Category: Suggested Reading

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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.

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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…”

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* 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Chicago Courses Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Henry Simons’ last course. Fiscal Policy, 1946

Simons

 

 

Henry Simons’ course “Economics of Fiscal Policy” was introduced into the Chicago public finance offerings in the Winter Quarter of 1934-35 and was taught by him in all but two years before his suicide that happened immediately after the Spring Quarter of 1946 had concluded.

From Norman M. Kaplan’s student notes for Simon’s last course I have transcribed the list of course readings and the rough outline of the course discussed in the first two sessions.

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Course Announcement

[Economics] 361. Economics of Fiscal Policy.—A study of fiscal practices with reference to (1) booms and depressions (budget-balancing), (2) distribution of income (inequality), and (3) composition of the national income (incidence). The latter weeks will be devoted to study of particular kinds of taxes, especial attention being given to problems of income taxation. Prerequisite: Economics 209 and 230 or equivalent. Spring: MWF 11; (joint meetings with Law 510e for a part of the Quarter, additional hours to be arranged); Simons.

Source: University of Chicago. Announcements: The College and the Divisions, Sessions of 1945-1946. Vol. XLV, No. 7 (June 15, 1945), p. 219.

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Readings and Course Outline According to Kaplan Notes

March 27 [1946]

  1. Readings:

Hansen & Perloff, State and Local Finance in the National Economy (preferred). Chs. 9, 10, 11, 12 first, then parts I & II.

or Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles

McGill, The Impact of Federal Tax (Latter part of course)

Simons, Personal Income Taxation (Latter part of course)

“Rules vs. Authority in Monetary Policy”, Simons

“On Debt Policy”, Simons

“The Beveridge Program, an Unsympathetic Interpretation” [optional], Simons

Public Finance and Full Employment, Fed. Res. Board publication on series of post-war studies. (Important for 1st part of course, especially 1st 2 papers, then Robinson and final paper.)

Part II of Groves, Financing Government, for those using this as a survey course.

Read portions of Beveridge book which have to do with fiscal policy, part I, part IV, appendices B & C. esp. sec. 4 of B and Append. C.

 

March 29 [1946]

  1. Topical Sequence of course

A. First part: monetary fiscal budgetary policy (Last part of Hansen, Fed. Res. Bd., Rules vs. Authority, Beveridge stuff[?])

B. Then justice, incidence, etc. of taxation

1. Justice of taxation Ch. 1 of Simons Personal Income Taxation 

2. Incidence of taxation Brown, Econ. of Taxation

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Norman M. Kaplan Papers, Box 1, Folder 6.

Image Source: University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07613, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

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Bibliography Curator's Favorites ERVM Suggested Reading

ERVM. Curator’s Favorites from the Collection, first of a series.

 

 

The collection of artifacts here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has grown sufficiently large that part of my self-imposed curation duties now include adding postings to link back to some earlier postings that perhaps newer visitors and subscribers have yet to discover.

One such underused resource in my opinion is the  list of items “Recommended Teacher’s Library of Economics” put together by J. Laurence Laughlin and published in 1887.  To date, Laughlin’s List has received only 53 page visits since being posted in August, 2015. What makes the transcription a true resource for historians of economics is that nearly all the references given by Laughlin now have links. Thus in that single posting we have a virtual library of economics that would have been an economics professor’s pride at the dawn of graduate education in economics in the United States.

 

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ERVM Suggested Reading

St. Petersburg. Daniel Bernoulli’s paper, Latin original. 1738

New York City Public Library reading room, ca 1911

 

Latest addition to the Economics in the Rear-view Mirror Rare Book Reading Room: a link to the Latin original of Daniel Bernoulli’s paper for his solution to the St. Petersburg paradox.

From the English translator’s note: “I am also grateful to Mr. William J. Baumol, Professor of Economics, Princeton University, for his valuable assistance in interpreting Bernoulli’s paper in the light of modern econometrics”.

Visitors must drop down this page to the comments section to enjoy the material shared by Olav Bjerkholt that he found in the Econometrica files regarding the publication of the English translation of the Bernoulli paper. Fabulous stuff!

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1738

Bernoulli, Daniel. Specimen theoriae novae de mensura sortis, Commentarii academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae. Tomus V. St. Petersburg, 1738, pp. 175-192.
Repository: Natural History Museum Library, London.

German translation by Alfred Pringsheim with introduction by Ludwig Fick. Leipzig: Duncker & Mumblot, 1896.

English translation (link requires access to jstor) by Dr. Louise Sommer published as “Exposition of a New Theory on the Measurement of Risk” in Econometrica, Vol. 22, No. 1 (January, 1954), pp. 23-36.

Image Source: New York City Public Library Reading Room, ca. 1911. From Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Reading period and final exams. Theory and Money. Schumpeter 1927-28

 

 

Harvard students first experienced Joseph Schumpeter’s teaching in 1927-28 in an advanced theory course (Economics 15: Modern Schools of Economic Thought)  previously taught by Allyn Young [examination questions for Economics 15 for 1921-27 have been posted earlier] and in a money and banking course. For both courses this posting provides the reading period assignments, course enrollments and  final examination questions from the end of the second term. The examination questions for the first term of Economics 15 for 1927-28 are posted here. The examination questions for the first term of Economics 38 for 1927-28 are posted here.

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 Course Enrollments

[Economics] 15. Professor J. A. Schumpeter (University of Bonn).—Modern Schools of Economic Thought.

Total 16: 10 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 4 Radcliffe.

 

[Economics] 38. Professor J. A. Schumpeter (University of Bonn).— Principles of Money and of Banking.

Total 25: 19 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 1 Junior, 2 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1927-1928, p. 75.

 

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
(Inter-Departmental Correspondence Sheet)

Cambridge, Massachusetts
December 6, 1927

Dear Burbank:

The question of the assignment of readings for the reading period is, of course, no easy one in the case of an audience which is so little homogeneous as mine. In both courses I have told them that what I really want is to advise them individually according to everyone’s own needs, and that I wish them to call in my consultation hours before breaking up. With this proviso, I have recommended for those who do not wish for such individual advice, and at the same time still want to take the course for credit, the following:

First, as to Money and Banking:

The looking over of the two volumes of the Senate Commission of Gold and Silver Inquiry on European Currency and Finance, serial 9, volume I and [volume] II, Washington, 1925, (not that they will read it through, all of them, but they will get out of them a quantity of ideas of the European currency situation which, after all, is both theoretically and practically important for them to know).

Second, for the course Economics 15:

I have told them that we do not want to make them read, but to make them think, and I have suggested that they should take one of the three following books and read it critically, and follow up problems or arguments which may strike them in doing so:

Allyn Young, Economic Problems
Hawtrey, The Economic Problem
Sir Alfred Mond, Industry and Politics.

Cordially yours,

[signed]
Josef Schumpeter

 

Source: Harvard University Archives.  Department of Economics. Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950 (UAV.349.10), Box 7.

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DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
SPRING READING PERIOD—1928

Economics 15

  1. Students who have had a modicum of mathematical training are recommended to work up carefully either:
    A. L. Bowley: Mathematical Groundwork of Economics (1924).
    or
    A. Cournot: Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth, ed. of 1927.
  2. Others:
    A. C. Pigou: Economics of Welfare. [1932 edition]
    or  The Colwyn Report.
    [Report of the Committee on National Debt and Taxation (1927); Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee on National Debt and Taxation. Vol. I and II. (1927)]

 

Economics 38

  1. W. R. Burgess: The Reserve Banks and the Money Market, 1927.
  2. Kirsch and Elkins: Central Banks, 1928.
  3. W. S. Jevons: Investigations in Currency and Finance, ed. 1909.
    [1884 edition]
    or
    3a) Report of the Royal Comm. On Indian Currency and Finance, 1926.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1). Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1927-28”.

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1927-28
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 15

Modern Schools of Economic Thought

  1. Write as fully as possible on any one of the following subjects:
    1. What is the meaning and importance of the doctrine of maximum satisfaction and its relation to the concept of economic equilibrium?
    2. What do you think of the view that recurrent depressions are due to the inability of earnings to flow promptly into the hands of consumers?
    3. Describe the principle underlying Professor Irving Fisher’s method of measuring marginal utility. What do you think of it?
  2. Answer briefly two out of the four following questions:
    1. Professor H. L. Moore’s statistical demand curve for pig iron slopes up instead of down. How do you account for this?
    2. What is an indifference curve in the sense of Pareto as distinguished from the sense in which Edgeworth uses that concept?
    3. Discuss Professor Edgeworth’s proposition that equilibrium is indeterminate in the case of bilateral monopoly.
    4. What is the difference between physical and value marginal product? Which seems to you more significant, and why?

Final. 1928.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers 1928  (HUC 7000.28, 70 of 284). Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, Church History,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1928.

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 1927-28
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 38

Principles of Money and of Banking

I

Discuss ONE of the following topics, devoting at least half your time to this part of the paper.

  1. A capital levy is among the measures recommended for the restoration of a disorganized currency. State the conditions under which this measure may be expected to improve the situation.
  2. The Bank of France used to defend its gold reserve by redeeming its notes in five-franc silver pieces and charging a premium if redemption in gold was insisted upon. How does this method differ from the method of protecting the gold reserve by means of an increase in the discount rate?

 

II

Discuss TWO of the following questions more briefly.

  1. It has been stated that open market operations cannot stave off credit inflation because of their comparatively insignificant amount. (Lehfeldt.) Is this correct?
  2. What is meant by saying that savings do not create deposits?
  3. The chances are that gold production will slow down in the next decade. Are we to expect a general depression on that account? (Cassel.)
  4. During the first three months of the current year there was a net outflow of more than $90,000,000 of gold from this country. How do you interpret this fact and what consequences do you expect therefrom?

Final. 1928.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers 1928  (HUC 7000.28, 70 of 284). Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, Church History,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1928.

Image source: Joseph A. Schumpeter at table with books, photograph, ca. 1930. Detail from image posted at Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. HUGBS 276.90p (38).

 

 

 

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Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Labor and Public Policy Syllabus Dunlop, 1948

The following course outline and syllabus come from the second term of a two term course in collective bargaining and public policy offered by John Dunlop at Harvard in 1947-48.  Material for the first term was posted earlier. The final examination questions for both terms will be posted soon.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 81b. Associate Professor Dunlop.–Public Policy and Labor (Sp).

Total 147: 2 Graduates, 85 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 11 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-1948, p. 90.

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Economics 81b
Spring 1948

LABOR AND PUBLIC POLICY

  1. Introduction
    1. General Setting of the Problems of the Course
    2. Governmental Attitude toward Labor and Employer Organizations
    3. Organized Labor’s Relation to Government
  2. Issues of Public Policy
    1. The Extent of “Public” Encouragement to Organization
    2. The Regulation of Labor Organizations
    3. The Machinery for the Settlement of Disputes
    4. The Treatment of the Parties to a Dispute
    5. The Status of Labor Organizations under the Anti-trust Laws
    6. Minimum Wage and Hour Regulation
    7. The Risk of Unemployment
    8. Old Age Insurance
    9. The Risks of Accident and Sickness
  3. The Process of “Public Policy” Formulation
    1. The Determination of Community Values
    2. The Operation of “Pressure Groups”
    3. The Role of the Press
    4. The Legislative Sphere
    5. The Influence of Administrative Agencies; Board Members, Administrators, and Staff

______________________________

SOME FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES OF PUBLIC POLICY

  1. Does the process of collective bargaining between labor organizations and employers give assurance that the “public interest” will be best served? How do you evaluate the possibility of collective bargaining resulting in continuing warfare or “combination” against the “public interest”?
  2. “The threat of strike and lockout, and probably some work stoppages, are vital to the functioning of collective bargaining.” Do you agree? Do you have “vigorous” or “healthy” labor and management organizations where there have been no work stoppages for long periods? How can the “public” be made to understand the necessity for the social costs of voluntarism?
  3. Do you think it is possible to prohibit strikes by law? May not workers always bring equal pressure by turning out a smaller quantity of work? How do you distinguish between the right to strike and the right of an individual to refuse to work? Are the concepts identical? Are “wildcat strikes” and similar spontaneous walkouts, in part at least, a desirable social safety valve?
  4. Is it possible to have private collective bargaining when bargaining units become in effect National in scope as in the railroad and steel industries? Do you think the parties in such cases are likely to reach settlements without governmental intervention? Is it possible to keep the Government out of such disputes? If not, do you think it follows that the “government” is required to adopt some explicit wage policy in peacetime?
  5. The Department of Labor was established to “promote the interests of wage earners.” The mediation and conciliation functions of the Government were located in the Department of Labor? Do you believe employers had any valid objections to this arrangement? What should be the relation of the two assistant Secretaries of Labor, “representing” the AFL and CIO, to the administration of the Department of Labor?
  6. For the purposes of “public concern” with the “internal affairs” of a labor organization, would you regard a union more like a “private club” or a “public utility”? Does the presence of a Governmental guarantee of the right to organize affect the answer to this question?
  7. How is “public policy” in fact formulated? Contrast, for example, the mechanics used in formulating: the old age insurance program, the “cooling-off period” of the War Labor Disputes Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  8. What mechanism would you propose to formulate working compromises between agriculture and organized labor? Consider the interest of agriculture in industrial employment for “surplus population” and in cheap prices of industrial goods; also consider the interest of organized labor in food prices and in extending the area of organization.
  9. Where would you draw the line between “management personnel” and “labor” for the purpose of determining the rights to self-organization and protection from “unfair labor practices”? How would you constructively treat the issue of the “organization of supervisors” from the point of view of management? From the point of view of the labor movement?
  10. Do you think it possible to extend gradually the area of labor-management agreement fast enough to preclude the necessity of legislation to prescribe in detail the rights and duties of both sides? How would you speed up the process of agreement? Consider this question in the light of American experience in contrast to that in England, Sweden, Germany and Australia.
  11. How would you define the “legitimate” interests of management in the organization of its employees? What criteria would you establish to draw lines between cases of coercion on the one hand and the exercise or the expression of the “legitimate” interests of management you have defined?
  12. How would you define the area on which you would allow an employer as a matter of public policy, to deal with an employee as an individual rather than through the collective bargaining agent? Does the union have the right to insist that individual merit increases be “negotiated or bargained” with the union? May the company install a pension plan without “bargaining”?
  13. Can the Federal Government avoid having a “wage policy”? Are labor and management organized along lines which would facilitate the formulation of a national wage policy? What are the dimensions or ingredients you would suggest for a national wage policy—the rate of change of the wage level, wage rate differentials, etc.?
  14. Under a system of unemployment compensations how would you define “availability for work”? Should men on strike be allowed benefits? May one refuse to accept a lower wage rate and still draw benefits? How far away must a job be before refusal of the job is a bar to benefits?
  15. What different concepts of the labor force, employment and unemployment do you regard as essential to public policy-making?
  16. What procedures would you recommend to formulate public policy on a health program?

______________________________

Economics 81b

LABOR AND PUBLIC POLICY

I. INTRODUCTION

  1. General Setting of the Problems of the Course
    1. Conflicts of interests in a political democracy
    2. The meaning of “public policy formation”
    3. Fundamental issues of public policy in this field

Required Reading

Sumner H. Slichter, Trade Unions in a Free Society

Twentieth Century Fund, Trends in Collective Bargaining. A Summary of Recent Experience, 1945, pp. 1-33; 188-211; 215-50. (Students who have had Economics 81a need only read pp. 215-50.)

Henry C. Simons, “Some Reflections on Syndicalism”, Journal of Political Economy, March 1944, pp. 1-25. (To be read by students who have not taken Economics 81a)

Frederick H. Harbison and Robert Dubin, Patterns of Union—Management Relations, pp. 3-178.

Richard A. Lester, “Reflections on the ‘Labor Monopoly’ Issue”, Journal of Political Economy, December 1947, pp. 513-36.

Recommended Reading

Élie Halévy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism, translated by Mary Morris, 1928, pp. 89-150; 249-310.

Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of Business Enterprise, Chapter 8, “Business Principles in Law and Politics”.

Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 2, pp. 158-61; 177-91; (Alfred A. Knopf, 1945 edition)

Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Industrial Democracy.

  1. Governmental Attitude toward Labor and Employer Organizations
    1. The evolution of public policy.
    2. The present status of both types of organization
    3. The role of the Department of Labor

Required Reading

Charles O. Gregory, Labor and the Law, pp. 13-82.

Pendleton Herring, The Politics of Democracy, 1940, pp. 368-90.

D. O. Bowman, Public Control of Labor Relations, 1942, pp. 3-57.

John Lombardi, Labor’s Voice in the Cabinet, A History of the Department of Labor from its Origin to 1921, pp. 15-95.

Recommended Reading

Felix Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court, Chapter 1, “Property and Society”, pp. 13-48.

Edward S. Corwin, The Twilight of the Supreme Court, pp. 52-101.

Leo Wolman, “The Turning Point in American Labor Policy,” Political Science Quarterly, June 1940, pp. 161-75.

H. Samuels, The Law of Trade Unions.

Calvert Magruder, “A Half Century of Legal Influence upon the Development of Collective Bargaining”, Harvard Law Review, May 1937, pp. 1071-1117.

James M. Landis and Marcus Manoff, Cases on Labor Law, (1942 edition) Chapter 1, “Historical Introduction”, pp. 1-40.

Charles O. Gregory and Malcolm Sharp, Social Change and Labor Law.

U. S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards, Federal Labor Laws and Agencies, Bulletin 79.

Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew, pp. 182- 336.

 

II. ISSUES OF PUBLIC POLICY

  1. The Extent of “Public” Encouragement to Organization
    1. The Wagner Act and the NLRB
    2. The Labor Management Relations Act, 1947
    3. Selected problems of policy determination

Required Reading

The Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 and The Conference Report

Herbert Unterberger and Max Malin, The Taft-Hartley Act in Operation

E. E. Witte, “Labor-Management Relations under the Taft-Hartley Act”, Harvard Business Review, Autumn 1947, pp. 554-75.

Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr., “The Open Window and the Open Door”, California Law Review, Vol. 351, pp. 336-51.

C. O. Gregory, Labor and the Law, pp. 223-52; 289-33.

Carl Raushenbush and Emanuel Stein, Labor Cases and Materials, 1941, pp. 286-370.

D. O. Dowman, Public Control of Labor Relations, pp. 133-186.

Recommended Reading

La Follette Committee Reports

Lewis L. Lorwin and Arthur Warbnig, Labor Relations Boards, 1935.

E. Merrick Dodd, “The Supreme Court and Organized Labor, 1941-45”, Harvard Law Review, Vol. 58, pp. 1018-71.

Joseph Rosenfarb, The National Labor Policy and How It Works.

National Labor Relations Board, Government’s Protection of Labor’s Right to Organize, Bulletin No. 1.

E. B. McNatt, “The Appropriate Bargaining Unit Problem”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1941.

Robert R. R. Brooks, Unions of their Own Choosing, 1939.

William E. Mosher and J. Donald Kingsley, Public Personnel Administration, 1941, pp. 558-85.

David Ziskind, One Thousand Strikes of Government Employees

Gordon R. Clapp, Employee Relations in the Public Service, A Report Submitted to the Civil Service Assembly, 1942.

National Labor Relations Board, Legislative History of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947.

Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. The New Labor Law

Herbert O. Eby, The Labor Relations Act in the Courts.

Paul Herzog, “Labor Relations Acts of the States”, Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences, November 1942.

Report and Findings of a Panel of the National War Labor Board in Certain Disputes Involving Supervisors.

Harold W. Metz and M. Jacobstein, National Labor Policy, 1947.

National Labor Relations Board, Annual Reports

  1. The Regulation of Labor Organizations

Required Reading

Florence Peterson, American Labor Unions, 1945, pp. 84-126.

Recommended Reading

Joel Seidman, Union Rights and Union Duties, 1943.

Neil Chamberlin, “Judicial Process in Labor Unions”, Brooklyn Law Review, 1940

Henry V. Rothschild, “Government Regulation of Trade Unions in Great Britain”, Columbia Law Review, 1939.

American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy in Trade Unions

Report on Certain Aspects of Labor Union Responsibility and Control

O. de. R. Foenander, Industrial Regulations in Australia, pp. 169-216.

Clyde W. Sumners, “The Admission Policies of Labor Unions”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1946.

Ludwig Teller, A Labor Policy for America, A National Labor Code

  1. The Machinery for the Settlement of Disputes
    1. Types and characteristics of disputes related to methods of settlement
    2. Mediation, conciliation, and arbitration
    3. The railroad machinery
    4. Wartime machinery for settlement of disputes
    5. The fact-finding procedure
    6. Recent legislative proposals

Required Reading

C. O. Gregory, Labor and the Law, 378-412; 413-46.

U. S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards, Arbitration of Grievances, Bulletin 82 (scan only)

Report of the Commission on Industrial Relations in Great Britain, 1938, pp. 1-25.

Twentieth Century Fund, How Collective Bargaining Works, pp. 318-80.

Paul Fisher, “The National War Labor Board and Postwar Industrial Relation”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1945, pp. 483-523.

The President’s National Labor-Management Conference, Summary and Committee Reports, (Division of Labor Standards Bulletin 77) pp. 1-71.

Report of the Governor’s Labor Management Committee, Massachusetts, 1947

Recommended Reading

T. R. Fisher, Industrial Disputes and Federal Legislation, pp. 141-53; 154-86.

Kurt Braun, The Settlement of Industrial Disputes, 1944.

Howard S. Kaltenborn, Governmental Adjustment of Labor Disputes, 1943.

Frances Kellor, Arbitration in Action, 1941.

J. J. Robbins, The Government of Labor Relations in Sweden, 1942.

J. Henry Richardson, Industrial Relations in Great Britain, 1938.

Herbert R. Northrup, Labor Adjustment Machinery.

Ducksoo Chang, British Methods of Industrial Peace.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 287, The War Labor Board Report of the National Defense Mediation Board.

The Reports and Proceedings of the Labor Management Conference

The Fact-Finding Reports: General Motors, Oil Companies, and the Meat Packing Companies

John T. Dunlop, “Fact-Finding in Labor Disputes”, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, May 1946, pp. 64-74.

B. M. Stuart and Walter J. Couper, Fact-Finding in Industrial Disputes.

Ludwig Teller, A Labor Policy for America, A National Labor Code.

Clarence M. Updegraff and Whitley P. McCoy, Arbitration in Labor Disputes.

Herbert R. Northrup, “The Railway Labor Act and Railway Labor Disputes in Wartime”, American Economic Review, June 1946, pp. 324-43.

C E. D. Research and Policy Committee, Collective Bargaining: How to Make it More Effective, Feb. 1947.

  1. The Treatment of the Parties to a Dispute
    1. The Injunction
    2. Boycott and Picketing
    3. The Use of Seizure

Required Reading

C. O. Gregory, Labor and the Law, pp. 83-199; 334-77.

Harry A. Millis and R. E. Montgomery, Organized Labor, pp. 613-29; 629-51.

Recommended Reading

Carl Raushenbush and Emanuel Stein, Labor Cases and Materials, 1941, pp. 5-213.

Samuel Yellen, American Labor Struggles

Felix Frankfurter and N. Greene, The Labor Injunction

  1. The Status of Labor Organizations under the Anti-trust Laws

Required Reading

C. O. Gregory, Labor and the Law, pp. 200-22; 253-88.

C. D. Edwards, “Public Policy toward Restraints of Trade by Labor Unions: An Economic Appraisal”, American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1942, pp. 432-48.

E. E. Witte, “A Critique of Mr. Arnolds Proposals”, American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1942, pp. 449-59.

Recommended Reading

Thurman Arnold, The Bottlenecks of Business, Chapter XIX

A. T. Mason, Organized Labor and the Law

Carl Rauschenbush and Emanuel Stein, Labor Cases and Materials, 1941, p. 46-62.

  1. Minimum Wage and Hour Regulation
    1. Conditions Leading to Legislation
    2. Economic Principles and Consequences
    3. Administrative Agencies and Procedures
    4. Problems of Administration and Policy-Making

Required Reading

The Fair Labor Standards Act

Harry Millis and R.E. Montgomery, Labor’s Progress and Some Basic Labor Problems, pp. 324-56.

Recommended Reading

Richard B. Morris, Government and Labor in Early America

Dorothy Sells, British Wage Boards

Paul H. Douglas and J. Hochman, “Fair Labor Standards Act,” Political Science Quarterly, LIII (491-515); LIV (29-55)

Marion Cahill, Shorter Hours, A History of the Movement since the Civil War

E. Merrick Dodd, “The Supreme Court and Fair Labor Standards, 1941-45,” Harvard Law Review, February 1946, pp. 321-73.

E. M. Burns, Wages and the State

E. J. Riches, “Conflicts of Principles in Wage Regulation in New Zealand”, Economica, August 1938.

Orme W. Phelps, The Legislative Background of the Fair Labor Standards Act

Attorney General’s Committee on Administrative Procedure, Administrative Procedure in Government Agencies.

Wage and Hour Division, Annual Reports.

Bureau of National Affairs, Wage and Hour Manual, Cumulative Edition 1944-45

US. Department of Labor, Maximum Hour Regulation in France, 1936-40

U. S. Department of Labor, Wartime Regulation of Hours of Labor and Labor Supply in Great Britain.

Bureau of National Affairs, Your Working Time Problem under the Wage and Hour Law.

  1. Labor Supply and Unemployment
    1. Characteristics of the Labor Market
    2. Definitions and Measurement of Employment, Labor Force and Unemployment
    3. Employment Exchanges
    4. Unemployment Compensation

Required Reading

E. Wight Bakke, The Unemployed Worker, A Study of the Task of Making a Living Without a Job, pp. 1-34.

S. H. Slichter, “The Impact of the Social Security Program upon Mobility and Enterprise,” American Economic Review, March 1940.

Lloyd G. Reynolds, “The Supply of Labor to the Firm”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1946, pp. 390-411.

Louis J. Ducoff and M. S. Hagood, Labor Force Definitions and Measurements, Current Issues, Social Security Bulletin, pp. 1-35.

Recommended Reading

Dewey Anderson and Percey E. Davidson, Recent Occupational Trends in American Labor

G. E. Bigge, “Strength and Weakness of our Unemployment Compensation Program,” Social Security Bulletin, February 1944, pp. 5-11.

W. S. Woytinsky, Three Aspects of Labor Dynamics

Joan Robinson, “Mobility of Labor” in Essays in the Theory of Employment

A. C. Pigou, The Economics of Welfare, pp. 488-511, 656-70.

Elizabeth Gilboy, Applicants for War Relief, pp. 31-46; 69-83; 98-122

W. S. Woytinsky, “Controversial Aspects of Unemployment Estimates in the United States,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1941, pp. 68-77.

Henry H. Collins, Jr., America’s Own Refugees, pp. 89-180; 249-67

E. Wight Bakke, Citizens without Work, A Study of the Effects of Unemployment upon the Workers’ Social Relations and Practices, pp. 71-106, 283-306.

W. H. Beveridge, “An Analysis of Unemployment”, Economica, November 1936, pp. 357-86.

Harry Malisoff, “The Emergence of Unemployment Compensation,” Political Science Quarterly, 1939 (3 parts)

Harrison Clark, Swedish Unemployment Policy—1914-1940

Atkinson, R. C., Adencrantz, L. C., and Deming, B., Public Employment Service in the United States, Chs. 1 and 3.

Breckinridge, Sophonisba, Public Welfare Administration in the United States, Selected Documents (2nd edition)

Abbott, Edith, Public Assistance, Vol. 1, American Principles and Policies

Pilgrim Trust, Men without Work, Report

Huntington, Emily, Doors to Jobs

Matscheck, W., and Atkinson, R. C., Problems and Procedures of Unemployment Compensation in the States

White, R. C., Administering Unemployment Compensation

Kulp, A. C., Social Insurance Coordination, An Analysis of British and German Organization

F. N. Ball, Statute Law Relating to Employment, 1946 (English experience)

8,9 Security Against Accident, Ill Health, and Old Age

Required Reading

Harry Millis and Royal E. Montgomery, Labor’s Risks and Social Insurance, pp. 187-270; 353-420.

E. E. Witte, “Postwar Social Security” in Postwar Economic Problems, edited by S. E. Harris, pp. 263-77.

Bernhard J. Stern, Medicine in Industry, pp. 17-48 and 133-56.

“Union Health and Welfare Plans”, Monthly Labor Review, February 1947, pp. 191-214

Recommended Reading

J. Douglas Brown, “Economic Problems in the Provision of Security against the Life Hazards of Workers, American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1940

Twentieth Century Fund, More Security for Old Age, pp. 1-18; 69-86.

Seymour E. Harris, Economics of Social Security, pp. 161-279

Barbara Armstrong, The Health Insurance Doctor, pp 1-98

Heinrich, H. W., Industrial Accident Prevention

National Research Council, Committee on Work in Industry, Fatigue of Workers

Federal Security Agency, Social Security Board, Annual Reports

Abraham Epstein, Insecurity—A Challenge to America

Stewart, Maxwell S., Social Security

Davis, Michael M., America Organizes Medicine

William Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society

E. Wight Bakke, “America and the Beveridge Plan,” Yale Review, June 1944, pp. 642-57.

Social Security Bulletin, “A Basic Minimum Program of Social Security,” January 1944, pp. 3-12.

Franz Goldmann, Public Medical Care, Principles and Problems

Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, 79th Congress 1st Session, Issues in Social Security.

Verne Zimmer, “New Developments in Workmen’s Compensation”, Social Security Bulletin October 1944.

 

 

THE PROCESS OF “PUBLIC POLICY” FORMULATION

(The reading in this Section is to be distributed throughout the term rather than concentrated at the end of the course. The study of the Process of “Public Policy” Formulation must be interwoven with the actual problems of public policy.)

Required Reading

Neil W. Chamberlain, The Union Challenge to Management Control, (Pages to be assigned)

R. A. Gordon, Business Leadership in the Large Corporation, pp. 67-188.

Peter F. Drucker, Concept of the Corporation, pp. 1-114 (Optional)

Paul H. Appleby, Big Democracy, 1-144.

Walter Gellhorn, Federal Administrative Proceedings, pp. 1-40

Fritz Marx, Editor, Elements of Public Administration, pp. 314-338, 365-80

John M. Gaus, Reflections on Public Administration, (Optional)

Dorwin Cartwright, “Public Opinion Polls and Democratic Leadership”, Journal of Social Issues, May, 1946, pp. 3-12.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1893-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1), Box 4, Folder “1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: John Dunlop in Harvard Class Album 1950.

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

MIT. Applied Price Theory Readings. Robert Solow, 1971 or 1972

 

In Robert Solow’s papers at Duke University I found the following “cut-and-paste” draft of a reading list for a course in applied price theory. That course, 14.144 (Applied Price Theory),  did not appear in the MIT course catalogue until the 1972/73 academic year, though it is conceivable and even likely that the topics course for 1971 was renamed and built up from elements of Solow’s 1970 syllabus for “14.123 Topics in Price Theory” plus additions for the new topic “pollution control” and an expansion of the “regulated firms” section.

_________________

SYLLABUS FOR 14.144 APPLIED PRICE THEORY

Fall 1971 [sic]

            This course is intended to show how positive and normative price theory can be applied to situations which are non-standard in some way. It will normally proceed by taking up a number of separate topics. The current list of topics includes: I. Congestion tolls on roads and airports; II. Use of taxes and charges to control pollution; III. Behavior of regulated firms limited to a “fair rate of return”. In all cases the subject is the theory and not the practical details of application.

 

I. Congestion tolls

A. Walters, “The Theory and Measurement of Private and Social Cost of Highway Congestion,” ECONOMETRICA, Vol. 29, 1961, pp. 676-699.

W. Vickrey, “Optimization of Traffic and Facilities,” JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Vol. 1, N. 2, Ma 1967, pp. 123-136.

R.E. Park, “Congestion Tolls for Regulated Common Carriers,” ECONOMETRICA forthcoming (RAND paper, on reserve).

M. Marchand, “A Note on Optimal Tolls in an Imperfect Environment,” ECONOMETRICA, July-October 1968, pp. 575-581.

 

II. Control of Pollution

P. Bohm, “Pollution, Purification, and the Theory of External Effects”, SWEDISH JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Vol. 72, no. 2, June 1970.

W. Baumol and W. Oates, “The Use of Standards and Prices for Environmental Protection,” SWEDISH JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Vol. 73, no. 1, March 1971.

M. Kamien et al., “Asymmetry Between Bribes and Charges,” WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1966, pp. 147-157.

C. Upton, “Optimal Taxing of Water Pollution,” WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, Vol. 4, no. 5, October 1968, pp. 865-875.

 

III. Regulated Firms

H. Averch & L. Johnson, “Behavior of the Firm under Regulatory Constraint,” AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Dec 1962, pp. 1053-1069.

A. Takayama, “Behavior of the Firm under Regulatory Constraint,” AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, June 1969, pp. 255-260.

E. Bailey & J. Malone, “Resource Allocation and the Regulated Firm” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1970, pp. 129-142.

W. Baumol and A. Klevorick, “Input Choices and Rate-of-Return Regulation: An Overview””, BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, Vol. 1, Fall 1970, pp. 162-90.

A. Klevorick, “The ‘Optimal’ Fair Rate of Return”, BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, Vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 1971, pp. 122-153.

N. Edelson, “Resource Allocation and the Regulated Firm: a Reply to Bailey and Malone,” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, Vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 1971, pp. 374-378.

 

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library, Papers of Robert M. Solow, Box 68, Folder “University Notebook, 14.123”.

Image Source: Robert Solow images at the MIT Museum website.

Categories
Economists Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus Williams

Williams College. Joan Robinson’s (last) course reading list, 1982

After a glorious three week archive/library tour that has taken me from the Library of Congress in Washington to the Harvard Archives to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to the Johns Hopkins Archives and back to the Library of Congress, I have time before my flight back to Berlin for a post.

Less than a year before her death, Joan Robinson taught at Williams College in the Autumn/Winter of 1982. Her lectures at Williams were attended by a former colleague of mine from the University of Houston, Dr. D. Andrew Austin, now at the Library of Congress. Andrew shared with me the reading list for her lectures “Problems in Economic Analysis” along with a list of questions for a paper/take-home (exam).

Robinson’s chosen readings are taken from her books:

  • Economic Heresies: Some Old-fashioned Questions in Economic Theory. London: Macmillan, 1971.
  • Contributions to Modern Economics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978.
  • Aspects of Development and Underdevelopment. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
  • Collected Economic Papers (5 vols.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1951-79; reprinted by MIT Press in 1980.
  • What are the Questions? An Other Essays: Further Contributions to Modern Economics. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1981.

_________________________

 

Professor Joan Robinson

PROBLEMS IN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
[Williams College, 1982]

OUTLINE OF TOPICS AND REFERENCES

  1. Economics: Ideas and Ideology
    “Marx, Marshall, and Keynes” (Contributions to Modern Economics, Ch. 7)
    “Economics Today” (Collected Economic Papers, Vol. 4, p. 122-127)
    “The Second Crisis of Economic Theory” (Collected Papers, 4, Ch. 10)
  2. What are the Questions?
    “What are the Questions?” (Further Contributions, Ch. 1)
    “The Age of Growth” (Further Contributions, Ch. 2)
    “Stagflation” (Further Contributions, Ch. 3)
  3. and 4. Effective Demand and Employment
    “Prices and Money” (Economic Heresies, Ch. 6)
    “Obstacles to Full Employment” (Contributions, Ch. 3)
    “The Rate of Interest” (Contributions, Ch. 5)
  4. Prices
    “The Philosophy of Prices” (Contributions, Ch. 14)
    “Imperfect Competition Revisited” (Contributions, Ch. 15)
    “The Theory of Value Reconsidered” (Contributions, Ch. 16)
    “The Theory of the Firm” (Economic Heresies, Ch. 7)
  5. Capital, Distribution, and Growth
    “The Meaning of Capital” (Contributions, Ch. 11)
    “Marginal Productivity” (Collected Papers, Vol. 4, Ch. 14)
    “Interest and Profit” (Economic Heresies, Ch. 3)
    “Surplus and Accumulation” (Aspects of Development & Underdevelopment, Ch. 2)
  6. International Trade
    “Beggar-My-Neighbour Remedies for Unemployment” (Contributions, Ch. 17)
    “The New Mercantilism” (Contributions, Ch. 18)
    “Trade in Primary Commodities” (Aspects of Development, Ch. 4)
  7. Economic Development
    “The Poverty of Nations” (Collected Papers, Vol. 4, Ch. 11)
    Aspects of Development and Underdevelopment
  8. Capitalism and Socialism
    “Latter-Day Capitalism” (Contributions, Ch. 21)
    “Has Capitalism Changed” (Contributions, Ch. 20)
    “Socialist Affluence” (Contributions, Ch. 22)

 

Econ. 353 Paper/Take Home
Professor Joan Robinson

Do the following three questions:

  1. Experience in the 1980s seems to be fulfilling Kalecki’s prediction of a political trade cycle. Comment.
  2. a) Explain Keynes’ theory of employment.
    b) Keynes failed to make clear whether this theory was intended to apply to a closed or open economy. Does it matter? Why or why not?
  3. What is the meaning of capital as a factor of production?

 

Choose one of the following two questions:

  1. The orthodox doctrines of economics which were dominant in the last quarter of the nineteenth century had a clear message. They supported laisser faire, free trade, the gold standard, and the universally advantageous effects of the pursuit of profit by competitive private enterprise. This was acceptable to the authorities in an expanding and flourishing capitalist world, especially to the authorities in England, which was still felt to be the dominant center and chief beneficiary of the system. Comment.
  2. The so-called Quantity Theory of Money consists in mistaking a symptom for a cause. Comment.

 

 

Source: Copy provided to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror by D. Andrew Austin of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Image Source: Joan Robinson at Williams College, Fall 1982 in Joan Robinson and the Americans by Marjorie Shephard Turner, p. 112 (ebook price: $9.99). Published by M. E. Sharpe , 1989.

 

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Junior Year Theory of Production and Distribution of National Income. Haberler and Leontief, 1942.

 

 

The last time Economics 1 was offered as a year course (1939-40), it was taught by Professor Chamberlin, Associate Professor Leontief and Instructor O.H. Taylor. Starting in the academic year 1940-41, Economics 1 was split into the two semester courses Economics 1a (Chamberlin: Economic Theory) and 1b (O.H.Taylor: Intellectual Background of Economic Thought). Two years later, 1941-42, the second semester course 1b was taught by Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief under the title “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income”. In 1942-43, Economics 1b as “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income” was taught a last time by Professor Leontief and Dr. Monroe.

Here is a recently added link to the final examination questions for the 1941-42 course taught by Haberler and Leontief.

__________________________

Course enrollment

*1b 2hf. Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief.–Theory of Production and Distribution of National Income.

Total 27: 2 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1941-42, p. 62.

__________________________

Economics 1b
1941-42

 

  1. Theory of Wages
  2. Theory of Capital and Interest
    1. Capital goods as factors of production. Stock vs. flow concepts. Durable and non-durable goods. Money capital and the rate of interest. Demand for capital by an individual firm.
    2. Time preference. Propensity to save.
    3. Interrelation of production and consumption goods industries. General equilibrium. national Income, Saving, and Investment.
  1. Theory of Profits
  1. Introduction to Welfare Economics

Modern theory of utility. Individual vs. social utility. Distribution of national income. Private vs. social marginal product.

 

Readings in: (Specific chapter and page of assignments will be given later.)

Paul Douglas, The Theory of Wages.
Meade and Hitch, An Introduction to Economic Analysis.
Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital.
J. B. Clark, The Distribution of Wealth.
Irving Fisher, The Theory of Interest (1930).
J. M. Keynes. General Theory of Interest and Unemployment.
K. Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy. [Volume I; Volume II]
Pigou, Economics of Welfare.
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory.

Articles by Frank Knight in the Journal of Political Economy and by A. Lerner in the Economic Journal.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1942.

 

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Junior Year Economic Theory, Chamberlin. 1940

 

 

The last time the undergraduate course Economics 1 (Economic Theory) was offered as a full year course (1939-40), it was taught as an honors course by Professor Edward Chamberlin, Associate Professor Wassily Leontief and Instructor O.H. Taylor. Starting in the academic year 1940-41, Harvard’s Economics 1 was split into back-to-back semester courses Economics 1a (Chamberlin: Economic Theory) and 1b (Taylor: The Intellectual Background of Economic Thought). Two years later the second semester course 1b was taught by Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief under the title “Theory of Production and Distribution of the National Income” (1941-42).

________________________________

Course Enrollment

*1a 1hf. Professor Chamberlin.—Economic Theory.

Total 63: 1 Senior, 56 Juniors, 6 Sophomores.

 

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-1941, p. 58.

________________________________

ECONOMICS 1a
1940-41
Revised Outline

  1. The Law of Supply and Demand. Meaning and Generality. Relation to the Law of Cost. Cost curves and supply curves. Relation to monopoly and to competition. Pure and perfect competition. Market problem illustrating deviations from “equilibrium” as defined by perfect competition. Equilibrium vs. the equation of supply and demand.

Mill—Principles, Book III, chapters 2, 3, 5.
Chamberlin—Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.
Henderson—Supply and Demand, chapters 1,2.
Marshall—Principles, pp. 348-350; p. 806 note.

  1. Competitive theory, illustrated by Marshall.

Marshall—Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12.

  1. The effect of small numbers in the market.

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 3.

  1. Product differentiation. Co-existence and blending of monopoly and competition. Output (sales) as a function of price, “product” and selling outlays. Price-quantity relationships examined in some detail, selling costs and products as variables more briefly.

Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 (pp. 130-149), Appendices C, D, E.
Alsberg, C. L.—“Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation,” Q.J.E., Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

  1. Production and Distribution. Diminishing returns. Diminishing marginal productivitiy. The laws of cost. General effect of monopoly elements on the analysis.

Garver & Hansen—Principles, chapter 5.
Viner, J.—“Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

  1. Theory of Wages.

Hicks, J. R.—Theory of Wages, chapters 6, 7.

  1. Profits.

Henderson, Supply and Demand, Ch. 7.

________________________________

ECONOMICS 1a
1940-41

  1. The Law of Supply and Demand. Meaning and Generality. Relation to the Law of Cost. Cost curves and supply curves. Relation to monopoly and to competition. Pure and perfect competition. Market problem illustrating deviations from “equilibrium” as defined by perfect competition. Equilibrium vs. the equation of supply and demand.

Mill—Principles, Book III, chapters 2, 3, 5.
Chamberlin—Monopolistic Competition, chapters 1, 2.
Henderson—Supply and Demand, chapters 1,2.
Marshall—Principles, pp. 348-350; p. 806 note.

  1. Competitive theory, illustrated by Marshall.

Marshall—Principles, Book V, chapters 1-5; book IV, chapter 13; Book V, chapters 8, 9, 10, 12.

  1. The effect of small numbers in the market.

Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 3.

  1. Product differentiation. Co-existence and blending of monopoly and competition. Output (sales) as a function of price, “product” and selling outlays. Price-quantity relationships examined in some detail, selling costs and products as variables more briefly.

Monopolistic Competition, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 (pp. 130-149), Appendices C, D, E.
Alsberg, C. L.—“Economic Aspects of Adulteration and Imitation,” Q.J.E., Vol. 46, p. 1 (1931).

  1. Production and Distribution. Diminishing returns. Diminishing marginal productivitiy. The laws of cost. General effect of monopoly elements on the analysis.

Garver & Hansen—Principles, chapter 5.
Viner, J.—“Cost Curves and Supply Curves,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 1931.
Monopolistic Competition, Appendix B.

  1. Theory of Wages.

Hicks, J. R.—Theory of Wages, chapters 6, 7.

  1. Theory of Capital and Interest.

Clark, J. B., The Distribution of Wealth, Chapters 9 and 10.
Böhm-Bawerk, The Positive Theory of Capital, Book II, Chs. 2 and 5, Book V.

  1. Profits.

Marshall, Book VI, Ch. 5, section 7; Chs. 7, 8.
Taussig, Principles, Vol. II, Ch. 50, section 1.
Henderson, Supply and Demand, Ch. 7.
Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation, Book IV.
Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 5, section 6; Ch. 7, section 6; Appendices D, E; Ch. 8.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-1941”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album 1946.