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Agricultural Economics Economists Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus for “Consumption, Distribution and Prices” taught by PhD (1952) alumnus, Richard H. Holton, 1954-55

 

 

The Harvard course “Consumption, Distribution and Prices” was an odd amalgam. The first semester was a course in marketing and the second semester was a course in the theory of micro- and macroeconomic consumption and saving functions with an added dash of advertising economics and agricultural economic policy thrown in. The instructor for 1954-55 was an assistant professor of economics, Richard Henry Holton who had completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1952.  Holton went on to a successful economic policy and academic administrative career culminating in the Deanship of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. His biography is sketched in the memorial piece reproduced below.

The syllabus for Economics 107 “Consumption, Distribution and Prices” completes this post.

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Ph.D. in Economics awarded by Harvard University in 1952

Richard Henry Holton, S.B. in Bus. (Miami Univ.) 1947, A.M. (Ohio State Univ.) 1948.

Special Field, Consumption, Distribution, and Prices. Thesis, “The Supply and Demand Structure of Food Retailing Service: a Case Study.”

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1951-1952, p. 176.

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IN MEMORIAM
Richard Holton (1926-2005)
E. T. Grether Professor of Marketing, Emeritus
Dean, Haas School of Business
Berkeley

Richard H. Holton was the E. T. Grether Professor of Marketing, Emeritus and, from 1967 to 1975, dean of the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Dean Holton, who joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1957, was a leader in the fields of marketing, international business and entrepreneurship and left a lasting imprint in these areas at the Haas School. Throughout his career, Dean Holton focused on teaching, campus leadership and public service. On leave from the campus from 1963 to 1965, he served as U.S. assistant secretary of commerce. He was thoughtful, considerate, self-effacing, devoted to the greater good of the school and the University, and always alert toward the welfare of colleagues, friends, and family. He was also known for his good stories to liven an occasion, and to soften conflict in an organizational setting.

Holton grew up in the small town of London, Ohio. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1947 with honors in economics. At Miami, he met Constance Minzey, whom he married in 1947. The couple moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he earned a master’s degree in economics at Ohio State University. He then enrolled in the doctoral program in economics at Harvard University. He was a resident tutor in Adams House at Harvard, with Constance (Connie), during several years of his graduate studies.

From 1951 to 1952, Holton was assistant director of marketing projects at the Social Science Research Center at the University of Puerto Rico. His work there led to his 1955 monograph, “Marketing Efficiency in Puerto Rico,” written with the late J. K. Galbraith and others. He also was coauthor, with Richard Caves, of another study, “The Canadian Economy: Prospect and Retrospect” (1959).

He was assistant professor of economics at Harvard from 1953 to 1957, and in 1957 he came to UC Berkeley as an associate professor in the School of Business Administration (later renamed the Haas School of Business). Holton became director of the Berkeley campus’s Institute of Business and Economics Research in 1959. He reorganized it to reflect the growing interest in business science. His own research resulted in a steady flow of publications in marketing policies and competition.

From 1962 to 1963, he served as special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. President John F. Kennedy appointed him assistant secretary of commerce in February 1963, and he served until February 1965. Holton’s continuing interest in consumer protection resulted in a year’s appointment by President Lyndon B. Johnson as chairman of the President’s Consumer Advisory Council. He also served from 1968 to 1972 as chairman of the Public Advisory Committee on Truth in Lending Regulations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

In 1967, Holton became dean of the School of Business Administration at UC Berkeley. During his tenure, he fostered stronger relationships with business leaders, and served on numerous advisory boards of business organizations. He is widely credited with launching some of the current distinctive capabilities of the Haas School in entrepreneurship and international affairs, and its part-time M.B.A. program. As dean, he also initiated a system of student ratings of all courses at the Haas School, a practice still used today to gauge teaching effectiveness and improve courses over time.

In 1970, Holton started a course in entrepreneurship and business development, one of the first such courses at any business school, enlisting a widely-experienced entrepreneur and Haas School alumnus, Leo Helzel, to co-teach the course. This association led to new support for research and teaching in entrepreneurship, and the formation, with contributions from Williams-Sonoma Chairman Howard Lester, of the Haas School’s Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. His work with the program in entrepreneurship and innovation helped to generate the school’s immensely popular annual business plan competitions. He is also credited with developing the school’s first curriculum for international business studies, another key element of the school’s current academic programs.

To reach an important new group of students, in 1972 Dean Holton initiated a part-time M.B.A. Program in San Francisco to serve qualified candidates who wanted to gain the benefits of a management degree but were not able to leave their jobs for a full-time M.B.A. program. That program has since evolved into the Berkeley Evening & Weekend M.B.A. Program, which now enrolls more students than does the full-time M.B.A. program; it is now offered on the Berkeley campus and in Silicon Valley. It has accommodated the steadily growing demand by students for a top-ranked management education on a part-time schedule.

In 1981, Holton expanded on a longtime personal interest in international business when he became dean of visiting faculty of the newly established National Center for Industrial Science and Technology Management Development, which was part of the Dalian Institute of Technology in the People’s Republic of China. Holton and his wife commuted between Berkeley and Dalian for the following five years, while he continued his regular faculty duties at UC Berkeley. Between 1980 and 1992, Holton wrote a number of articles on the emergence of a modern, market-based economy in China, writing about international joint ventures and their financing, China’s state planning as compared to market-driven behavior, economic reform of the distribution sector of China, and China’s prospects as an industrialized country. He also coedited a book, United States-China Relations (University of California Press, 1989). Holton traveled extensively in China and led California Alumni Association-sponsored Bear Trek trips there.

Holton was awarded the Berkeley Citation, the campus’s highest honor, at his retirement in 1991. Even after his retirement, for three years until spring of 2005, when his health began to fail, he taught a freshman seminar, “The Economic Development of Modern China”.

Holton kept taped to his desk lamp at home a quote from Thomas Carlyle, reflecting Holton’s belief in his calling as an educator: “There is nothing more fearsome than ignorance in action.” Holton’s love for the campus community was expressed in his enthusiasm for Cal Bears football, his participation in a campus photography club, and his membership in the all-male Monks Chorus, a group of faculty, alumni and others with campus ties who, clad as Franciscan monks, perform at The Faculty Club Christmas feast. Holton joined the Monks (whose history goes back to 1902) in the early 1960s, and sang bass.

Holton loved the mountains, and took every opportunity to take backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada. He often made these trips with his friend and colleague of more than 40 years, Fred Balderston, an emeritus UC Berkeley professor at the Haas School.

A generous philanthropist and devoted member of public interest organizations, within a year of moving to Berkeley Holton joined the board of directors of the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley. His board membership with Alta Bates Hospital spanned nearly four decades. He was to be named a 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Alta Bates Summit Foundation. He also served on the board of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation, the Council of Better Business Bureaus, The World Affairs Council of Northern California, and the board of trustees at Mills College. He and his family shared a longtime commitment to the Point Reyes peninsula and the village of Inverness, California.

As his health failed, he was surrounded by his wife and children. He died peacefully at home in Berkeley on Monday, October 24, 2005, after battling cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Holton is survived by Constance, his wife of nearly 60 years; brother, David, of Washington, D.C.; daughters, Melissa Holton, of Moss Landing and Inverness, and Jane Kriss, of Inverness; son, Tim, of Berkeley; and three grandchildren.

Raymond Miles
Frederick Balderston

Source: Senate of the University of California. In Memoriam—Richard Holton (1926-2005).

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Course Enrollment
1954-55

[Economics] 107. Consumption, Distribution and Prices. Assistant Professor Holton. Full course.

(F) Total 38: 11 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 1 Other.
(S) Total 36: 11 Seniors, 23 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1954-55, p. 89.

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Economics 107
Consumption, Distribution and Prices
Fall Term, 1954-55

Texts:

Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Elements of Marketing, Prentice-Hall, 5thedition
Clewett, Marketing Channels, Irwin

  1. Survey of the distributive sector. September 28-October 7.

Compass of the distributive sector; its quantitative importance in the economy; capital coefficients and value added in the distributive sector; the problem of measuring “efficiency” in distribution in contrast with manufacturing; pressures increasing and pressures decreasing distribution costs; distribution and economic growth.

Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Chapter 1
Stewart and Dewhurst, Does Distribution Cost Too Much? Chapters 1, 2, 5, 10, 11
Black and Houston, Resource-Use Efficiency in the Marketing of Farm Products, pp. 22-47
Westing, Readings in Marketing, Readings 1, 2, 3.

  1. The nature of marketing channels. October 14-October 26.

Alternative types of marketing channels; factors affecting the nature of the channel; vertical integration and quasi-integration; recent changes in distribution channels.

Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Chapter 4, 5, 13, 15-20, 23, 24.
Clewett, Chapters 2-17
Westing, Readings in Marketing, 19-21, 23, 25
McNair and Hansen, Problems in Marketing: General Mills, p. 199; Whalen, p. 215; National Rock Drill Co., p. 225; Atlas, p. 254.

OCTOBER 28—MID-TERM EXAMINATION

  1. Costs and products of firms in distribution. November 2-November 30.

Empirical cost studies of retail firms; a priori analysis of cost conditions in retailing and wholesaling; selling costs and the advertising budget; cost allocation and cost control in distribution; the nature of the product in distribution; the problem of selecting the product “mix”; the product mix and price discrimination.

Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Chapter 27, 28, 29, 31, 32.
Clewett, Chapters 18 and 19
Dean, Managerial Economics, Chapters 3 and 6 (pp. 351-375)
Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Chapter 7
Cary Company case (on reserve in Lamont)
McNair and Hansen, Problems in Marketing: Richwell, p. 117

  1. Price policy of firms in distribution. December 2-December 18.

Retailers’ pricing practices; role of cost in distributors’ price policy; the determination of trade discounts; price discrimination under the Robinson Patman Act; resale price maintenance.

Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Chapter 26
Q. F. Walker, “Some Principles of Department Store Pricing,” Journal of Marketing, January 1950
O. Knauth, “Considerations in the Setting of Retail Prices,” Journal of Marketing, July 1949
R. Alt, “The Internal Organization of the Firm and Price Formation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1949
Dean, Managerial Economics, Chapter 9
S.D. Rose, “Your Right to Lower Your Prices,” Harvard Business Review, September 1951
E. R. Corey, “Fair Trade Pricing, A Reappraisal,” Harvard Business Review, September-October 1952
McNair and Hansen, Problems in Marketing: Dewey and Almy, p. 575; Canners’ League, p. 581; Boothby, p. 608

Reading Period: Margaret Hall, Distributive Trading, Hutchinson’s University Library

 

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Economics 107
Consumption, Distribution and Prices
Spring Term, 1954-55

It is suggested, but not required, that students buy Heller, Boddy and Nelson, Savings in the Modern Economy.

  1. The demand for consumer goods; Feb. 3-Feb. 24
    1. Consumption expenditures in the aggregate: consumption expenditures and savings in the national income data; the consumption function, long run and short run; determinants of the savings to income ratio; consumer demand, economic growth, and the business cycle.

Readings:

(Review Samuelson, Economics, Ch. 13)
Richard Ruggles, National Income and Income Analysis, Ch. 4, pp. 67-78
Heller, Boddy and Nelson, Savings in the Modern Economy, contributions by Goldsmith, Woodward and Bryce, pp. 133-155; Duesenberry, pp. 195-203; Morgan and Reid, pp. 213-220; Hansen, pp. 47-55; and Slichter, pp. 64-72.
Arthur Burns, The Instability of Consumer Spending, 32nd Annual Report of the National Bureau of Economic Research, pp. 3-20
James S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving and Consumer Behavior, Ch. 3

    1. The theory of consumer demand and the demand for classes of consumer goods: The theory of consumer demand reviewed; the utility approach and the indifference curve approach evaluated; income elasticity, budget studies and Engel’s law; psychological analysis of consumer behavior; trends in U.S. consumption.

Readings:

(Review Samuelson, Ch. 23 and Appendix)
Ruby Norris, The Theory of Consumer’s Demand, Ch. 3
Converse, Huegy and Mitchell, Ch. 2
Talcott Parsons, Essays in Sociological Theory, Ch. 3, “The Motivation of Economic Activity.”
George Katona, Psychological Analysis of Economic Behavior, Ch. 5
Lerner and Lasswell (ed), The Policy Sciences, Ch. 12, “Expectations and Decisions in Economic Behavior,” by G. Katona
“The Changing American Market,” Fortune, August, 1953

Section Meetings:

Feb. 8: National income and the consumption function reviewed
Feb. 15: Consumption function in the current literature
Mar. 1: Marginal utility; indifference curves

  1. The demand for producer goods; March 1-March 8

Investment expenditures and the theory of income determination; investment expenditures in the national income data; the determinants of investment expenditures; fluctuations in inventory investment; the firm’s demand for producers’ goods; the determinants of corporate savings.

Readings:

R.A. Gordon, Business Fluctuations, Ch. 5
Tinbergen and Polak, The Dynamics of Business Cycles, Ch. 13, pp. 163-182
Joel Dean, Managerial Economics, Ch. 10, pp. 549-600
Heller, Boddy and Nelson, Savings in the Modern Economy, contribution by John Lintner, pp. 230-255

Section Meetings:

March 8: Producer demand

  1. Identifying demand conditions for the individual firm; March 10-March 15

Survey of market research and sales forecasting methods

Readings:

Dean, Managerial Economics, Ch. 4, pp. 141-220 only

Section meetings:

March 15: Market research; read Canner’s League of California case in McNair and Hansen, Problems in Marketing, p. 581

  1. Marketing and public policy issues; March 17-March 24

Economic effects of advertising; the problem of consumer information; FTC and FDA control of labeling, standards, and truth in advertising; consumer research and consumer cooperatives as solutions; resale price maintenance and advertising.

Readings:

L. Gordon, Economics for Consumers, Ch. 24 and 26
Neil Borden, Economic Effects of Advertising, Ch. 28, pp. 837-882

Section meetings:

March 22: Review
March 29: Economic effects of advertising

MARCH 29: MID-TERM EXAMINATION

  1. Marketing of farm products; March 31-April 14

The impact of imperfect markets in agriculture; fluctuations in marketing margins over time; futures market; the functioning and control fo futures markets.

Readings:

Converse, Heugy and Mitchell, Ch. 21 and 22
G. Shepherd, Marketing Farm Products, Ch. 9 and 10
W. H. Nicholls, Imperfect Competition within Agricultural Industries, Ch. 4 to p. 81

Section meetings:

April 12: Impact of price support operations on the marketing of farm products

  1. Federal farm policy; April 21-May 3

The goals of an agricultural policy; predecessors of the present program; details of the present policy; advantages and disadvantages of the present policy; the alternatives

Readings:

T. Schultz, Production and Welfare of Agriculture, Ch. 5, 7, 8
Schickele, Agricultural Policy, Ch. 3, 9-17

Section Meetings:

April 26: Mechanics of parity and price supports
May 3: Review

Reading Period Assignment: Ruth Mack, “Economics of Consumption,” in Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, plus readings to be assigned; and Editors of Fortune, Why Do People Buy, Ch. 1.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1954-1955”.

Image Source:  “Happy 120th Birthday, Berkeley Haas!” Webpage from Summer 2018.

Categories
Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus and assigned readings for interdisciplinary course, Social Sciences 2, 1970-71.

 

Regular followers of this blog will have noticed a recurring theme of economics education within a broader historical/social scientific curriculum. This post looks at a long-time staple of Harvard’s undergraduate General Education course offerings, Social Sciences 2 “Western Thought and Institutions” that was conceived and taught by government professor Samuel H. Beer over three decades assisted by a changing stable of “section men”[sic! Theda Skocpol was a section leader in 1970-71]. 

I am a firm believer in the virtues of building a broad interdisciplinary foundation before allowing (compelling?) economics majors and graduate students to turn their attention to the technical methods of the discipline. The former promotes the capacity to pose interesting questions and the latter creates a capacity to seek solutions to those questions. 

Following the two Harvard Crimson articles on Professor Beer and his course, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror is delighted to provide the course syllabus with its reading assignments from the academic year 1970-71. Students had to write three papers each term and according to the source for this syllabus (see below), he spend “as much work for SocSci 2 as [he] did for the other three courses combined”.

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Beer’s Soc Sci 2 Comes to A Close With Last Lecture
by Jaleh Poorooshasb
The Harvard Crimson, May 5, 1978

A chapter of Harvard history ended yesterday as Samuel H. Beer, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, delivered his last Harvard lecture before retiring.

Beer spoke before a packed hall of about 300 students, admirers and colleagues, some of whom had come as far as a thousand miles to hear the grand finale of Social Sciences 2, “Western Thought and Institutions.”

Although Beer will take advantage of retirement regulations that allow him to teach on a half-time basis, Soc Sci 2, which Beer has taught for 30 years, will be gone from Harvard forever.

“In this case, the man made the course and we would not presume to replace him,” John H. Harvey, assistant director of General Education, said yesterday.

In the lecture, which received thunderous applause and a standing ovation, Beer discussed Nazi Germany and ended with a quote from a prison camp survivor saying good and bad people exist everywhere.

Then, before the audience realized the lecture was over, and began clapping and cheering, Beer bounded out the door. He was halfway down Divinity Ave. before Michael Walzer, professor of Government and a former sectionman for Soc Sci 2, caught up with him and invited him to the Faculty Club, where more than 20 former sectionmen attended a luncheon in Beer’s honor.

The list of former sectionmen in Soc Sci 2 includes such notables as Henry A. Kissinger ’50 and James R. Schlesinger ’50.

Old Soldiers?

“Good courses never die,” Walzer said yesterday, adding that Beer’s influence will continue through his former students.

Beer, who is best known for his work in British politics and federalism in America, will continue to study and write books in both fields, Beer said yesterday.

He will teach two government courses at Harvard next fall and will repeat them during the winter quarter at Dartmouth, he added. One course is entitled “American Federalism” and the other “Modern British Politics and Policy.”

One of a Kind

Beer, former chairman of the Government Department at Harvard and author of several major works, “is a rich scholar of the type that is not created any more,” in a world geared toward specialization,” Sidney Verba ’53, chairman of the Government Department, said yesterday.

Beer said he is “quite content to terminate Soc. Sci. 2.”

“My father took it when he was here but I didn’t sign up because he told me it’s too hard,” one freshman, who wished to remain anonymous, said yesterday.

Beer made no personal observations during the lecture. He began by saying, “I really have changed my lectures over the years. I’ve even changed the jokes. But this lecture I haven’t changed. There’s such an air of finality about it.”

Beer has long been considered one of the foremost American experts on the theory of federalism. His writings include “The Modernization of American Federalism.”

Sam Beer, Legendary Gov Prof, Dies at 97
By Huma N. Shah
The Harvard Crimson, April 14, 2009

Last year, when the Harvard government department organized a meeting for alumni, current professors were asked to give a presentation on their projects and research. One participant was former professor and department chair Samuel H. Beer, who gave a short statement about the nuances of political science during his tenure at Harvard from 1946 to 1982.

“He completely stole the show,” said government professor Stanley Hoffmann, a former student of Beer’s. “[The current professors] were all preempted by the master, who spoke without notes, remembering everyone and everything. No one believed the man was 96 years old at the time.”

Beer, a noted scholar of British and American politics, passed away on April 7, at the age of 97.

“He was a spectacularly good teacher because his classes were all in the form of questions he addressed to himself and his students, for which he had all sorts of arguments before coming to his own conclusion,” said Hoffman. “It was very different from the typical top-down sort of lecturing. It was as if he was struggling with his own opinions.”

Beer, the chair of the Harvard government department from 1954 to 1958, served as the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government for years before moving to Boston College in 1982 to be a professor of American politics.

Receiving his B.A. from the University of Michigan, Beer went to England on a Rhodes Scholarship before receiving his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard in 1943. He was later granted an honorary doctorate from the University in 1997 in recognition of “his scholarship and [the] enormous impact his teaching had on undergraduates for over three decades,” said Peter A. Hall, Beer’s former student, who is currently a European studies professor at Harvard.

Beer was most famous for his self-designed course Social Studies 2: “Western Thought and Institutions,” which he taught for 30 years. Students studied six key moments in the development of Western Civilization, and “used theoretical lenses to understand the historical process,” said former teaching fellow Judith E. Vichniac, the current director of the fellowship program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

“Everywhere he went he was stopped on the streets by people who have taken that course,” Hall said. “It was one that inspired thousands of Harvard students.”

The teaching fellows who worked with Beer often went on to careers as academics or public service officials. Some of his famous students included Henry A. Kissinger ’50, Michael Walzer, and Charles H. Tilly ’50.

Before studying at Harvard, Beer was a staff member of the Democratic National Committee, and occasionally wrote speeches for former President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 and 1936.

Active in American politics, Beer was chairman of Americans for Democratic Action during his tenure at Harvard from 1959 to 1962. He also actively opposed student rebellions at Harvard during the late sixties.

Beer was elected president of the American Political Science Association in 1977, and was also appointed as a fellow of the British Academy in 2000.

After earning his Ph.D., Beer earned a Bronze Star fighting with the U.S. Army in Normandy. During his time at Oxford in the 1930s, he travelled to Germany, where he saw Hitlerism first hand, according to Government professor Harvey C. Mansfield ’53, another of Beer’s former students.

“He wanted to know how Germany could have fallen so far to embrace these vicious totalitarian ideas,” Mansfield said. “His courses were often directed to that subject.” Beer described the influence of these travels on his graduate work at Harvard in the Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions.

“By the time I came to Harvard in the fall of 1938, I was a fierce anti-communist, a fervent New Dealer, a devotee of Emerson, and ready to try to put it all together….[in] a defense of liberalism against the totalitarian threat,” Beer wrote. Many of his former students praised Beer’s engaging personality and dedication to teaching.

“He had a very good eye for the most important questions in politics and was intensely engaged with the thinkers over the ages who had worked with those questions,” Hall said. “When you talked to Sam Beer you were engaging in a dialogue with Marx, Weber, or Augustine. He had read an enormous amount, and he thought deeply about the big social and political questions throughout his life.”

“He would come to class wearing his military outfit and pump his fist, and tell us what to think about,” Mansfield said.

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SOCIAL SCIENCES 2
READING LIST
Fall Term 1970-71

The work of the Fall Term consists of three essays, one for each topic, and the mid-year examination. Section men will make specific assignments and suggest additional reading for these essays.

Books for Purchase

Students should own the following books, available at the Harvard Coop, or elsewhere as announced:

  1. Bunyan, John, THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
    Paperback: New American Library: Signet Classics
  2. DOCUMENTS FOR CLASS USE (Assize of Clarendon, Writs from the treatis called “Glanville” Magna Carta, and the Constitutions of Clarendon). Pamphlet: University Printing Office. On sale in General Education office, 1737 Cambridge St., Rm. 602.
  3. Hill, Christopher, THE CENTURY OF REVOLUTION 1603-1714
    Paperback: W. W. Norton
  4. Marx and Engels, BASIC WRITINGS ON POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY
    Edited by Lewis S. Feuer. Paperback: Doubleday (Anchor)
  5. Marx and Engels, COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
    Edited by Samuel H. Beer. Paperback: Appleton-Century-Crofts (Crofts Classics)
  6. SOCIAL CONTRACT: ESSAYS BY LOCKE, HUME, AND ROUSSEAU
    Introduction by Ernest Barker. Paperback: Oxford (Galaxy Books)
  7. Tierney, Brian, THE CRISIS OF CHURCH AND STATE 1050-1300
    Paperback: Prentice-Hall (Spectrum)
  8. Weber, Max, THEORY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION, translated by A. Herderson and T. Parsons.
    Paperback: MacMillan Free Press.
  9. Walzer, Michael, THE REVOLUTION OF THE SAINTS
    Paperback: Atheneum

 

Attention of members of the course is directed to the new book written by former section men in Social Sciences too, Melvin Richter (Ed.), Essays in Theory and History: An Approach to Social Sciences (Harvard University Press 1970)

Assigned Reading

Everything on the following list is on “closed reserve” in Lamont and Hilles Libraries. The date suggested here will vary during the semester; lectures and section discussions should be your guides.

TOPIC 1: TRADITIONALISM AND THE MEDIEVAL POLITY

  1. Week of September 28: THE SOCIOLOGY OF AUTHORITY
    Weber, Max, THE THEORY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION, pp. 324-392.
  2. Weeks of October 5, 12, and 19: FEUDAL MONARCHY IN ENGLAND
    Bloch, Marc, FEUDAL SOCIETY, pp. 59-92, 103-120, 270-274.
    Poole, Austin Lane, FROM DOMESDAY BOOK TO MAGNA CARTA 1087-1216, chaps, I, II, V, X-XIV.
    Jolliffe, J.E.A., THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND, pp. 139-263.
    John of Salisbury, THE STATEMAN’ S BOOK (from the POLICRATICUS), translated by John Dickinson, Introduction, Text: IV:1, 2, 3, (pp. 9-10), 4, 11; V:1, 2, 5; VI:18, 20, 21, 24; VII:17-19; VIII:17 (pp. 335-9), 18, 20, 23, (pp. 398-9; 405-10)
    DOCUMENTS FOR CLASS USE: Assize of Clarendon, Writs from the Treatis called “Glanvill,” Magna Carta.

Optional: ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS 1042-1189 (Vol. II of series) edited by David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway. Nos. 1 (years 1135-154), 10, 12, (pp. 322-4, 331-3, 335-8), 16, 19, 58-9, 268.

TOPIC II: DYNAMICS OF MEDIEVAL DEVELOPMENT

  1. Week of October 26: THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
    Weber, Max, FROM MAX WEBER: ESSAYS IN SOCIOLOGY, edited by H. Gerth and C. W. Mills, “THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF WORLD RELIGIONS,” pp. 267-301.
    Weber, Max, THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION, edited by Talcott Parsons, chaps. VIII, XI, XIII.
  2. Weeks of November 2: THEORIES OF SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL POWER.
    Lovejoy, Arthur O., THE GREAT CHAIN OF BEING, A STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA, pp. 24-77.
    Tierney, Brian, THE CRISIS OF CHURCH AND STATE 1050-1300, pp. 1-95, 127-138.
    Brooke, Z. N., LAY INVESTITURE AND ITS RELATION TO THE CONFLICT OF EMPIRE AND PAPACY (article listed separately in the libraries)
    Tellenbach, Gerd, CHURCH, STATE, AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY IN THE TIME OF THE INVESTITURE CONTEST, Introduction, chap. 1 (sections 1 and 3), chap. 2, chap. 5 (section 3) and Epilogue.
  3. Week of November 9: THE GREGORIAN REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND
    Duggan, Charles, “From the Conquest to the Death of John,” THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND THE PAPACY IN THE MIDDLE AGEs, edited by C. H. Lawrence, pp. 65-115.
    Poole, A. L., FROM DOMESDAY BOOK TO MAGNA CARTA, chaps. VI, VII.
    DOCUMENTS FOR CLASS USE: Assize of Clarendon.
    Knowles, David, THE EPISCOPAL COLLEAGUES OF ARCHBISHOP THOMAS BECKET, chap. V.

TOPIC III: RELIGIOUS REVOLT AND POLITICAL MODERNIZATION

  1. Weeks of November 16 and 23: Analytical Perspectives
    Marx and Engels, Basic Writings on Politics and Philosophy, edited by Louis S. Feuer, pp. 1-67, 82-111.
    Marx, Karl, CAPITAL, Modern Library edition, pp. 784-837 (chaps. 26-32). In some editions this is chap. 24, entitled, “Primary Accumulation.”
    Beer, Samuel H., Introduction to Marx and Engels, COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, pp. VII-XXIX,.
    Weber, Max, THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM, translated by Talcott Parsons, pp. 35-c. 62, 79-128, 144-183.
  2. Weeks of November 30, and December 7, 14: THE PURITAN REVOLUTION
    Hill, Christopher, THE CENTURY OF REVOLUTION 1603-1714, chaps. 1-11.
    Bunyan, John, THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, portions of the First Part: in Signet edition, pp. 17-30, 66-110, 131-148.
    Hexter, J.H., “Storm Over the Gentry,” in Hexter’s REAPPRAISALS IN HISTORY.
    Walzer, Michael, THE REVOLUTION OF THE SAINTS, chaps. I, II, IV, V (pp. 148-171), and IX.
    Walzer, Michael, “The revolutionary uses of repression,” in Richter (Ed.), ESSAYS IN THEORY AND HISTORY.
    Locke, John, AN ESSAY CONCERNING…… CIVIL GOVERNMENT, chaps. 1-9, 19. Available in SOCIAL CONTRACT: ESSAYS BY LOCKE, HUME AND ROUSSEAU.

 

SOCIAL SCIENCES 2
READING LIST
SPRING TERM 1971

Students are asked to buy the following books, which are available at the Harvard Coop, or, in the one case, at the General Education Office.

  1. BRIGGS, Asa, The Making of Modern England
    Paperback: Harper Torch books. Hardcover title: The Age of Improvement.
  2. BURKE, Edmund, Reflections on the Revolution in France
    Paperback: Bobbs-Merrill: The Library of Liberal Arts
  3. HOBBES, Thomas, Leviathan
    Paperback: Penguin
  4. MILL, John Stuart, On Liberty
    Paperback: Appleton-Century-Crofts: Crofts Classic
  5. NIETZSCHE, Friedrich, The Genealogy of Morals
    Paperback: Vintage
  6. RUDÉ, George, Revolutionary Europe, 1783-1815
    Paperback: Harper Torchbook
  7. de TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis, The Old Regime and the French Revolution
    Paperback: Anchor Books

Everything on the following list is on “closed reserve” in Lamont and Hilles Libraries. The date suggested here will vary during the semester; lectures and sections should be your guides.

TOPIC IV: IDEOLOGY AND REVOLUTION

Weeks of February 8 & 15

HOBBES, Thomas, Leviathan, esp. Intro., Chaps. 11, 13-15, 17-21, 26, 29-30, and Review and Conclusion.
ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques, The Social Contract, especially Book I; Book II; Book III, chaps. 1-4, 12-18; and Book IV, chaps. 1-2, 7-8 (in the Galaxy paperback edition used for Locke’s SECOND TREATISE in the Fall Term).
BEER, Samuel, “The Development of the Modern Polity,” chap. 3 (Typescript on reserve).

Weeks of February 22 & March 1

RUDÉ, George, Revolutionary Europe, pp. 65-241
de TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Forward, pp. 1-211.
RICHTER, Melvin, “The uses of theory: Tocqueville’s adaptation of Montesquieu” in Richter, Essays in Theory and History, pp. 94-102.
TILLY, Charles, The Vendee, chaps. 1, 2, 4, 9, 13.

TOPIC V: MODERNIZATION WITHOUT REVOLUTION

Week of March 8:

BURKE, Edmund, Reflections on the Revolution in France, especially 3-4, 18-129, 138-144, 169-200, 233-266, and 286-291 (Page citations to the Library of Liberal Arts paperback edition).

Weeks of March 15, 22, & 29:

BRIGGS, Asa, The Making of Modern England (Hardcover title, The Age of Improvement), chaps. I, II (sections, 2-3), III (section 5), IV-VI, VIII (sections 1-3, through p. 416), and IX (section 3).
DICEY, A. The Lectures on the Relations Between Law and Opinion in England During the 19th century, Lectures 4, 6, 9, 12 (pt. 1).
BEER, Samuel H., British Politics in the Collectivist Age, Introduction, Chaps. I-II, Epilogue (391-409).
MILL, John Stuart, On Liberty, chaps. 1-2, 4

TOPIC VI: THE CRISIS OF MODERNITY

Week of April 12:

NIETZSCHE, Friedrich, The Genealogy of Morals (trans. W. Kaufmann; Vintage paperback).

Weeks of April 19, 26, & May 3:

PINSON, Koppel S., Modern Germany: Its History and Civilization, chaps. 15-21 (First or Second Edition).
EPSTEIN, Klaus, “Three Types of Conservatism” in Richter, Essays in Theory and History, pp. 103-121.
BULLOCK, Alan, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, chaps. 1-4, 7.
REICHSTAG, Election Statistics, 1919-1933, Mimeographed. To be distributed.
PARSONS, Talcott, “Certain Primary Sources and Patterns of Aggression in the Social Structure of the Western World”, Mimeographed. (This essay also appears in Parsons, Essays in Sociological Theory).
VIERECK, Peter, Metapolitics: From the Romantics to Hitler (Capricorn paperback subtitle: The Roots of the Nazi Mind), Prefatory Note (or, in paperback, “New Survey,” sections 3-4, & chaps. 1-2, 5-7, 11-13).
ERIKSON, Erik H., “The Legend of Hitler’s Childhood” in Childhood and Society, chap. 9.
ECKSTEIN, Harry, A Theory of Stable Democracy.

Reading Period Extra: Nazi Films
Wednesday, May 12, at 7 p.m., Lowell Lecture Hall

FINAL EXAMINATION June 4

Source: Personal copy of course syllabus shared for transcription at Economics in the Rear-View Mirror by one my longest, dearest economics and personal chums, Robert Dohner (Harvard, 1974; M.I.T., 1980).

Image Source:  Samuel H. Beer, 1953 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard History of Economics Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Graduate history of political economy course. Taylor, 1948-49

 

 

Overton Hume Taylor served as the Harvard economics department’s one-man show of PPE interdisciplinarity at both the undergraduate and graduate level for about two decades covering the middle of the 20th century. Materials from six of his courses have already been posted.

Econ 1. (with Leontief and Chamberlin) Honors Economic Theory, 1939-40
Econ 1b. Intellectual Background of Economic Thought, 1941, [Final Exam for the Course]
Econ 115. (with Leontief) Programs of Social and Economic Reconstruction, 1942-43
Econ 115. Economic and Political Ideas, 1948 , [Mid-year Exam for Economic and Political Ideas]
Econ 111. (with others) Economics of Socialism, 1950
Econ 111. Socialism, 1955

Here is a link to Taylor’s A History of Economic Thought (1960) that puts between two covers much, if not all, of what he had to say about the history of economics, politics and philosophy. 

Kindred spirits are to be found behind the course syllabi by Louis Putterman at Brown (1995) and Michael Piore at M.I.T (1977) posted earlier.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 205a (formerly Economics 105a). Main Currents of Thought in Economics and Related Studies over Recent Centuries (F). Dr. O. H. Taylor.

Total 15: 4 Graduates, 3 Seniors, 6 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe.

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

_____________________

Course Syllabus

Main Currents of Thought in Economics and Related Studies over Recent Centuries
Economics 205a
1948-49

  1. September 30—October 7. Introduction: Plato and the Middle Ages; Hobbes and the Mercantilists

Reading: (1) Plato Republic, Book II; (2) Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 1, 6, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 24; (3) One of the following: Sir T. Mun, England’s Treasure; Sir J. Child, Discourses in Trade; Sir D. North, Discourse on Trade; or Locke, Interest and Money

Thursday, September 30, Introductory lecture.

Tuesday, October 5. Plato and the ancient-medieval antecedents of modern-western culture and economic thought. Modernity vs. medievalism; 17th century England; and Hobbes vs. Plato

Thursday, October 7. 17th century English mercantilism and economic theory

  1. October 14—21. Liberalism; Locke, the Physiocrats, and Adam Smith; and Benthamism

Reading: (1) O. H. Taylor, 2 articles on natural law ideas and economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 44; (2) Locke, Civil Government, II, Chs. 2, 5, 7-12, inclusive; and (3) Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Chs. 1-7.

[Tuesday, October 12, Holiday]

Thursday, October 14. Liberalism and economic thought-varieties of former and their effects on latter—from early-modern times to the present

Tuesday, October 19. Ethical natural law and early-modern liberalism. Locke vs. Hobbes. Locke, Newton, and 18th century ideas of the natural order. Philosophies and economic theories of the Physiocrats and Adam Smith

Thursday, October 21. Benthamism. Utility and natural law. Utilitarian liberalism and classical economics

  1. October 26—November 4. Malthus and Ricardo; the Romantic Reaction: Comte; Early Socialism and J. S. Mill

Reading: (1) Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, Chs. 11-6; (2) Sabine, History of Political Theory, Chs. 28, 29, 30, 34; (3) A. Comte, Positive Philosophy (translation, Martineau), Introd. Ch. 1; Book VI, 1, 2; and (4) J. S. Mill, Logic, Book VI.

Tuesday, October 26. (1) Malthus vs. the anarchist-socialists; (2) Ricardo’s Economic theory

Thursday, October 28. The romantic reaction against rationalism, science and liberalism. Political and economic ideas of the English romanticists. Special development of this outlook in Germany

Tuesday, November 2. Romanticism, positivism, and the main 18th century outlook-interrelations. The positivism of August Comte vs. liberalism and economic science

Thursday, November 4. (1) Pre-Marxian socialism; (2) J. S. Mill’s attempted synthesis

  1. November 9—18. Marxism

Reading: (1) Burns, Handbook of Marxism, Chs. 1, 13, 14, 22, 26, 29, 30; (2) Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part I.

Tuesday, November 9. “Utopian” socialism, Hegel, Ricardo, and Marx; and the Marxian theory of history

[Thursday, November 11, Holiday]

Tuesday, November 16. The Marxian economics—theory of capitalism

Thursday, November 18. The Marxian vision of the future beyond capitalism; and concluding remarks on Marxism

  1. November 23—December 7. Victorian Conservative Liberalism and Neo-Classical Economics

Reading: A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, Book I, Chs. 1 and 2; Appendices A, B; Book III; Book IV, Chs. 1-3 inclusive and 8-13 inclusive; Book V, Chs. 1-5 inclusive

Tuesday, November 23. How in late 19th century the classical liberalism, originally a radical, became a conservative ideology. Social Philosophy of conservative liberalism, and new developments of economic theory in this context after 1870

[Thursday, November 25, Holiday]

Tuesday, November 30. Utility economics and utilitarianism—the free price system and economic welfare. Marginal productivity and distributive justice—Clark and Carver. And neo-classical theories about capital, money, business cycles, monopoly, and economic progress.

Thursday, December 2. The development, value, and limitations of mathematical economics

Tuesday, December 7. The special views and system of Alfred Marshall

  1. December 9—16. Veblen; Chamberlin; and Keynes

Reading: Max Lerner; The Portable Veblen (Viking Library), pp. 215-297; 306-349; 377-395; 431-467

Thursday, December 9. Thorstein Veblen’s philosophy and sociology (called economics) vs. the main-tradition economics. His contributions to “institutional economics,” and to the “New Deal” and latter-day American  liberalism.”

Tuesday, December 14. Veblen vs. neo-classical theory of competition, and Chamberlin’s theory of monopolistic competition. Critique of latter as analysis, and in its bearings and problems of public policy.

Thursday, December 16. “Keynesianism” the decisive break with neo-classicism and the old economic-liberal orthodoxy. Its antecedents in the main tradition of economic theory, and relations to mercantilism, liberalism, and socialism. Its contribution to analysis and policy, and its limitations.

[Reading Period]

“Dr. Taylor will announce assignment in class.”

[Based on last examination question below, the reading period assignment would probably have been: David Wright, Democracy and Progress]

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1948-1949 (2 of 2)”.

_____________________

Final Examination

ECONOMICS 205a
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1948-49

Write on four questions, including the first and last in the following list. Devote one hour to the first question, and one hour to one of the others, marking as such your two one-hour essays.

  1. Discuss the statements (a), (b), and (c) below—each in turn, briefly, indicating with reasons your agreement or disagreement. Then either select the one (if any) which you agree with, or otherwise state your own position on the problem; and apply (illustrate) that position through relevant comments on any two of the general patterns of political-and-economic thought considered in the course.
    1. “Historical study of the co-variation of economic with political thought refutes the scientific claims of economics. Economists have always divided into ‘schools,’ on political lines; and each ‘school’ has developed its own system of economic theory, in conflict with all others, and in a close tie-up with its own partisan, political philosophy.”
    2. “Economists have too often mingled and confused suggestions of their personal, philosophical and political opinions with their contributions to scientific, economic theory or analysis. But in reality the former have been irrelevant, the latter independent of them; and the competent economists of all political persuasions have converged to agreement in the field of the science itself.”
    3. “The political philosophies of economists have not as a rule made their economic theories by any means wholly unscientific or non-scientific, nor—however sharp the oppositions between the former—irreconcilable. But they have produced biased concentrations on the special groups of economic-scientific problems seen as important from the standpoints of the political philosophies; and made all economic theories partial analyses, disclosing means to desired ends.”
  2. “Unqualified adherence to the premise that ‘natural’ human behavior is simply rational pursuit of individual self-interest, would have logically obliged Adam Smith and the classical economists after him to follow Hobbes in supporting a ‘Totalitarian,’ despotic government as indispensable for civil peace and order; and to follow the ‘mercantilist’ writers in supporting economic controls by such a government, as indispensable for national prosperity and an orderly working of the national economy. The ‘liberal,’ political and policy views of Adam Smith and his followers required and had as their ultimate foundation, a belief—shared with Locke but not with Hobbes—that moral self-restraint in deference to the rights of others is a ‘natural,’ human disposition, capable of limiting self-interested action to what is consistent with it.” Discuss.
  3. “The entire main tradition of economic theory, in its development from the eighteenth through the nineteenth into the twentieth century, retained, in defiance of growing factual evidence, a strong optimistic bias about the free-competition market economy—identification of its equilibrium with a social-economic optimum—which had its sole origin in the eighteenth century’s optimistic, metaphysical belief in an harmonious, natural order.” Discuss.
  4. Discuss the apparent and often alleged intellectual debts or similarities of basic elements of (a) Ricardian classical economic theory, (b) the later body of ‘neo-classical’ theory emphasizing ‘marginal utility’ etc., and (c) Pigou’s and more recent theories of ‘welfare economics,’ to Bentham’s psychological, ethical, and social theories. What elements of each (a, b, and c) might appear to derive from ‘Benthamism,’ and what real similarities and significant differences do you see between them and the corresponding elements of the latter?
  5. Describe and discuss either (a) the English and German ‘romantic’ or (b) August Comte’s ‘positivistic’ line of attack upon the classical-liberal pattern of political-and-economic thought and its ‘eighteenth century philosophical foundation.’
  6. Compare and discuss Ricardo’s and Marx’s “labor theory of value”—explaining how each author developed, supported, construed, and used the theory; the points wherein you think they agreed or differed; and the points you would make in defense and/or criticism of each author’s theory.
  7. Outline, explain briefly, and discuss critically the main philosophical and economic-theoretical ingredients of the Marxian “dynamic” theory of evolving capitalism.
  8. “In the development of economic theory since its early classical period, the prevalence of a too single-minded pursuit of increasing logical precision and rigor, mistakenly conceived as the whole of scientific progress, has made theory increasingly abstract and decreasingly useful in the study of concrete, real problems.”
  9. Compare and contrast the Veblenian with the Marxian theory of the modern ‘capitalist’ culture, the ‘class’ conflict within it, why and how ‘business’ injures the economic welfare of society, and the kind of régime which should (and will or may) replace ‘capitalism’ in the future; and develop your own appraisal or critique of Veblen’s views on these matters.
  10. Write your own summary of and commentary on the central thesis of David Wright’s “Democracy and Progress,” concerning the historic method or secret of modern economic progress, and the cultural and political trends now menacing its continuance.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 16, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, Government, Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science, Feb. 1949.

Image Source:  Overton Hume Taylor, Lecturer on Economics and Tutor. Harvard Class Album, 1939.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Development of Industrial Society. Course outline, readings, exam. Usher, 1933-34

 

An earlier post provides biographical information as well as links to other economic history courses taught by Abbott Payson Usher at Harvard. This post provides course enrollment data, outline and reading assignments, and the final examination questions for Usher’s course on the industrial history of western Europe up through English industrialisation.

__________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 10b1 hf. Associate Professor Usher. – The Development of Modern Industrial Society, 1450-1850.

Total, 12: 10 Graduates, 2 Juniors.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1933-34, p. 85.

__________________

Reading, Economics 10b.
1933-34.

  1. Industrial Development, 1450-1850. To be completed, Oct. 30.

Bober, M.M. Karl Marx’ Interpretation of History, pp. 192-201.

Parsons, T. Capitalism in recent German Literature, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 36, pp. 641-661; vol. 37, pp. 31-51.

Usher, A.P. History of Mechanical Inventions, pp. 1-31, 221-355.

Mantoux, P. The Industrial Revolution in the 18thCentury, pp. 47-93, 193-317, 349-452.

Nef, J.U. The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I, 19-22, 165-189; II, 319-330.

Usher, A.P. Industrial History of England, 195-224, 247-271, 314-380.

Webb, S. and B. History of Trade Unionism, pp. 57-161.

  1. The reorganization of the agrarian system. To be completed, Nov. 13.

Mantoux, P. The Industrial Revolution in the 18thCentury, pp. 140-160.

Ernle, Lord. English Farmers Past and Present, (ed. 1917, 1919, 1922.) pp. 55-102, 148-175, 290-315.

Clapham, J.H. The Economic Development of France and Germany, pp. 6-52.

Renard, G. and Weulersse, G. Life and Labor in Modern Europe, pp. 205-247. (French ed. pp. 272-330.)

  1. The Rise of Economic Liberalism. To be completed, Nov. 27.

Armitage-Smith, G. Free Trade and its Results, pp. 39-61.

Marshall, Industry and Trade, (1923) 749-766. (British Move. to F.T.)

Barnes, D.G. History of the English Corn Laws, pp. 68-98, 117-156, 239-284.

Ashley, P. Modern Tariff History, (3rd. Ed.) pp. 3-132.

  1. The Beginnings of the Railroad. To be completed, Dec. 8.

Pratt, E.A. A History of Inland Transport in England, pp. 165-185, 195-257.

Usher, A.P. Industrial History of England, pp. 431-458.

Raper, C.L. Railway Transportation, pp. 61-82, 134-149, 166-177.

Clapham, J.H. Economic History of Modern Britain, I, pp. 75-97.

  1. The Rise of the Bank of England, To be completed, Dec. 22.

Richards, R.D. The Early History of Banking in England, pp. 23-64, 132-175, 189-201.

Andreades, A. History of the Bank of England, pp. 60-71, 284-294, 312-331, 370-389.

Silberling, N.J. The Financial and Monetary Policy of Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, Q.J.E., vol. 38, pp. 214-233, 397-439.

Clapham, J.H. Economic History of Modern Britain, II, pp. 333-385.

Reading Period

Economics 10b.

Readings for the graduate members of the course will be found posted in the Graduate Economics Library.

Undergraduates are to read 350 pages from any two of the following titles:

(1) Ashton, T.A., Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution.
(2) Nef, J.U., The Rise of the British Coal Industry.
(3) Wadsworth, A.P. and J. Mann, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire.
(4) Chapman, S.J., The Lancashire Cotton Industry.
(5) Daniels, G.W., The Early English Cotton Industry.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics 1933-34”.

__________________

European Industry and Commerce
1450-1850
Books for review.

Moffit, Louis W. England on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

Bowden, Witt. Industrial society in England towards the end of the eighteenth century.

Redford, Arthur. Labour migration in England, 1800-1850.

Tawney, R.H. Religion and the rise of capitalism.

Weber, Max. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.

Warner, Wellman J. The Wesleyan movement in the Industrial Revolution.
and
Grubb, Isabel. Quakerism and Industry before 1800.

Daniels, George W. The early English cotton Industry.

Wadsworth, A.P. and Mann, Julia. The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780.

Unwin, George. Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights.

Heaton, Herbert. The Yorkshire Woollen and Worsted industries.

Ashton, Thomas. Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution.

Ashton, T. and Sykes, J. The Coal Industry of the eighteenth century.

Roll, Erich. An experiment in Industrial organization.

Allen G.C. The Industrial development of the Black Country.

Hovell, Mark. The Chartist movement.

Pomfret, J.E. The struggle for land in Ireland.

Albion, Robert. Forests and Sea Power.

Ackworth, A.W. Financial reconstruction in England, 1815-22.

Lord, J. Capital and Steam Power.

Brady, Alexander. William Huskisson.

Ramsay, Anna. Sir Robert Peel.

Cole, G.D.H. Life of William Cobbett.

Jenks, L.H. Migration of British Capital to 1875.

Siegfried, A. La crise Britannique au XXe siècle.

Rappard, William. La révolution industrielle et les origines de la protection légale du travail en Suisse.

Lewinski, Jan de St. L’évolution industrielle de la Belgique.

Hammond, J.L. The age of the Chartists.

Hammond, J.L and B. The skilled labourer.

______________. The rise of modern industry.

Bessemer, Sir Henry. Autobiography.

Wallas, Graham. Life of Francis Place.

Berdrow, W. Krupp: a great business man seen through his letters.

Roe, J. W. British and American Toolmakers.

[handwritten additions follow]

Ballot, Charles. L’introduction du machinisme dan l’industrie française.

Sée, H. Modern Capitalism.

Sée, H. L’Évolution commerciale et industrielle de la France.

Hauser, H. Les débuts du capitalisme.

Boissonnade, G. Colbert et la dictature du travail.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, Course Outlines and Reading Lists, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics 1933-34”.

__________________

Final Examination

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 10b2
June 1934

I
(About one hour.)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:
    1. Graduates:
      the position of Malthus in the light of historical studies of population,
      primary factors affecting the increase of population in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century,
      vital indices and the measurement of material well-being,
      biological laws of population growth,
      the processes of invention and achievement.
    2. Undergraduates:
      an episode in the history of any one of the following industries, cotton, coal, or iron,
      Sée’s concept of modern capitalism and its development, the processes of invention and achievement.

II
(About two hours.)
Answer four questions.

  1. Discuss the development of the factory system in the eighteenth century.
  2. In what ways did the introduction of crop rotations furnish motives for the enclosure of arable land.
  3. What were the purposes of the Corn Laws in the period 1815 to 1840? What was the actual effect of these laws?
  4. Describe the relations between the State and the Railways in France, 1840-1883.
  5. Sketch the development of central banking in England to 1860.

Source: Harvard University. Examination Papers, Finals 1934. (HUC 7000.28) Vol. 76 of 284.

Image Source: Abott Payson Usher faculty picture in Harvard College, Class Album 1939.

Categories
Harvard Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Undergraduate economics syllabus. Socialism, O.H. Taylor, 1955

 

 

The economics of socialism was a regular undergraduate course offering at Harvard from the turn of the twentieth century to well into the second half of the century. Besides the syllabus with assigned readings  along with the final examination questions.

Transcriptions of related course materials at the following links:

Economics of Socialism (Ec 111) taught by Taylor in 1952-53

Economics of Socialism (Ec 111) taught by Schumpeter, Taylor with lectures by Gerschenkron and Galenson in 1949-50.

Economics of Socialism (Ec 11b) taught by Schumpeter in 1945-46

Economics of Socialism (Ec 11b) taught by Schumpeter in 1943-44

Economics of Socialism (Ec11b) taught by Sweezy in 1939-40

Economics of Socialism (Ec11b) taught by Mason and Sweezy in 1937-38

Programs of Social Reconstruction  (Ec 7c) taught by Mason  in 1933

Economics of Socialism, Anarchism and the Single Tax  (Ec 7b) taught by Carver  in 1920

Socialism and Communism (Ec 14) taught by Carver and Bushnee in 1901-02

____________________

Course enrollment

[Economics] 111. Socialism. Dr. O. H. Taylor. Half course. (Spring)

Total, 9: 1 Graduate, 3 Seniors. 1 Junior, 1 Sophomore, 3 others.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1954-55. P. 89.

   ____________________

Course Syllabus

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Spring Term, 1955

Economics 111

  1. Feb. 2-11. Pre-Marxian Socialism.

Reading due Feb. 11: H. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements, chs. [8-12]

Wed., Feb. 2. Introductory Lecture, about the course.

Fri., Feb. 4. Lecture: Antecedents of Socialist thought in European culture — ancient, mediaeval, and early-modern.

Mon., Feb. 7. Lecture: Antecedents of socialist thought, II—The “enlightenment,” liberalism, and socialism; A. Smith, Bentham, Ricardo, and others.

Wed., Feb. 9. Lecture: The “utopian” socialists—St. Simon, Fourier, and R. Owen.

Fri., Feb. 11. Discussion.

  1. Feb. 14-Mar. 4. Marxian Socialism—the Doctrinal System of Karl Marx.

Reading due Feb. 18: Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto
J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part I

Mon., Feb. 14. Lecture: “Utopian” socialism, Hegel, Ricardo, and Marx’s “scientific” socialism.

Wed., Feb. 16. Lecture: Hegel and Marx, philosophers of history; and Marx’s “science” of society and history.

Fri., Feb. 18. Discussion.

Reading due Feb. 25: P. M. Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist Development, parts I, II.

Mon., Feb. 21. Lecture: Marx’s economics. 1—Theories of value, wages, surplus value, accumulation of capital, and evolving capitalism.

Wed., Feb. 23. Lecture: Marx’s economics. 2—Theory of capitalism’s evolution and decline or life-cycle; crises (business cycle), change from competitive to monopoly capitalism, and transition to socialism.

Fri. Feb. 25. Discussion.

Reading due Mar. 4: P. M. Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist Development, Part IV.
J.A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part II.
O. H. Taylor article, “Schumpeter and Marx,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1951.

Mon., Feb. 28. Lecture: Modern Marxist (Communist) additions to Marx’s doctrines about capitalism in decline, and the transition; theory of “imperialism,” etc.

Wed., Mar. 2. Lecture: Schumpeter and Marx—two views of capitalism and its history and destiny—a comparison and contrast, illuminating Marxism.

Fri., Mar. 4. Discussion.

  1. Mar. 7-18. Marxian Socialism in Germany and Europe—Party Histories—to World War I.

Reading due Mar. 11: Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Part V.
P. M. Sweezy, Socialism, Chs.

Mon., Mar. 7. Lecture: Marx, Lasalle, and the German Social Democratic Party, to the Gotha Program.

Wed., Mar. 9. Lecture: The Revisionist Controversy of the German Socialists.

Fri., Mar. 11. Discussion.

Reading due Mar. 18: [blank]

Mon., Mar. 14. Lecture: Histories of French and Italian Socialism.

Wed., Mar. 16. Lecture: History of Scandinavian Socialism.

Fri., Mar. 18. Discussion.

  1. Mar. 21-April 1. English Socialism—History.

Reading due Mar. 25: G.D.H. Cole, A Short History of the British Working Class Movement, Part I, chs. 5-9 incl. and Part II.
The Fabian Essays.

Mon., Mar. 21. Lecture: From Owen to the Fabians.

Wed., Mar. 233. Lecture: Fabian Socialism.

Fri., Mar. 25. Discussion.

Reading due April 1: New Fabian Essays.

Mon., Mar. 28. Lecture: Evolution (since 1900) of the English Labor Party and its Socialism.

Wed., Mar. 30. Lecture: English Socialism, 1945-50—Partial Realization, and Changing Outlook.

Fri., April 1. Discussion.

April 3-10. SPRING RECESS.

  1. April 11-22. Russian Communism and the Soviet System.

Reading due April 15: M. Dobb
A. Baykov, Dev. Soviet Econ. System

Mon., Apr. 11. Lecture: Lenin, the Russian Revolution, and Early Evolution of the Soviet System.

Wed., Apr. 13. Lecture: The Five-Year Plans; Russia’s Industrialization and Economic Policies

Fri., Apr. 15. Discussion

Reading due April 22: [blank]

Mon., Apr. 18. Lecture: The Russian Economy—Operation.

Wed., Apr. 20. Lecture: Russian Society, State, and Civilization—Extra-Economic Features of the System.

Fri., Apr. 22. Discussion.

  1. April 25-May 2. Economic Theory of Liberal Socialism—The Lange Model.

Reading due May 2: Lippincott (ed.), Economics of Socialism

Mon., Apr. 25. Lecture: History of Modern Theory of “Competitive” Socialism: Von Mises, Barone, Lange, etc.

Wed., Apr. 27. Lecture: The O. Lange Model and Argument

Fri., Apr. 29. Lecture: Problems of Full Socialism in Practice.

Mon., May 2. Discussion.

 

Reading Period

David M. Wright. Capitalism (entire book).

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1954-1955 (1 of 2)”.

   ____________________

1954-55
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 111
[Final Examination. June, 1955]

Write half-hour answers to six of the following questions including no. 8

  1. (a) Explain and discuss (as to its validity) all that you think Marx meant in describing pre-Marxian socialist thought as “utopian,” and in claiming that his own new kind was “scientific.”
    (b) Briefly characterize the outlook and program either of Fourier or of Robert Owen, and discuss the questions whether, how far, and wherein it was “utopian” in Marx’s sense.
  2. Summarize briefly, and discuss critically, Marx’s general theory of the process and pattern of all human history, or social evolution.
  3. Give a general account and criticism of the main ideas in Marx’s critical analysis of capitalism and its prospects—the main things that he claimed to see and/or foresee as the economic system’s destined-to-become-fatal flaws, and the way in which they would develop and bring on its doom and the advent of socialism.
  4. Discuss what have tended to be the chief problems or difficulties of Marxian socialist parties, endeavoring to adhere closely to the teachings of Marx and at the same time to cope with the practical exigencies arising in their careers as political parties. Illustrate your points from the history of the German Social Democratic Party.
  5. Give a general account of English Fabian socialism—its main distinctive characteristics, ideas, aims, and tactics—in comparison and contrast with Marxian socialism.
  6. Explain and discuss what you think are the main attractions and disattractions of present-day Communism for the world’s economically backward countries.
  7. State and explain your opinions about (a) the theoretically possible and (b) the likely actual success of a (realized) socialism that would do its best to carry out Oscar Lange’s proposals, in serving the economic welfare of the people better than it could be served by private capitalism.
  8. Write a critical review of or commentary on Pigou’s essay “Socialism vs. Capitalism.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Naval Science, Air Science, June, 1955. Included in bound volume Final Exams, Social Sciences, June, 1955 (HUC 7000.28, Vol. 110).

Image Source: O.H. Taylor in Harvard College, Class Album 1952.

Categories
Harvard Sociology Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Sociology, Syllabus and Exams. Carver and Ripley, 1902-1903

 

The discipline of sociology was only a subfield of economics at Harvard long after the University of Chicago had  established an independent department of sociology upon the founding of that university in 1892. William Z. Ripley and Thomas N. Carver were jointly teaching the course at Harvard at the turn of the twentieth century. This course was taught for nearly three decades by Carver, e.g. an earlier post with materials for Economics 8, Principles of Sociology taught by Thomas Nixon Carver in 1917-18.

Note: Updated 31 Jan 2023 with links to all the items on the reading list along with the semester examination questions. Colorized portraits of Carver and Ripley have also been added.

Cf. A few years later Thomas Nixon Carver compiled a book of course readings (over 800 pages!): Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook for Students of Sociology. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1905.

________________

Course Announcement and Description

[Economics] 3. Principles of Sociology. — Theories of Social Progress. Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 1.30. Professors Carver and Ripley.

The work of the first term will consist of an outline of the structure and development of social and political institutions, based upon a comparative study of primitive, barbarous, and civilized peoples. Among the topics considered will be the following, viz.: the physical and environmental factors in mental and social evolution, the racial elements in nationality and other social phenomena, with a discussion of modern racial problems in the United States and Europe, the interaction of mental and social evolution, the history and development of the family, and of religious, legal, and political institutions, and the relation of custom to religion and law. The principal authors discussed will be Tylor, Maine, Westermarck, and Spencer. The treatment will in the main be historical and comparative; aiming to afford data for the analytical and critical work of the second term.

In the second term this is followed by an analysis of the factors and forces which have produced modifications of the social structure and secured a greater degree of adaptation between man and his physical and social surroundings. The relation of property, the family, the competitive system, religion, and legal control to social well-being and progress are studied with reference to the problem of social improvement. Bagehot’s Physics and Politics, Ward’s Dynamical Sociology, Giddings’s Principles of Sociology, Patten’s Theory of Social Forces, and Kidd’s Social Evolution are each read in part. Lectures are given at intervals, and students are expected to take part in the discussion of the authors read and the lectures delivered.

Course 3 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1 [Outlines of Economics].

 

Source:  Harvard University, The University Publications (New Series, No 55). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03 (June 14, 1902), p. 41.

________________

Course enrollment

[Economics] Professors CARVER and RIPLEY. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 8 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Special.

 

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

________________

Economics 3

To be read in full

  1. Herbert Spencer. Principles of Sociology. [3 vols., 3rd rev. ed., 1898]
  2. Walter Bagehot. Physics and Politics.
  3. Benjamin Kidd. Social Evolution.
  4. F. H. Giddings. Principles of Sociology.

Collateral Reading.
Starred references are prescribed.

I. Scope and Method of Sociology
  1. August Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Chs. 2—4.
  2. Herbert Spencer. Classification of the Sciences, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. II.
  3. _______*. The Study of Sociology. Chs. 1—3.
  4. J. S. Mill. System of Logic. Book VI.
  5. W. S. Jevons. Principles of Science. Ch. 31. Sec. 11.
  6. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. I.
  7. J. W. H. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Chs. 2 and 3.
  8. Émile Durkheim. Les Regles de la Méthode Sociologique.
  9. Guillaume de Greef. Les Lois Sociologiques.
  10. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Introduction.
II. The Factors of Social Progress
A. Physical and Biological Factors
  1. Herbert Spencer. The Factors of Organic Evolution, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  2. _______. Progress, its Law and Cause, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative. Vol. I.
  3. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 6.
  4. Lester F. Ward. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 7.
  5. Simon N. Patten*. The Theory of Social Forces. Ch. 1.
  6. Geddes and Thompson. The Evolution of Sex. Chs. 1, 2, 19, 21.
  7. Robert Mackintosh. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd.
  8. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 1—6.
  9. August Weismann. The Germ Plasm: a Theory of Heredity.
  10. George John Romanes. An Examination of Weismannism.
  11. Alfred Russell Wallace. Studies: Scientific and Social. [Volume 1; Volume 2]
  12. R. L. Dugdale. The Jukes.
  13. Oscar C. McCulloch. The Tribe of Ishmael.
  14. Francis Galton. Hereditary Genius.
  15. Arthur Fairbanks. Introduction to Sociology. Pt. III.
B. Psychic
  1. Auguste Comte. Positive Philosophy. Book VI. Ch. 5.
  2. Jeremy Bentham*. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 1 and 2.
  3. Lester F. Ward. The Psychic Factors of Civilization.
  4. G. Tarde. Social Laws.
  5. _______. Les Lois de l’Imitation.
  6. _______. La Logique Sociale.
  7. Gustav Le Bon. The Crowd.
  8. _______. The Psychology of Peoples.
  9. J. Mark Baldwin. Social and Ethical Interpretations.
  10. _______. Mental Development in the Child and the Race.
  11. John Fisk. The Destiny of Man.
  12. Henry Drummond. The Ascent of Man.
  13. Simon N. Patten*. The Theory of Social Forces. Chs. 2—5.
C. Social and Economic
  1. Lester F. Ward. Outlines of Sociology. Pt. II.
  2. _______*. Dynamical Sociology. Ch. 10.
  3. Brooks Adams. The Law of Civilization and Decay.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
  5. A. G. Warner*. American Charities. Pt. I. Ch. 5.
  6. G. de LaPouge. Les Sélections Sociales. Chs. 7—15.
  7. T. R. Malthus. Principle of Population.
  8. Bosanquet. The Standard of Life.
  9. W. H. Mallock. Aristocracy and Evolution.
  10. T. V. Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class.
  11. W. S. Jevons. Methods of Social Reform.
  12. Jane Addams and Others. Philanthropy and Social Progress.
  13. E. Demolins. Anglo-Saxon Superiority.
  14. Thomas H. Huxley. Evolution and Ethics.
  15. Georg Simmel. Ueber Sociale Differencierung.
  16. Émile Durkheim. De la Division du Travail Social.
  17. J. H. W. Stuckenberg. Introduction to the Study of Sociology. Ch. 6.
  18. Achille Loria. The Economic Foundations of Society.
  19. _______. Problems Sociaux Contemporains. Ch. 6. [English translation (1911)]
  20. E. A. Ross. Social Control.
D. Political and Legal
  1. Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation. Chs. 12—17.
  2. F. M. Taylor. The Right of the State to Be.
  3. W. W. Willoughby*. Social Justice. Chs. 5—9.
  4. D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
  5. W. S. Jevons. The State in Relation to Labor.
  6. Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action, in Publications Am. Econ. Assoc. Vol. I. No. 6.

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

________________

Economics 3
Mid-Year Examination
1902-1903

  1. Contrast the status of marriage in the later Roman period, with that in the United States at present, distinguishing causes, direct and indirect results.
  2. What is the primary end of primitive law, and why?
  3. Criticise Spencer’s statement that “political organization is to be understood as that part of social organization which consciously carries on directive and restraining functions for public ends.”
  4. What is the significance of ceremonial in social life? Illustrate by a concrete example.
  5. Need customs be reasonable or logical to be necessarily defensible? Why?
  6. How does Giddings account for the change from metronymic to patronymic societies?
  7. What was the character of Morgan’s contribution to the study of domestic origins? What were its limitations?
  8. Discuss, with illustrations, some of the connections of religious belief and ceremonial with primitive society.

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

________________

Economics 3
Year-End Examination
1902-1903

Discuss eight of the following topics: –

  1. The forms of primitive marriage.
  2. Spencer’s contrast of the industrial with the militant type of society.
  3. Gidding’s elementary social fact.
  4. Kidd’s position as to the function of religion in social development.
  5. The antagonism of interests among the members of society.
  6. Density of population as a condition of a high state of civilization.
  7. The sanctions for conduct.
  8. Social stratification.
  9. The storing of the surplus energy of society.

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

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver (left). The World’s Work. Vol. XXVI (May-October 1913) p. 127.  William Z. Ripley (right) Harvard Library, Hollis Images. Portrait of William Z. Ripley, ca. 1920. Both images have been colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

 

 

Categories
Harvard Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Principles of Accounting. Davis, 1915

 

This post provides a transcription of the printed syllabus for the Harvard department of economics undergraduate principles of accounting course in 1915 with links to the textbooks and description of course requirements.

A course announcement and description together with the enrollment figures and the course final examination for this principles of accounting course have been posted previously.

An obituary for the instructor written by Joseph H. Willits, “Joseph Stancliffe Davis, (1885-1975)” , was published in The American Statistician 30, no. 4 (1976), p. 199.

______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 1b2, 1915

Lectures. 

Mon., Wed., and (occasionally) Fri, at 1.30. Part of the Wednesday lecture will ordinarily be devoted to discussion of the problems then handed in.

Text-books.

W. M. Cole. Accounts: Their Construction and Interpretation (1915 ed.).
W. M. Cole. Problems in the Principles of Accounts (1915).

Problems.

Assignments will be made weekly, usually on Wednesday, and solutions will be due at the beginning of the lecture hour on Wednesdays. Papers will ordinarily be returned on Mondays. Additional problems of the same general nature as those completed in the preceding week will be assigned each Monday (a) for men who received grade D or E on the original solutions, and (b) for men who failed to hand and solutions. The second set of papers will be handed to the laboratory assistant at the student’s laboratory period in the same week.
In neither case will be related solutions be accepted.

Laboratory Work.

There will be one two-hour period weekly. Sections will probably be arranged at each of the following periods: Wednesday, 2.30 – 4.30 (Pierce 307); Thursday, 9 – 11, 11 – 1 (Pierce 302); Thursday, 1.30 – 3.30, 3.30 – 5.30 (Pierce 307); Friday, 11 – 1, 2.30 – 4.30 (Pierce 307).
All possible choices, with order of preference, should be indicated on the individual registration cards.
An additional laboratory period, Wednesday, 7 – 9 p.m., will be held fortnightly for the completion of in completed work or the making up of work missed and absences excused at the Office.
New instructions and material for the work of the day will be given by the laboratory assistant at the beginning of the period, and men will greatly facilitate the work of the whole section by arriving with the utmost promptness.

Hour Examinations.

One will be held late in March, and a second may be given late in April. Just preceding the examination the usual problems or the laboratory work will be omitted.

Grading.

Problems, laboratory work, and examinations will be given roughly equal weight, but departures from the exact average will be made in the discretion of the instructor.

Problem solutions will be graded numerically, and the scale of equivalence will be: A, 90 – 100; B, 80 – 90; C, 65 – 80; D, 50 – 65. A 0 will be given for each failure to hand in either original or additional problems, and for each unexcused laboratory absence.
Form as well as accuracy will be given weight.

Consultation Hours:

J. S. Davis: Monday, 2.30 – 3.20, Upper Dane.
F. E. Richter: Friday, 1.30 – 2.30, Pierce 307.
T. D. Bool: Wednesday evening laboratory period, Pierce 307.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003”. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1915-1916”.

Image Source: Joseph Stancliffe Davis, Harvard Class Album, 1916.

 

 

 

Categories
Brown Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Brown. Syllabus for History and Philosophical Context of Economic Thought. Putterman, 1995

 

The Brown economics department has its Louis Putterman (Yale Ph.D., 1980) much as the Harvard economics department had its Overton Hume Taylor (Harvard Ph.D., 1928). Both of these economists have been interested in the philosophical underpinnings of economics  as well as the intersection of politics and economics in the history of economic ideas. 

I presume many visitors to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror are kindred spirits to Taylor and Putterman. This reading list is for you and your students! 

Overton Hume Taylor’s 1948 course (Economics and Political Ideas) reading list was transcribed for an earlier post. Here is a link to Taylor’s A History of Economic Thought (1960).

___________________

The History and Philosophical Context of Economic Thought
[Fall, 1995]

Louis Putterman
Department of Economics

Requirements: You may choose one of the following options. (a) A paper of 8 to 10 double-spaced pages on an assigned theme or themes after each three units of the course, totalling four papers, each worth 20% of term grade; (b) a midterm exam worth 30% and a final exam worth 50% of term grade; (c) a paper on a topic approved by the instructor, worth 20% of term grade, plus midterm and final exams, worth 20% and 40%, respectively. Under (c), your paper is due at the final exam, and will be 10-15 pages in length. Under each option, the remaining 20% of the term grade will be determined by class participation.

Part I: A Short History of Political Economy

  1. Classical Economics: Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo.

Readings:

1. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations [1776], Book 1, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10 (Part I); Book II, Ch. 2 (pp. 420-423).

2. Thomas Malthus, Essay on Profits [1798], Chapters 2 and 5.

3. David Ricardo, Essay on Profits [1815], pp. 10-31.

4. William Barber, History of Economic Thought (1967), Chapters on Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo (pp. 23-93).

5. (Optional) Encyclopedia of Social Sciences: (a) “Economic Thought”: subsections on Ancient and Medieval Thought, Mercantilist Thought, and Physiocratic Thought; (b) “Adam Smith”; “Thomas Malthus”; “David Ricardo”. NOR.

  1. Marx’s Economics

Readings:

1. Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I: [1867], Ch. 1, Sec. 1 (pp. 35-41); Chs. IV, V, VI, and VII (pp. 146-7, 167-73, 175-6, and 190-5; Ch. XIV, Sec. 4, 5 (pp. 350-363); Ch. XXXII (pp. 761-764). Volume III: [1894], Ch. X (pp. 173-199) but especially pp. 188-191; Chs. XXI-XXIV (pp. 338-399), skim except for pp. 338-9, 391-3.

2. Maurice Dobb, Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith (1973), Ch. 6: “Karl Marx.”

3. Robert Heilbroner, Marxism for and Against (1980), Ch. “The Socioanalysis of Capitalism.”

4. (Optional) Frederick Engels, Prefaces to Volumes II and III of Capital (pp. 5-19 and 8-21, only), and Appendix to Vol. III, “Law of Value and Rate of Profit” (891-907).

5. (Optional) Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (1968), Chapter 7, “Marxian Economics.”

6. (Optional) Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, especially first chapters.

7. (Optional) Joseph Schumpeter, Ten Great Economists, Chapter 1, “Karl Marx.”

  1. The Marginalists

Readings:

1. Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics [1890], Preface to 1st Edition (pp. v-xi); Book 1, Chapter I, Section 4 (pp. 5-10); Book III, Chapters 3, 4, and 6 (pp. 92-116, 124-137); Book V, Chapters 2 and 3 (pp. 331-350); Book VI, Chapter 13, Sections 11-15 (pp. 712-722); (Optional: Appendix B. The Growth of Economic Science, pp. 754-769.

2. Barber, Chapter 6, “Alfred Marshall and the Framework of Neo-Classical Economics.”

3. William Jaffe, “Menger, Jevons and Walras Dehomogenized,” Economic Inquiry, 1976.

4. Mark Blaug, “Was There a Marginal Revolution?” and G.L.S. Shackle, “Marginalism: The Harvest,” in Black, Coats, and Goodwin, eds., The Marginal Revolution in Economics (1973).

5. (Optional) Emil Kauder, A History of Marginal Utility Theory (1965).

6. (Optional) Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, “Economic Thought”: subsections on the Historical School, The Austrian School, and the Institutional School. NOR.

Part II: Disciplinary Shifts and Disciplinary Boundaries

  1. Political-Economy versus Economics

Readings:

1. Phyllis Deane, The Evolution of Economic Ideas (1978), Chapters 6, 7, and 9 (“Scope and Methodology of Classical Political Economy,” “The Marginal Revolution and the Neoclassical Triumph,” and “The Marxian Alternative”).

2. Philip Mirowski, “Physics and the Marginalist Revolution.”

3. Dobb, Ch. 7, “The Jevonian Revolution,” Section I (pp. 166-183), in Theories of Value…

4. Paul Sweezy, “Editor’s Introduction,” Karl Marx and the Close of His System (1949).

5. Rudolf Hilferding [1904], “Bohm-Bawerk’s Criticism of Marx,” in Sweezy, ed., ibid.: pp. 130-134, 137-140, and 184-189.

6. Assar Lindbeck, The Political Economy of the New Left: An Outsider’s View (1977), Part One, and “Comment” by Stephen Hymer and Frank Roosevelt.

7. (Optional) Frank Hahn, “General Equilibrium Theory,” pp. 123-138 in Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol, eds., The Crisis in Economic Theory, 1981.

8. Ronald Meek, “Marginalism and Marxism,” in The Marginal Revolution in Economics (cited above).

9. (Optional) Thorstein Veblen, “Professor Clark’s Economics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1908 (reprinted in The Place of Science in Modern Civilization).

  1. General Equilibrium Theory

Readings:

1. F.M. Scherer, “General Equilibrium and Economic Efficiency,” The American Economist, 1966.

2. F.M. Bator, “The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization,” originally in American Economic Review, March 1957.

  1. The Shift to Ordinal Utility

Readings:

1. Vincent Tarascio, “Paretian Welfare Theory: Some Neglected Aspects,” Journal of Political Economy, 1969.

2. Robert Cooter and Peter Rappaport, “Were the Ordinalists Wrong About Welfare Economics?” Journal of Economic Literature, 1984.

3. Amartya Sen, “Personal Utilities and Public Judgments: or What’s Wrong with Welfare Economics?” Economic Journal, 1979.

Part III: Epistemology and the Methods of Economic Analysis

  1. Background on Method and Epistemology

Readings:

1. Blaug, The Methodology of Economics. Part I: “What you always wanted to know about the philosophy of science but were afraid to ask,” and Part II: “The history of economic methodology,” except Chapter 5 (all listed as “From Received View to View of Popper”).

2. (Optional) Karl Popper, “Three Views Concerning Human Knowledge,” pp. 97-119 in Conjectures and Refutations, 1963.

3. (Optional) Bruce Caldwell, “Clarifying Popper,” Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 29, No. 1, March 1991.

  1. Contending Views on Methodology; The Making of an Economist

Readings:

1. (Optional) John Neville Keynes, The Scope and Method of Political Economy (1980), pp. 9-30.

2. Daniel Hausman, “Economic Methodology in a Nutshell,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2(3) 1989.

3. Ludwig von Mises, “Epistemological Problems of Economics,” pp. 17-22, and “The Scope and Meaning of the System of a Priori Theorems,” pp. 23-30, in Epistemological Problems of Economics [1933].

4. Milton Friedman, “Methodology of Positive Economics,” pp. 3-43 in Essays in Positive Economics, 1953.

5. (Optional) Amartya Sen, “Description as Choice,” Oxford Economic Papers, 1980.

6. (Optional) Axel Leijonhufvud, “Life Among the Econ.,” Western Economic Journal, 1973.

7. Benjamin Ward, “Economics as a Science,” in What’s Wrong with Economics?” (1972), pp. 5-13.

8. David Colander and Arjo Klamer, “The Making of an Economist,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1987.

Some additional, strictly optional, material of interest for this topic and topic 10 is:

E.K. Hunt and Howard J. Sherman, excerpts from Economics: An Introduction to Traditional and Radical Views, 1972.

Oscar Lange, “The Scope and Method of Economics,” 1945.

Karl Polanyi, “The Economy as Instituted Process,” (ca.) 1957.

Alfred Marshall, “The Scope and Method of Economics,” 1890.

Ronald Meek, “Economics and Ideology.”

Lionel Robbins, “The Subject Matter of Economics,” in The Nature and Significance of Economic Science, 1932.

Hugh Stretton, “Paul Streeten: An Appreciation,” in Theory and Reality in Development, 1986, especially pp. 4-13 and 26-27.

  1. Examples of Economic Controversy

We will study either the controversy over the effect of “separating” ownership and control in the corporation, or that over the effect of team- versus family-based farming in China, using both theoretical and empirical readings. Readings will be announced after the topic is selected.

Part IV: Economics and Social Philosophy

  1. Political Philosophy and Economics

Readings:

1. John Locke, Treatise of Civil Government [1688], Chapter V, “Of Property.”

2. Selections from Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan [1651], Chapters 13 and 17.

3. S.H. Peterson, ed., Readings in the History of Economic Thought: Bernard de Mandeville, “Fable of the Bees,” [1714], pp. 2-18; Jeremy Bentham, “An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,” [1789], pp. 178-182; John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty” [1859] and “Utilitarianism,” [1863], pp. 270-290 (all listed under Mandeville).

4. Gunnar Myrdal, The Political Element in the Development of Economic Thought, 1953 [1929] Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 (further reading guidelines to be announced).

  1. Economics and Values

Readings:

1. Frank Knight, “The Ethics of Competition,” (1935).

2. Herbert Gintis, “A Radical Analysis of Welfare Economics and Individual Development,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1978.

3. Dan Usher, “The Value of Life for Decision Making in the Public Sector,” in E.F. Paul et al., eds., Ethics and Economics, 1985.

4. Richard Thaler and Sherwin Rosen, “The Value of Saving a Life: Evidence from the Labor Market,” in Terleckyj, ed., Household Production and Consumption,, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1976 (read for general idea).

5. (Optional) J.A. Mirrlees, “The Economic Uses of Utilitarianism,” and Frank Hahn, “On Some Difficulties of the Utilitarian Economist,” in Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams, eds., Utilitarianism and Beyond (1982).

  1. Utilitarianism and Other Views of Justice

Readings:

1. R. M. Hare, “Ethical Theory and Utilitarianism,” and John C. Harsanyi, “Morality and the Theory of Rational Behavior,” in Sen and Williams, Utilitarianism and Beyond.

2. John Rawls, “Justice as Fairness” [1958] in Laslett and Runciman, Philosophy, Politics and Society.

3. John Roemer, “An Historical Materialist Alternative to Welfarism,” 1981 reprinted with revisions in Jon Elster, ed., Foundations of Social Choice Theory.

4. James Buchanan, “A Hobbesian Interpretation of the Rawlsian Difference Principle,” (1979) in Karl Brunner, ed., Economics and Social Institutions.

Optional Readings on The Best of All Possible Worlds

5. Murray Rothbard, “Property and Exchange,” from For a New Liberty (1973) (optional).

6. Shlomo Avineri, “The Stages of Socialism,” from The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx (1968) (optional).

Source: Internet Archive “Wayback Machine” webpage capture from November 20, 1996.

Image Source: Louis Putterman home page at Brown University. (Screen capture from April 8, 2018)

 

Categories
Chicago Fields Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Industrial Organization Reading List. Stigler, 1973

 

While the asterisks in the following reading list probably indicate the subset of required course readings, the  list in its entirety may be considered George Stigler’s universe of readings relevant for a graduate student intending to take a comprehensive examination in the field of industrial organization at Chicago. An autobiographical note by George Stigler from 1982 is included at the Nobel Prize website.

_________________

READING LIST
INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
George J. Stigler

Spring, 1973
Business 305
Economics 380

  1. The Definition and Empirical Determination of Competition and Monopoly
    1. Analytical literature

A. P. Lerner, “The Concept of Monopoly”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 1

F. H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, p. 76 ff.

G. J. Stigler, “Perfect Competition, Historically Contemplated”, Journal of Political Economy, 1957 (reprinted in Essays in the History of Economics).

*G. J. Stigler, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 2, 3, 4.

*G. Rosenbluth, “Measure of Concentration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

E. F. Fama and A. B. Laffer, “The Number of Firms and Competition”, AER, Sept. 1972.

T. Scitovsky, “Economic Theory and Measurement of Concentration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

M. O. Finkelstein and Richard Friedberg, “The Application of an Entropy Theory of Concentration”, Yale Law Review, March 1967.

H. Demsetz, “Why Regulate Utilities?”, Journal of Law and Economics, April 1968.

    1. Statistical studies

*A. C. Harberger, “Monopoly and Resource Allocation”, American Economic Review, May 1954.

G. Rosenbluth, Concentration in Canadian Manufacturing Industries.

R. Evely and I. M. D. Little, Concentration in British Industry, Ch. 1, pp. 104 ff., 160 ff.

P. Pashigian, “Market Concentration in the United States and Great Britain”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1968.

Ralph C. Nelson, Concentration in the Manufacturing Industries of the United States, Ch. I-IV.

Carl Eis, “The 1919-1930 Merger Movement in American Industry”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1969.

F. L. Pryor, “An International Comparison of Concentration Ratios,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1972.

M. Gort, “Analysis of Stability and Change in Market Shares”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

R. W. Kilpatrick, “A Choice Among Alternative Measures of Industrial Concentration”, Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1967.

*Irvin Grossack, “the Concept and Measurement of Permanent Industrial Concentration, Journal of Political Economy, July/Aug 1972.

  1. Determinants of the Firm-Size Structure
    1. The Economies of Scale

J. McConnell, “Corporate Earnings by Size of Firm”. Survey of Current Business, May 1945.

J. Johnston, Statistical Cost Functions, esp. pp. 110 ff., Ch. 6.

J. Haldi and D. Whitcomb, “Economies of Scale in Industrial Plants”, Journal of Political Economy, 1967.

J. S. Bain, Barriers to New Competition.

*J. S. Bain, “Economies of Scale…” in Readings in Industrial Organization and Public Policy.

*G. J. Stigler, The Economies of Scale, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 7.

P. E. Hart, “The Size and Growth of Firms”,Economica, February 1962.

*F. Modigliani, “New Developments on the Oligopoly Front”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1958.

D. Osborne, “The Role of Entry in Oligopoly Theory”, Journal of Political Economy, 1964.

L. Weiss, “The Survivor Technique and the Extent of Suboptimal Capacity”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1964.

T. Saving, “Estimation of Optimum Size of Plant by the Survivor Method”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1961.

L. Telser, Competition, Collusion and Game Theory, Ch. 8.

    1. Mergers

A. S. Dewing, “A Statistical Test of the Success of Consolidations”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1921.

G. J. Stigler, “Monopoly and Oligopoly by Merger”, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 8.

F. T. C., Report on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.

*J. Markham, “Survey of the Evidence and Findings on Mergers”, in Business Concentration.

J. F. Weston, The Role of Mergers in the Growth of Large Firms.

G. J. Stigler, “The Statistics of Monopoly and Merger”, Journal of Political Economy, 1956.

*Ralph Nelson, Merger Movements in American Industry.

H. G. Manne, “Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control”, Journal of Political Economy, April 1965.

  1. The Effects of Concentration
    1. Collusion

*D. H. MacGregor, Industrial Combination, Part II, Ch. 1.

W. Fellner, Competition Among the Few.

W. Nicholls, Imperfect Competition Within Agricultural Industries, pp. 120-130.

F. Machlup, Economics of Sellers’ Competition, Ch. 13.

*G. J. Stigler, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 5.

W. Nutter, “Duopoly, Oligopoly, and Emerging Competition”, Southern Economic Journal, 1964.

Lester Telser, Competition, Collusion and Game Theory, Ch. 5.

    1. Price Discrimination

N. I. C. B., Public Regulation of Competitive Practices, pp. 63-85.

J. P. Miller, Unfair Competition, Ch. 7-9.

J. Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Bk. V.

F. Machlup, The Basing Point System.

G. J. Stigler, A Theory of Uniform Delivered Prices, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 14.

    1. Price Rigidity

*G. Means, Industrial Prices and Their Relative Inflexibility.

Sweezy and Stigler, articles on the kinked oligopoly demand curve in American Economic Association, Readings in Price Theory.

A. C. Neal, Industrial Concentration and Price Inflexibility.

*Stigler, Administered Prices and Oligopolistic Inflation, The Organization of Industry, Ch. 19.

*Stigler & Kindahl, The Behavior of Industrial Prices, Ch. 1, 4, 5.

Government Price Statistics (Joint Economic Committee, 1961, also, National Bureau of Economic Research), Staff Papers No. 8 and 9.

R. Selden and C. dePodwin, “Business Pricing Policies and Inflation”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

L. Weiss, “Business Pricing Policies and Inflation Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, 1966.

    1. Profits

*J. S. Bain, “Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1951.

N. R. Collins and Lee E. Preston, Concentration and Price-Cost Margins in Manufacturing Industries.

G. J. Stigler, Capital and Rates of Return in Manufacturing Industries, Ch. 3.

Y. Brozen, “The Antitrust Task Force Deconcentration Recommendation”, Journal of Law and Economics, October, 1970.

S. I. Ornstein, “Concentration and Profits”, Journal of Business, Oct. 1972.

  1. Topics in Industry Behavior
    1. Advertising

E. Chamberlin, Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 6-7.

L. Telser, “Advertising and Cigarettes”, Journal of Political Economy, October 1962.

*N. Kaldor, “Economic Aspects of Advertising”, Review of Economic Studies, 1950.

*L. Telser, “Advertising and Competition”, Journal of Political Economy, December 1964.

*G. J. Stigler, “The Economics of Information,” The Organization of Industry, Ch. 16.

J. Peterman, “The Clorox Case and the Television Rate Structure”, Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1968.

W. S. Comanor and T. A. Wilson, “Advertising Market Structure and Performance”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1967.

Phillip Nelson, “Information and Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1970.

    1. The Nature of the Firm and Vertical Integration

*R. Coase, “The Nature of the Firm”, Readings in Price Theory.

H. Demsetz, “The Exchange and Enforcement of Property Rights”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1964.

A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, Ch. 3.

Marshall, Principles of Economics, Bk. IV, Ch. 10-13.

A. Young, “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress”, Economic Journal, 1928 (and in Clemence’s Readings in Economic Analysis, 2 vols.)

G. J. Stigler, “Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market,” The Organization of industry, Ch. 12.

*M. Adelman, “Concept and Measurement of Vertical Integration”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

M. Gort, Diversification and Integration in American Industry.

    1. Conglomerate Mergers

C. Edwards, “Conglomerate Progress as a Source of Power”, in Business Concentration and Price Policy.

J. Lorie and P. Halpern, “Conglomerates: The Rhetoric and the Evidence”, Journal of law and Economics, April 1970.

FTC, Economic Report on Corporate Mergers (1969).

    1. Schumpeter’s Theory

*Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Ch. 7-8.

E. Mansfield, “Size of Firm, Market Structure, and innovation”, Journal of Political Economy, 1963.

A. Plant, “Economic Theory Concerning Patents for Invention”, Economica, 1934.

*John McGee, “Patent Exploitation”, Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1966.

P. Swan, “Market Structure and Technological Progress”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1970.

  1. Large Number Industries
    1. Cartels

G. J. Stigler, The Theory of Price, (1966), Ch. 13.

Clair Wilcox, Public Policies Toward Business(3rd) Ch. 30.

C. Edwards, Economic and Political Aspects of International Cartels.

    1. Trade Associations

*Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action, esp. pp. 125-167.

T. N. E. C. Monograph No. 18, Trade Association Survey.

    1. Retailing: Resale Price Maintenance

W. Bowman, “Prerequisites and Effects of Resale Price Maintenance”, University of Chicago Law Journal, 1955.

F. T. C., Resale Price Maintenance.

*L. Telser, “Resale Price Maintenance”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1960.

B. Yamey, The Economics of Resale Price Maintenance.

  1. Anti-trust Policy
    1. History

J. D. Clark, Federal Trust Policy.

W. H. Taft, The Anti-trust Act and the Supreme Court.

H. B. Thorelli, The Federal Antitrust Policy.

Robert Bork, “Legislative Intent and the Policy of the Sherman Act”, Journal of Law and Economics, October 1966.

R. Posner, “A Statistical Study of Antitrust Enforcement”, Journal of Law and Economics, 1970.

G. Stigler, “The Economic Effects of the Antitrust Laws,” Journal of Law and Economics, Oct. 1966.

    1. Major dissolutions

E. Jones, Trust Problem in the United States, Ch. 18.

Hale, “Trust Dissolution”, Columbia Law Review, 1940.

W. S. Stevens, Industrial Combinations and Trusts, Ch. 14-15.

S. Whitney, Antitrust Policies, 2 vols.

    1. Law of Conspiracy

U. S. v. Trenton Potteries, 273 U.S. 392 (1927).

F. T. C. v. Cement Institute, 68 Sup. Ct. 793 (1948).

Report of Attorney-General’s National Committee on the Anti-trust Laws.

 

Source: University of Chicago Archives. George Stigler Papers, Box 2, Folder “1970’s: course notes + related: Industrial org. + microeconomics”.

Image Source: George Stigler (November 1977). University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf3-00844, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

 

Categories
M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Theories of State and Economy. Piore and Berger, 1977

 

Michael Piore, a labor economist, and Suzanne Berger, a political scientist (European and global political economy), team-taught the following graduate course in political economy at M.I.T. during the second term of 1976-77, its first-run. The course requirement was a short-fuse take-home examination. It was a fun reading list for a third-year graduate student of economics. It also just so happens that I have taught about a quarter of these readings in my undergraduate team-taught course on origins of political economy at Bard College Berlin this semester!

One salient memory from the course was Berger’s enthusiasm for the work of the (then) young scholar Roberto Unger. Another was the look on Piore’s face when he realized that in his haste he had labeled his upward sloping line in p-q space a “demand curve”. Quelle horreur!

One can find the Spring 2016 version of the course at the MIT Open Courseware site, along with archived versions for 2002, 2005, and 2010). Here that 2016 reading list. This is a course that is apparently still running, which is over a decade longer than Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera (thus far, that show is still running too).

_________________

Economics 14.781J, Michael Piore
Political Science 17.945J, Suzanne Berger

POLITICAL ECONOMY I: THEORIES OF THE STATE AND THE ECONOMY
[1976]

February 8: Introduction

February 15: Neo-classical theories of the economy

Readings:
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
Robert Solow, “The New Industrial State, or Son of Affluence”, and Galbraith reply, in The Public Interest, no. 9, fall 1967.
Robin Marris “Galbraith, Solow and the Truth about Corporations” in The Public Interest, no. 11 spring 1968, pp. 37-46
Robert Solow “The Truth Further Redefined: A Comment on Marris” in Ibid. pp. 47-52.
Robert Solow “Blood and Thunder” in Yale Law Review, pp. 1696-1711.
[K.J. Arrow “Gifts and Exchanges”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Summer 1972 No. 4]

February 22: Theories of the liberal state:

Readings:
Roberto Unger, Knowledge and Politics, chapters 1-3.

March 1: Theories of the liberal state:

Readings:
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, chapters 1-5, 7-9.
Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action, chapters 1,2,3,4.

March 8: Marxist theories of the economy

Readings:
Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” in Tucker, ed. Marx-Engels Reader, Part II.

March 15: Neo-marxist theories of the economy

Reading:
G.C. Harcourt, “Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital,” The Journal of Economic Literature, vol. VII, 1969, pp. 369-405.

March 22: Marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
Marx, “Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy” in Tucker, ed. Marx-Engels Reader
Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” in Tucker ed.

March 29: Vacation

April 5: Neo-marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
L. Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” in Lenin and Philosophy
Thompson, Whigs and Hunters, “Introduction” (pp. 21-24) and “Consequences and Conclusions (219-269)

April 12: Neo-marxist theories of the state:

Readings:
Antonio Gramsci, “The Modern Prince”

 

Reading list for cases to be discussed April 19-May 10 will be distributed later.

Reading List
Part II

April 19: [Patriots Day – No Class] Crises and Growth:

Reading:
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Part II
W. W. Rostow, The Stage of Economic Growth, Chapters 1-5, 10

April 26: Crises and Growth:

Reading:
Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Part III
Recommended: Jurgen Habermas, Legitimation Crisis

May 3: Ethnicity and Regionalism:

Readings.
Michael Hechter, Internal Colonialism, Chapters 1, 2, 9, 10.
D. Moynihan and N. Glazer, Beyond the Melting Pot, [pp. 1-23, 292-310, and any two interior chapters.)

May 10: Welfare

Readings:
E. Ginzberg and R. Solow The Great Society, Introduction, Chapter 3, Conclusion (Chapter 11).
F. Piven and R. Cloward, Regulating the Poor

May 17: Exam due

Source: Irwin Collier, personal copy from course.

Image Sources: Suzanne Berger in MIT News, Feb. 8, 2006. Michael Piore from screen capture of his webpage at M.I.T. (Mar 13, 2012 Wayback Machine)