 1956).
  2. T. Schelling, National Income Behavior: An Introduction to Algebraic Analysis (McGraw-Hill, 1951)
  3. A. P. Lerner, Economics of Employment (McGraw-Hill, 1951)
  4. S. Weintraub, Income and Employment Analysis (Pitman, 1951)
  5. R. V. Clemence, Income Analysis (Addison-Wesley, 1951)
  6. J. P. McKenna, Aggregate Economic Analysis (Dryden, 1955)
  7. T. Morgan, Income and Employment (Prentice-Hall, 2nded., 1952)

In this reading list no references are given to these textbooks. The student who wishes to use any of them can, however, easily find the appropriate sections from the table of contents.

Two other books which many students find helpful in understanding Keynes’ General Theory are A. H. Hansen, Guide to Keynes (McGraw-Hill, 1953); and D. Dillard, The Economics of J. M. Keynes (Prentice-Hall, 1948).

There will be one or more written problems which all students will be expected to hand in. Graduate students will be expected to write a paper.

  1. INTRODUCTION (Feb. 6,8)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Ch. I.

References:

  1. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics (Columbia University Press, 1956), ch. 1

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. MEANING AND MEASUREMENT OF NATIONAL INCOME AND PRODUCT  (Feb. 11 – 18)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Chs. II and III.
  2. National Income Supplement to the Survey of Current Business, 1954 edition
    (U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1954), Parts I and II. Every student is urged to purchase this useful volume.)

References:

  1. National Income Supplement, Part III.
  2. A System of National Accounts and Supporting Tables, Studies in Methods, No. 2 (Series F). (United Nations, 1953)
  3. A Simplified System of National Accounts (Organization for European Economic Cooperation, 1952)
  4. H. C. Edey and A.T. Peacock, National Income and Social Accounting, (Hutchinson’s University Library, 1954)
  5. R. and N. Ruggles, National Income Accounts and Income Analysis. (McGraw-Hill, 1956) pp. 3-210.
  6. C. S. Shoup, Principles of National Income Analysis. (Houghton, Mifflin, 1947
  7. S. Kuznets, National Income: A Summary of Findings. (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1946) Especially pp. 111-139.
  8. C. S. Shoup, “Development and Use of National Income Data,” in Survey of Contemporary Economics. (H.S. Ellis, ed., Blakiston, 1949), pp. 288-313.
  9. S. Kuznets, “National Income and Economic Welfare,” in Economic Change. (Norton, 1953), pp. 145-215.
  10. J. R. Hicks, “Valuation of Social Income,” Economica, Vol. VII (new series), May 1940
  11. K. E. Boulding, “Income or Welfare,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XVII, 1949-50.
  12. J. P. Powelson, Economic Accounting. (McGraw-Hill, 1955), Chs. 14-20.
  13. Keynes, Ch. 6.
  14. The National Economic Accounts of the United States: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Economic Statistics of the Joint Economic Committee (U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1957), esp. pp. 101-299.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. OUTPUT AND EMPLOYMENT (Feb. 20 – 25)

Assignments:

  1. National Income Supplement, Part IV.
  2. G. Bancroft, “Current Unemployment Statistics of the Census Bureau and Some Alternatives,” in The Measurement and Behavior of Unemployment (Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 63-119.

References:

  1. Keynes, Ch. 4
  2. M. Gilbert and I.B. Kravis, An International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies (Organization for European Economic Cooperation, 1954). Also see references under II, especially items 7 and 9.
  3. Other papers in Measurement and Behavior of Unemployment.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. THE “CLASSICAL” ECONOMICS (Feb. 27 – March 8)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Chs. V, VI.
  2. Keynes, Ch. 2
  3. A. H. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy (McGraw-Hill, 1949) Ch. 3
  4. Ackley, Chs. VII, VIII.

References:

  1. F.M. Taylor, Principles of Economics(Ronald, 9thed., 1921), pp. 196-205.
  2. K. Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy(English translation by L. Robbins, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1935), Vol. II, especially pp. 159-208.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. OBSTACLES TO FULL EMPLOYMENT (March 11 – 15)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Ch. IX
  2. Keynes, Chs. 13, 15.

References:

  1. A. H. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, Ch. 4.
  2. A. P. Lerner, “Interest Theory,” in The New Economics (S.E. Harris, ed., Knopf, 1947), pp. 655-661.
  3. L. R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution (Macmillan, 1949), pp. 69 (top), – 73 (Middle), 117-123.
  4. Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. (Selected by a Committee of the American Economic Association, Blakiston, 1946), articles by Keynes, Robertson, Hicks, Somers, and Lutz.
  5. A. G. Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity. (Prentice-Hall, 1948), Ch. 8.
  6. Keynes, General Theory, Ch. 17.
  7. D. H. Robertson, “Some Notes on the Theory of Interest,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth (Macmillan, 1931), pp. 193-209.
  8. S. C. Tsiang, “Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds Theories, Multiplier and Velocity Analyses: A Synthesis,” American Economic Review, XLVI (Sept. 1956), pp. 539-555.
  9. G. Ackley, “Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds Theories of Interest: Comment,” ibid., XLVII (Sept. 1957), pp. 662-73.
  10. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics, ch. 4.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. HOUR EXAMINATION (March 18)

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. CONSUMER EXPENDITURES AND THE SIMPLE KEYNESIAN MODEL (March 20 – April 2)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Ch. X.
  2. Keynes, Chs. 1, 3, 5, 8, 9.
  3. G. Katona, “The Variability of Consumer Behavior and the Survey Method,” in Contributions of Survey Methods to Economics (L.R. Klein, ed., Columbia Univ. Press, 1945) pp. 49-67, 78-88.

References:

  1. R. Ferber, A Study of Aggregate Consumption Functions. (Technical Paper 8, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1953)
  2. Ruth Mack, “Economics of Consumption,” in A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, with comment by J.S. Davis and J. Marschak (ed. B. Haley, Irwin, 1952), Ch. 2.
  3. G. Katona, Psychological Analysis of Economic Behavior. (McGraw-Hill, 1951), pp. 63-192.
  4. G. Katona and E. Mueller, Consumer Attitudes and Demand, 1950-52. (Survey Research Center, 1956).
  5. G. Katona and E. Mueller, Consumer Expectations, 1953-1956. (Survey Research Center, 1956).
  6. Savings in the Modern Economy, ed. W.W. Heller, F.M. Boddy, and C.L. Nelson. (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1953), Chs. 7, 8, 13.
  7. E. F. Denison, “Saving in the National Economy,”Survey of Current Business, January 1955, pp. 8-24.
  8. I. Friend (with V. Natrella), Individual Saving: Volume and Composition (John Wiley, 1954). Especially pp. 118-154.
  9. R. Klein, ed., Contributions of Survey Methods to Economics.
  10. J. S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving, and the Theory of Consumer Behavior, (Harvard University Press, 1949)
  11. J. S. Duesenberry, “Income-Consumption Relations and their Implications,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy. (Norton, 1948), pp. 54-81.
  12. J. Tobin, “Relative Income, Absolute Income, and Saving,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth. (Macmillan, 1951), pp. 135-156.
  13. J. Tobin, “Asset Holdings and Spending Decisions,” American Economic Review, XLII (May 1952) pp. 109-123.
  14. J. R. Hicks, A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle (Oxford University Press, 1950), Chs. 2, 3.
  15. R. F. Harrod, Towards a Dynamic Economics, (Macmillan, 1949), pp. 35-62.
  16. A. C. Pigou, Employment and Equilibrium (2ndedition, Macmillan, 1949), pp. 28-46.
  17. M. Friedman, A Theory of the Consumption Function (Princeton University Press, 1957)
  18. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics, ch. 2.
  19. F. Modigliani and R. Brumberg, “Utility Analysis and the Consumption Function: An Interpretation of Cross-Section Data” in K. Kurihara (ed.), Post-Keynesian Economics. (Rutgers University Press, 1954), pp. 388-436.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. APPLICATIONS AND EXTENSIONS OF THE SIMPLE KEYNESIAN MODEL (Apr. 3, 5, 15, 17)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Ch. XII.
  2. Keynes, Chs. 7, 10.
  3. P. A. Samuelson, “Simple Mathematics of Income Determination,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy, pp. 133-155.

References:

  1. G. Haberler, “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of the Multiplier,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, selected by a committee of the American Economic Association (Blakiston, 1944), pp. 193-202.
  2. F. Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 203-234.
  3. R. M. Goodwin, “The Multiplier,” in The New Economics. (S.E. Harris, ed., Knopf, 1947), pp. 482-499.
  4. G. Ackley, “The Multiplier Time Period,” American Economic Review, June 1951.
  5. R. Turvey, “Some Notes on Multiplier Theory,” American Econ. Review, June 1953
  6. L. A. Metzler, “Three Lags in the Circuit Flow of Income,” in Income, Employment and Public Policy, pp. 11-32.
  7. A. P. Lerner, “Saving Equals Investment,” in The New Economics, pp. 619-626.
  8. L. R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, pp. 75 (bottom) – 80 (top), 110-117.
  9. F. A. Lutz, “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 158-168.
  10. A. P. Lerner, “Saving and Investment,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 158-168. [sic]
  11. A. H. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy (McGraw-Hill, 1949), pp. 219-225.
  12. A. H. Hansen, Business Cycles and National Income (Norton, 1951), pp. 156-163, 606-616.
  13. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian System, chs. 5, 6, 7.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. THE COMPLETE KEYNESIAN SYSTEM (April 19 – May 1)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Chs. XIII, XIV
  2. Keynes, Chs. 14 (Appendix optional), 18, 19 (Appendix optional), 20 (Sec. I optional) 21 (Sec IV optional), 24.
  3. A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control. (Macmillan, 1944), Chs. 22, 23.

References:

  1. A. H. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, Ch. 5, 7, 8, 9.
  2. J. R. Hicks, “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’,” in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, pp. 461-476.
  3. O. Lange, “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume,” in Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 169-178 (only).
  4. D. Patinkin, “Price Flexibility and Full Employment,” in Readings in Monetary Theory. (eds. F.A. Lutz and L.W. Mintz, Blakiston, 1951), pp. 252-58.
  5. F. Modigliani, “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 186-239.
  6. A. P. Lerner, “Relation of Wage Policies and Price Policies,” in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, pp. 314-329.
  7. L. G. Reynolds, “Relations between Wage Rates, Costs, and Prices,” in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, pp. 294-313.
  8. J. Tobin, “Money Wage Rates and Employment,” in The New Economics, pp. 572-587.
  9. J. Lintner, “The Theory of Money and Prices,” in The New Economics, pp. 503-537.
  10. L. R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, pp. 72-75, 80-90, 106-110, 199-206.
  11. L. R. Klein, “Theories of Effective Demand and Employment,” Journal of Political Economy, April, 1947.
  12. E. S. Mason, “Prices, Costs, and Profits,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth, pp. 177-190.
  13. J. R. Schlesinger, “After Twenty Years: The General Theory,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November 1956), pp. 581-602.
  14. “Keynesian Economics after Twenty Years,” (Papers and comments by W. Fellner, D. Dillard, D. Wright, W.A. Salent, and T. Scitovsky), American Economic Review, XLVII (May 1957), pp. 67-95.
  15. A.C. Pigou, Keynes’ General Theory(Macmillan, 1950).
  16.  K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics, ch. 10.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. HOUR EXAMINATION (May 3)

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. INFLATION (May 6, 8)

Assignments:

  1. A. H. Hansen, Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, ch. 11
  2. A. P. Lerner, Economics of Employment, chs. 13, 14 (15 and 16 optional).

References:

  1. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics, ch. 8.
  2. A. Smithies, “The Behavior of Money National Income under Inflationary Conditions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LVII (1942)
  3. T. Koopmans, “The Dynamics of Inflation,” Review of Economic Statistics, XXIV (1942)
  4. J. Duesenberry, “The Mechanics of Inflation,” and F. Holzman, “Income Determination in Open Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXII (1950).
  5. B. Hansen, A Study in the Theory of Inflation (Allen and Unwin, 1951), especially ch. VII.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. THE THEORY OF INVESTMENT (May 10 – 17)

Assignments:

  1. Ackley, Ch. XV.
  2. Keynes, Chs. 11, 12, 16, 22.
  3. J. R. Meyer and E. Kuh, The Investment Decision (Harvard Univ. Press, 1957), Ch. 1.

References:

  1. A. P. Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 25
  2. L. R. Klein, Keynesian Revolution, pp. 62-69.
  3. A. Smithies, “Economic Fluctuations and Growth,”Econometrica, 25 (January 1957), pp. 1-52.
  4. K. Kurihara, Introduction to Keynesian Dynamics, ch. 3.

*  *  *  *  *  *

  1. ECONOMIC POLICY AND THE PRESENT SITUATION (May 20 – 27)

Assignments:

  1. Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 24.
  2. M. Friedman, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” in Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 369-393.
  3. To be announced.

*  *  *  *  *  *

    1. MISCELLANEOUS FURTHER REFERENCES:

  1. J. Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Employment (Macmillan, 1937).
  2. R. F. Harrod, The Life of John Maynard Keynes. (Harcourt-Brace, 1951).
  3. J. A. Schumpeter, “John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1946 (reprinted in The New Economics, pp. 73-101).
  4. The New Economics, Chs. 1-8, 11-19, 31-35, 39, 41, 42.
  5. A. F. Burns, Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of our Times (26thAnnual Report of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., June 1946).

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Martin Bronfenbrenner Papers, Box 25, Folder “Macro-Econ, n.d.”.

Image Source:  University of Michigan, Faculty History Project, Gardner Ackley page.

 

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. History of Tariff Legislation. Taussig, 1888

 

This post provides an extended bibliography and syllabus printed in 1888 for Frank W. Taussig’s course on the history of tariff legislation. In a later post I will provide transcriptions of the final exam questions for this course. This artifact is 28 printed pages long!  Exam for June 1888. Exam for June 1889.

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Course Announcement 1888-89

[Political Economy] 6. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. Half-course. Tu., Th., at 2, and a third hour at the pleasure of the Instructor (second half-year). Professor Taussig.

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

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TOPICS AND REFERENCES
IN POLITICAL ECONOMY VI.
HARVARD COLLEGE.

TARIFF LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Cambridge, Mass.
1888.

Published for Members of Harvard University by the Harvard Co-operative Society. For others by A. A. Waterman.

 

[p. 2]

POLITICAL ECONOMY VI.

PART I. IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS AND PAPERS.

  1. Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures.

Read Hamilton’s Works, ed. of 1810, I, 157-196; ed. of 1850, III, 192-223; ed. of 1885, III, 294-335.

Summary of the Report:

  1. The relative productiveness of agriculture and manufactures. Rent, as a sign of the productiveness of agriculture.
  2. Circumstances rendering manufactures productive: (1) division of labor; (2) use of machinery; (3) employment of women and children; (4) promotion of immigration; (5) greater diversity of talent; (6) more various field for enterprise; (7) greater demand for products of the soil, “home market.”
  3. Peculiar circumstances of U. S.: (1) absence of reciprocity; (2) cultivation of land not retarded; (3) force of habit opposes manufactures; (4) improbability of success, from (a) scarcity of labor, (b) dearness of labor, (c) scarcity of capital (remedied by funded debt).
  4. General arguments again: (1) will encouragement of manufactures cause a rise in prices? (2) independence in time of war; (3) charge of transportation saved; (4) no opposition of interest between North and South.

[p. 3]

  1. Means for encouraging manufactures enumerated and discussed; e. g. duties on imports, prohibitions of importation, prohibitions of exportation, bounties (commended, and constitutionality maintained), premiums, drawbacks, encouragement of inventions, etc.
  2. List of industries existing, and recommendations in regard to them.

 

  1. Gallatin’s Memorial of 1831.

Read Gallatin’s Memorial on Free Trade, pp. 1-47; the same passages in Congressional Documents, 1stsession, 22nd Congress, Senate Doc., vol. I, No. 5, pp. 1-30, and in The Banner of the Constitution, vol. III, pp. 97-101.

Summary of the Memorial:

  1. The needed revenue, and the average duty which would secure it.
  2. The general principles of free trade.
  3. Compensating advantages from protection, as the employment of female labor [compare Mill, Political Economy, Book I, ch. V, § 1, note], the stimulus to producing some raw materials, the creation of a home market.
  4. Certain arguments for protection: high wages; that foreign trade stimulates foreign industry; the relation of imports and exports; reciprocity and retaliation; the experience of other countries.
  5. The reduction of prices by domestic competition.
  6. Careful and detailed examination of duties then in force.

 

  1. Walker’s Report of 1845.

Read Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1845, Executive Documents, 29th Congress, 1st session, vol. II, No. 6, pp. 3-14. Printed also in Niles’s Register, vol. 69, pp. 233-235.

[p. 4]

  1. Noteworthy principles laid down:
    (a) No duty should be imposed above the lowest rate that will yield the largest revenue. What does this mean? (b) Below this rate discrimination may be made. What sort of discrimination would Walker favor? (c) The maximum rate may be imposed on luxuries. (d) All specific and minimum duties should be abolished.
  2. How far the reasoning and the proposals of the report are consistent with the principles of free trade.
  3. The treatment of the effects of a protective tariff on wages and on profits.
  4. Specific and ad valorem duties. The warehousing system.
  5. The general merit of the Report; the praise it has often received. Report of the Tariff Commission of 1882, pp. 1428-1427.

 

PART II. HISTORY OF TARIFF LEGISLATION.

  1. Period before 1789.

General References: Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations(Rogers’s ed.), II, 156-166. Pitkin, Statistical View, ch. I. In general, read on the period till 1816, H. C. Adams, Taxation in the U. S., 1789-1816.

  1. Policy of England. The Mercantile System.
    (a) The Navigation Laws and the Colonial System. (b) Bounties. (c) Prohibitions. (d) History of the iron manufacture, as a type. Bishop, Hist. Manuf., I, 623-629.
  2. Policy of the Colonies.
    (a) Bounties. Bishop, vol. I, passim. (b) Effect of war of revolution. Non-importation agreements. Bishop, I, 365-396.
  3. Industrial state of the Colonies. How far affected by legislation. H. C. Adams, Taxation, etc., 5-13. Thompson, Social Science, 353.

[p. 5]

  1. Tariff acts of individual States before 1789, g.Pennsylvania act of 1785, Hoyt’s Protection versus Free Trade, Preface, p. xii; Adams, Taxation in U. S., 27.
  2. Scheme of a Federal Impost (5% duty) under the Confederation. The effect of its failure on the formation of the Union. Elliot, Debates, 92-106. Pitkin, Statist. View, 26-29.

 

  1. Tariff Act of 1789.

General References: Hamilton, Life of Hamilton, IV, 2-7. Sumner, Protection in U. S., 21-25. Young, Report on Customs Legist., p. xv.

  1. Debate of 1789.
    (a) Madison’s position. Young, Report, p. vii, viii. Madison, Writings,
  2. I, 466, 468. (b) Protectionist views advanced. (c) General tendency of the debate to look mainly at the revenue.
  3. Act of 1789.
    (a) The preamble. (b) Modelled on 5% scheme of confederation. General 5% duty. (c) Duties of 7½ , 10, 15%, on certain articles. (d) Specific duties on cordage, hemp, nails, steel, etc. Hamilton, Works, II, 55.
  4. A common account of the significance of the act of 1789.
    Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, I, 182-186.
  5. Tonnage act of 1789.
  6. Revenue Collection act of July 31, 1789.

 

  1. 1789-1816.

General References: Bolles, Fin. Hist., II, 73-87. Taussig, Young Ind., 14-21.

  1. Tariff Acts from 1789 till 1816. Gradual increase of duties. Act of 1804 (Barbary Powers act) as an example. Young’s Report, xxxi, xxxii.

[p. 6]

  1. Industrial history, 1792-1807. Expansion of trade, due largely to wars in Europe. Large imports, especially from England.
  2. Restrictions, 1808-1815. Embargo, 1808-1809. Non-intercourse Act, 1809. War, 1812-1815. Duties doubled during the war. Effect of restrictions on foreign trade; on manufactures.
  3. Public opinion on protection in the earlier part of the period. Madison’s attitude in 1789, Young’s Report, p. viii; his Resolutions of 1794, Annals of Congress, 1794, pp. 155, 209. Jefferson’s feeling in 1787, Notes on Virginia, Works, VIII, 404; his Report on Commerce, in 1793, Works, VII, 637-651. Various Committee Reports of this period in American State Papers, Finance, vol. I.
  4. Public opinion during the period of restriction. Clay’s speech of 1810, Works, I, 195-199 (edition of 1848).

 

  1. Act of 1816.

General References: Taussig, Young Ind., 28-34, 40-44. Sumner, 34-38. Calhoun, Works, II, 163-173. Stat. at Large, III, 310-311.

  1. Great growth of manufactures during the war. Manufacturers ask for aid. Appleton, The power-loom, etc., 12-13.
  2. Madison’s Message, Statesman’s Man., I, 331. Dallas’s Report, Am. St. P. Finance, III, 87-91.
  3. Provisions of the act. General increase of duties. Duties on cottons and woollens; on rolled and hammered bar iron. Taussig, Young Ind., 54, 56.
  4. Public opinion not strongly aroused. Attitude of New England, the Middle States, and the South. The act of 1816 marks transition from the period 1789-1815 to the period 1820-32.
  5. The War Argument. Calhoun’s speech of 1816. Holst’s Life of Calhoun, pp. 27-37.

[p. 7]

  1. The Protective Movement after 1819. The Act of 1824.

General References: Taussig, Young Industries, 21-28, 33-40, 43-48, and in Political Science Quarterly, vol. III, March, 1888; Webster, Works, 96-106. Stat. at Large, IV, 25.

  1. The years 1816-19. Inflated prices; large imports; land speculations; reckless banking. Crisis of 1819. Effect on agriculture; on manufactures. Hildreth, Banking, 64-78; Gouge, Hist. of Paper Money, 55-127.
  2. Protective movement after 1819. Agitation for Protection. M. Carey’s pamphlets, Appeal to Common Sense (1822), The Crisis (1823), etc. Niles’s Register.
  3. Tariff acts of 1818. at Large, III, 460, 461.
    Tariff bills of 1820, 1821, 1822.
    Attitude of the Middle and Western States; of New England; of the South. Question of constitutionality raised.
  4. Situation in 1824. Candidates for the presidency: Clay, Crawford, Jackson, Adams. Jackson’s Letter to Coleman. Parton, Life of Jackson, III, 34-36.
  5. Act of 1824. Its history in Congress. Attitude of Massachusetts. The measure acceptable chiefly to the West and Middle States.
    General advance of duties on raw materials (hemp, wool, iron), and on manufactures (cottons, woollens, tern cordage).

 

  1. Tariff Act of 1828.

General References: Taussig, in Political Science Quarterly, vol. III (March, 1888); Calhoun, Works, III, 47-51; Stat. at Large, IV, 270.

  1. Woollen Manufacture, 1824-28. Reduction of duty on wool in England in 1824 and 1825.

[p. 8]

  1. Woollens Bill of 1827. . The Minimum Scheme. Bishop, History of Manuf. II, 313. Bill in full, Annals Congr., III, 731.
  2. The Harrisburg Convention (1827). The demand for higher protection extended to other articles than wool and woollens. Niles, XXXII, 388-396.
  3. Political situation, 1827-28. Democratic leaders from North (Jackson men) combine with Southern members. Attitude of Adams’s supporters, especially those from New England.
  4. Act of 1828; “the tariff of abominations.” Duties on wool (note that on cheap wool); minimum system on woollens (note cheap woollens); on molasses, without drawback on rum; on iron, hemp, flax.
  5. Curious votes on this act. Niles, XXXV, 52-57. Slight political effect on the election of 1828.

 

  1. Agitation in the South. The Export Tax Theory.

General References: McDuffie’s speech, in Congr. Debates, vol. VIII, Part III, pp. 3142-3150. Mill, Political Economy, Book V, ch. IV, §§ 5, 6.

  1. Agitation in the South against the tariff, to which all depression is ascribed. Madison’s Private Correspondence, 274-285.
  2. First form of the export tax theory, as stated in 1830: a tax on imports is a tax on exports, and a tax on the South. McDuffie’s speech of 1830, Congr. Deb., vol. VI, pp. 843-847.
  3. Second form of the theory, in McDuffie’s speech of 1832. (See also his report for the Committee on ways and means in 1832, Reports of Committees, 1st sess., 23d Congr., vol. II, no. 279). The theory worked out in the movement of prices.
  4. The connection between slavery and the export tax theory.

[p. 9]

  1. Acceptance of the export tax theory by the South in 1832. Hayne’s speech, Debates, vol. VIII, pp. 86-90. Address of So. Car. Convention, in State Papers on Nullification, p. 62. Calhoun, Works, III, 411; IV, 182.
  2. The theory soon dropped in the South. Similar reasoning sometimes appears at the present time, e. g. N. Y. Nation, Dec. 31, 1885, and Dec. 15, 1887. How far is it sound?

 

  1. 1828-1832.

General References: Sumner, Life of Jackson, 215-223; Clay, Speech of Jan. 11, 1832, Works, I, 586-595. Stat. at Large, IV, 583.

  1. Tariff Acts of 1830. Tea and coffee free. Abominations of 1828 removed in part. Stat.  at Large, IV, 403, 419.
  2. Public Sentiment on the Tariff. Free Trade Convention in Philadelphia, 1831. Gallatin’s Memorial; Adams, Life of Gallatin, 610-642. Protectionist Convention in New York.
  3. The revenue question. Approaching discharge of the public debt.
  4. Various proposals in 1832.
    (a) Administration scheme. Jackson’s Message, Statesman’s Manual, II, 763. Bill prepared by Secretary McLane, Exec. Doc. 1831-32, vol. 5, No. 22. (b) Southern project. McDuffie’s report and bill, House Rep., 1831-32, vol. 2, No. 279. (c) Clay’s high protection scheme. (d) Moderate protection scheme. J. Q. Adams’s report and bill. House Rep. 1831-32, vol 5, No. 481.
  5. The act of 1832, founded on Adams’s scheme. The duties on iron, wool and woollens, cottons, silks, etc.

[p. 10]

  1. Act of 1833.

General References: Sumner’s Life of Jackson, 281-291. Clay’s speech of Feb. 12, 1833, Works, II, 106-121. Bolles, II, 422-431. Stat. at Large, IV, 629.

  1. Political Situation in 1832-33. Nullification by South Carolina. Re-election of Jackson, and election of a Congress likely to follow his suggestions. The old Congress holds over for the session of 1832-33.
  2. Verplanck bill, supported by the administration. Congr. Debates, vol. IX, p. 958. Its passage found to be impossible.
  3. Clay’s Compromise Scheme. The administration party and the South (Calhoun); the protectionists. Supposed “secret history” of the compromise. Benton’s Thirty Years’ View, I, 342-344. Clay’s speech in 1837, Congr. Debates, XIII, 969-970; Appleton’s speech in 1842, Congr. Globe, X, (Appendix), p. 575.
    The public lands bill fails because of a pocket veto. Amer. Ann. Register, 1832-33, pp. 182-185.
  4. Act of 1833. (a) Gradual reduction of duties. American Almanacfor 1834, p. 138. (b) Treatment of specific duties. U. S. Doc, 1833-34, Exec. Doc, vol I, No. 43. (c) Horizontal rate of 20 per cent. Its general policy. Webster, Works, IV, 258-261. (d) Did the act impose any duties after 1842? Decision of the Supreme Court in Aldridge vs. Williams, 3 Howard, 9.

 

  1. 1833-1842. Tariff of 1842.

General References: Hoist, Constitutional History, II., 451-463. Bolles, II, 426-431, 440-448. Statutes at Large, V, 548.
On the period between 1830 and 1860, see, in general, Taussig, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, April, 1888.

[p. 11]

  1. Economic events of 1833-42. The bank troubles, the crises of 1837 and 1839, the depression of 1839-41. These events sometimes said to be connected with the changes in duties. Carey, Social Science, II, 225; Stebbins, Protectionist Manual, 182.
  2. Operation of the act of 1833. (a) Any effect on manufacturing industries? (b) Accumulation of revenue due to the peculiar features of the act? (c) Attempts to modify it. Woodbury’s Treasury Report of 1835. Bill passed by the Senate in 1837, Congr. Debates, XIII, 939; a similar bill in the House. No proposals in 1837-41. (d) Tariff act of 1841, Stat. at Large, V, 463.
  3. Financial situation in 1842. Political situation. The Whigs and the tariff; Tyler’s position. Effect of these complications on the details of the act.
  4. Provisions of the act. Credits on duties abolished; but no warehousing system.
  5. Debates in 1842. The labor argument. The violation of the compromise of 1833. Not a word as to nullification. Prominence of the iron industry.
  6. Revival of trade in 1843-41. How far this was connected with the passage of the act of 1842.

 

  1. Tariffs of 1846 and 1867.

General References: Hoist, Const. History, II, 529-535, III, 277-280; Webster, Works, V, 225-235; Stat. at Large, IX, 42; XI, 192.

  1. Political situation. Campaign of 1844. Session of 1845-46, and passage of the act of 1846. Allegations of British Gold.
  2. Provisions of the act of 1846. The schedules; the ad valorem duties; the warehousing system. How far did it follow Secretary Walker’s recommendations? How far was it a free trade measure?

[p. 12]

  1. The debates on the act of 1846. The wages argument in the speeches of Hunt, Congr. Globe, 1845-46, Appendix, p. 967, and of Winthrop, ibid., 972-973. Its treatment by Webster.
  2. Financial operation of the act of 1846. Working of the ad valorem duties. Speech of Brooks, Congr. Globe, XXIV, 809-812 (1852). Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1853, pp. 62, 104.
  3. Act of 1857. The bill, as originally passed by the House, much amended in the Senate. The changes in duty made by it.
  4. Slavery and the tariff. Attempts by the Whigs to substitute the tariff for slavery as the decisive issue in politics.

 

  1. Economic History, 1840-60.

General References: Grosvenor, Does Protection Protect, 146-150, 223-229.— On manufacturing industries, see, in general, the introduction to the volume on manufactures of the census of 1860.

  1. General prosperity during this period. Can it be ascribed to the tariff acts of 1846 and 1857? — The crisis of 1857.
  2. International trade, and the growth of exports and imports. James, Amerikanischer Zoll-tarif, 49-73; International Review, XI., 450-462. Grosvenor, 50-53.
  3. Iron Manufacture. Uncertainty of the statistics. Course of production, and extent of importation. Anthracite and charcoal iron. Hewitt on Statistics of Iron, 24-32; Statistics in Hewitt’s A Century of Mining in the United States, Appendix, and in the Reports of the American Iron and Steel Association.
  4. The Cotton Manufacture. Batchelder, in Hunt’s Merchant’s Magazine, XLV, 14-16. The domestic consumption of raw cotton; statistics in Quarterly Reports of the Bureau of Statistics, No. 3, 1885-86, p. 60, in Reports of U. S. Comm. to Paris Exhibition of 1867, VI, 30-35, and in Hunt’s Merchant’s Magazine, XLV, 11.

[13]

  1. The Woollen Manufacture. Census of 1860, as above; Special Report of the Bureau of Statistics on the Manufacture of Wool (1887).
  2. The range and extent of manufacturing industry in 1860.

 

  1. The Morrill Tariff. Duties During the War.

General References: Wells, in Cobden Club Essays, Second Series, pp. 473-481.
On the history of legislation between 1860 and 1883, read Taussig, History of the Present Tariff.

  1. The state of the revenue in 1860. The political situation. The Republicans in control of the House in the 36th The tariff bill passed in the House in 1860, in the Senate in 1861.
  2. Provisions of the Morrill tariff act of 1861. Specific substituted for ad valorem duties. The rates on iron, wool and woollens, cottons, etc.
    How far the act was protectionist. Attitude of the manufacturers, especially on the wool and woollen duties.
  3. Financial needs of the civil war. General character of the war legislation. Acts of August and December, 1861, imposing direct tax, and raising revenue duties. Stat. at Large, XII, 292, 330.
  4. Internal Revenue act of 1862. Excise taxes in general at 3% on the value. Young’s Tariff Legisl., p. 126. Corresponding increase in import duties in the tariff act of 1862. Stat. at Large, XII, 433, 543.
  5. Tax and Tariff acts of 1864. Act authorizing $400,000,000 loan. Three-fold object of the tariff act: revenue, compensation of internal taxes and protection. Brief consideration of the bill in Congress. Its importance in financial and economic history. Stat. at Large, XIII. 202, 223.

[p. 14]

  1. Reduction of Duties, 1864-86.

General References: Taussig, Present Tariff, pp. 17-39, 88-101. Perry in Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. II, pp. 69-78 (Oct., 1887).

  1. Reduction and abolition of the internal taxes, 1865-72. Further changes in 1883. The present internal tax system.
  2. Attempts to reduce duties. The state of opinion on the tariff immediately after the war. The bill of 1867, passed in the Senate, lost in the House.
  3. Act of 1870. Its object, a reduction of revenue. The revenue duties lowered; also a few protective duties, e. g. on pig iron. Young’s Tariff Legisl., p. 167.
  4. Act of 1872. Pressure for a reduction of duties. The protectionist tactics. A general 10 per cent. reduction and a lowering of duties on certain raw materials, substituted for a detailed revision.
    Abolition of duties on tea and coffee in 1872.
    In 1875, repeal of the 10 per cent. reduction, with an increase in the sugar duty, and in the internal tax on spirits.
  5. The Morrison bill of 1876; in Congr. Record, 1875-76, p. 3321. The Wood bill of 1878, Congr. Record, 1877-78, p. 2398; N. Y. Nation, vol. XXVI. pp. 89, 220, 225, 380.
  6. The act of 1883. Tariff Commission act of 1882. The report and recommendations of the Commission. The tariff bill adopted by both houses, on the report of a conference committee. Nature of the reductions in the act of 1883. Report of the Tariff Commission of 1882. Compare Quarterly Reports of the Bureau of Statistics, No. 2. 1886-87, p. 364.
  7. Unsuccessful attempts at legislation, 1883-1887.

[p. 15]

  1. Increase of Duties, 1864-83.

General References: Taussig, Present Tariff, pp. 40-88.

  1. Wool and woollens. Act of 1867. Convention of wool growers and manufacturers, and agreement by them on a tariff scheme. The compensating principle; mixed specific and ad valorem duties. Large increase of duties.
  2. Copper act of 1869. Increase of duties. Character of the act. Vetoed by President Johnson, but passed over the veto.
  3. Act of 1870, while reducing some duties, raises others, e. g. on steel rails, nickel, flax, etc.
  4. Act of 1883. General character of the advance of duties under it.

 

PART III. EFFECT OF TARIFF LEGISLATION SINCE 1860.

Convenient general sources of information are:

Report of the Special Commissioner of the Revenue (D. A. Wells) for 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869.
Report of the Tariff Commission of 1882, House Misc. Doc, 47th Congr., 2d sess., Doc. No. 6, (referred to in the following pages as Tariff Commission Report.)
Arguments made before the Committee of Ways and Means on the Morrison tariff bill of 1884, House Rep., 48th Congr., 1st session (referred to as Arguments of 1884).
Statements to the Committee of Ways and Means on the Morrison tariff bill of 1886. House Rep., 49thCongr., 1st session (referred to as Statements of 1886).

[p. 16]

Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the Revision of the Tariff, with accompanying documents. House Exec. Documents, 40th Congr., 1st session (referred to as a Report on Revision, 1886).
Report on the Existing Tariff on Imports, and the Free List, with comparative tables of present and past tariff. Senate Rep., 48th Congr., 1st sess., Rep. No. 12. (referred to as Tariff Compilation, 1884.)
Imports and Duties; a compilation showing the imports and duties on all articles from 1867 to 1883. House Misc. Doc, 48th Congr., 1st sess., No. 49.

 

  1. Iron, 1860-1885.

General References: Mineral Resources of U. S. (1886), 11-23. Wells, Practical Economics, 85-95. Tariff Commission Report, 2010-2022.
Statistics of production, imports, domestic prices, etc., are in the Reports of the American Iron and Steel Association.

  1. Iron Ore. Distance of the iron mines from the coal centres; the ores of Lake Superior. Imports of ore, chiefly from Spain, Elba, and Cuba. Swank, Production and Characteristics of Iron Ore in the United States; Mineral Resources, 39-103.
  2. Pig Iron. Increase of production since 1860. The two “boom ” periods, 1870-72, and 1879-81. Present locality of production: (a) district east of the Alleghanies, anthracite iron; (b) central district, Pennsylvania and Ohio; (c) Western and Southern States. Imports of Pig Iron; regular continuance of the imports of Scotch iron, and its explanation. Fluctuating import of other iron. Character of the pig-iron industry before 1873. J. S. Newberry, in International Review, I, 768-780. Growing production in the South.

[p. 17]

  1. Prices of pig iron, in England and in the United States. Difficulty of making comparisons. The effect of the tariff on prices; is the price in the United States made higher to the full extent of the duty? Probable consequences of removing the duty. (American prices given in Reports of the American Iron and Steel Association; English prices in Reports of British Iron Trade Association, and in the London Economist.)
  2. Bar Iron. Production; Imports; Duty. Difference between the cost of converting pig iron into manufactured iron in England and the United States.
    The manufacture of hardware. Exports of hardware.
  3. Bessemer steel. History of its manufacture in the United States. The product and import. How far prices have been affected by the tariff. Taussig, Present Tariff, p. 107. Swank, Iron in All Ages, ch. 38. Schoenhof, Destructive Influence of the Tariff, ch. 7.
  4. The controversy as to cotton ties. Tariff Comm. Report, pp. 2040, seq. The duty on tin plates. Report on Revision, 1886, pp. 383-392.
  5. The wages question in the iron trade. Mixture of skilled and unskilled workmen. The Amalgamated Iron and Steel Association, and its possible influence on the wages of skilled workmen. Discussion of the wages of unskilled laborers in (Wells’s) Census Revelations, etc.

 

  1. Cottons.

General References: Report on Cotton Manufacture in Census of 1880, pp. 5-15: Wells, Practical Economics, 81-85.
On the duties on cottons in general, see the statements in Arguments of 1884, pp. 123-181.

  1. Extent and Importance of the Cotton Manufacture.

[18]

  1. Domestic production of cheap goods. Is it desirable to check the importation of foreign cottons of lower price and poorer quality? Is it desirable to prevent foreign manufacturers from making occasional sales, at abnormally low prices, to get rid of surplus stocks?
  2. Imports of cottons. Character of the grades imported. Increase in the duty in 1883.
  3. Reasons why coarse cottons are manufactured successfully. Why the failure to manufacture finer qualities.
    Can popular education, no standing army, general intelligence, be adduced as causes enabling manufacturers in the United States to compete on equal terms with foreign manufacturers?

 

  1. Silks.

General References: Wyckoff, Silk Manufacture, 42-51; Schoenhof, Industrial Situation, ch. Ill, V, VI.

  1. Various attempts to encourage the production of raw silk in the United States. The colonial period; bounties in Georgia. Bishop, History of Manufactures, I, 358. The morus multicaulis speculation of 1830-40; see The Silk Culture in the United States (1844). Raw silk now admitted free. Whence it comes.
  2. History of the silk manufacture. Sewing-silk. State of the industry in 1860. Census Report of 1860, pp. 94-105.
    Great growth since 1865, especially since 1870, under the influence of high duties. How far were the duties originally intended to have this effect?
  3. Continued imports of silks. Reasons adduced why imports continue, in spite of the high duties: (a) adulteration of foreign silks; (b) the lower wages in European countries; (c) the difficulty arising from the nature of raw silk, of applying machinery in its manufacture in the same degree as in other textile industries. Wyckoff’s Silk Goods of America, pp. 7-40.

[p. 19]

  1. Administrative difficulties. The temptations to fraud under the high ad valorem duty. The consignment system. Reasons why it is difficult to substitute specific for ad valorem duties. Tariff Commission Report, 1048-1052, 1605-1613, 2165-2174.

 

  1. Wool and Woollens.

General References: Bulletin Wool Manufacturers, XV, 210-226: the same passage in Report on Revision, 299-313. Schoenhof, Destructive Influence, 17-35, Industrial Situation, 23-31. Taussig, Present Tariff, 53-64.
Statistics and general information are given in the Special Report of the Bureau of Statistics on Wool and Manufactures of Wool, 1887.

  1. Production of wool. Increase since 1860; transfer to the West. Bulletin Wool Mf., XIII, 102-106; Wool Report of 1887, p. 162. Meaning of this change.
    Character of American wool. Influence of climate and other physical causes.
  2. Imports of wool. What grades are imported, and why. Carpet-wool; Tariff Commission Report, 2414, 2415.
  3. Effect of the duties on wool. (a) Immediate effect of the act of 1867. Report of Special Commissioner of Revenue, 1869, p. 93; Bulletin of Wool Mf., II, pp. 2-34. (b) Effect on the prices of wool at home and abroad. Tables of prices in Wool Report of 1887, in London Economist, in Soetbeer’s Materials on the Silver Question, and in commercial circulars. (c) Temptation to fraudulent undervaluation of wool under the minimum duties. Osborn, The Administration and Undervaluation Frauds, 58, 78. Tariff Commission Report, 468. Report on Revision, 242.
  4. Production of woollens. Stimulus given by the war to the manufacture of woollens; depression after the war. Circumstances under which the act of 1867 was passed. The state of the manufacture in 1867-73. The census returns of 1870 and 1880. Character of the goods chiefly made, and their quality.

 

[p. 20]

  1. Imports of woollen goods. Their steady continuance.
    Character of the goods imported.
  2. Effect of the duties on woollens.
    (a) Effect on the consumer. How far an increased price is caused. Need of distinguishing between the effect of protection to wool and that of protection to woollens. Difference between the coarser and the finer qualities of woollen goods.
    (b) Effect on the manufacturer. Causes of the comparatively limited range of the wool manufacture.
    (c) Administrative difficulties. The mixture of specific and ad valorem duties. The minimum duties on dress goods, blankets, etc.
    (d) Change in the method of manufacture in recent years, and its unexpected effect on the working of the tariff. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1887, p. 19; Wool Report of 1887, p. XXIV: Bulletin Wool Mf., XIV, 293-311.

 

  1. Sugar.

General References: D. A. Wells, in Princeton Review, VI, 319-335.

  1. The production and imports of sugar. Extent of the domestic product. Whence the imports come. Statistical Abstract, 1886: Reports on Commerce and Navigation.
  2. The duty on sugar before 1883, on the Dutch Standard. The Treasury rulings, and the decision of the Supreme Court. Change to the Polariscope test in the act of 1883.
  3. Free admission, by treaty, of sugar from the Hawaiian Islands, and its effect. Tariff Commission Report, 695-697; Statements of 1886, pp. 11-22. Anonymous pamphlet on The Hawaiian Treaty; statistics in Quart. Rep. Bureau of Statistics, No. 2, 1885-86.

[p. 21]

  1. Financial and economic aspect of the sugar duty. Proposals to reduce it, and to abolish it with or without compensation to Louisiana planters.
  2. Attempts to stimulate beet culture in the United States. Report of the Department of Agriculture on the Culture of the Sugar Beet, 1880 (note pp. 167-170). The experiment in making beet-sugar in California. Hilgard, in Overland Monthly, December, 1886.
    Reasons why beet sugar has not been made in the United States.
  3. The taxation of sugar in Europe. (a) Gradual abolition of duties in England. (b) On the continent, excise taxes on beet sugar. History of the beet sugar industry, and its connection with protection. Kaufmann, Die Zucker Industrie. (c) The system of bounties on exports, and its recent development. N.Y. Nation, XLII, 420; Wells, in Popular Science Monthly, Jan., 1888.

 

  1. Certain Raw Materials.

In general, consult the document referred to on pp. 15, 16.

  1. Character and extent of the imports and of the domestic production. The effect of the duty. Mineral Resources, 224-234, 242; Report of the Special Commissioner of Revenue for 1869, p. lxxxix; Arguments p. of 1884, p. 361; Statements of 1886, p. 187.
  2. Tariff Commission Report, pp. 955, 1015, 1599, 2379. Has the duty had the effect of promoting a dangerous destruction of forests?
  3. Hemp and Flax; Linens. The manner in which hemp and flax are raised, and the reasons why their importation continues. Report of the U. S. Commission of 1865, Senate Exec. Doc, 38th Congr., 2nd sess., No. 35; the Reports of the Flax and Hemp Spinners and Growers’ Association; Tariff Commission Report, 1452-1456.
    Tariff Commission Report, 345, 1145, 1452.
    Jute. Tariff Commission Report, 345, 1145, 1452.

[p. 22]

  1. Miscellaneous Articles.

 

  1. Copper. Circumstances under which the act of 1869 was passed. Taussig, Present Tariff, 65, 106. Conditions of production; no imports, considerable exports. Mineral Resources, 109-139; Tariff Commission Report, 2177, 2555.
  2. Tariff Commission Report, 201, 219; Wells, Practical Economics, 124; Mineral Resources, 169-173.
  3. Tariff Commission Report, 2591-2597; Mineral Resources, 160.
  4. Taussig, Present Tariff, 70; Tariff Commission Report, 227, 1553, 1648; H. M. Seely, The Marble Border of Western New England, in Proc. Middlebury Hist. Soc., vol. 1, part II, pp. 24-52.
  5. Congr. Globe, 1859-60, pp. 1020-1022; Tariff Commission Report, 227, 726, 941.
  6. Tariff Commission Report (Index).
  7. Tariff Commission Report, 613, 743, 753, 759, 2399; Arguments of 1884, 297.
  8. Arguments of 1884, 245-296. Census of 1880, vol. II., Report on Glass.

 

  1. General Discussions.

General References: Springer in North Amer. Review, vol. 136, pp. 571-580; reviewed in Bulletin Wool Manuf., vol. 13, pp. 199-211. Wells, Practical Economics, 98-116.

  1. Attempts to measure the effect of the protective system. Exaggerated estimates sometimes made. Mongredien, The Western Farmer in America; reviewed by Jonathan B. Wise. Difficulties of reaching numerical results.
  2. The enhancement of the price of articles made at home, in consequence of duties, takes place at present chiefly with raw materials. Is such an effect on raw materials more harmful than a similar effect on manufactured articles?
    Manufactures on which there is a protective tax (silks, earthenware). On very large classes of manufactures the duty is either a revenue duty (finer linen goods), or only nominal (ordinary cottons).

[p. 23]

  1. The effect of the protective system on general prosperity. The depression of 1874-78 and of 1883-85 often ascribed to it. How far such statements can be supported.
  2. Does the protective system tend to the accumulation of large fortunes, and to a spirit of communism? Rathbone, Protection and Communism (1884).
  3. The future of the United States as a manufacturing country. The prospects of New England.
  4. How far is it possible to trace the effect of protective duties?

 

  1. Specific and Ad Valorem Duties.

General References: James, Amerikanischer Zoll-tariff, 36-48; Webster, Works, V, 170-186; Tariff Commission Report, 1090-1092.

  1. Objections urged against specific duties: (a) that they are unequal, and bear more heavily on the poor than on the rich; (b) that they remain the same, though the price of the dutiable articles may vary greatly (steel rails in 1880-85); (c) that Congress is not capable of fixing them intelligently; (d) that their real incidence and effect are apt to be concealed.
  2. Objections to ad valorem duties: (a) the danger of under-valuation and fraud. The present duty on silks and its effect. Tariff Commission Report, 2469-2475. (b) The difficulties of administration.
  3. Mixed specific and ad valorem duties, as on woollens and on marble.
    Minimum duties, as in the tariff of 1828 on woollens, and at present on carpet wool, blankets, etc.

[p. 24]

  1. Distinctions to be made: (a) whether the article is homogeneous (pig-iron), or varies greatly in quality and character (silks). (b) whether duties are collected along a land frontier (Germany), or in comparatively few seaports (England; United States). (c) The character of the administrative system. Civil service reform.
  2. Tendency of free-traders to favor ad valorem duties, of protectionists to favor specific duties. Explanation of these tendencies.
  3. Practise in the United States. Judicious system until 1816; both specific and ad valorem duties. James, 29-36. Operation of the ad valorem system of the act of 1846. Strong tendency toward specific duties since 1861. Difficulties arise as duties go higher after 1816.
  4. Practise in foreign countries. None other than specific duties in England, Germany, and France.

 

  1. Collection of Duties.

General References: Bolles, Financial History, III., 489-523; Goodnow, in Political Science Quarterly, I., 36-44.

  1. History of the Revenue Collection Laws. Report on Revision, pp. 8-27.
    Act of 1789, dividing off customs districts, and establishing the offices of collector, surveyor, and naval officer. Stat. at Large, I. 36-37.
    Provisions of the acts of 1789, for ascertaining dutiable value; maintained until 1832.
  2. Acts of 1799 and 1818, establishing the moiety system; in 1799, as to penalties and forfeitures, in 1818 as to the extra duty of 50 per cent. on under-valued goods. Stat. at Large, I. 697; III. 437.
    Difficulties experienced under the moiety system. The Phelps-Dodge case; abolition of the moiety system in 1874. Bolles, as above; Stat. at Large, XVIII, 391.

[p. 25]

  1. Various devices for securing correct assessment of ad valorem duties. Appraisers appointed in 1818; additional appraisers in 1830, and in recent years. Invoices required to be sworn to before U. S. consuls in 1863.  Stat. at Large, XII, 737. Special agents authorized in 1878. The “fraud roll” authorized in 1879. Report of Secretary of Treasury, 1885, Appendix, p. 38.
  2. Frequent ambiguity in the tariff laws. The similitude clauses. The packing clause of the act of 1883 (construed in 6 Supreme Ct. Reporter, 462).
  3. Credit on duties allowed from 1789 till 1842. The compromise act of 1833 requires duties.to be paid in cash after June 30, 1842; the act of 1842 also requires cash duties. The act of 1846 retains cash duties, but establishes a general warehousing system.

 

  1. English Tariff History.

General References: Morley, Life of Cobden, ch. IX. Noble, Fiscal Legislation, ch. II., III. Bigelow, Tariff Question, pp. 1-17.

  1. The protectionist system of the 18th century. Pitt’s attempt at reform in 1876-87. Levi, British Commerce, 52-55.
  2. Huskisson’s measures in 1822-26. Modification of the navigation laws. Reduction of import duties on raw materials (wool, silk, metals) and on manufactures (woollens, cottons, silks).
  3. The corn law agitation. The corn law of 1815; the sliding scale of 1828. Anti-Corn-Law League formed in 1838.
    Character of the agitation carried on by the League. Cobden as an agitator. The causes which made certain the ultimate success of the League. Attitude of the manufacturers.
    New sliding scale in 1842. The distress of 1845-46. Repeal of the cornlaw, 1846.

[p. 26]

  1. The four great measures of Peel and Gladstone in 1842, 1846, 1853, and 1860. These measures largely of a fiscal character. Their fiscal and administrative qualities, as compared with tariff acts in the U. S. How far they are separable from the corn-law agitation.
    The present English tariff. Whitaker’s Almanac.
  2. The discussion of English tariff history in the United States. Was protection retained in England until it could he given up without a sacrifice?
    How far the supremacy of England as a manufacturing country is due to the fostering influence of the protective system of the 18th century.
    How far the growth of England since 1846 has been due to free trade.
  3. The connection between the repeal of the corn-laws, and the tariff of 1846 in the United States. Walker’s Report of 1845; p. 11; Webster, Works, V. 231.

 

  1. French Tariff History.

General References: Amé, Tarifs de Douane, vol. I, pp. 34-69. Morley, Life of Cobden, ch XXIX.

  1. Colbert, and the restrictive system of the 17thand 18th Clément, Système Protecteur.
  2. The commercial treaty with England in 1786 breaks with the restrictive system. Amé, I, 25.
    The French assembly establishes a moderate general tariff in 1791.
  3. Outbreak of the Revolutionary Wars. Re-establishment of the prohibitive system. Napoleon and the Continental system.
  4. The situation in 1814-15. Unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the prohibitive system. Gradual extension of the system, and its continuance until 1860. Efforts to get rid of it under the Restoration and under Louis Philippe. Why these efforts failed.
    Possible analogy with the experience of the United States after the civil war.

[p. 27]

  1. The government of the second empire is impelled to undertake reforms. Proposed revision of 1856.
    Commercial treaty of 1860. Its negotiation through Cobden and Chevalier. Its provisions; preparation of the tariff treaty.
    France concludes treaties with other countries than England. General adoption of the treaty system by European countries. Journal of Statistical Society, vol. 40, p. 1.
  2. The effect of the prohibitive system in France. Improvements in production retarded (iron, textiles)? The growth of the international trade after the commercial treaties. The continued advance of France as a manufacturing country under the system of moderate duties.
  3. Current toward protection in recent years. The treaty with England terminated, and the general tariff of 1882 enacted. Change from ad valorem to specific duties. Bounties on shipping and on sugar. Increase of duty on wheat in 1887. Guyot, The French Corn Laws. For the duties now in effect in France, see Report on Revision, pp. 593, seq.

 

  1. German Tariff History.

General References: Article on Zoll-verein in McCulloch’s Dictionary of Commerce, new ed. Wells, in Popular Science Monthly, Jan. 1888.

  1. Germany in the 18th century: (a) the country split into numerous petty States; (b) general application of the mercantile system. The policy of Frederick the Great a typical instance. Schmoller, Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, vol. VIII.
  2. Reform in Prussia in 1818. Trade between the different provinces of Prussia made free; a moderate uniform tariff established. In general, see Jahrbuch für Nat. Oek., Supplement VII. (1881); Worms, L’Allemagne Economique.

[p. 28]

  1. The agitation for a customs union. Frederic List. Gradual formation of unions between different States. Final formation of the Zoll-verein in 1834. The Zoll-verein tariff based on the Prussian tariff of 1818.
  2. The later history of the Zoll-verein. Contest in regard to the attitude of Austria; commercial treaty of 1853 with Austria. Contest between free-traders and protectionists. Reduction of duties through the treaty negotiated by Prussia with France in 1862. Zoll-verein renewed in 1865 on basis of French treaty. Treaties with other countries.
  3. In recent years a current toward protective duties and bounties in Continental Europe. The movement for protection begins in Germany after the crisis of 1873, and causes the protective tariff of 1879. Jahrbuch für Nat. Oek., vol. 34, and Supplements V and VI. The agitation for still higher duties on agricultural products.
    The duties under the present German tariff. Report on Revision, 630 seq.
  4. Austria breaks with the prohibitive system by the Zoll-verein treaty, and other treaties.
    Protectionist reaction after 1873. The tariff act of 1882 increases duties. Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, VI. 1223-1258.
    Frequent suggestions of a customs-union between the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, and the Balkan States.
  5. The arguments on protection in Germany. List’s argument for protection to young industries. Care for the laboring classes the main argument at present. Joined with it, the argument for compensation to employers for burdens imposed by legislation for social reform. Lexis, in Schönberg’s Handbuch, pp. 1104-1119.

 

Source: Frank W. Taussig.Tariff Legislation in the United States. Topics & References in Political Economy VI, Harvard College.Cambridge, Mass., 1888.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1900.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Undergraduate course on Money, Banking, and Crises, 1940-41

 

This course was one of the staples of the Harvard undergraduate economics experience. In this year that was to mark the official entry of the United States into the Second World War, we have complete course outlines, assigned readings and exam questions.

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Course Material from the Other Years

1937-38
1938-39 (Paper topics)
1941-42

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Course Description

Economics 41. Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructors) Fri., at 2. Professor Williams and Associate Professor Harris.

The course will be conducted by means of lectures and discussions and (in the second half-year) a thesis based on work in the library. Certain subjects, such as monetary and banking history of the United States, will be covered almost wholly by assigned reading.

Source: Harvard University, Division of History, Government, and Economics. Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 56.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 41. Professor Williams and Associate Professor Harris. — Money Banking, and Commercial Crises.

Total 107: 3 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 58 Juniors, 27 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-41,p. 58.

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Economics 41
[First semester]
1940-41

  1. The nature and function of banking
    1. Dunbar, Theory and History of Banking, Chs. 1,2,3,4, pp. 1-60.
    2. White, Money and Banking, Ch. 16, pp. 349-372.
  2. Creation of Deposits
    1. Phillips, Bank Credit, Ch. 3., pp. 32-77.
    2. Currie, Supply and Control of Money, Chs. 5, 6, 7, pp. pp. 46-83.
  3. Note Issue
    1. Dunbar, op. cit., Ch. 5, pp. 50-81.
    2. Currie, op. cit., Ch. 10, pp. 110-115.
  4. Commercial Loan Theory
    1. Robertson, Money, Ch. 5, pp. 92-117.
    2. Currie, op.  cit., Ch. 4, pp. 34-46.
  5. U.S. Banking history
    1. White, op. cit., Chs. 18-23, pp. 387-529.
  6. The Federal Reserve System
    1. Dunbar, op. cit., Ch. 6, pp. 81-139.
    2. Federal Reserve Bulletin, July 1935: “Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds,” pp. 419-428.
    3. Langum, “The Statement of Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds,” Review of Economic Statistics, August, 1939, pp. 110-115.
    4. Burgess, Federal Reserve Banks and the Money Market, pp. 1-327.
    5. Currie, op. cit., Chs. 8, 9, pp. 83-110.
  7. Recent Banking Changes
    1. White, op. cit., Chs. 29-30, pp. 670-738.
    2. Moulton, Financial Organization and the Economic System, Ch. 5 [or 6?].
  8. Foreign Banking Systems
    1. Dunbar, op. cit., pp. 139-235, Chs. 8, 9, 10.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 2, Folder “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1940-41”.

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Reading Period
Jan. 6-15, 1941
Economics 41

Read one of the following:

  1. Hardy, Federal Reserve Policy.
  2. Hawtrey, Art of Central Banking, pp. 116-303.
  3. Keynes, Treatise on Money, Vol. II, Book VII.
  4. Sprague, Crises under the National Banking System.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 10, Folder “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1940-41”.

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1940-41
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 41

MONEY, BANKING, AND COMMERCIAL CRISES

Please put the day and hour of your section meeting on the cover of your first blue book.

Part I

Answer questions 1 and 5 and one other.

  1. Supply and Use of Member Bank Reserve Funds.
    (Figures are net change for year, in millions of dollars.)
Bills discounted -4
Bills bought -1
U.S. government securities -305
Industrial advances -3
Other reserve bank credit +81
Monetary gold stock +4,310
Treasury currency +119
Money in circulation +1,154
Treasury cash and deposits -369
Non-member bank deposits and other Fed. Res. accounts +1,067
Member bank reserve balances ?
  1. State briefly how the above statement of supply and use of member bank reserves funds is derived.
  2. What is the meaning of each of the above items?
  3. Describe the process by which each of the items influences the volume of member bank reserve funds.
  4. By use of a balance sheet, calculate and explain the change in member bank reserve funds for the period in question.
  5. What does the statement suggest with respect to the condition of the money market, member bank policy, and Federal Reserve policy?
  6. To what year or years do you think the statement given might apply?
  1. Discuss the significance of the more important weapons of control of the central bank.
  2. What are the important factors determining the volume of bank deposits:
    1. When a ready market for loans exists and banks are always loaned up?
    2. When banks have excess reserves?
  3. Discuss the 100 per cent reserve plan:
    1. In its relation to the “commercial loan theory” controversy.
    2. In its relation to fluctuations in the volume of deposits.
  4. Reading period. Answer one of the following:
    1. Keynes or Hawtrey: From Keynes’ or Hawtrey’s analysis, would you say that English or American central banking practice provides the more effective monetary control? Support your opinion by reference to your reading.
    2. Hardy: Basing your opinion on Hardy’s discussion, would you say that the credit policies pursued by the Federal Reserve System from 1928 to 1931 were the best possible under the circumstances?
    3. Sprague: Do you find in Sprague’s analysis of crises under the National Banking System reasons for the abandonment of that system in favor of the Federal Reserve System in 1913?

 

Part II

Answer TWO questions.

  1. Discuss the problems of reserves of member banks and of reserve banks in the United States.
  2. Compare the American banking system as it existed under the first and second Bank of the United States with the National Banking System or with the present system. Which system do you think was better adapted to the problems with which it had to deal?
  3. In view of the large excess reserves in existence at the present time, and of other factors in the existing situation, would you favor a return to the currency provisions of the National Banking Act, and extension of similar reserve provisions to bank deposits?
  4. Outline the main revisions of the Federal Reserve Act from 1931 to 1936.
  5. What revisions of the existing banking law seem most essential in view of present and impending economic conditions?
  6. Describe the experiences of the Federal Reserve System in 1914-1921, or in 1922-1929.

Mid-Year. 1941.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 22.

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ECONOMICS 41
Second Semester
1940-41

Outline of Lectures and Readings

Part I. International Aspects of Money (4 weeks)

Lecture

  1. Types of Monetary Standards
  2. Theory of the Gold Standard
  3. The Gold Standard in Practice.
  4. What is to Be Done about Gold?
  5. The Case for Variable exchanges.
  6. Prices under Variable Exchanges.
  7. Stabilisation Funds and Free Exchanges.
  8. Control of Exchanges.

Assignment:
Gayer, Monetary Policy and Economic Stabilisation, pp. 1-180.

Part II. Money in Relation to Prices and the Rate of Interest (4 weeks)

Lecture

  1. Definition of the Price Level.
  2. The Fisherian Approach.
  3. Velocity and Hoarding.
  4. Cambridge Approaches.
  5. Money and Forced Savings.
  6. Money and the Rate of Interest.
  7. Money and the Rate of Interest (cont.).
  8. The Significance of the Rate of Interest.

Assignment:
Chandler, Introduction to Monetary Theory, pp. 1-147.
Fisher, Purchasing Power of Money, pp. 8-73.
Keynes*, Treatise on Money, Vol. I, Chs. 2-5, 7, 14.
Mises*, Theory of Money and Credit, Part II, Ch. II.
Robertson, Money, chs. 1-3, 6-8.
Schumpeter*, Business Cycles, pp. 449-483.
Wicksell, Interest and Prices, Chs. 5-6, 7-9.

*Important but not assigned.

Part III. Money and the Economic System (4 weeks – 7 lectures)

Lecture

  1. Monetary and Non-Monetary Aspects of Economic Fluctuations.
  2. Objectives and Limitations of Monetary Control.
  3. Supplementary Instruments—Fiscal Policy.
  4. Supplementary Instruments—Fiscal Policy (cont.).
  5. Supplementary Policies—Wage, Price Policies, etc.
  6. The Monetary System under a War or Defense Economy.
  7. Various Proposals to Improve the Monetary System.

Assignment:
Chandler, Introduction to Monetary Theory, pp. 148-205.
Hayek, Profits, Interest and Investment, pp. 1-71.
Hawtrey*, Trade Depression and the Way Out.
Macfie*, Theories of the Trade Cycle, Chs. III-V.
Robbins, The Great Depression, Chs. I, II, III, VII, VIII.
Robertson, Essays on Monetary Theory, pp. 39-67, 98-113, 122-153.
Robinson, Introduction to the Theory of Employment.
Roll*, About Money, pp. 103-248.
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, pp. 109-23.

*Important but not assigned.

 

Reading Period. Read one of the following:

  1. Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Chs. 1-19, omit appendices.
  2. Hawtrey, Capital and Employment, all but Chs. 8, 9, 11.
  3. Hawtrey, Art of Central Banking, Chs. 1, 2, 4, 8.
  4. Durbin, The Problem of Credit Policy.
  5. Hansen, Full Recovery or Stagnation.
  6. Wicksell, Interest and Prices, and Keynes, Treatise, I, Chs. 2-5, 7, 14.
  7. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression (1939 ed.), Part I.
  8. Myers, Monetary Proposals for Social Reform.
  9. Wood, English Theories of Central Banking Control.
  10. Paper Pound of 1797-1821 (Cannan edition), and Heckscher, Sweden in the World War, Part III.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 2, Folder “Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1940-41”.

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1940-41
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 41

Answer ONE question in each part

Part I

  1. Outline and evaluate alternative solutions of the American gold problem.
  2. What are the relative merits of
    1. An international gold standard?
    2. Free exchanges?
    3. Managed currencies?

Part II

  1. Analyse the factors determining velocity of circulation of money.
  2. What are the main determinants of the general price level according to Fisher, Wicksell, Robertson, and Keynes? Are their approaches incompatible with one another? Which seems to you more valid or useful?

Part III

  1. Do you think the distinction between “monetary” and “non-monetary” theories of the trade cycle is justified, or useful? Illustrate from the literature.
  2. Apply the theories of Keynes or Robbins, or Robertson to the American Economy in one of the following periods:
    1. 1920’s
    2. 1930’s
    3. 1940’s
  3. Are we facing inflation? How can inflation be prevented or controlled?

Part IV (Reading Period)

  1. Show how the material you have covered in your reading period assignment can be applied to current economic problems.

Part V (First Semester)

  1. Discuss the 100% Reserve Plan in relation to the monetary theory of the trade cycle.
  2. Can you suggest any revisions of the Federal Reserve System which would simplify the problems of defense finance?
  3. Assuming borrowing to be a necessary part of our defense finance, analyse in detail the relative merits of borrowing from Federal Reserve Banks, member banks, the general public, and from abroad, at various stages in the defense program.

Final. 1941.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations 1853-2001. Box 14. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions…, Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, May, 1947.

Image Source:  John Henry Williams and Seymour Edwin Harris in Harvard Album 1939.