Category: Suggested Reading

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Courses Princeton Suggested Reading Syllabus

Princeton. Money and Banking Syllabus. F.W. Fetter, 1933-34

 

Today’s posting takes us to the money and banking course at Princeton taught by Frank W. Fetter in the first semester of the 1933-34 academic year. The course outline along with the reading assignments come from his papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive. I have tracked down the assignments and have provided links where I have found them. What I particularly like about this course syllabus is that the reading assignments appear to be feasible, i.e. real and not nominal.

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List of Lectures, 1933-34
Economics 401 – Money and Banking

A. Money

  1. Nature and Evolution of Money
  2. Functions and Qualities of Money
  3. Characteristics of an Ideal Monetary System
  4. Credit (in general) and Commercial Bank Credit as Money
  5. The Value of Money
    1. The Quantity Theory
    2. Other Theories
    3. Synthesis
  6. Monetary History
    1. General
    2. In the United States
  7. Price Movements and their Consequences
  8. Foreign Exchange
  9. Monetary Standards
    1. The Gold Standard
    2. The Silver Standard
    3. Bimetallism
    4. Paper Standards
    5. The Tabular Standard

B. Banking

  1. Financial Institutions
  2. Commercial Banking
    1. Theory
    2. Social Effects
    3. Structure
    4. Federal Reserve System
    5. Branch Banking

C. Monetary and Banking Policy in Relation to Business Stability

  1. The Banks, the Money Market, and the Stock Exchange
  2. Banking and the Business Cycle

D. Monetary and Banking Reform

  1. Monetary Reform
  2. Banking Reform
  3. General Conclusions

________________

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Assignments in Money and Banking
1933-1934

Week of
1. Robertson: Money. Chs. 1-3 Oct. 2
2. White: Money and Banking. Pp. 79-139; 150-81 9
3. Warren & Pearson: Prices. Chs. 1-3, 22. 16
4. Bradford: Banking. Chs. 12, 13.
Griffin: Foreign Exchange. Pp. 61-72; 205-47. (Supplementary: To be read in case the subject is not clear from material in Bradford.)
The Business Section of a Newspaper.		 23
5. Robertson. Ch. 4.
Gregory: The Gold Standard and Its Future. Pp. 1-83.		 30
6. Graham: The Fall in the Value of Silver and Its Consequences. Nov. 6
7. Dunbar: The Theory and History of Banking. Pp. 9-58.
Robertson. Ch. 5		 13
8. Bradford. Chs. 2-5. 20
9. Bradford. Chs. 8-11. 27
10. Burgess. Pp. 65-168. Dec. 4
11. Burgess. Pp. 169-296. 11
12. Bradford. Chs. 16-20
Vanderlip: What About the Banks?		 18
13. Warren & Pearson. Chs. 9-17, 19. Jan. 8
14. Robertson. Chs. 9-17, 19.
Anderson: Equilibrium Creates Purchasing Power.
Magee: New Deal Legislation.		 15
(The assignments for the last three meetings are subject to changes or additions.)

Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Frank Whitson Fetter Papers, Box 55, Folder “Teaching, Ec 401-Money and Banking (Princeton University) 1933-1934”.

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 Course Bibliography and Links

D. H. Robertson. Money. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922.

Horace White. Money and Banking—Illustrated by American History. (Fifth edition). Boston: Ginn and Company, 1914.

George F. Warren and Frank Ashmore Pearson. Prices. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1933.

Frederick A. Bradford. Banking. New York: Longmans Green, 1932.

C. E. Griffin. Principles of Foreign Trade. New York: Macmillan, 1924. [pages from chapters V and XIII]

T. E. Gregory. The Gold Standard and Its Future (3nd ed.). New York: E. P. Dutton, 1935.

Frank D. Graham. The Fall in the Value of Silver and Its Consequences. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Aug. 1931), 425-470.

Charles F. Dunbar. The Theory and History of Banking. (3rd edition, enlarged by Oliver M. W. Sprague). New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917.

W. Randolph Burgess. The Reserve Banks and the Money Market. New York: Harper & Bros., 1927.

Frank Arthur Vanderlip. What about the Banks? Saturday Evening Post (5 November 1932), 3-5, 64-66.

Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr.. Equilibrium Creates Purchasing Power. The Chase Economic Bulletin 11 (June 12, 1931), 3-16.

James D. Magee, W. E. Atkins and E. Stein. The National Recovery Program. New York: Crofts. 1933. (Magee writes about money, banking and finance. “Reprints of portions of recent legislation are included.”)

Image Source: (ca. 1937) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

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Courses New School Suggested Reading Syllabus

New School for Social Research. Elementary Mathematical Economics. Marschak’s Readings, 1940

 

The previous posting provided a list of economics courses announced for 1939-40 at the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science at the New School for Social Research. There we read that Dr. Jakob Marschak was to take over the courses taught by Gerhard Colm during the latter’s leave of absence to work in Washington, D.C. It just so happens that in the Papers of Franco Modigliani at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Archive I happened to have found the following reading list for Marschak’s course, Elementary Mathematical Economics, from the Fall term of 1940. Links to almost all of the books on Marschak’s list have been provided below. Those interested in the articles will need to go to a research library with access to jstor.org or having (gasp) hard-copy journal volumes in their collections.

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Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science
New School for Social Research, 66 West 12 Street, New York City

Fall 1940

Elementary Mathematical Economics
Dr. Jakob Marschak

*Available in New School Library

I. Introductory and General

*Allen, R.G.D. Mathematical Analysis for Economists. 1938
Thompson, S. Calculus Made Easy. 1919
Fisher, Irving A Brief Introduction to the Infinitesimal Calculus. 1897
Osgood Introduction to the Calculus. 1922
   “ Advanced Calculus. 1925.
Courant Differential and Integral Calculus. 2 volumes (1934, 1936)
[Volume One; Volume Two.]
Evans, G. Mathematical Introduction to Economics. New York. 1930
Bowley, A. Mathematical Groundwork of Economics. Oxford. 1924

 

II. Statics of National Output (Macro-Statics)

*Fisher, Irving The Purchasing Power of Money
Marschak, J. Stationary Society with Monetary Circulation. Econometrica. 1934.
Hicks, J. Mr. Keynes and the Classics. Econometrica. 1937

 

III. Statics of Consumers and Firms (Micro-Statics)

(a) Consumers

Edgeworth, F. W. Mathematical Psychics. 1883 (re-edited recently)
*Marshall, A. Principles of Economics. Mathematical Appendix (8th edition)
Hicks, J. and Allen, RGD A Reconsideration of the Theory of Value, Economica. 1934
Hicks, J. Capital and Value. Chapters I – IV 1939
Hotelling, H. Demand Functions with Limited Budgets. Econometrica. 1935
Marschak, J. Personal and Collective Demand Functions. Review of Economic Statistics. 1939

(b) Firms

*Cournot, A. Mathematical Theory of Wealth. 1838. American edition by Irving Fisher. 1927
Hicks, J. Survey of Economic Theory: Imperfect Competition. Econometrica. 1935
Brown, E. H. Phelps Efficacy of Factors of Production. Econometrica. 1936. (3 articles)

(c) General Equilibrium and Distribution

Fisher, I. Mathematical Investigations on Value. Re-edited 1925. New Haven
Walras, L. Éléments d’Économie Politique Pure. 1936
Pareto, V. Manuel d’Économie Politique
Hicks, J. & Walras L. Econometrica. 1934
*Wicksell, K. Lectures, Volume I
Kalecki, M. The Determinants of Income Distribution. Econometrica. 1938
*Douglas, P. The Theory of Wages. New York. 1934
Edelberg Production and Distribution. Econometrica 1936
Fisher, I. The Theory of Interest. 1930

 

IV. Dynamics

Whitman Dynamics of Costs. Econometrica. 1936
Kalecki, M. Essays in the Theory of Economic Fluctuations. London. 1939
*Tinberbergen, J. Verification of Business Cycles Theories. 2 volumes. Geneva. 1939

[Statistical Testing of Business-cycle Theories:
Part I: A Method and Its Application to Investment Activity. 
Part II: Business cycles in the United States of America, 1919-1932]
   “ Explanations: Review of Economic Studies 1940. Economic Journal. 1940
Frisch, R. Propagation in Dynamic Economics, in Economic Essays in Honor of Gustav Cassel, London, 1933.

 

V. Economics and Probabilities

Hagstroem. Pure Economics as a Stochastical Theory. Econometrica. 1936
*Knight, F. H. Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. New York. 1921 and 1933
Pigou, A. C. Economics of Welfare: Appendix on Risk
Marschak, J. Money and the Theory of Assets. Econometrica. 1938
Neyman, J. Lectures on Mathematical Statistics. Chapters on Time Series. Department of Agriculture, Washington

[Lectures and Conferences on Mathematical Statistics, mimeographed, 1938. Augmented second edition in 1952.]
Cowles, A. Can Stock Market Forecasters Forecast? Econometrica. 1933
Jones, H. E. Time Regression Analysis. Econometrica. 1937

 

Source: Duke University. Economists’ Papers Archive in David Rubenstein Library. Papers of Franco Modigliani. Box T1, Folder “Jacob Marschak’s Course, 1940-1949”.

Image Source: Carl F. Christ. History of the Cowles Commission, 1932-1952

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Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Draft of Marxian Economics Course Outline. Leontief, ca 1935

 

Edward S. Mason and Wassily Leontief co-taught a semester course “Karl Marx” in the economics department of Harvard in the 1935-36 and 1936-37 academic years. There were few students enrolled in the course and it was not offered in 1937-38, but due to student demand for the course it was offered (it turns out for the last time) by Leontief and Paul Sweezy in 1938-39. The material was incorporated into the course Economics of Socialism.

From Leontief’s papers I have transcribed the undated handwritten outline that was apparently drafted for this course. 

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Outline of Marxian course.

Meetings 1 & 2 to be devoted to bibliography on Marx and the historical and intellectual setting of Marx’s works.—(Perhaps only the 1st meeting)

 

Subjects of discussion.

  1. Dialectical materialism.—

Theses on Feuerbach
Deutsche Idealogie
Engels’ Anti-Dühring
Engels on Feuerbach. —

Hook’s version (Towards an Understanding of Karl Marx)
Eastman—The last stand of dialectical materialism.

(Misère de la Philosophie)

  1. Economic interpretation of history.

(a) Mode of production—productive relations—forces [of] production

(b) Concept of class—proletariat—

How class consciousness is acquired—{Relation of class to productive relations
Role of economic interests—
The class view of history—Marxian interpretation of particular events

(c) Marxian theory of the state and law.

Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie—
Texts from Marx’s writing. —

 

  1. Equilibrium economics vs. Marxian economics

—Lange’s article.          —methodology

 

  1. Marx’s economic analysis—

(a) Theory of value and surplus value.

(b) Laws of capitalist development. —

(c) Capital accumulation, population, theory of crises—wage tendencies, etc.

 

  1. Dictatorship of the proletariat and democracy. —

  2. Marxian theory of revolution—

 

[second page]

Communist Manifesto

  1. Capital 1st vol. Entire. 800
  2. Theses on Feuerbach. — 20
  3. Comments Gotha Program 20
  4. Anti-Dühring—Same parts— 150
  5. Rev. & Counterrev. 150

or Civil War in France. {Letters—[unclear word] Publishers 300 pp.

  1. Intro. to Critique.

______________

            Hook— 100 p.

Eastman— 60

 

________________________

Links to Leontief’s Reading Assignments.

Marx, Karl. Critique of the Gotha programme, in Marx/Engels Seleccted Works Vol Three, pp. 13-30. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970.

Frederick Engels. Landmarks of Scientific Socialism “Anti-Duehring”. Austin Lewis, trans. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company. 1907.

Marx/Engels: Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, ca. 1910.

Marx: Karl Marx. Capital.

Engels, Friedrich. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of classical German philosophy, by Frederick Engels (1886).

Marx, Karl. Revolution and counter-revolution. Or Germany in 1848. Ed. by Eleanor Marx Aveling. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1919.

Marx, Karl. The Paris Commune […including “The Civil War in France”], New York: New York Labor News Company, 1920.

Selected correspondence, 1846-1895 [of] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; [translated with commentary and notes by Dona Torr]. Published 1934 by Martin Lawrence Ltd. in London .     New edition published in 1936. (The Marxist-Leninist Library, vol. 9)

Marx, Karl. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy with an Appendix Containing Marx’s Introduction to the Critique. Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1904.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. HUG 4517.30, Wassily Leontief Papers. Manuscripts and Research Notes 1930-1970, Box 5, Folder “Marx and Theory”.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Regulation of Public Utilities and Transportation. Chamberlin, 1939-40

 

This is the third industrial organization/regulation semester course offered at Harvard in the immediate pre-WWII era. Syllabi and other material have previously been posted for E. S. Mason and P. Sweezy’s “The Corporation and its Regulation” and Mason’s “Industrial Organization and Control”. Edward H. Chamberlin’s teaching portfolio at Harvard included transportation economics from 1931. Here the focus is on regulation of natural monopolies such as public utilities and railroads.

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Course Description, 1940-41

[Economics 63b 2hf. Public Utilities (including Transportation).] Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Chamberlin.
Omitted in 1940-41; to be given in 1941-42.

The regulation of the public utility and transportation industries as a phase of the control over economic activity exercised by the modern state. Rates, service, earnings, efficiency, financial practices, holding companies and consolidations, coordination, national planning, government competition with private enterprise, and public ownership.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 57.

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Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 63b 2hf. Professor Chamberlin.—Public Utilities (including Transportation).

Total 90: 1 Graduate, 43 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 7 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

______________________

Economics 63b
1939-40

Reading List

Principal books used:

D. P. Locklin, Economics of Transportation (revised ed.)
Mosher & Crawford, Public Utility Regulation
Wilfred Owen, Highway Economics
G. L. Wilson, [J. M.] Herring, [R. B.] Eutsler, Public Utility Regulation

 

Week

Assignment

1

 Development of railroad transportation and regulation to 1920 Locklin, Chs. 1-5, 9, 10

2

 Theory of railroad rates — competition and control Locklin, Chs. 7, 14

3

 Particular rates, discrimination: railroads Locklin, Chs. 6, 8, 20

4

 Particular rates, discrimination: utilities Mosher & Crawford, Introduction and Chs. 17-21

5

 Legal and economic criteria for public utilities
Commissions, legislatures and courts		 Mosher & Crawford, Ch. 1
Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 2-6
Locklin, Ch. 13

6

 Railroad consolidation Locklin, Ch. 11
Jones, Principles of Railway Transportation, Ch. 17
Locklin, Ch. 19, pp. 315-21, 643-42

7

 Railroad consolidation, financial regulation
(Hour examination, Thursday, March 21)		 Locklin, Chs. 12, 25, 26

8

 Public Utility Holding Company
National Power Policy		 Wilson, et al. Ch. 11; pp. 310-319, Chs. 15, 16

Vacation

9

 Control of investment, general rate level, earnings Mosher & Crawford, Ch. 7
Locklin, Chs. 15-18

10

 Control of investment (continued)
Highway transport		 Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 8, 9, 16
Owen, whole essay

11

 Highway, water and air transport; coordination Locklin, Chs. 33, 34, 31, 35, 36

12

 Public ownership Locklin, Ch. 29
Mosher & Crawford, Chs. 32-34 and Conclusion

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10). Box 23, Folder “Course outlines 1935-37-38-42”.

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Reading Period Assignment

Economics 63b: Read one of the following:

  1. First Report of the Federal Coördinator of Transportation, pp. 1-37.
    Fourth Report of the Federal Coördinator of Transportation, pp. 1-60.
    Report—Immediate Relief for Railroads (April, 1938), 19-71 (75th Congress, 3rd Session, House Doc. No. 583).
    Report of Committee Appointed by the President—Recommendations upon the General Transportation Situation (Dec., 1938), pp. 3-64 (Committee on Public Relations of Eastern Railroads).
  2. S. Daggett, Principles of Inland Transportation (revised edition). Chs. 36-37 [3rd edition, 1941].
    Three articles by H. E. Dougall on French Railways in Journal of Political Economy, June, 1933; June, 1934; April, 1938.
    Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science. January, 1939, pp. 185-226.
  3. A. L. Gordon, The Public Corporation in Great Britain, Chs. 1, 3, 4, 6.
  4. Bauer and Gold, Public Utility Valuation for Purposes of Rate Control, pp. 155-362.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

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1939—1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 63b2

Write on FIVE questions, including numbers 1 and 6.*

  1. According to what principles do you believe the level of earnings of railroads and utilities should be regulated? Discuss the chief problems arising out of applying your principles to the situation as you find it in the United States.
  2. Contrast and evaluate the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and the Tennessee Valley Authority as alternative methods of public utility regulation.
  3. What various solutions have been proposed for the strong and weak road problem? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  4. Discuss the possibilities and limitations of reducing the cost of railroad transportation (a) through consolidation or coordination without government ownership; (b) through government ownership.
  5. Do you believe this country should subsidize directly or indirectly any means of transportation? If so, what means, to what extent and why? If not, why not?
  6. Answer the question corresponding to your reading period choice:
    1. (Coördinator’s and other reports) which of the recommendations in the several reports assigned would you consider most relevant to the transportation problem as it appears in 1940? Indicate your own evaluation of them.
    2. (Foreign railways) Contrast the French rate-making scheme set up by the Convention of 1921 with the rate-making arrangement prevailing in the United States after 1920. How do you account for the differences?
    3. (Gordon) “More than any other existing institution in Great Britain, the Central Electricity Board has faced and met a task of economic rationalization on a national scale.” What were the factors which led to a demand for rationalization and how was this rationalization accomplished?
    4. (Bauer and Gold) Discuss any two or three of the chief issues raised by your reading in Bauer and Gold relative to valuation for rate making purposes.

*If you prefer, instead of answering specific questions, you may write a three hour essay describing what you consider to be the chief problems confronting the railroad and utility industries in the United States today and outlining (and defending) a program of legislation to meet them.

Final. 1940.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28) Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Edward H. Chamberlin from Harvard Class Album 1946.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus and Final Exam for Industrial Organization and Control. Edward S. Mason, 1939-40

 

Following the first term course Economics 61a (The Corporation and its Regulation) that he co-taught with Paul Sweezy, Edward S. Mason taught the following term course Economics 62b (Industrial Organization and Control) that was focussed on market structures and antitrust policies.

Besides being the co-director for the Department of Labor’s studies for the Temporary National Economic Committee (The Online Books Page provides links to TNEC publications), during the immediate period before the U.S. entered WWII he was a consultant  for raw material problems for the Office of Production Management. In 1941 he joined the Office of Strategic Services where he served as the deputy director of the Research and Analysis Branch. This and some of his following government service is discussed in his Oral History Interview  at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.

Fun Fact:  John F. Kennedy took this course in the second semester of his senior year (1940).

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Course Description, 1940-41

Economics 62b 2hf. Industrial Organization and Control. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Mason.
Economics 61a is a prerequisite for this course.

This course deals with the nature of monopolistic and competitive markets, the economic problems of large scale enterprises and combinations, the trust problem, and trust policy. Particular attention will be paid to recent changes in our system of industrial control.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 57.

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Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 62b 2hf. Professor Mason.—Industrial Organization and Control.

Total 95: 1 Graduate, 20 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 8 Other.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

 

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Economics 62b
1939-40

Industrial Organization and Control
Outline and Assignments

 

Week of

 Lectures

Assignment

I
THE ECONOMICS OF THE FIRM

1. Feb. 5-10

 1. Outline of field.
2. The decline of competition?
3. The problem of monopoly in law and economics.		 Burns, Chs. 1, 9.

2. Feb. 12-17

 1. The market position of the individual firm.
2. Costs and rate of output.
3. The relation of size to costs.		 Hamilton, pp. 320-88, 395-429, 449-500.

3. Feb. 19-24

 1. The flexibility of costs.
2. Vacation.
3. Section.		 Structure of the American Economy, Chs. 7, 8.

II
TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL MARKETS

4. Feb. 26-March 2

 1. Cotton textiles.
2. [continued]
3. The problem of excess capacity.		 Whitney, Chs. 2, 3.

5. March 4-9

 1. Price discrimination.
2. Bsing point systems and other types of geographical price discrimination.
3. [continued]		 Burns, Chs. 6, 7.

6. March 11-16

 1. Markets in which sellers are few, agricultural implements.
2. Automobiles.
3. Examination.		 Burns, Chs. 3, 4.

7. March 18-23

 1. Aluminum.
2. Construction industries.
3. [continued]		 Burns, Ch. 5.
Price Research in Steel and Petroleum, Part II.

8. March 20-25

 1. Competition between channels of distribution.
2. Non-price competition.
3. Section.		 Burns, Ch. 8.
Cassels, Q.J.E.
Chain Stores—Final Report, pp. 23-49.

Vacation

III
GOVERNMENT REGULATION

9.   April 8-13

 1. The anti-trust acts.
2. Mergers and restraints of competition.
3. Robinson-Patman Act.		 Seager & Gulick, Chs. 17-20.

10. April 15-20

 1. Federal Trade Commission.
2. Problem of unfair practices.
3. Bituminous Coal Commission.		 Seager & Gulick, Chs. 21-23.

11. April 22-27

 1. N.R.A.
2. N.R.A.
3. Section		 National Recovery Administration, Chs. 20-24.

12. April 29-May 4

 1. Fair trade legislation.
2. Issues in the Monopoly
3. Present status of the monopoly problem.		 National Recovery Administration, Chs. 25-30.

 

Titles of books assigned.

A. R. Burns, The Decline of Competition.
Seager and Gulick, Trust and Corporation Problems.
W. Hamilton, Price and Price Policies.
Lyon and others, The National Recovery Administration.
S. Whitney, Trade Associations and Industrial Control.
J. M. Cassels, “The Marketing Machinery in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1936.
Federal Trade Commission, Final Report on Chain Store Investigation, Senate Document No. 4, 74th Congress, 1st Session.
National Resources Committee, The Structure of the American Economy.
National Bureau of Economic Research, Price Research in the Steel and Petroleum Industries.

Reading period assignment to be announced.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (2 of 2)”.

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Reading Period Assignment

Economics 62b: Read one of the following:

  1. Lloyd Reynolds, The Control of Competition in Canada.
  2. National Bureau of Economic Research, Textile Markets.
  3. B. Gaskill, The Regulation of Competition.
  4. Pribram, Cartell Problems.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

______________________

Course Final Exam

1939—1940
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 62b2

I
About 45 minutes

  1. Write a critical appraisal of the book you read for the reading period assignment.

II
Answer both questions

  1. Do you think that the use of a basing-point system of price quoting in the iron and steel industry eliminates price competition? Discuss.
  2. How would you explain the fact that in the middle of the 1920’s competition in the automobile industry noticeably shifted from an emphasis on price to an emphasis on non-price factors?

III
Answer all questions

  1. The Robinson-Patman Act is “an anti-competition statute slipped into the anti-trust laws.” Discuss.
  2. Do you think that, as the Courts have interpreted the anti-trust acts, a different standard of legality has been applied to “integrated” than to “loose” combinations? Discuss.
  3. Assuming that the preservation of competition is a desirable objective, what do you consider to be the largest gaps in our anti-trust legislation?

Final. 1940.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28) Box 5. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…Economics,…,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1940.

Image Source: Webpage “Oral History Interview with Edward S. Mason. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Portrait of Edward S. Mason.

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Corporation and its Regulation. Syllabus and readings. Mason and P. Sweezy, 1939-40

 

The teaching duo of Edward S. Mason and Paul M. Sweezy taught a popular course on the theories of socialism at Harvard as well as the course of today’s posting that provides the syllabus and reading assignment for a one semester course on corporations. Also two problem sets discussed in the recitation sections were found filed with the course outline and are transcribed below. 

This course was a prerequisite for Mason’s second term course “Industrial Organization and Control”.

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Course Description, 1940-41

Economics 61a 1hf. The Corporation and its Regulation. Half-course (first half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.

This course deals with the development of the modern business corporation, and corporate accounting, and financial practices. Particular attention will be paid to the internal organization of the corporations including the relation between security owners and management. State and Federal regulation of incorporation and security issue and the nature of the government corporation will form a part of the course.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), pp. 56-57.

______________________

Enrollment 1939-40

[Economics] 61a 1hf. Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.—The Corporation and its Regulation.
Total 169: 2 Graduates, 51 Seniors, 84 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 11 Other.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1939-40, p. 99.

______________________

Economics 61a
1939-40

Outline

 

Date Lecture Subjects Reading
Sept. 27-30 Introduction
History of the Corporation		 C. C. Abbott, “The Rise of the Business Corporation” [Ann Arbor, 1936]
Oct. 1-7 History of the Corporation
Capital and Capitalization
Financial Problems		 Dewing I: 2-4
Oct. 8-14 Valuation and Depreciation
Valuation and Depreciation
Section		 Dewing III:1-4,   IV:3-5
Oct. 15-21 Corporate Reorganization
Case Studies in Corporate Reorganization		 Dewing IV:7-8, VI: 1-2
Oct. 22-28 Ownership, Management, and Control
Case studies of individual companies
Section		 Berle and Means I:1-6, II: 5-6
Oct. 29-Nov. 4 The Economics of the Firm
Size and Efficiency
Examination		 Clark, “Economics of Overhead Costs” Chs. 4,6;
[Henry] Dennison, Management in
[Recent Economic Changes in the United States, New York, 1929], Vol. 2
Nov. 5-11 Management Problems
Corporation and the Theory of Profits
Section		 Knight “Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit” Chs. 7, 9, 12
Nov. 12-18 The Corporation and Private Property
Case Study
Corporate Concentration of Economic Control		 Berle and Means IV:1-4;
Structure of the American Economy, Chs. 7,9; Appendices 9-13
Nov. 20-26 The Stock Market
Sale of New Securities
Ownership of Securities		 20th Century Fund “The Security Markets” Chs. VIII, IX, XI, XIII
Nov. 27-Dec. 3 Ownership of Securities
Holiday
Section Meeting		 “The Security Markets” Chs. III, IV, VI
Dec. 4-10 Institutional Investment
Development of Corporation Law
Development of Corporation Law		 Berle and Means, Book II
Dec. 11-17 The Securities Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission
The Government Corporation		 4th Annual Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission
J. H. Thurston “Government Proprietary Corporations” Chs. I, VI

 

Economics 61a
Section Meeting
Oct. 13-14, 1939

  1. Discuss the significant differences between the modes of raising capital of the following firms, as indicated by their capital stock and funded debt:
    1. United States Steel Corporation (1934)

Common Stock

$870,000,000

Preferred Stock

360,000,000

Surplus

520,000,000

Bonds guaranteed by U.S.S.C.

50,000,000

Not guaranteed

40,000,000

Purchase Money Obligations

16,000,000

$1,856,000,000
  1. International Harvester Company (1937)

Common Stock

$170,000,000

Preferred stock

82,000,000

Surplus

75,000,000

$327,000,000
  1. Associated Gas and Electric Company (1937)

Capital Stock and Surplus

$148,000,000

Minority Interest

94,000,000

Convertible Bonds

49,000,000

Other Funded Debt

598,000,000

$889,000,000
  1. New York Central Railroad Company (1937)

Capital Stock

$562,000,000

Surplus

204,000,000

Equipment Obligations

31,000,000

Mortgage Bonds

513,000,000

Debenture Bonds

5,500,000

Collateral Trust Bonds

90,000,000

$1,405,500,000
  1. Discuss the influence of dividend policy on the interests of the following types of shareholder:
    1. Common stock.
    2. Non-participating, non-cumulative preferred.
    3. Non-participating, cumulative preferred.
    4. Participating, non-cumulative preferred.
    5. Participating, cumulative preferred.
    6. Debenture bond.
  2. Until about 1930 the courts generally held that non-cumulative preferred shareholders had a claim against the company for dividends equal to the stated percentage in their shares provided such dividends had been earned but not declared. Does this mean, in effect, that no company could really issue non-cumulative preferred stock prior to 1930? Can you see any reason why the courts should take such a stand?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (2 of 2)”.

______________________

Reading Period Assignment
Jan. 4-17, 1940

Economics 61a: Read one of the following:

  1. Kennedy, E. D., Dividends to Pay.
  2. Flynn, J. T., Security Speculation
  3. Gordon, Lincoln, The Public Corporation in Great Britain.
  4. Crum, W. L., Corporate Size and Earning Power.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “1939-40 (1 of 2)”.

Image Source: Edward S. Mason and Paul Sweezy from Harvard College Class Album 1937.

Categories
Courses Statistics Suggested Reading Wisconsin

Wisconsin. Seminary in Statistical Research. Harry Jerome, 1937-38

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Carillon Tower in Madison -- Wisconsin's capital city.

 

Harry Jerome taught statistics in the economics department of the University of Wisconsin from 1915-1938. The following course materials for a research seminar that he taught were found in Milton Friedman’s papers at the Hoover Institution in a file “Student Years”. Since there is no indication of either university or instructor for these materials and with only the course number and academic year to go on, it seems likely that an archivist presumed these might have been from a course at Chicago or Columbia which can be clearly seen not to be the case upon consulting the respective course catalogues.

Possible explanations why Milton Friedman had this Wisconsin material was that he was recruited by Harold Groves as a potential successor to Harry Jerome in the economics department and the material was sent to him in the course of the recruitment or that Friedman came across the stuff in his review of statistics instruction at Wisconsin. In any event, given Friedman’s and Jerome’s common NBER connection, it is not surprising that a research seminar on Wisconsin income statistics would be something that Milton Friedman was naturally interested in.

______________________________________

 

Harry Jerome (1886-1938)

“Professor Harry Jerome, economist and author, was born March 7, 1886, to Sarah and Moses Jerome at Bloomington, Illinois, and died September 12, 1938, at Madison, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1914 and took his post-graduate work there, receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1918.

He was instructor in economics from 1914 to 1918 at Wisconsin. From that year until his death in 1938 he held the position of professor of economics at Wisconsin, and was chairman of the economics department from 1931 until 1936.

In 1919 and 1920 Jerome was district assessor of incomes for the Wisconsin State Tax Commission. He was a member of the staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1923 to 1925, and was one of the directors of that organization for many years. He also served as a member of the advisory board for an income tax study by the Wisconsin Tax Commission. From 1936 he was consultant for a survey of productivity and changing industrial techniques by the Federal Works Progress Administration in cooperation with the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jerome was the author of three books, Statistical Methods (1924), Migration and Business Cycles (1926), and Mechanization In Industry (1934).”

Source: Harry Jerome Papers, Finding Aid. Wisconsin Historical Society.

 

Research Tip: Boxes 5 and 6 of Harry Jerome’s papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society  have material on the NBER and the Wisconsin department of economics.

______________________________________

 

Course Announcement

[Econ.] 230. SEMINARY IN STATISTICAL RESEARCH. Yr; 2 cr. Cooperative research in one or more economic problems, each member of the class concentrating on a selected phase of the common subject. Subject for 1937-38: amount and distribution of wealth and income, with special attention to Wisconsin. Reports on current developments in statistical method. Fee $1.00. 7:15-9:15 Th. Mr. Jerome.

Source: Copy of page 148 from the course catalogue of the University of Wisconsin College of Letters and Science for 1937-38 that was provided Economics in the Rear-View Mirror by fellow historian of economics Professor Marianne Johnson of the College of Business, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

______________________________________

Course Materials from Econ 230, University of Wisconsin
1937-38

TREATISES ON NATIONAL INCOME AND THE FORMATION OF CAPITAL

List for Review in Econ. 230, 1937-38

  1. W. I. King, The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States.
  2. National Bureau of Economic Research: Vol. I, Income in the United States
  3. Same as (2) – Volume II.
  4. Federal Trade Commission, National Wealth and Income, 69th 1st. Sess. Sen. Doc. No. 126.
  5. W. I. King, The National Income and its Purchasing Power. (NBER)
  6. Maurice Leven, et al, America’s Capacity to Consume (Brookings)
  7. Robert F. Martin, National Income and its Elements (NICB)
  8. U. S. Department of Commerce:

National Income, 1929-36, supplemented by National Income, 1929-32, Sen. Doc. 124, 72d Cong. 2d Session, 1934; and National Income in the United States, 1929-35.

  1. Simon Kuznets, National Income, 1919-35, NBER Bul. 66, supplemented by bulletin on National Income and Capital Formation, (in press).
  2. Harold G. Moulton, The Formation of Capital (Brookings)
  3. Robert F. Martin, Income in Agriculture, 1929-35 (NICB)
  4. Colin Clark, National Income and Outlay (Great Britain)
  5. John A. Slaughter, Income Received in the Various States, 1929-35, (NICB)

 

GROUP A. ESTIMATES OF INCOME PRODUCED IN WISCONSIN, BY INDUSTRIES, 1929-1937

  1. Agriculture
  2. Manufacturing
  3. Construction
  4. Transportation

Railroads and other freight and passenger traffic

  1. Other public utilities
  2. Trade: wholesale and retail
  3. Finance
  4. Service occupations
  5. Government

 

GROUP B. SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN INCOME STATISTICS (WISCONSIN)

  1. A plan for estimating income and number of recipients below the reporting levels for income tax purposes.
  2. Methods of estimating income from currently available data, for tax administration purposes
  3. Distribution of income in Wisconsin by objects of expenditure
  4. Geographical distribution of Wisconsin income
  5. Interstate movement of income: to and from Wisconsin

 

GROUP C. STUDIES IN THE AMOUNT AND DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

  1. Estimates of distribution of wealth in a selected county or counties, based on probate records.

 

 

REPORTS FOR October 14, 21 and 28.

  1. A. L. Bowley, “The Definition of National Income”, Econ. Journal, vol. xxxii (1929), pp. 1-11.
  2. Simon Kuznets, “National Income”, in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. II, pp. 205-224.
  3. J. Stamp, “Methods used in different countries for estimating national income; with discussion. Royal Statistical Society Journal. 97 No. 3: 423-66; no. 4: 541-57.

Papers in Studies in Income and Wealth (as yet unpublished [NBER, 1937])
by the Conference on Research in National Income and Wealth:

  1. Gerhard Colm, “Public Revenue and Public Expenditure in National Income”
  2. M. A. Copeland, “Concepts of National Income”
  3. Solomon Fabricant, “On the Treatment of Corporate Savings in the Measurement of National Income”
  4. Simon Kuznets, “Changing Inventory Valuations and Their Effect on Business Savings and on National Income Produced”
  5. Solomon Kuznets, “Some Problems in Measuring Per Capita Labor Income”
  6. Carl Shoup, “The Distinction between ‘Net’ and ‘Gross’ in Income Taxation
  7. O. C. Stine, “Income Parity for Agriculture”

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 5, Folder 12 “Student years”.

Image Source:University of Wisconsin’s Carillon Tower from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 .

 

Categories
Exam Questions Suggested Reading Wisconsin

Wisconsin. Business Cycles. Readings and Exam. Friedman 1940-41

 

 

One of the courses taught by Milton Friedman in his year at the University of Wisconsin (1940-41) was on business cycles. A few charts and notes have survived from that course (in Milton Friedman’s papers at the Hoover Institution Archives) but also found in the same folder for that course are three pages of handwritten references that likely were readings for the course. These are listed below, most of which have been linked to the respective books/papers. The bibliographic data have been corrected and expanded where necessary. His incomplete notes, actually more of a log of the sessions, include a reference to “Mitchell & Burns, first chapter” for the third lecture “What is business cycle?”. I guess this must have been from an early draft of the 1946 NBER publication by Burns and Mitchell,  Measuring Business Cycles.

_______________________

Business Cycle Readings

Wesley Clair Mitchell. Business Cycles: The Problem and Its Setting. NBER, 1927. Chapter 2. Economic Organization and Business Cycles, pp. 61-188.

Friedrich A. Hayek. Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle (translated by N. Kaldor and H. M. Croome). New York: 1933.
____________. Prices and Production. London: 1935.

R. G. Hawtrey. Currency and Credit. London: 1919, 1923, 1927.  First ed. 1919;  Second ed. 1923.

____________. The Art of Central Banking. London: 1932
____________. Capital and Employment, 1937

Ludwig von Mises. The Theory of Money and Credit, 1934 (based on second German edition of 1924). Yale University Press 1953 ed.

Lionel Robbins. The Great Depression, 1934.

W. Ropke. Crises and Cycles (Vera C. Smith, trans. and rev.). 1936.
____________.  “Trends in German Business Cycle Policy”, Economic Journal, Sept. 1933.

Knut Wicksell.  Interest and Prices (R. F. Kahn, trans.). London: 1936.
____________. Lectures on Political Economy (E. Classen, trans.). London: 1935.  Volume I;  Volume II.
____________. “Influence of Rate of Interest on Prices”, Economic Journal, June 1907.

Alvin Hansen, Full Recovery or Stagnation. New York: 1938.

Chap. 1. Keynes, pp. 13-34;
Ch VI & VII pp. 137-60 Purchasing power: government deficit financing in various forms including consumer reserves[?];
Ch XVI through XX, 267-329. The economic outlook, Interpretation of 1937 recession, consequences of reducing expenditure, [illegible word beginning with “P”] pricing[?], Investment outlets & secular stagnation, The Fear[?] of Inflation

Walter Salant’s contribution to the discussion of Chapter 4 (“The Volume and Components of Saving in the United States 1933-1937”) in Conference on Research in National Income and Wealth. Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume 3. NBER, 1939. Vol. III. pp. 305-15.

Gottfried Haberler. Prosperity and Depression. League of Nations, 1937. Chapter 2 “The Purely Monetary Theory”, pp. 14-28.

  1. C. H. Douglas, Social Credit. Edinburgh: 1924. Part II, Ch I & II, 78-107 [sic, pp. 89-122]
  2. J. A. Hobson, The Economics of Unemployment. London: 1922. Ch. II “The Failure of Consumptions”, pp. 29-42
  3. William Trufant Foster and Waddill Catchings. Profits. Boston: 1925. pp. 398-418
  4. J. E. Meade, An Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy. London: 2nd ed, 1937. Ch. 1 “Can the Economic System Work?”, pp. 1-11.
  5. E. F.M. Durbin, Purchasing Power and the Trade Depression. Toronto, 1934. Ch. I-III, pp. 17-102

National Resources Committee. Consumer Expenditures in the United States: Estimates for 1935-36. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1939. App. C[?]

Lester V. Chandler, Introduction to Monetary Theory. New York, 1940. Ch VI & VII, pp. 115-83

 

______________________

ECONOMICS 176
Final Examination
January 30, 1941

  1. One device proposed for mitigating the severity of cyclical fluctuations is the concentration of governmental expenditures on public works in depressions, the extra expenditures at such times to be financed from surpluses accumulated during prior periods of prosperity, from borrowing, from the creation of new money, or from current taxes. Under what conditions, if any, would you recommend the adoption of this proposal? If adopted, what method of financing would you endorse? Justify your answers in detail. Discuss both the merits and demerits of the proposal and of the various methods of financing. Discuss also the observed features of cyclical fluctuations that make the proposal appear strategically desirable or undesirable.
  2. “The business cycle in the general sense may be defined as the alternation of periods of prosperity and depression, of good and bad trade.” Discuss.
  3. Distinguish between “a theory of business cycles” and a “description of the cyclical process”. What characteristics would an adequate cycle theory possess?
  4. Does the fact that there has not yet been developed an adequate cycle theory known to be consistent with the observed course of cyclical fluctuations mean that there is no basis for judging the desirability of governmental measures designed to mitigate cyclical fluctuations? Does it mean that society is condemned either to inaction or to irrational intervention? Give the reasons for your answers.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 75, Folder “University of Wisconsin, Econ. 176”.

Image Source:  Milton Friedman on the Columbia University 250th Anniversary Website.

Categories
Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Hayek’s Seminar “Equality and Justice”, 1950-51

 

When Friedrich Hayek came to the University of Chicago in 1950, he organized a faculty seminar to run for two consecutive quarters on the subject “Equality and Justice”. A draft of his letter announcing the seminar as well as its schedule and suggested bibliography are transcribed below. I have added in brackets any handwritten additions found in this material that otherwise was typed.

_____________________

Hayek’s Seminar Announcement to Colleagues

To

Walter J. Blum ✓

Ronald S. Crane ✓

Aaron Director ✓

Milton Friedman ✓

Robert M. Hutchins ✓

Harry Kalven Jr. ✓

Wilber C. Katz ✓

Frank H. Knight ✓

Edward H. Levi ✓

Hans J. Morgenthau ✓

Charner M. Perry ✓

Max Rheinstein ✓

Leo Strauss ✓

W. Allen Wallis ✓

 [handwritten additions]

Peter H. von Blanckenhagen [sp?] ✓

Daniel J. Boorstin ✓

John U. Nef ✓

Robert Redfield ✓

Edw. Shils

Yves R. Simon ✓

James R. Smith ✓

Abram L. Harris

 

October 23, 1950

            The first meeting of the seminar on “Equality and Justice”, which I shall be conducting for the Committee on Social Thought, will be held on Wednesday, October 25, at S.S.302. For the following few weeks the seminar will be held on alternate Wednesdays at the same time and place (alternating with Mr. T.S. Elliot’s seminar) and from November 22 on each Wednesday during the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.

A provisional program for the discussions of the seminar is enclosed.

It is my hope that the seminar can be conducted with the participation of members of all the various departments concerned, particularly a number of lawyers, economists, and philosophers, and that the discussion will be to some extent a iscussion among faculty members in front of the students, though of course without excluding the students from active participation. My belated arrival in Chicago has unfortunately made it impossible for me to discuss this plan with all those I had hoped personally to invite, and I can thus only at this very late moment inform you of the plan and say that I very much hope that you will be sufficiently interested to take part and that I shall be greatly honored by your presence.

(F.A.Hayek)

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
Seminar
on
Equality and Justice

Provisional Outline of Program (Oct. 18, 1950)

1) Oct. 25

 Introduction: The problems and outline of program [Hayek]

A. Historical

2) Nov. 8

 The Classical and Scholastic Tradition: Commutative and Distributive Justice [Simons]

3) Nov. 22

[3a) Nov. 29]

 The Egalitarianism of the American and French Revolutions [Boorstin & Simon]
[Rousseau, Kant & the Utilitarians (Bentham & J. S. Mill)]

B. Systemic

(a) Ethical (The Morals of Equality)

4)

 The Meanings of Equality [Hayek]

5)

 Value Judgments and the Analysis of Conflicts of Value Tests of Moral Rules [What is the Test of a desirable Society? Shils]

6)

 Does Justice Presuppose Abstract Principles? The “feeling of right” and the Logic of the Law

(b) Legal (The practice of equality)

7)

 Equality before the law, the Rule of Law (Government of Laws not of Men), Certainty of the Law

8)

 Safeguards: Rights of Men, Division of Powers, Due Process

9)

 The Continental Tradition of the “Rechtsstaat” [, “Verwaltungsrecht”, Common Law, Case Law, (illegible phrase)     Rheinstein]

10)

 Natural Justice and Positive Law [Strauss]

(c) Economic (The Effects of Equality)

11)

 “Equality of Opportunity,” “Equal Starting Point” [Equality & Education]

12)

[12a]

 Equality and Incentives, “Equal Pay for Equal Work”
[Equal Bargaining Power]
“Equalising Wages”
[(I.L.O.) F.E.P.C., “Parity”, Whole Produce of Labour, Equality and Progress, Technological Change, Capital Formation]

13)

 “Just Price” [Knight]

14)

 Equality and the Family, Inheritance, Effects of Property on Inequality, “Unearned Income”

15)

 Progressive Taxation

16)

 Equality and Trade Unionism (Corporativism) [Director]

17)

 The Contribution of Welfare Economics [Friedman]

18)

 International Aspects of Equality, esp. Migration.

[Property and Inheritance]

[1) Reward & Merit]

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
SEMINAR ON “EQUALITY AND JUSTICE”
(1950-51)

Bibliography

Lord Acton, The History of Liberty, 1904.
C. Bouglé, Les idées égalitaires, 1899.
E. F. Carrit, “Liberty and Equality,” Law Quarterly Review, 56, 1940.
F. S. Cohen, Ethical Systems and Legal Ideals, 1933.
A. V. Dicey, Relation between Law and Public Opinion, 1904.
F. D. Graham, Social Goals and Economic Institutions, 1945.
J. B. S. Haldane, The Inequality of Man.
F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, 1944 (esp. Chapt. VI).
“          Individualism and Economic Order, 1948 (First Essay)
“          “Scientism and the Study of Society,” Economica, 1942-44.
A. Huxley, Proper Studies, (Essay on Equality).
F. H. Knight, The Ethics of Competition, 1936.
“          Freedom and Reform, 1948.
J. S. Mill, Liberty, 1859.
“          Utilitarianism. 1863. (Chapt. on Justice).
Roscoe Pound, Spirit of the Common Law, 1921.
H. Sidgwick, Elements of Politics.
H. C. Simons, Economic Policy for a Free Society, 1948.
T. V. Smith, The American Philosophy of Equality, 1927.
J. F. Stephen, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, 1874.
J. Stone, The Province and Function of Law, 1950.
R. H. Tawney, Equality, 1931.
A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835.
“          Ancient Regime and the Revolution, 1856.
A. T. Williams, The Concept of Equality in the Writings of Rousseau, Bentham and Kant, 1907.
D. M. Wright, Democracy and Progress, 1948.

_____________________

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT
Seminar on “Equality and Justice”
(Wednesday 8-10 p.m., SS 302)

PART II: Winter Quarter 1951

Provisional Date

Jan. 3

1. THE MEANINGS OF EQUALITY
D. Thompson, Equality, Cambridge University Press, 1949
R. H. Tawney, Equality, 3rd ed. London (Allen & Unwin) 1938
H. Rashdall, The Theory of Good and Evil, Oxford 1907, vol. I, ch. VIII
E. Brunner, Justice and the Social Order, New York (Harper) 1945
C. Bouglé, Les idées égalitaires, Paris 1899
G. Roffenstein, “Das soziologische Problem der Gleichheit”, Schmoller’s Jahrbuch, XLV, 1921

Jan. 17

2. VALUE JUDGMENTS AND SCIENCE. ANALYSIS OF CONFLICTS OF VALUE. TESTS OF DESIRABILITY OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS.
Max Weber, On the Methodology of the Social Sciences, ed. E. Shils, 1949.
Jan. 24

3. PRINCIPLES AND MORAL JUDGMENT. MORAL SENSE AND THE “FEELING OF JUSTICE”
J. H. Muirhead, Rule and End in Morals, Oxford 1932
J. Bonar, Moral Sense, London (Allen & Unwin) 1930
E. Riezler, Das Rechtsgefühl, Berlin (Walter de Gruyter) 1921
G. Ryle, “Knowing how and knowing that”, Proceed. Aristot. Soc., N.S. 46, 1945
Jan. 31 4. THE ETHICS OF SOCIALISM AND OF LIBERALISM
J. A. Hobson, Economics and Ethics (D. C. Heath) 1929
W. B. Gallie, “Liberal Morality and Socialist Morality”, Philosophy, XXIV, 1949
F. Tönnies, “Ethik und Sozialismus”, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft, 1905
K. Pearson, The Moral Basis of Socialism. London 1885
Feb. 7 5. NATURAL JUSTICE AND POSITIVE LAW. CONCEPTS OF LAW AND JUSTICE
M. R. Cohen, Law and Social Order, 1933
J. Maritain, The Rights of Man and Natural Law, New York 1943
F. R. Bienenfeld, Rediscovery of Justice 1947
L. Duguit, Manuel de Droit Constitutionel, 1923
G. del Vecchio, La Guistizia, 1924 (trsl. Die Gerechtigkeit, Basel 1940)
F. S. Cohen, Ethical Systems and Legal Ideas, 1933
Feb. 21 6. THE “RULE OF LAW” (“RECHTSSTAAT”, “ETAT DU DROIT”, “STATO DI DIRITTO”) EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW. GENERALITY OF THE LAW (“RELEVANT DISTINCTIONS”). CERTAINTY OF THE LAW
J. Stone, The Province and Function of Law, Harvard Univ. Press 1950
W. I. Jennings, The Law and the Constitution, 3rd ed. 1943
W. Friedman, Legal Theory, 2nd ed. London 1949
F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, 1944
A. V. Dicey, Law of the Constitution, 7th ed. 1908
R. Gneist, Der Rechsstaat, Berlin 1872
F. Darmstaedter, Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Rechtsstaates, 1930
F. Battaglia, “Stato Etico e Stato di Diritto”, Rivista Internationale di Filosofia di Diritto, XVII
G. Leibholz, Die Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz, Berlin 1925
C. A. Emge, “Sicherheit und Gerechtigkeit”, Abh. d. preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1940, No. 9
H. W. R. Wadem, “The Concept of Legal Certainty”, Modern Law Review, IV, 1941
Feb. 28 LAW AND THE COURTS: DIVISION OF POWERS, APPLICATION AND CREATION OF THE LAW. DUE PROCESS
Literature as under 5 and 6
Mar. 7 8. ADMINISTRATION AND DISCRETION
J. Dickinson, Administrative Justice and the Supremacy of the Law, Harvard University Press, 1927
W. Robson, Justice and Administrative Law
J. Roland Pennock, Administration and the Rule of Law, New York, Farrar & Rinehart 1941

 

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Friedrich A. von Hayek. Box 112, Folder 16.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-02719, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Courses Economic History Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Readings for Modern Economic History. Ashley, 1899-1900

 

The following course outline with reading assignments comes from one of the two year-long courses William J. Ashley taught at Harvard for nearly a decade around the turn of the 20th century. No copy of his reading list for Medieval Economic History of Europe is found in the Harvard Archive’s collections of course reading lists that include fewer and fewer courses as we move back to the earliest years of the 20th century and before. However there is the printed copy of the readings for the Economic History of Europe and the United States since 1500 that has been transcribed for this posting.

A biographical piece published in 1899 has already been posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

____________________________

From Taussig’s history of the department of economics:

“…The Department from the first gave attention to economic theory; and the slant which was thus given its work under Dunbar’s leadership persisted. It was always known in the country as giving much attention to the matters of principle which are indicated by the term ‘economic theory,’ and also to the history of the development of economic thought.

Another aspect, the historical, was emphasized by the appointment in 1892 of William J. Ashley* as Professor of Economic History. As in the case of Dunbar, this was an unprecedented move. Ashley’s appointment was evidence of a desire to promote the new current of thought for increased attention to history in its widest range: letters, law, morals, as well as economics. He remained in service for nearly 10 years, resigning to accept a chair in England. His place was soon taken by a scholar of no less distinction, Edwin F. Gay…”

________________

* Sir William Ashley, as he became in 1917, took a First in Modern History at Balliol in 1881, and in 1888 published his pioneer work, An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory.

 

Source: Chapter 9, “Economics” by Frank William Taussig in Samuel Eliot Morison (ed.), The Development of Harvard University since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930.

___________________________

Course Announcement (from 1897-98)

[Economics] 11. The Modern Economic History of Europe and America (from 1500). Tu., Th., (and at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.

This course, — which will usually alternate with Course 10 [The Mediaeval Economic History of Europe] in successive years, — while intended to form a sequel to Course 10, will nevertheless be independent, and may usefully be taken by those who have not followed the history of the earlier period. The main thread of connection will be found in the history of trade; but the outlines of the history of agriculture and industry will also be set forth, and the forms of social organization dependent upon them. England, as the first home of the “great industry,” will demand a large share of attention; but the parallel or divergent economic history of the United States, and of the great countries of western Europe, will be considered side by side with it.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. [Announcement of the] Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics 1897-98, pp. 31-32.

___________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 11. Professor ASHLEY.—The Modern Economic History of Europe. Lectures (2 or 3 hours).

Total 76: 15 Graduates, 21 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 6 Sophomores, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1899-1900, p. 69.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 11.
PRESCRIBED READING FOR THE FIRST HALF-YEAR

[Stamp: Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass. Jan 15, 1900]

(A supplement to, and not an alternative for, the lectures.)

* * * * *

  1. Warner, English Industrial History, to p. 208.
  2. Fiske, Discovery of America, I, pp. 256-334, 354-365,453-460; II, App. A and B.
  3. Hunter, History of British India, I, ch. 1-5.
  4. Marco Polo, Travels, ed. Yule; or pub. Cassell.
  5. Hakluyt, Discovery of Muscovy, pub. Cassell.
  6. Fox Bourne, English Merchants, 1886, pp. 13-149.
  7. Easterlings, Hanse of London, Hanse Towns, and Hanseatic League in Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy; or Hanse in Say et Chailley, Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Économie Politique; or Hanse in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften; or Hanseatic League in Encyclopœdia Britannica.
  8. Pigeonneau, Histoire du Commerce de la France, I, pp. 211-218.
  9. Jacobs, Story of Geographical Discovery.

* * * *

  1. Seebohm, English Village Community, pp. 1-32; or Ashley, Economic History, I, §1; the former recommended.
  2. Jones, Peasant Rents, ch. 2, 3, §§4-6, App., pp. 172-190.
  3. Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 4,5.
  4. Belfort Bax, German Society at the close of the Middle Ages, Intro., and ch. 1, 5-8.
  5. The Twelve Articles of the German Peasants in 1525; German text in Zimmermann, Geschichte des Bauernkrieges, Zweiter Theil, 1862, pp. 98 seq.; imperfect English translation in Belfort Bax, Peasants’ War, pp. 63 seq.
  6. More’s Utopia (Arber’s reprint recommended), bk. I; or Harrisons’s Description of England (in Elizabethan England, Camelot series), ch. 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10.
  7. Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 1-3.
  8. Articles of the Spurriers and White-tawyers in Riley’s Memorials of London, pp. 226-228, 232-234, and of the Exeter Tailors in English Gilds, pp. 312-316; or all three in Penn. and Reprints, vol. II, no. I.
  9. Statute 5 Eliz. c. 4, in Statutes of the Realm, or in Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents.
  10. Levasseur, Histoire des classes ouvrières, II, pp. 119-126; or Martin Saint-Léon, Histoire des corporations de métiers, pp. 247-253.
  11. Report of the Commission of the German Diet in 1522; text in Belfort Bax, German Society at the close of the Middle Ages, pp. 245-259; imperfect translation, ibid., pp. 231-245; together with the account of the Fuggers, , App. C.
  12. Defoe, Tour through the Eastern Counties, pub. Cassell.
  13. Defoe, From London to Land’s End, pub. Cassell.
  14. Schmoller, Mercantile System.

* * * * *

ADDITIONAL READING RECOMMENDED.

  1. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce. I. Early and Middle Ages, Bk. III, ch. 4; Bk. IV, ch. 2-5; Bk. V, ch. 5. II. Modern Times, Bk. VI, ch. 4.
  2. Cunningham, Alien Immigrants to England, ch. 3 & 4.
  3. Pigeonneau, Histoire du Commerce de la France, Tome II, livre 1.
  4. Lindner, Die deutsche Hanse.
  5. Dixon, The Florentine Wool Trades, in R. Hist. Soc., 1898.
  6. Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, ch. 1, §§1-16.
  7. Hallam, Account of the Government of Florence, in Middle Ages, I, ch. 3, pt. 2.
  8. The Common Weal of this Realm of England, ed. Lamond.
  9. Cheyney, Social Changes in England in the 16th Century.
  10. Leadam, The Domesday of Inclosures, R. Hist. Soc.

 

 

ECONOMICS 11.
PRESCRIBED READING FOR THE SECOND HALF-YEAR

[Handwritten pencil note: “1899-1900”]

(A supplement to, and not an alternative for, the lectures.)

* * * * *

  1. Warner, English Industrial History, p. 209 to end.

* * *

  1. Text of the Navigation Acts, Amer. History Leaflets, No. 19.
  2. Text of the Poor Law of Elizabeth, 43-44 Eliz., cap. 2, in Statutes of the Realm, or Prothero Constitutional Documents.

* * *

  1. Hunter, History of British India, ch. 6-10.
  2. Noel, Histoire du Commerce du Monde, II, pp. 150-164, 270-274.
  3. Macaulay, Lord Clive, in Critical and Historical Essay.
  4. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. V, ch. 1, pt. 3, art. 1.
  5. Day, The Culture System, Yale Review, Feb. 1900.
  6. Seeley, Expansion of England, Course I, Lectures 1, 2, 6; Course 2, Lecture 3.
  7. Mahan, Influence of Sea Power, 1660-1783, ch. 1.
  8. Ashley, The Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, 1660-1760, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1899.

* * *

  1. Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, pp. 29-103.
  2. Seeley, The Emancipating Edict of Stein, in his Life of Stein, Pt. 3, ch. 4; reprinted in Rand, Economic History.

* * *

  1. Fox Bourne, English Merchants, p. 150 to end.
  2. Sargent, The Economic Policy of Colbert.
  3. Hewins, English Trade and Finance, pp. 74-164.
  4. Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution, pp. 27-136.
  5. Fowle, The Poor Law, ch. 3, 4.
  6. Defoe, Essay on Projects, pub. Cassell; especially pp. 1-42, 77-80.
  7. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce. Account of the South Sea Company and the Mississippi Scheme, s. aa. 1711, 1713-1715, 1717-1720.
  8. Macaulay, Account of the
    East India Company (ch. 18 and elsewhere),
    Bank of England (ch. 20),
    Recoinage (ch. 21),
    Darien Company (ch. 24),
    in History of England.

* * * * *

SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL READING.

  1. Ashley, Tory Origin of Free Trade Policy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, July 1897.
  2. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, pp. 79-244.
  3. James Mill, History of British India, Bk. 1, ch. 1-4.
  4. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, for reference throughout.

* * * * *

The attention of members of the course who received a mid-year mark of C or below is recalled to Warner, ch. 2-11, Ashley, Economic History, II, ch. 1-3, and Hunter, British India, ch. 4.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “Economics 1899-1900”.

Image Source:University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899) , p. 595.