Category: Syllabus

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M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Core Micro Theory. Resource Allocation/Price System. Weitzman, 1974

 

For the second half of the first term of 1974-75, Martin Weitzman distributed a 100 page typescript for his lectures in the four half-course sequence of core microeconomic theory. The typescript consisted of 87 pages of lecture notes, 10 pages of final exam questions from previous years and three pages of course outline and select references. The order of Robert Bishop’s and Weitzman’s courses were reversed starting with the 1974-75 academic year so that the numbering for Weitzman’s course was changed from 14.121 to 14.122. 

Weitzman’s course outline and reading list have been transcribed below.

The final exam questions for this Fall, Term 1974 course have been posted earlier. Note: the old course numbering was used (14.121) on the exam. In a coming post I’ll provide the final exam questions from earlier years.

_____________________

Course Description corresponding to 14.122

14.121 Microeconomic Theory I
Prereq.: 14.04
Year: G(1)
2-0-4

[Instructors: D. K. Foley (1972/73); Martin Weitzman (1973/74)]

Introduction to the theory of resource allocation and the price system. Decentralization of economic decisions. Competitive equilibrium Pareto optimality. Productive efficiency.

Source:
M.I.T. Annual Catalogue, 1972/73, p. 95D.
M.I.T. Annual Catalogue, 1973/74, p. 268.

_____________________

 

Outline and Selected References

Topics

Activity Analysis Model of Production

Activity Vectors
Production Sets
Production Functions

Prices and Efficiency

Price Systems
Profit Maximization
Efficiency

Duality Theory

Convexity
Separating Hyperplanes
Shadow Prices
Cost Functions and Factor Demand

Comparative Systems and Other Applications

Efficiency Prices and Decentralized Decision Making
Externalities and Non-Convexities
Efficiency and Distribution
Foundations of Cost Benefit Analysis

 

Background References

(if time permits, it might be useful to read these before taking 14.122)

T.C. Koopmans, Essay I in Three Essays on the State of Economic Science.
W.J. Baumol, Operations Research and Economic Theory, chs. 1-8, 12, 21.

 

Reading List(14.122)

Readings should be considered as background material for the lectures. At certain times they can be of help in clarifying a topic which has been only briefly treated in class. The reading material listed here is redundant to some extent and the degree to which you will wish to consult outside reading sources should depend among other things on your preparation for the course and the extent to which you feel you understand the subject matter.

The reading list is arranged by topics.

  1. The Activity Analysis Model

A.S. Manne, Economic Analysis for Business Decisions, chs. 1, 2.
E. Malinvaud, Lectures on Microeconomic Theory, ch. 3, sects. 1-3.
Dorfman, Samuelson, and Solow, Linear Programming and Economic Analysis, ch. 6.
T.C. Koopmans, ch. 1, ch. 3, sects. 3.1-3.7, of “Allocation of Resources and the Price System”, essay 1 of Three Essays on the State of Economic Science.
W.J. Baumol, Operations Research and Economic Theory, ch. 12.
G.W. Dantzig, Linear Programming and Extensions, chs. 1-3.
D. Gale, The Theory of Linear Economic Models, ch. 1, sect. 1

  1. Prices and Efficiency

L.V. Kantorovich, The Best Use of Economic Resources, intro. and ch. 1.
Koopmans, ch. 3, sects. 3.8-3.14.
Malinvaud, ch. 3, sects. 4-8.

  1. Duality Theory

D. McFadden, An Econometric Approach to Production Theory.
Gale, ch. 1, sects. 2-4.
Dantzig, ch. 12.
Dorfman, Samuelson, and Solow, chs. 7,8.

  1. Applications and Extensions

T.C. Koopmans, “Efficient Allocation of Resources” and “Uses of Prices”, pp. 211-221 and 243-257 in Scientific Papers of Tjalling C. Koopmans.
Baumol, ch. 8, sects. 1-3, ch. 16.
W. Nicholson, Microeconomic Theory, pp. 451-456, ch. 25.
M.L. Weitzman, “Free Access vs. Private Ownership as Alternative Systems for Managing Common Property”, paper on reserve.
T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition, chs. 12-14.

 

Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier.

Image Source: Detail from 1976 MIT economics department group picture.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Chicago Exam Questions Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Undergraduate International Monetary Affairs. Metzler, 1962

 

It is interesting to see that University of Chicago economics undergraduates in 1962 were still expected to learn something about mercantilism and classical international economic theory with a dash of Friedrich List as a chaser in Lloyd Metzler’s course on international monetary relations and policies. Oh yes, and Alfred Marshall gets into the act as well! 

_____________________

Lloyd A. Metzler

ECONOMICS 271
Reading List
Winter, 1962

  1. Mercantilism and the Classical Theory of Comparative Advantage.

P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 2.
Eli Heckscher, “Mercantilism,” in Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. X.
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapter 7.
John Stuart Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy, Essay 1.

  1. Mechanism of the Foreign Exchange Market.

Alan R. Holmes, The New York Foreign Exchange Market, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, March 1959.
P. T. Ellsworth, The International Economy, Revised Edition, chapter 15.
Frank A. Southard, Jr., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy.
Peter B. Kenen, Giant among Nations, Harcourt Brace, 1958.

  1. National Income and the Balance of Payments.

J. E. Meade, The Theory of International Economic Policy, Vol. I, The Balance of Payments, Oxford University Press, Part I.
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Income and Output, 1958.
R. F. Bennett, “Significance of International Transactions in National Income,” in Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. VI, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Alfred Marshall, Money, Credit, and Commerce, Book III, chapters 1-4.

  1. Postwar Monetary Developments.

Randall Hinshaw, “Toward Currency Convertibility,” Princeton University, Essays in International Finance, No. 31, 1958.
Robert Triffin, Europe and the Money Muddle, Yale University Press, 1957.
Alice Bourneuf and E. A. Goldenweiser, “The Bretton Woods Agreements,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1944.

  1. Regional Monetary Arrangements.

Jacob Viner, The Customs Union Issue, Chapter 4.
Committee for Economic Development, The European Common Market and its Meaning to the United States, CED, May, 1959.
James E. Meade, Problems of Economic Union, University of Chicago Press, 1953.

  1. Undeveloped Areas and the Theory of Economic Growth.

Friedrich List, A National System of Political Economy.
Walter W. Rostow, The Process of Economic Growth, chapters 1-4.
Colin Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, chapters 2, 3, 4, 11.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, chapter 1.
A. J. Brown, Introduction to the World Economy, chapters 1-4, chapter 6.

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “271 Class Notes. Win. ‘62”.

_____________________

L. A. Metzler

ECONOMICS 271
COURSE EXAMINATION
Winter, 1962

(1) Outline the principal policies of mercantilist economics and show how these policies were justified as being in the national interest of the country concerned.

(2) How were the mercantilist doctrines refuted by the classical economists, particularly by Ricardo and Mill?

(3) Did the classical economists establish a case for universal free trade? Explain.

(4) What are the main features of an undeveloped or backward country and how can the obstacles to economic development be overcome?

(5) How do you account for the decline in public interest in Malthus’ doctrine of population during the middle of the nineteenth century? What explains the recent revival of interest?

(6) Suppose that England, France and the United States have flexible exchange and that, at a given moment of time, these rates are:

New York—London: $4 = £1.
New York—Paris: $0.25 = F. 1
London—Paris: F12 = £1

If an arbitrageur has bank balances in all these countries, show how he can operate in such a way as to leave all of his foreign balances unchanged and at the same time increase his domestic balances. What effect will these operations have on all three rates?

(7) Demonstrate the conditions under which devaluation will improve a country’s balance of trade. In doing this you should define the balance of trade in both domestic and foreign currencies.

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Lloyd Appleton Metzler Papers, Box 9, Folder “Course Exams 270-271”.

Source Image: Posting by Margie Metzler on the Metzler Family Tree at the genealogical website, ancestry.com.

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

M.I.T. Advanced Economic Theory. Uncertainty and Capital Theory. Readings and Exam. Solow, 1965

 

Topics in advanced economic theory in 1965 was taught at M.I.T. by Robert Solow. The topics discussed were uncertainty and capital theory. This post provides information that was found stored in three different folders in Robert Solow’s papers at the Economists’ Papers Archive at Duke University. Together in one place we now have the reading lists for the topics, the final exam questions and even the class list. For the little it is worth knowing, Robert Hall of Stanford and William Nordhaus of Yale were awarded A’s in the course. I certainly hope that their scientific reputations will not be affected by that revelation.

____________________

Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
I. Economics of Uncertainty

K. Arrow, “Alternative Approaches…,” Econometrica, October 1951.
D. Bernoulli, “Exposition of a New Theory…,” Econometrica, January 1954.
M. Friedman and L. J. Savage, “Utility Analysis…,” JPE, August, 1948, also in Readings in Price Theory.
H. Markowitz, “The Utility of Wealth,” JPE, April, 1952.
I. Herstein and J. Milnor, “An Axiomatic Approach…,” Econometrica, April, 1953.
J. Pratt, “Risk Aversion…,” Econometrica, January-April 1964.
H. Latané, “Criteria for Choice Among Risky Ventures,” JPE, April, 1959.
J. Tobin, “Liquidity Preference…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., February, 1958.
K. Arrow, “The Role of Securities…,” Rev. of Econ. Stud., April, 1964.
J. Hirschleifer, “Efficient Allocation…,” AER, May, 1964, 77-96 (including relevant discussion)
K. Arrow, “Uncertainty and the Economics of Medical Care,” AER, December, 1963.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

____________________

Spring 1965

14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Reading List on Capital Theory

I. Fisher: Theory of Interest, passim.
K. Wicksell: Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. I, Part II and Appendix on Akerman.
O. Lange: “the Place of Interest…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1935-1936.
L. Metzler: “Rate of Interest and…”, JPE 1950, “Corrections”, JPE 1951.
P. Samuelson: “Some Aspects of the Pure Theory…”, QJE 1937
___________: “Rate of Interest under Ideal Conditions”, QJE 1939.
T. Koopmans: Three Essays on the State of Economics, pp. 105-126.
R. Radner: Notes on the Theory of Economic Planning.
E. Malinvaud: “The Analogy between…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, 1961.
R. Solow: “Substitution and Fixed Proportions…”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962
________:  Capital Theory and the Rate of Return, Chapters 1, 2.
E. Phelps: “Substitution, Fixed Proportions,….”, International Economic Review, September 1963.
K. Arrow: “…Learning by Doing”, Rev. of Econ. Studies, June 1962.
R. Findlay: “The Robinsonian Model…”, Economica, February 1963 and “Comments” by Robinson and Findlay, Economica, November 1963.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 67, Folder “14.192 Capital Theory”.

____________________

Final Examination
14.192 Advanced Economic Theory
Spring 1965

  1. Suppose Caius, a Petersburg merchant, has purchased commodities in Amsterdam which he could sell for 10,000 rubles if he had them in Petersburg. He therefore orders them to be shipped by sea, but is in doubt whether to insure them. He is well aware that at this time of year, of 100 ships which sail from Amsterdam to Petersburg, 5 are usually lost. How much wealth must Caius possess apart from the goods under consideration in order that it be sensible for him to abstain from insuring the shipment at a price of 800 rubles? And what fortune should be possessed by the man who offers to provide this insurance in order for him to be rational in doing so? Work out for an arbitrary utility function and specialize to the logarithmic case.
  2. In a perfectly competitive economy, it requires c (X) many years of labor, and nothing else, to build a machine which requires X men to operate it and has a capacity of one unit of output a year. The wage in terms of output is w and is expected to be constant forever. The market rate of interest is r, also constant. For given w, find the competitive equilibrium values of x and r. How does x change with w?
  3. By investing one unit of labor now (at real wage w) you can start a yoghurt-process. T units of time later, by investing one more unit of labor you can collect f (T) units yoghurt and start another identical yoghurt-process. There is a competitive capital market. You intend this yoghurt business to go on forever at the scale of one process. Discuss the determination of the best T, and implications for r and w.
  4. An investor with wealth W must divide it between holding cash, M, and holding one-year bonds in value B, paying interest at rate r. The return of principal is sure but the interest rate is random. Interest income is subject to a proportional tax at rate t. If the investor is a Bernoullian expected-utility maximizer and a risk-averter, how will his holding of bonds respond to a change in the tax rate? Explain the economics of your answer.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

____________________

From the Final Grade Sheet

Second Term 1964-65
Subject number: 14.192
Subject name: Economics Seminar
Staff member in charge: [signed] R. M. Solow

Graduate students of economics who were awarded grades
[There were 5 A’s and 7 B’s]:

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo [Emeritus Professor,Keio Univ.]
Kheir El Dine, H. Miss
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Nordhaus, William D.
Schulson, Louis J.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Examinations and Quizzes”.

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(Preliminary) Class List

14.192 ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY
W 1:00-3:00
Professor Robert M. Solow

Bing, Peter C.
Bischoff, Charles W.
Blackburn, Anthony J.
Carter, D. Nicholas G.
Chacholiades, Miltiades  LISTENER
DeMenil, George F. DROPPED APRIL 13, 1965
Hall, Robert E.
Havens, John J. Jr.
Kamiya, Denzo
Kheir El Dine, H.
Mazur, Michael P.
Moskowitz, Warren E.
Schulson, Louis J.
Suva, Felipe
Wales, Terrence J. LISTENER
Cohen, Malcolm S. LISTENER
Stiglitz, Joseph
La Malfa, Giorgio LISTENER

Note:  William Nordhaus who received a grade in the course was not included in this preliminary class list. Felipe Suva and Joseph Stiglitz appear on this list but were not included in the gradesheet.

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Robert M. Solow papers, Box 68, Folder “Reading Lists”.

Image Source:  Robert Merton Solow at the M.I.T. Museum website.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Economics, Summer School. Syllabus and Exams, 1942.

Harvard Commencement, 1943. Military copy work from the Harvard ArchivesHarvard University. . Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

 

 

Harvard University was able to switch into a three semester per year mode in the very first summer after the U.S. entered World War II. There were two versions of the standard Principles of Economics course offered, one which extended over the twelve week summer term and one very intensive version that covered the material of a normal year-long course in just six weeks by having the students in class for two hours per days for five days per week. There was also a Principles “Lite” version that ran for only six weeks and covered just half the material apparently.

The syllabus for the full twelve week version of Economics A lists 2,600 pages of assigned reading for the  course. Nominally there would be five one-hour sessions per week, so on average for the sixty sessions students were expected to read 40-45 pages per day. Call me cynical, but I would be surprised if the average of the distribution were even half that pensum.

____________________

Summer enrollment in Principles of Economics, 1942

“The large number of course enrolments meant that individual classes were very much larger than in preceding years. The largest classes were Mathematics SAa, with 436 students, English SAa, with 347, English SAb, with 329, Mathematics SAb, with 299, and Economics SAa, with 222 students. Enrolment in 22 courses was 100 or more.”

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College for 1941-1942, p. 356.

___________________

Course Announcements for Summer School 1942 

Economics SAa 1hf. Principles of Economics.
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAa may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
SAa and SAb provide an introductory study of the present organization of industry, money and the mechanism of exchange, the theory of value, foreign trade and tariff policy, the distribution of wealth; i.e., the forces governing the incomes of the laboring, land-owning, capitalist and business classes, and the relation of government to industry. The course is conducted entirely by oral discussion.

 

Economics SAb 2hf.Principles of Economics
Half-course (second session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Professor Chamberlin, and other members of the Department.

Economics SAb may be taken by properly qualified Freshmen with the consent of the instructor.
Economics SAa is a prerequisite for the course.
For description see SAa.

 

Economics SA1(to count as a whole course in the first session). Principles of Economics
Whole course (first session). Mon. through Fri., 9 to 11.  Professor Burbank, and other members of the Department.

Economics SA1 is identical with SAa and Sab, the two, however, combined and completed in one session. Freshmen will not be admitted to this course. For description see SAa.

 

Economics SB 1hf. Principles of Economics
Half-course (first session). Mon. through Fri., at 11. Dr. Monroe.

If a Harvard student counts Economics SB for a degree, Economics A may be counted as a half-course only. Ordinarily students concentrating in History, Government, and Economics must take Economics A, SA, or SAa and SAb.
Course SB gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject.

 

Source:   Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered in the Summer Term 1942 published in Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 39, No. 16 (April 20, 1942), pp. 21-22.

____________________

ECONOMICS A
Summer Term, 1942

Sources: Arnold, Thurman The Bottlenecks of Business (1940)

*

 Benham and Lutz Economics, American Edition (1941)
Bidwell, P. Economic Defense of Latin America (1941)

**

 Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Charts on Bank Credit, Money Rates and Business (1941)
Garver and Hansen Principles of Economics, Revised Edition (1937)
Golden and Ruttenberg The Dynamics of Industrial Democracy (1942)
Johnson, E.A.J. Some Origins of the Modern Economic World (1936)

**

 Luthringer, Chandler and Cline Money, Credit and Finance (1938)
Meyers, A.L. Elements of Modern Economics (1937)

**

 Neal, A.C., Editor Introduction to War Economics (1942)
Slichter, S.E. Modern Economic Society (1928)

-ditto-

 The Economics of Collective Bargaining (reprint)

-ditto-

 The Period 1919-1936 in the United States, Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory, in Review of Economic Statistics, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1937, No. 1, Part I

**

 Staff members Syllabus: Economics A
Taussig, F.W. Principles of Economics, Vol. I Third Edition Revised (1921)

**

 Taylor, H. Main Currents in Modern Economic Life (1941)
T.N.E.C. Price Behavior and Business Policy, Monograph No. 1 (1941)
T.N.E.C. Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, Monograph No. 21 (1940)

** To be purchased by students
* Suggested for purchase

Note:  Essay due at end of eight week.

 

ECONOMICS A
Outline and Reading Assignments
Summer Term, 1942

 

Weeks Pages
1st Part I. EMERGENCE OF MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
The economic problem; historical development of social and legal institutions; their effect on the economic problem.
Johnson,  Ch. 1, Economic Activity and Economic Development 7
_______, Ch. 2, The Late-Medieval Background 21
_______, Ch. 3, The Emergence of Capitalism 34
_______, Ch. 4, The Beginnings of Scientific Technology 32
_______, Ch. 5, The Formulation of Capitalist Theory 23
_______, Ch. 6, Protection and the Transplantation of Industrialism 24
_______, Ch. 7, The Export of Capital and the Genesis of Economic Imperialism 15
156
Part II. MODERN ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
A—The economic problem again; how it is solved today; the concept of useful production.
Benham, Ch. 1, General Survey 17
Taussig, Ch. 2, Of Labor in Production 13
30
B—Description of money flows and goods flows in a capitalist society; the relation of the division of labor to these flows; the forms of business organization and their relation to the division of labor.
Taylor, Ch. 6, Vol. I, The National Income and its Distribution 18
2nd _______, Ch. 12, Vol. I, Industrial Techniques 16
Taussig, Ch. 3, Division of Labor 18
_______, Ch. 4, Large Scale Production 15
Slichter, Ch. 8, (M.E.S.) Modern Business Organization 26
93
Part III. THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND MONEY
Division of Labor necessitates exchange; exchange is facilitated by the use of money; digression to explain the working of the monetary system in the United States.
Luthringer, Ch. 1, Functions and Significance of Money 24
_______, Ch. 2, Kinds of Money 23
_______, Ch. 3, Credit and Credit Instruments 15
_______, Ch. 4, Investment Institutions and Commercial Banking 23
Pamphlet, Credit Expansion, in Economics A Syllabus 14
Luthringer, Ch. 5, Central Banking and the Federal Reserve System 20
_______, Ch. 6, The Quantitative Control of Bank Credit 18
3rd _______, Ch. 7, Meaning of the Value of Money 14
_______, Ch. 8, Equation of Exchange and the Quantity of Money 16
_______, Ch. 9, Velocity of Money and the Volume of Trade 17
184
Part IV. THE SOLUTION TO THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A—The Markets for Commodities
Analysis in this section refers only to the determination of prices and quantities of commodities produced by a business firm. No answers are given to the questions: Why are wages, rents, interest high or low?
A.1 The Business Firm vis-à-vis Consumers in an unregulated market
A.1.a Consumer Demand
Why consumers spend their incomes as they do, the process whereby consumer demand is transmitted to the market.
Benham, Ch. 2, Markets 25
_______, Ch. 3, Demand 16
_______, Ch. 4, Prices with a Fixed Demand 10
_______, Ch. 5, Changes in Demand 10
61
A.1.b The Business Firm
The final relationship of cost to price depends on the competitive conditions in each commodity market; the profit motive the main determinant of the firm’s decisions.
Benham, Ch. 12, The Controlling Power of Demand 8
_______, Ch. 13, The Problems of the Firm (omit Sec. 11) 37
_______, Ch. 14, Monopoly 18
Monograph 21, Ch. 1, the Nature and Significance of Competition 18
Monograph 1, Part 1, Ch. 2, Nonprice Competition 53
4th _______, 1, Part 2, Ch. 1, Types of Geographical Price Structures 14
148
A.2 Effect of Government Regulation on the unregulated market
A.2.a Introduction
General analysis of regulation and impediments to free markets. Sections b, c, and d elaborate more completely some issues presented here.
Arnold, Ch. 1, The Basic Problem of Distribution 19
_______, Ch. 2, How Restraints of Trade Affect your Standard of Living 25
_______, Ch. 3, How Restraints of Trade Unbalance the National Budget 13
_______, Ch. 4, A Free market in time of National Emergency or War 30
_______, Ch. 5, An Elastic Procedure…to Prevent…Seizure of…Power… 24
_______, Appendix I and II 20
_______, Ch. 6, The Test is Efficiency and Service—not size 15
_______, Ch. 7, Procedure Under the Sherman Act… 31
5th _______, Ch. 8, The Clarification of Law through public enforcement 26
_______, Ch. 9, Antitrust Enforcement for the Betterment of the Consumer 21
_______, Ch. 10, Bottlenecks between the Farm and the Table 26
_______, Ch. 11, Labor—Restraints of Trade among the Underdogs 19
_______, Ch. 12, The Rise of a Consumer Movement 37
306
A.2.b Regulation and the Consumer
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 37, Consumption Standards 15
____________, Ch. 38, Consumers and the Business System 19
____________, Ch. 39, Consumer Cooperation 20
54
6th A.2.c Regulation and the Business Firm
(1) Monopoly
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 15, The Growth of Big Business 18
___________, Ch. 16, The Trend Toward Monopoly 17
___________, Ch. 17, Monopolies and Public Policy 16
51
(2) Public Utilities
Techniques of regulation different for firms classified as public utilities; the TVA—an example of a new regulatory device.
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 13, pp. 363-364 Introduction 2
____________, Ch. 48, The Nature and Scope of Public Regulation 15
___________, Ch. 49, The Price of Utility Services 16
___________, Ch. 50, Recent Expansion of Federal Control 19
___________, Ch. 51, The State as Operator 17
69
A.2.d Agriculture—a special problem
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 8, Agriculture and the Market 3
____________, Ch. 30, The American Farmers 18
____________, Ch. 31, Farmers in the Market System 19
____________, Ch. 32, Agriculture and Public Policy 24
64
7th B. The Markets for Productive Agents (Factors of Production)
The Analysis in this section refers to the determination of the prices of the factors of production, land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship in the markets where they are bought and sold. The entrepreneur’s reward, profit, is decided for him by the success or failure of his production plan. This market is, of course, not independent of the commodity markets. The unclassified reading discusses the productive agents of the United States:
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 8, How Productive Resources are Used 17
___________, Ch. 9, Population 19
___________, Ch. 10, Land 15
___________, Ch. 11 Localized Natural Resources 21
___________, Ch. 13 Capital 19
91
B.1 The Factors vis-à-vis Firms in an Unregulated Market
B.1.a. The Pricing Process in General
Benham, Ch. 9, Combination of Factors (omit sec’s 5,6) 18
Meyers, Ch. 11, The Distribution of Income 11
29
B.1.b. The Prices of Each Factor of Production
Benham, Ch. 15, The Mobility of Factors of Production 10
_______, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 258-269 20
_______, Ch. 18, Rent 13
Garver and Hansen, Ch. 26, Interest 23
_______________, Ch. 27, Profits 12
78
8th B.2 Effects of Government Regulation and other Institutional Aspects of Distribution on the Markets for Factors.
B.2.a The Labor Market
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 33, The American Labor Market, pp. 75-89 14
___________, Ch. 35, The Labor Movement 24
Slichter (pamphlet). The Economics of Collective Bargaining 23
Taylor, Vol. II, Ch. 36, Public Policy Regarding Labor 22
Benham, Ch. 16, Wages, pp. 269-275 (section 9) 6
Golden, entire book. Write an essay of not more than 1200 words evaluating the ideas in the book. 347
436
9th B.2.b The Market for Savings
It is to be noted that firms and others may secure funds from credit created by commercial banks.
Taylor, Vol. I, Ch. 23, pp. 431-434 only (self financing by corporations) 4
__________, Ch. 24, Investment Credit Institutions 19
__________, Ch. 25, The Security Markets 17
__________, Ch. 26, Regulation of Securities and Exchanges 18
58
C. Public Finance and the Economic Problem
The State not only regulates markets as described above but also influences the prices of factors and commodities in the process of financing the production of public goods (roads, protection, etc.). The effects of government finance on the level of national income to be postponed to Part VI.
Luthringer,  Ch. 12, The Public Economy 13
_________, Ch. 13, The Revenue System 20
_________, Ch. 14, Tax Incidence 26
_________, Ch. 15, The Income Tax 20
_________, Ch. 16, Property and Other Taxes 18
_________, Ch. 17, Public Credit 14
_________, Ch. 18, Principles of Public Credit 16
127
Part V. INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARKETS AND FINANCE
Analysis of international trade and finance; the free market and the regulated market. Previous analysis emphasized only domestic markets although the principle of international trade is applicable to regions within a country to some extent; Latin America and the War.
10th Benham,  Ch. 25, The Theory of International Trade 22
_______, Ch. 26, Balances of Payments 10
_______, Ch. 27, Free Exchange Rates 10
_______, Ch. 28, The Gold Standard 22
_______, Ch. 29, Exchange Control 8
_______, Ch. 30, Import Duties and Quotas 9
Bidwell, Ch. 1, War and the Monroe Doctrine 16
______, Ch. 2, Propaganda and Politics 13
______, Ch. 3, German Economic Penetration 12
______, Ch. 4, The Weapons of Economic Defense 33
______, Ch. 5, The Fallacy of Hemisphere Self-Sufficiency 14
169
Part VI. PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION
Analysis of the reasons why all prices move together; why all factors tend to become unemployed—hence the emphasis on the movements of national income. Previously, the analysis of prices was chiefly concerned (with the exception of the value of money) with relative prices. Existence of international markets tends to spread the cyclical pattern.
A. Explanation and Verification of Business Cycle Theories
Benham, Ch. 7, The Volume of Production, pp. 113-125 13
Garver and Hansen, Ch. 21, Business Cycles 18
11th Benham, Ch. 20, Economic Progress and the Trade Cycle, pp. 347-356 9
Slichter, R.E.S., The Period 1919-1936 in the U.S. Its Significance for Business Cycle Theory 19
59
B. Governmental Policy and Business Cycles
Taylor, Vol. II,  Ch. 44, Deficit Spending 16
____________, Ch. 12, The State as Provider (Introduction) 2
____________, Ch. 45, Providing Minimum Needs 17
____________, Ch. 46, Social Security 19
____________, Ch. 47, Public Housing 17

71
Part VII. TOTALITARIAN ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM
Analysis of the solution to the economic problem in totalitarian economic systems.
Taylor, Vol. II, Sec. 14, Totalitarian Alternatives to Free Markets (Introduction) 2
____________, Ch. 52, Economic Basis of Totalitarianism 16
____________, Ch. 53, The Soviet Economy 23
____________, Ch. 54, The Fascist Economy in Italy 19
____________, Ch. 55, The National Socialist Economy in Germany 20
80
12th Part VIII. THE ECONOMICS OF WAR
Neal,  Ch. 1, Basic Economic Problems of War 15
____, Ch. 2, Economic War Potential 23
____, Ch. 3, Problems of War Production 21
____, Ch. 4, War Labor Problems 25
____, Ch. 5, Financing the War Effort 19
____, Ch. 6, Financing the War Effort, Business Finance 27
____, Ch. 7, Wartime Management of the Monetary and Banking System 28
____, Ch. 8, The Control of Individual Prices 31
____, Ch. 9, Economic Warfare 20
____, Ch.10, Post-War International Economics 19
228

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Randall Hinshaw Papers, Box 1, Folder “Schoolwork, 1940s”.

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Final examination first half of course

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAa

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the following in this section:

  1. Analyze carefully the effects of the following on average cost, marginal cost, marginal revenue and price for the individual firm in the short run:
    1. A tax of ten cents per unit of output on a monopolist.
    2. A subsidy of ten cents per unit of output to firms in a purely competitive industry.
  2. Trace the repercussions on member bank reserve balances, Treasury deposits with the Federal Reserve System and reserves of the Federal Reserve System caused by:
    1. The purchase and sterilization of gold by the Treasury.
    2. The purchase of U.S. government bonds by the Federal Reserve System.
    3. A transference of Treasury deposits from the Federal Reserve System to member banks.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the following in this section:

  1. “Regulation of public utility rates may be effected by limiting charges to yield a fair return on a fair value of the property. This will result in prices comparable to competitive conditions. An alternative type of rate regulation may be accomplished by using as a ‘yardstick’ the rates which a government-owned plant could economically charge.”
    1. Does the use of the fair return formula approximate the price which would evolve in a competitive market for the same commodity?
    2. May the rates fixed by the Tennessee Valley Authority be used as a “yardstick” for privately-owned power companies?
  2. “There seems to be a common belief that banks, by some process of sleight of hand, contrive to create a multiple of the amount of money they receive. The truth is that they can lend not more, but less than the amount of money that comes into their hands.”
    Do you agree? Explain fully.
  3. “It is not size in itself that we want to destroy….What ought to be emphasized is…the evil of industries which are not efficient or do not pass (the gains from) efficiency on to consumers.” Arnold.
    Examine the consistency of this statement.
  4. Contrast carefully the industrial economic world of nineteenth century England with the industrial economic world of fourteenth century England.
  5. Write a letter to your congressman briefly explaining what you believe to be the basic American farm problems and critically evaluating the New Deal attempts to alleviate them.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

____________________

Final examination second half of course

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[Second Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SAb

Part I

(One hour)

Write on BOTH of the questions in this section:

  1. “The main fiscal problem of the war is the diversion of a large share of the national income from the private economy to the public fisc for war purposes.” Outline and defend a plan of taxation and borrowing which in your opinion effectively will solve this problem.
  2. Analyze the effects of an increase in the supply of labor on (a) the remuneration of the various productive factors and (b) the changes in output of those industries whose costs are mainly labor and those whose costs are mainly capital.

Part II

(Two hours)

Write on any FOUR of the questions in this section:

  1. Write an essay on the topic of cyclical unemployment emphasizing (a) the processes by which full employment is supposed to be effected in a free enterprise economy and (b) the reasons why these processes have failed to operate.
  2. What controls are necessary for the orderly and equitable distribution of goods during war time in the markets for factors of production and the markets for consumers’ commodities? Indicate the results likely to follow from partial rather than complete controls in these two major groups of markets.
  3. “Labor unions cannot raise the wages of labor within an occupation without reducing the number employed in that occupation since the entrepreneur cannot afford to pay labor more than the value of its marginal product.” Do you agree? Explain fully.
  4. Discuss carefully three methods of correcting an adverse balance of payments. Indicate the effects of each method on the level of domestic money incomes, the foreign exchange rate, merchandise exports and imports and short-term capital movements.
  5. Explain the chief methods of regulating securities markets in the United States. State concisely the functions of securities markets and evaluate the success of regulation in aiding the orderly functioning of these markets.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Course reading lists, syllabi, and exams 1913-1992 (UA V 349.295.6), Box 1, Folder “Economics 1, Exams 1939-1962”.

____________________

Final Exam Intensive Course, First Session 1942

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SA1

I

(One hour)

  1. Reply fully to the following questions:
    1. Which are the main problems confronting the economy of this country during the present war?
    2. What measures of economic policy would you propose to cope with them?

II

(About one half hour each)

  1. What are the effects of the practice of self-financing by corporations upon
    1. the rate of interest;
    2. the allocation of the nation’s resources;
    3. the prevalence of competition, or of monopoly, in the economy as a whole?
  2. Let a tax be imposed upon a monopolist and the amount due be determined by either of the following methods:
    1. a fixed percentage of his profits;
    2. a fixed money amount per unit of output;
    3. a fixed percentage of the total money value of his sales;
    4. a global fixed sum, independent of either output or sales.

In which of these cases will he be able to shift the tax forward? Prove your conclusions by a graphical analysis.

  1. Criticize the following statement carefully:
    “The average citizen is inclined to think that there is nothing at all which he himself can do to check inflation. He considers the anti-inflationary fight a task for Uncle Sam only and therefore urges control of prices and labor and the draining off of excessive purchasing power. Actually, the citizen himself can do a great deal, and the efforts of the government will be far less effective unless he does.
    “He can co-operate with the government by putting money in the bank and making it work for him, instead of drawing it out, letting it lie idle and exposing it to the danger of theft, fire and forgetfulness, He can pay his debts. He can discharge his mortgage more rapidly. He can make larger down payments on installment purchases than he has to. He can be more generous to poor relatives. He can see his oculist, dentist or family doctor more often, and pay cash. He can contribute more liberally to local and national charities. He can refuse to hoard goods. He can refrain from rushing to buy the very articles of which there is a shortage….” (The Boston Herald, July 28, 1942, p. 14)
  2. Trace the main effects that the abolition of the tariff on beef (one of the major export articles of Argentina) would, in peacetime, have upon the economies of the United States and of Argentina. Distinguish the short-run and the long-run consequences.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

____________________

Final Examination for Principles of Economics “Lite”

SUMMER SCHOOL OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
[First Session. Summer, 1942]
ECONOMICS SB

I

(About one hour)

  1. Write an essay on one of the following topics:
    1. Long-run value under competition,
    2. The rate of wages,
    3. Investment and interest,
    4. Profits

II

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

  1. How should you expect the following to affect the selling price of a farm: an increase in population; a fall in the rate of interest; the opening of a new market for its products; a bad crop failure?
  2. Explain the meaning of the following terms and show how one of them enters into the explanation of economic phenomena: comparative advantage; bank reserves; the gold points; marginal revenue.
  3. What are the principal factors responsible for cyclical fluctuations in business activity?

III

(Answer TWO questions from this group.)

  1. Explain the nature and operation of the forces which cause variations in the purchasing power of the dollar.
  2. Outline the principal forms of unemployment and discuss one of them in some detail.
  3. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods available for financing a war.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28) Box 6, Papers Printed for Summer Examinations First Session, August, 1942.

Image Source: Harvard’s Commencement in 1943. From The Harvard Gazette, November 10, 2011.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Principles of Money and Banking. Reading lists and semester exams. Williams and Hansen, 1949-50

 

Money and Banking was a graduate field that John H. Williams and Alvin Hansen dominated for over a decade at mid-20th century Harvard. Reading lists and exams for other years (e.g. 1946-47) have been posted, allowing us gradually to get a real time sense of the evolution of that field. This post was updated March 27, 2020 to include the final exam from the second semester.

Most recently course materials for 1941-42 have been posted as well.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 241 (formerly Economics 141a and 141b). Principles of Money and Banking.

(F) Professor J. H. Williams; (Sp) Professor Hansen.

(F) Total 61:  33 Graduates, 1 Senior, 21 Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Other.
(S) Total 54: 31 Graduates, 18 Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Others.

 

Source:  Report of the President of Harvard College, 1949-50, p. 75.

 

_____________________

PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
Economics 241
Fall Term—1949-1950

I. International Monetary Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis and L. A. Metzler, eds.): Readings in the Theory of International Trade.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. Graham, Frank D.: The Theory of International Values. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1948.
  3. Harris, S. E. (ed.): Foreign Economic Policy for the United States. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1948.
  4. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics. New York, Knopf, 1947.
    1. Bloomfield, A. I., “Foreign Exchange Rate Theory and Policy,” Chapter XXII; and
    2. Nurkse, Ragnar, “Domestic and International Equilibrium,” Chapter XXI.
  5. Harrod, Roy F.: Are These Hardships Necessary?London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 2nd, 1947.
  6. Keynes, J. M.: A Treatise on Money. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930, Vol. I, Chapter 21; Vol. II, Chapters 34-38.
  7. Nurkse, Ragnar: International Currency Experience. Geneva, League of Nations, 1944.
  8. Organisation for European Economic Co-operation:Interim Report on the European Recovery Programme.Paris, December 1948.
  9. United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe:
    1. Survey of Economic Situation and Prospects in Europe. Geneva, March 1948.
    2. Economic Survey of Europe in 1948. Geneva, 1949.
  10. Williams, John H.: Post-War Monetary Plans and Other Essays.English edition. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 4th, 1949 (American edition. New York, Knopf, 3rded., 1947).

Articles

  1. Balogh, T.: “The Concept of a Dollar Shortage,” The Manchester School, XVII, May 1949, pp. 186-201.
  2. _______________ “Britain’s Economic Problem,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIII, Feb. 1949, pp. 32-67.
  3. _______________ “Britain, O.E.E.C., and the Restoration of a World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, XI, Feb.-March 1949.
  4. _______________ “Exchange Depreciation and Economic Readjustment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX, Nov. 1948, pp. 276-285.
  5. _______________ “The United States and the World Economy,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, VIII, Oct. 1946.
  6. Ellis, H. S.: “The Dollar Shortage in Theory and Fact,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, XIV, Aug. 1948, pp. 358-372.
  7. Graham, F. D.: “The Cause and Cure of ‘Dollar Shortages’,” (Essays in International Finance, No. 10). Princeton, Princeton University Press, Jan. 1949.
  8. Haberler, G.: “Some Economic Problems of the European Recovery Program,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, Sept. 1948, pp. 495-525.
  9. Hawtrey, R. G.: “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, June 1949, pp. 145-56, and “A Comment” by Sir H. D. Henderson, Ibid., pp. 157-158.
  10. Henderson, Sir Hubert D.: “The International Problem,” (Stamp Memorial Lecture). London, Oxford University Press, 1946.
  11. _______________ “The Function of Exchange Rates,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, January 1949.
  12. _______________ “A Criticism of the Havana Charter,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, pp. 605-17.
  13. Keynes, J. M.:“The Balance of Payments of the United States,” Economic Journal, LVI, June 1946, pp. 172-87.
  14. _______________ “National Self-sufficiency,” The Yale Review, XXII, Summer 1933.
  15. MacDougall, D. A.: “Further Notes on Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Oxford Economic Papers, I, Jan. 1949.
  16. _______________ “Britain’s Foreign Trade Problem,” Economic Journal, LVII, March 1947, pp. 69-113; and “A Reply (to T. Balogh), Ibid., LVIII, March 1948, pp. 96-98.
  17. _______________“Britain’s Bargaining Power,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946.
  18. _______________ “Notes on Non-discrimination,” Bulletinof the Oxford Institute of Statistics, IX, Nov. 1947.
  19. Meade, J. E.: “National Income, National Expenditure and the Balance of Payments,” Parts I-II, Economic Journal, LVII, Dec. 1948, and LVIII, March 1949.
  20. Metzler, L. A.:“The Theory of International Trade,” Chap. 6 in A Survey of Contemporary Economics(ed. by H. S. Ellis) Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  21. Mikesell, R. F.: “International Disequilibrium,” ,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, June 1949, ppp. 618-45
  22. Nurkse, Ragnar: “International Monetary Policy and the Search for economic Stability,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, May 1947, pp. 560-80.
  23. Polak, J. J.: “Exchange Depreciation and International Monetary Stability,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Aug. 1947, pp. 173-83.
  24. Robertson, D. H.: “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloyds Bank Review, July 1949, pp. 1-13.
  25. Triffin, Robert: “National Central Banking and the International Economy,”; see also comments by G. Haberler and L. A. Metzler, Postwar Economic Studies, No. 7. Washington, D. C. 1947; and further comments by H. D. Henderson, T. Balogh, R. Harrod, and Joan Robinson, Review of Economic Studies, XIV, 1946-47, pp. 53-97.
  26. Williams, J. H.: “The Task of Economic Recovery,” Foreign Affairs, July 1948.
  27. _______________ “Europe After 1952: The Long-term Problem,” Foreign Affairs, April 1949.
  28. _______________ “The British Crisis. A Problem in Economic Statesmanship,” Foreign Affairs, October 1949.

 

II. Monetary and Fiscal Theory and Policy

Books

  1. American Economic Association (H. S. Ellis, ed.): A Survey of Contemporary Economics. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1948.
  2. _______________ (W. Fellner and B. F. Haley, eds.): Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946.
  3. _______________ (G. Haberler, ed.): Readings in Business Cycle Theory. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1944.
  4. Fellner, William: Monetary Policies and Full Employment. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2nd, 1947.
  5. Haberler, G.: Prosperity and Depression. Geneva, United Nations, rev. ed., 1946.
  6. Hansen, A. H.: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles. New York, Norton, 1941.
  7. _______________ Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, New York, McGraw Hill, 1949.
  8. Harris, S. E. (ed.): The New Economics, New York, Knopf, 1947.
  9. Harrod, R. F.: Towards a Dynamic Econmics, London, Macmillan, 1948.
  10. Hawtrey, R. O.: Currency and Credit, London, Longmans, 3rd, 1928.
  11. _______________ Capital and Employment, London, Longmans, 2nd
  12. _______________ The Art of Central Banking, London, Longmans, 1932.
  13. Hayek, F. A. von: Prices and Production. London, Routledge, 1935.
  14. Keynes, J. M.: A Tract on Monetary Reform, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
  15. _______________ A Treatise on Money(2 vols.). New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1930.
  16. _______________ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1936.
  17. Klein, L. R.: The Keynesian Revolution. New York, Macmillan, 1946.
  18. Robertson, D. H.: Essays in Monetary Theroy.London, King, 1940.
  19. _______________ Money. London, Nisbet, rev. ed., 1948.
  20. Simons, H. C.: Economic Policy for a Free Society, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1948.
  21. Terborgh, George: The Bogey of Economic Maturity. Chicago, Machinery and Allied Products Institute, 1945.
  22. Wicksell, Knut: Interest and Prices. London, Macmillan, 1936.
  23. Wright, D. M. The Economics of Disturbance. New York, Macmillan, 1946.

Articles

  1. Burns, Arthur F.: “Economic Research and the Keynesian Thinking of Our Times,” (26thAnnual Report). New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1947.
  2. _______________ “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, Nov. 1947, pp. 252-265.
  3. Clark, Colin: “Public Finance and Changes in the Value of Money,” Economic Journal, LV, Dec. 1945, pp. 371-89.
  4. Hayek, F. A. von: “The ‘Paradox’ of Saving,” Economica, XI, March 1931, pp. 125-69. (Reprinted as an Appendix in Profits, Interest and Investment, London, Routledge, 1939).
  5. Hicks, J. R.: “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, V, 1937 (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. Philadelphia, Blakiston, 1946).
  6. Kuznets, Simon: Book Review: “Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles” by A. H. Hansen, Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1942, pp. 31-36.
  7. _______________ “Capital Formation, 1879-1938,” in Studies in Economics and Industrial Relations. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
  8. Mints, L. W. and others: “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXVIII, May 1946, pp. 60-84.
  9. Modigliani, F.: “Liquidity Preference and the Theory of Interest,” Econometrica, XII, Jan. 1944, pp. 45-88.
  10. _______________ “Fluctuations in the Saving-income Ratio: A Problem in Economic Forecasting,” Studies in Income and Wealth, XI. New York, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1949.
  11. Tobin, James: “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, pp. 124-31.
  12. Wallich, H. C.: “Public Debt and Income Flow,” in Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3. Washington, D.C., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Dec. 1945, pp. 84-100.
  13. _______________ “The Changing Significance of the Interest Rate,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 761-87.
  14. Williams, John H.: “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Supplement, XXXVIII, May 1948.
  15. Wright, D. M.: “The Future of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, XXXV, June 1945, pp. 284-307.

 

III. Current Problems and Policies—Federal Reserve Policy and Debt Management

Book

  1. Homan, P. T. and F. Machlup (eds.): Financing American Prosperity. New York, Twentieth Century Fund, 1945.

Articles

  1. Carr, Hobart C.: “The Problem of Bank-held Government Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, Dec. 1946, pp. 833-42.
  2. Chandler, L. V.: “Federal Reserve Policy and the Federal Debt,” American Economic Review, XXXIX, March 1949.
  3. Federal Reserve Board:
    1. Annual Reports for the years 1945-48.
    2. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 8, Nov. 1947.
  4. Ratchford, B. U. “The Economic and Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Public Finance, [sic, “The Monetary Effects of Public Debts,” Openbare Financiën] No. 4, 1948 and No. 1, 1949.
  5. Seltzer, L. H.: “The Changed Environment of Monetary-banking Policy,” American Economic Review, XXXVI, May 1946.
  6. _______________ “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 831-50.
  7. Sproul, Allan: “Monetary Management and Credit Control,” American Economic Review, XXXVII, June 1947, pp. 339-50.
  8. Symposium: “How to Manage the National Debt,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXI, Feb. 1949.
  9. Whittlesey, C. R.: “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LX, May 1946, pp. 340-50.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

Mid-Year Examination. January, 1950.

(Three Hours)

Discuss ONE question in EACH group.

I

(1) “Hawtrey was never a Keynesian, but Keynes was formerly a Hawtreyan.”
(2) The relation of Keynes’ income theory to the quantity theory of money.
(3) The propensity to consume.

 

II

(1) Fixed versus flexible exchange rates.
(2) Classical international trade theory and the problems of the postwar world.

 

III

(1) The sterling problem since the war.
(2) “Chronic dollar shortage.”
(3) Western European “integration.”
(4) Devaluation and European recovery.
(5) The Intra-European Payments Plan.
(6) Europe after 1952: the long-term recovery problem.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Exams—Social Sciences, etc. Feb. 1950. (HUC 7000.38, 81 of 284).

_____________________

[PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING]
Reading List
[Economics 241, Spring 1949-50]
[Professor Hansen]

  1. The Role of Money in Current World Developments
    1. Books
      1. Balogh, T., Dollar Crisis: Causes and Cure, (Blackwell), 1949.
      2. Busschau, W. J., The Measure of Gold, (Central New Agency, Ltd.) South Africa, 1949.
      3. Goldenweiser, E. A., Monetary Management, (McGraw-Hill), N.Y., 1949. Chapters IV and VIII.
      4. Harris, S. E., The New Economics, (Knopf), N.Y. 1947. Chapters 20-29.
      5. Harris, S. E., Foreign Economics Policy of the United States, (Harvard University Press), 1948, Chapters 18-25.
      6. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans, (Knopf), 1947 or English edition (Blackwell), 1949.
    2. Pamphlets
      1. Inflationary and Deflationary Tendencies, 1946-48(United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
      2. International Capital Movements during the Inter-war Period, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, 1949.
    3. Articles
      1. Burns, A. R., Lutz, F. A., and Clough, S. B., “The European Program in Operation,” Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, January 1950.
      2. Robbins, Lionel, “The Sterling Problem,” Lloyds Bank Review, October, 1949.
      3. Robertson, D. H., “Britain and European Recovery,” Lloydds Bank Review, July, 1949.
      4. Sayers, R. S. “Central Banking in the Light of Recent British and American Experience,”Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1949.
  2. Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest, Wages and Prices
    1. Books
      1. Clark, Kaldor, Smithies, et al., National and International Measures for Full Employment, (United Nations), Department of Economic Affairs, December 1949.
      2. Ellis, H. S., (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, (Blakiston), Philadelphia, 1948, Chapter 2 “Employment Theory”, by Fellner.
      3. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Berkeley, 1946. Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
      4. Hansen, Alvin H.
        1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, (McGraw-Hill), 1947. Chapters 18, 19, and 22, (pp. 202-232, 261-287).
        2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton), 1941. Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
        3. Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy, (McGraw-Hill), 1949.
      5. Harris, S. E., (ed.), The New Economics, (Knopf), 1947. Part III (The General Theory: Five Views; Chapters XI-XV).
      6. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt), 1924, pp. 81-95; pp. 152-191.
      7. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt), 1930, Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
      8. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt), 1936, pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
      9. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90) Macmillan, 1947.
      10. Marshall, Alfred, Money, Credit and Commerce, (Macmillan), 1923. Book I, Chapter IX, pp. 38-50.
      11. Robertson, D. H. Essays in Monetary Theory(King), 1940. Chapters 1, 6, 11; (pp. 1-38; 92-97; 113-153).
      12. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices(Macmillan), 1936; Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also Author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11; (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
      13. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan), 1935, Chapter IV (pp. 127-222).
      14. Income, Employment and Public Policy, (Norton), 1948, Chapter VI, “The Simple Mathematics of Income Determination,” by Paul Samuelson.
      15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd., 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11, (pp. 92-105).
      16. The Economic Report of the President, January 1950.
    2. Articles
      1. Hansen, A. H., and Burns, Arthur F., “Keynesian Economics Once Again,” Review of Economics Statistics, Nov. 1947.
      2. Hansen, A. H., “The Robertsonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1950.
      3. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation,” Econometrica, April 1937.
      4. Lerner, A. P., “Interest and Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1944.
      5. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money,” Econometrica, January 1944.
      6. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      7. Scott, Ira O. Jr., “Professor Leontief on Lord Keynes,” and “Comments” by Professors Leontief and Haberler, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1949.
      8. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
      9. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
      10. Williams, John H., “An Appraisal of Keynesian Economics,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1948, pp. 273-290.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003, Box 5, Folder “Economics, 1949-50 (3 of 3)”.

_____________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 241

Principles of Money and Banking
Final Examination (June, 1950)

(Three Hours)

Answer any FOUR questions.

I.

Discuss:

(a) the causes of the increase in the quantity of money (currency and deposits) in:

(1) the Thirties,
(2) the Second World War; and

(b) appraise the role of this increase:

(1) in the rise in income from 1933 to 1937; and
(2) in war-time financing.

II.

Compare the monetary theories of Wicksell and Marshall (or more broadly the Cambridge cash-balance approach).

III.

“An increase in the quantity of money is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the expansion of income and employment.” Show carefully why you agree, partially agree, or disagree in whole or in part with this statement. Give a technical discussion in terms of modern monetary theory.

IV.

Discuss and evaluate Treasury and Federal Reserve policies after 1945 with respect to

(a) inflation,
(b) interest rates,
(c) debt management,
(d) full employment.

V.

Discuss the changing role of Central Banking:

(a) in the 19th century,
(b) in the nineteen-twenties, and
(c) following the Second World War.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Bound Volume Final Exams—Social Sciences June 1940 (HUC 7000.28, 84 of 284), Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1950.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.

Categories
Princeton Suggested Reading Syllabus

Princeton. Syllabus for International Economic Policies. F.W. Fetter and C.R. Whittlesey, 1934

 

The Princeton course “International Economic Policies” was co-taught by Charles R. Whittlesey and Frank W. Fetter in 1934. Biographical material from their respective archival papers guides and the course syllabus are included in this post.

______________

Frank Whitson Fetter
(1902-1992)

1899, May 22—Born, San Francisco, Calif.
1916—Graduate of Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ
1920 A.B.—Political Science, Swarthmore College (Phi Beta Kappa)
1922 A.M.—Princeton University
1924 A.M.—Harvard University
1926 Ph.D.—Economics, Princeton University
1928-1934—Assistant Professor and Professor of Economics, Princeton University
1929, Jan. 14—Married Elizabeth Pollard (d. 1977)
1934—Member of Commission on Cuban Affairs, organized by the Foreign Policy Association
1934-1948—Associate Professor and Professor of Economics, Haverford College
1937-1938—Guggenheim fellowship (Research on banking in Great Britain)
1939—summer Economist for the Export-Import Bank of Washington
1940—summer Economic Advisor to the Central Bank of Ecuador
1943-1946—Economic Advisor with the Lend-Lease Administration and the Department of State; ten months spent in India
1948-1967—Professor of Economics, Northwestern University
1950—summer Advisor to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
1951—summer Advisor to the Department of State, Division of German Affairs, and member of the American Delegation to London for the Preliminary Conference on German Debts
1967-1968—Visiting Haney Professor, Dartmouth College
1978, Apr.—Married Elizabeth Miller Stabler (d. 1985)
1991—Died

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Guide to the Frank Whitson Fetter Papers.

______________

 Charles Raymond Whittlesey
(1900-1979)

Economist, author and educator; B.A., Philomath College, (1921), M.A., American U. of Beirut, (1924) and Ph.D., Princeton U., (1928) [dissertation: Government Control of the Crude Rubber Industry. The Stevensen Plan. Published by Princeton University Press, 1931]; faculty, Princeton U., (1925-1940); faculty, Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania, (194-1967); chairman, Dept. of Finance, (1945-1952, 1960-1963); economist for Penn Mutual Insurance Co. (1941-1961); specialist in monetary economics and monetary policy.

Source:  University of Pennsylvania Archives. Webpage Papers of Charles Raymond Whittlesey, 1928-1974.

______________

Economics 526. (International Economic Policies.)
– 1934 –

Date

 Topic

Readings
Feb. 14 (CRW) Valorization Wallace and Edminster, International Control of Raw Materials. (Omit ch. 8 and Appendix).
Feb. 21 (CRW) Valorization 1.     C. R. Whittlesey, The Stevenson Plan, Journal of Political Economy, August 1931, pp. 506-25;

2.     Jacob Viner, Control of Raw Materials, Foreign Affairs, July 1926;

3.     F. Rowe, Studies in Artificial Control of Raw Materials, #3. Coffee;

4.     Senate Document 70, 73d Congress, 1st Session, World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture, pp. 1-141;

5.     T.T.Read, Valorization in the Mineral Industry, Political Science Quarterly, June 1932, pp. 234-241.

6.     Department of Commerce, Foreign Combines to Control Prices of Raw Materials, T. 1B. #385, 1926.

7.     W. S. Colbertson, Raw Materials and Foodstuffs in the Commercial Policies of Nations, Annals of Am. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science, March, 1924.

8.     J. Pedersen. Economic Stabilization in Economic Essays in Honour of Gustav Cassel, 1936.

9.     Reports by students on various aspects of Valorization.
Feb. 28 (FWF) Foreign Trade Monopolies and Commercial Treaties 1.     E.Lipson, An Introduction to the Economic History of England,
vol. 1, ch. 10 (Foreign Trade)
vol. 2, pp. 184-315 (Foreign Trade).2.     Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, ch. 6 (Of Treaties of Commerce).3.     U.S.Tariff Commission, Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties, pp. 389-450.4.     Vernon Seltzer, Did Americans Originate the Conditional Most Favored Nation Clause, Journal of Modern History, Sept. 1933.
March 7 (FWF) Reciprocity 1.     U.S. Tariff Commission, Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties, Conclusions and Recommendations, pp. 9-47.

2.     U. S. Tariff Commission, Effects of the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty, Summary and Conclusions, pp. 1-26.

3.     W. S. Culbertson, America’s New Commercial Policy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 38, Feb. 1924, pp. 352-357.

4.     League of Nations—Documentation of International Economic Conference of 1927 on “Discriminatory Tariff Classifications” and “European Bargaining Tariffs.”

5.     Reports by members of class, on: Canadian Reciprocity, Contingent Duties, Hawaiian Reciprocity, Tariff Bargaining under 1890 Act, Tariff Bargaining under 1897 Act.
March 14 (FWF) Colonial Tariff Policies 1.     U.S. Tariff Commission, Colonial Tariff Policies, pp. 1-78, 571-629.

2.     U.S. Tariff Commission, U.S. Philippine Tariff and Trade Relations, pp. 1-52
March 21 (FWF) British Tariff Policy and Colonial Preference 1.     Dunham, The Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce of 1860, ch. 1.

2.     W.J.Ashley, The Tariff Problem, Introduction and ch. 1-6.

3.     U.S.Tariff Commission, Colonial Tariff Policies, ch. 12, 13, 18.

4.     H.V.Hodson, Before Ottawa, Foreign Affairs, vol. 10, pp. 588-599.

5.     J.M.Macdonnell, After the Ottawa Conference, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 11, pp. 331-346.
March 28 (CRW) Dumping 1.     Jacob Viner, Dumping, pp. 1-329.

2.     Article on Dumping in Encyclopaedia of Soc. Sci.

3.     Sen. Doc. Anti-Dumping Legislation [Perhaps: Emergency Tariff and Antidumping. Hearing before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, April, 1921]
April 11 (CRW) Quotas and Exchange Control 1.     World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture, pp. 1-141.

2.     E.B.Dietrich, French Import Quotas, American Economic Review, Dec. 1933.

3.     C.R.Whittlesey, Exchange Control, American Economic Review, Dec. 1922.
April 18 (CRW) Quotas and Exchange Control 1.     W.H.Beveridge, Tariffs, The Case Examined. ch. 7, 9-18, and Appendix.

2.     Economist, Feb. 24, 1934, Clearing Agreements, pp. 405-6.

3.     U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, T. 1B. #812, Foreign Tariffs and Commercial Policy during 1932.
April 25 (FWF) Bounties and Subsidies 1.     D.G.Barnes, A History of the English Corn Laws, ch. 1-3.

2.     Josef Gruzel, Economic Protectionism, pp. 163-179, 200-231.

3.     Griffin, The Sugar Industry and Legilation in Europe, Q.J.E., vol. 17, pp. 1-43.

4.     F.W.Taussig, The End of the Sugar Bounties, Q.J.E., vol. 18, pp. 130-4.

5.     P.T.Cherington, State Bounties and the Beet Sugar Industry, Q.J.E., V. 26, pp. 381-386.

6.     League of Nations—Documentation of International Economic Conference, Direct and Indirect Subsidies, pp. 8-22.

7.     U.S. Tariff Commission, Preferential Transportation Rates, pp. 9-52

8.     Review, pp. 72-84 in World Trade Barriers in Relation to American Agriculture.
May 2 (CRW) Shipping Subsidies 1.     Dunmore, Ship Subsidies.

2.     U.S.Shipping Board, History of Shipping Discriminations.

3.     Nat. Inds. Conf. Bd: Amer. Merchant Marine Problem. Omit chs. 2-6.

4.     Grovenor M. Jones: Government Aid to Merchant Shipping, pp. 7-29; 257-84; 427-68.
May 9 (FWF) Control of Foreign Investments 1.     Herbert Feis, Europe, the World’s Banker. ch. 1-6.

2.     L.H.Jenks, The Migration of British Capital to 1875. ch. 9.

3.     T.E.Gregory, Foreign Investments and British Public Opinion, in Foreign Investments, by Cassell and others, pp. 97-119.

4.     Carter Glass, Government Supervision of Foreign Loans, Proceedings of The American Academy of Political Science, vol. xii, Jan. 1928, pp. 843-849.

5.     Charles P. Howland, Our Repudiated State Debts, Foreign Affairs, vol. 6, April 1928, pp. 395-407.

6.     John Foster Dulles, Our Foreign Loan Policy, Foreign Affairs, vol. 5, Oct. 1926, pp. 33-48.
May 16 (FWF and CRW) Present Day American Commercial Policy 1.     U.S. Tariff Commission, Methods of Valuation, pp. 1-43.

2.     U.S.Tariff Commission, Regulation of Tariffs by Administrative Action, Passim.

3.     Report of Ways and Means Committee on Reciprocal Trade Agreements Bill (House Report 1000, 72d Congress, 2d Session).

4.     Reciprocal Trade Agreements, Hearings before Ways and Means Committee on H.R. 8430.

a.     Testimonies of Hull, pp. 1-45

b.     Testimonies of Dickinson, pp. 183-227.

c.     Testimonies of Sayre, 293-319, 333-382, 387-389.

d.     Letters, pp. 282-286.

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Frank Whitson Fetter Papers, Box 55, Folder “Teaching Ec 526 International Economic Policies (Princeton University)”.

Image Sources:  Frank W. Fetter (left) (ca. 1937) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Charles R. Whittlesey (right), Princeton Yearbook, Bric-a-Brac, 1939

Categories
Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Graduate money reading list. Friedman, 1970

 

The following course outline with its readings is pretty much self-explanatory, though I cannot help but notice that there is quite a bit of Milton Friedman to read in Milton Friedman’s money course. It reminds me of the remark by Samuelson:

One must not make the mistake attributed to Edward Gibbon when he wrote his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon, it was said, sometimes confused himself and the Roman Empire.

_____________________

Milton Friedman

ECONOMICS 331—MONEY
Reading List—Winter Quarter, 1970

(Note: Readings marked with an asterisk (*) cover the essential substantive material.)

I. Introductory Material

*Milton Friedman, The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, (Aldine, 1968), Chap. 1.

*Milton Friedman, The Quantity Theory, International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (reprints on reserve).

David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” in Essays and Treatises.

H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Keynesian Economics,” reprinted in W. Smith and R. Teiger (eds.) Readings in Money, National Income, and Stabilization Policy.

D. H. Robertson, Money.

II. The Quantity Equation

*Irving Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money (Macmillan, 1913), chaps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.

*J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform (1924), chap. 2; chap. iii, sec. 1.

*Wesley C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, The Problem and Its Setting (New York, 1927), pp. 128-39.

*A. C. Pigou, “The Value of Money” in Lutz, F. A., and Mints, L. W. (eds.) Readings in Monetary Theory.

Alfred Marshall, Official Papers, “Evidence before the Indian Currency Committee (1889),” questions 11758-62 (pp. 267-69); “Evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (1887-88).” questions 9629-86 (pp. 34-53); testimony to Royal Commission on The Depression of Trade and Industry (1886), answers to question 8(i), pp. 7-15.

Henry Thornton, An Enquiry into the Nature and Effect of the Paper Credit of Great Britain (1802), Library of Economics edition (Allen and Irwin, 1939), chaps. iii and xi.

Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade (Harpers, 1937), pp. 119-289.

III. The Demand for Money

*Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, esp. 11, 25-35 and 86-91.

*Milton Friedman, “The Quantity Theory of Money: A Restatement” in Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money, ed., M. Friedman.

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

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” American Economic Review (June, 1962), Part II.

*J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, chaps. 13 and 15.

Maurice Allais, “A Restatement of the Quantity Theory of Money,” American Economic Review (December, 1966), pp. 1123-57.

W. J. Baumol, “The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (November, 1952).

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Predicting Velocity: Implications for Theory and Policy,” Journal of Finance (May, 1963), pp. 319-54.

Karl Brunner and Allan H. Meltzer, “Some Further Investigations of Demand and Supply Functions for Money,” Journal of Finance (May, 1964).

Gregory C. Chow, “On the Long-run and Short-run Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1966), pp. 111-31.

John V. Deaver, “The Chilean Inflation and the Demand for Money,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Chicago, Department of Economics, Winter, 1961).

Edgar Feige, The Demand for Liquid Assets: A Temporal Cross-Section Analysis (Prentice-Hall, 1964).

Milton Friedman, “The Demand for Money: Some Theoretical and Empirical Results,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1959), pp. 327-51.

H. G. Johnson, “Recent Developments in Monetary Theory,” Essays in Monetary Economics.

David Laidler, “Some Evidence on the Demand for Money,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1966), pp. 55-68.

H. A. Latane, “Cash Balances and the Interest Rate—A Pragmatic Approach,” Review of Economics and Statistics (November, 1954) and (November, 1960).

Allan H. Meltzer, “The Demand for Money: The Evidence from the Time Series,” Journal of Political Economy (June, 1963).

Merton H. Miller and Daniel Orr, “A Model of the Demand for Money by Firms,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXX (August, 1966), 413-35.

George R. Morrison, Liquidity Preferences of Commercial Banks (University of Chicago Press, 1966).

Joan Robinson, “The Rate of Interest,” Econometrica, Vol. 19 (1951), reprinted as chap 1 of The Rate of Interest and Other Essays.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 19 (May, 1947), 130-31.

James Tobin, “Liquidity Preference as Behavior Toward Risk,” Review of Economic Studies (August, 1956), pp. 241-47.

James Tobin, “The Interest Elasticity of Transactions Demand for Cash,” Review of Economics and Statistics (August, 1956).

Clark Warburton, “Monetary Velocity and Monetary Policy,” and Tobin’s rejoinder, Review of Economic Statistics, XXX (November, 1948), 310-17.

IV. The Supply of Money (covered mostly in Econ. 330)

*Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, “Appendix B: Proximate Determinants of the Nominal Stock of Money,” from A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960.

*H. G. Johnson, “Monetary Theory and Policy,” sec. 3.

Phillip Cagan, Determinants and Effects of Changes in the Stock of Money, 1875-1960 (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1968).

Phillip Cagan, “The Demand for Currency Relative to the Total Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (August, 1958).

William Dewald, “Free Reserves, Total Reserves, and Monetary Control,” Journal of Political Economy (April, 1963).

Milton Friedman, A Program for Monetary Stability, chap. ii.

A. G. Hart, “The ‘Chicago’ Plan of Banking Reform,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

A. J. Meigs, Free Reserves and the Money Supply (University of Chicago Press, 1962).

Lloyd W. Mints, A History of Banking Theory, pp. 9-12, 29-35, 217-22, 247-57, 265-87.

George Tolley, “Providing for Growth of the Money Supply,” Journal of Political Economy (Dec., 1957), pp. 465-85.

U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Systems Purposes and Function.

Knut Wicksell, “The Influence of the Rate of Interest on Prices,” Economic Journal, 171 (June, 1907), 213-20

V. Liquidity and Financial Intermediaries

*Phillip Cagan, “Why Do We Use Money in Open Market Operations,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1958).

*Roland N. McKean, “Liquidity and a National Balance Sheet,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

J. G. Gurley, “Liquidity and Financial Institutions in the Postwar Period,” Study Paper No. 14, Joint Economic Committee, January, 1960.

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

H. Makower and J. Marschak, “Assets, Prices and Monetary Theory,” Readings in Price Theory.

Alvin Marty, “Gurley and Shaw on Money in a Theory of Finance,” Journal of Political Economy (February, 1961).

Edward Simmons, “The Relative Liquidity of Money and Other Things,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

VI. The Monetary Standard and International Monetary Arrangements

*”Conditions of International Monetary Equilibrium,” Session at 1962 meeting of American Economic Association, with papers by H. G. Johnson, Richard E. Caves, and Peter B. Kenen, and Discussion by J. Marcus Fleming, Harry C. Eastman, and J. Herbert Furth, American Economic Review (May, 1963), pp. 112-46.

*Milton Friedman, “Commodity Reserve Currency” and “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” Essays in Positive Economics.

*Lloyd Mints, Monetary Policy for a Competitive Society, chaps. 4 and 5.

Frank W. Fetter, Development of British Monetary Orthodoxy, 1797-1875 (Harvard University Press, 1965).

Milton Friedman and Robert V. Roosa, The Balance of Payments: Free versus Fixed Exchange Rates, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1967.

H. G. Johnson, International Trade and Economic Growth, chaps. 6, 7.

H. G. Johnson, “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates, 1969,” Review of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, (June, 1969).

J. M. Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform, chap. iii, secs. 2, 3, 4; chaps. iv and v (*especially chap. iii, sec. 2; chap. iv, sec. 2).

Egon Sohmen, Flexible Exchange Rates (University of Chicago Press, 1961).

VII. The Process of Adjustment: Inflation, Business Cycles

*Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, “Money and Business Cycles,” Supplement to Review of Economics and Statistics (February, 1963), containing proceedings of Conference on Monetary Economics. Also, comments by H. Minsky, A. Okun, and C. Warburton.

Phillip Cagan, “The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Milton Friedman, Dollars and Deficits (Prentice-Hall, 1968), chaps. 1, 4, and 5.

Milton Friedman, “The Inflationary Gap,” in Essays in Positive Economics.

Milton Friedman, “The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau,” in The National Bureau Enters Its Forty-fifth Year, 44th Annual Report, National Bureau of Economic Research, June, 1964, pp. 7-25.

Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, esp. chapter 7.

Arnold C. Harberger, “The Dynamics of Inflation in Chile,” in C. Christ, et al., Measurement in Economics (Stanford University Press, 1964).

Eugene M. Lerner, “Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65,” Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.

Clark Warburton, “The Misplaced Emphasis in Contemporary Business-Fluctuation Theory,” Readings in Monetary Theory.

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman. Box 55, Folder 7.

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

Categories
Bibliography Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Money And Banking. Readings and Exams. Williams and Hansen, 1947-48

 

The graduate course for Keynesian economics at Harvard in the 1940s was Principles of Money and Banking taught by Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams. Course materials for 1946-47 were transcribed and posted earlier [Fall term 1946; Spring term 1947; General course bibliography]. Almost all of the exam questions for 1947-48 are new. The Spring term of 1948 taught by John  Williams turns out to be unchanged from the previous year. The Fall term of 1947 taught by Alvin Hansen does show some minor rearrangements, and significant additions (e.g. Tobin on liquidity preference).

____________________________

Course Enrollment
1947-48

[Economics] 141a. Professors Williams and Hansen. — Principles of Money and Banking (F).

Total 81: 47 Graduates, 1 Senior, 20 Public Administration, 4 Business, 9 Radcliffe.

 

[Economics] 141b. Professors Williams and Hansen. — Principles of Money and Banking (Sp).

Total 70: 41 Graduates, 2 Juniors, 20 Public Administration, 2 Business, 5 Radcliffe.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-48, p. 91.

 

____________________________

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

 

Economics 141a — First Semester, 1947-8 (Professor Hansen)

  1. Central Banking: Current Problems and Policies
  2. Theory of Money, Liquidity-Preference, Interest and Prices

 

Economics 141b — Second Semester, 1947-8 (Professor Williams)

  1. International Monetary Equilibrium
  2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy

 

READING LIST FOR ECONOMICS 141a
Principles of Money and Banking
1947-1948

 

Note: Pre-requisite reading (for those who are deficient in undergraduate preparation in Money and Banking:

  1. Banking Studies, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, (1941).
  2. Southard, F. A., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy, (McGraw-Hill, 1940).
  3. Any one standard textbook in Money and Banking, such as: Thomas, Our Modern Banking and Monetary System, (Prentice-Hall, 1942); or Reed, Money, Currency and Banking, (McGraw-Hill, 1942).

 

  1. Central Banking: Current Problems and Policies.
    1. Minimum Reading List:
      1. Books and Pamphlets:
        1. International Currency Experience (League of Nations, 1944), Chapters I-IV, pp. 7-112.
        2. World Economic Survey, 1942-44 (League of Nations, 1945), Chapter IV “Finance and Banking” (pp. 173-213).
        3. Ellis, H. S., (in Harris: Economic Reconstruction, McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapter 13, “Central and Commercial Banking in Postwar Finance” (pp. 237-252).
        4. Hansen, Alvin H., America’s Role in the World Economy (Norton, 1945), Chapter XVII, “Gold, Exports and Liquidity” (pp. 144-157).
        5. Harris, S. E., Inflation and the American Economy (McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapter XXIV, “Money and Savings” (pp. 372-383).
        6. Hawtrey, R. G., The Art of Central Banking (Longmans, 1933) pp. 116-207.
        7. Keynes, J. M., Treatise on Money, Volume II, Chapters 25, 32, 33, (pp. 49-78; 225-278).
        8. Robertson, D. H., Essays in Monetary Theory (King, 1940), Chapter II, “Theories of Banking Policy” (pp. 39-59); Chapter XII, “British Monetary Policy” (pp. 154-167).
        9. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans (Knopf, second edition, 1945), Chapter 6, “The Banking Act of 1935” (pp. 112-129); Chapter 8, “The Crisis of the Gold Standard” (pp. 154-172); Chapter 9, “Monetary Stability and the Gold Standard” (pp. 172-190).
        10. Financing American Prosperity (Twentieth Century Fund, 1945):
          1. Ellis, H. S., “Monetary Controls and the Business of Banking” (pp. 140-153).
          2. Williams, John H., “Money and Banking” (pp. 381-5).
        11. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3 (Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, 1945): Wallich, H. C., “Public Debt and Income Flow” (pp. 84-100).
        12. Hansen, Alvin H., Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters 20 and 22 (pp. 233-247; 261-288).
      2. Reports and Articles:
        1. Treasury Bulletin, April, 1946, “Federal War-time Financing and Growth of Liquid Assets”, pp. A11-20.
        2. Federal Reserve Bulletins:
          1. July, 1947, “Debt Retirement” (pp. 775-87); “Consumer Incomes and Liquid Assets” (pp. 788-802); “International Monetary and Financial Problems” (pp. 836-850).
          2. April, 1947, “Economic Survey of the United Kingdom” (pp. 367-391); “Annual Report of the Bank of Canada” (pp. 392-97); “Monetization of Public Debt by Banks” (pp. 402-04).
          3. “Estimated Liquid Assets of Individuals and Business”, November, 1946, pp. 1236-37; June, 1947, pp. 689-91.
        3. Annual Reports of Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System:
          1. Thirty-second Report (for the year 1945) pp. 1-15.
          2. Thirty-third Report (for the year 1946) pp. 1-49.
        4. Bopp, K. R., “Central Banking at the Crossroads”, Supplement, American Economic Review, March 1944 (pp. 260-77).
        5. Samuelson, Paul, “The Effect of Interest Rate Increases on the Banking System”, American Economic Review, March 1945.
        6. Seligman, H. L., “The Problem of Excessive Commercial Bank Earnings”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1946.
        7. Whittlesey, C. R., “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1946.
    2. Supplementary Reading List:
      1. Books
        1. Arndt, H. W., The Economic Lessons of the Nineteen Thirties, (Oxford, 1944).
        2. Coulborn, W, A. L., An Introduction to Money, (Longmans, 1938) Chapters 5, 13-14 (pp. 48-64, 209-241).
        3. Fisher, Irving, 100 Per Cent Money, (Adelphi, 1935; Third Edition City Printing Co., New Haven, 1945).
        4. Johnson, G. G., The Treasury and Monetary Policy, (Harvard 1939), Chapter I-V (pp. 3-160)
        5. Hawtrey, R. G., The Gold Standard in Theory and Practice (Longmans, Fourth Edition, 1939).
        6. Hawtrey, R. G., A Century of Bank Rate. (Longmans, 1938).
        7. Lewinski, J., Money, Credit and Prices, (King, 1929) Chapters IV-V (pp. 99-144).
        8. McCracken, Paul W., The Future of Northwest Bank Deposits, Federal Reserve Bank, Minneapolis, 1946.
        9. Mints, L. W., A History of Banking Theory (Chicago, 1945), Chapters VI and X (pp. 74-100; 178-197).
        10. Morgan, E. V., The Theory and Practice of Central Banking, (Macmillan, 1943).
        11. Niebyl, Karl H., Studies in the Classical Theories of Money, (Columbia, 1946).
        12. Sayers, R. S., Modern Banking, (Oxford, 1938), Chapters 4-5 (pp. 70-145).
        13. Viner, J. Studies in the Theory of International Trade, (Harper, 1937), Chapter V, “English Currency Controversies” (pp. 218-289).
        14. Wernette, P., Financing Full Employment, (Harvard, 1945), Chapter 3 (pp. 33-61).
        15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission in Industry and Commerce, Cmd. 3897 (1931) pp. 2-45; 106-160.
      2. Articles
        1. Abbott, C. C. (Review articles on Financing Problems and Bank Liquidity), Review of Economic Statistics, February 1946 (pp. 48-51).
        2. Abbott, C. C., “Management of the Federal Debt”, Harvard Business Review, Autumn 1945.
        3. Goldenweiser, E. A., “Commercial Banking After the War”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1944.
        4. Seltzer, Lawrence, “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?”, American Economic Review, December 1945.
        5. Treasury Bulletin, April 1946, “Federal War-time Financing and the Growth of Liquid Assets”.
        6. Keynes, J. M., “The Objective of International Price Stability”, Economic Journal, June-September 1943.
    3. General Reference Reading (see below).

 

  1. Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest and Prices.
    1. Minimum Reading List:
      1. Books:
        1. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
        2. Hansen, Alvin H.:
          1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters 12, 13, 18, 19 and 21, (pp. 145-160; 202-232; 248-260).
          2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton, 1941), Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
          3. Full Recovery or Stagnation, (Norton, 1938), Chapter 3 (pp. 59-87); Appendix, pp. 331-343.
        3. Hayek, F. A., Prices and Production, (Routledge, 1935), Chapters 1 and 4 (pp. 1-31; 105-128).
        4. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt, 1924), pp. 81-95; 152-191.
        5. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt, 1930), Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
        6. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt, 1936), pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
        7. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90).
        8. Marget, Arthur W., The Theory of Prices, Volume I, (Prentice-Hall, 1938), Chapters 12 and 15 (pp. 302-343, 414-459, and large type sections).
        9. Marget, Arthur W., The Theory of Prices, Volume II, (Prentice-Hall, 1942), Chapter 3 (pp. 89-133, large type sections).
        10. Marshall, A., Money, Credit and Commerce, (Book I, Chapter XX, pp. 38-50.
        11. Robertson, D. H., Essays in Monetary Theory, (King, 1940), Chapters 1, 6, 11 (pp. 1-38; 92-7; 113-153).
        12. Schumpeter, J. A., Business Cycles, (McGraw-Hill, 1939), Volume II, Chapter 8, (pp. 449-482).
        13. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices, (Macmillan, 1936), Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11 (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
        14. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan, 1935), Chapter IV (pp. 127-228).
        15. Wright, David McC., The Creation of Purchasing Power, (Harvard, 1939), Chapters 4-6 (pp. 60-121).
        16. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd. 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11 (pp. 92-105).
      2. Articles:
        1. Clark, Colin, “Public Finances and Changes in the Value of Money”, Economic Journal, December 1945.
        2. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation”, Econometrica, April 1937.
        3. Hawtrey, R. G. and Hicks, J. R., “Interest and Bank Rate”, The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, October 1939.
        4. Harrod, Hansen, Haberler, and Schumpeter, “Keynes’ Contribution to Economics”, Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1946.
        5. Keynes, J. M., “Relative Movement of Real Wages and Output”, Economic Journal, March 1939.
        6. Lange, O., “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume”, Economica, February 1938.
        7. Lerner, A. P., “Interest Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1944.
        8. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        9. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money”, Econometrica, January 1944.
        10. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        11. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy”, The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
    2. Supplementary Reading List:
      1. Books:
        1. Adarkar, B. P., The Theory of Monetary Policy, (King, 1935), Chapter 1-8; 13-15 (pp. 3-52; 101-122).
        2. Chandler, L. V., An Introduction to Monetary Theory (Harper, 1940), pp. 1-205.
        3. Coulborn, W. A. L., An Introduction to Money, (Longmans, 1938), Chapters 6-8; 15-16 (pp. 65-116; 242-264).
        4. Haberler, G., Prosperity and Depression (1939) Chapters 8, 13 (pp. 168-254; 455-507).
        5. Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital, Chapters 12-13.
        6. Lindahl, Erik, Studies in the Theory of Money and Capital, (Allen and Unwin, 1939), Part II, Chapters 4-6, (pp. 199-268).
        7. Myrdal, Gunnar, Monetary Equilibrium, (Hodge, 1939), Chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-48).
        8. Polanyi, M. Full Employment and Free Trade, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1945), Chapters 1, 4, (pp. 1-66; 87-103).
        9. Robertson, D. H., Money (Harcourt, 1929) Chapters 2-4; 7-8.
        10. Sayers, R. S., Modern Banking. (Oxford, 1938), Chapter 6 (pp. 146-164).
        11. Thomas, Brindley, Monetary Policy and Crises, (Routledge, 1936), Chapters 3-4 (pp. 62-156).
      2. Articles:
        1. Lange, O., “Economic Controls After the War,” Political Science Quarterly, March 1945.
        2. Lerner, A. P., “Alternative Formulations of the Theory of Interest”, Economic Journal, June 1938.
        3. Lerner, A. P., “Ex Ante Analysis and Wage Theory”, Economica, November 1939.
        4. Lerner, A. P., “Some Swedish Stepping Stones in Economic Theory”, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, November 1940.
        5. Marschak, J., “Wicksell’s Two Interest Rates”, Social Research, November 1941.
        6. Simons, H. C., “On Debt Policy”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1945.
        7. Warburton, Clark, “The Volume of Money and the Price Level Between the World Wars”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1945.
        8. a. Warburton, Clark, “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Financing”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1945.
          b. Arndt, H. W., “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Financing; A Comment”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        9. Bean and others, “Five Views on the Consumption Function”, Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1946.
    3. General Reference Reading (see below).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

____________________________

Mid-year Exam

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141a

Part A. Write on one question only.

  1. Write an essay on Federal war-time financing including a discussion of:
    1. The role played by (a) the Federal Reserve Banks, (b) the commercial banks.
    2. The impact on (a) the money supply, (b) the liquid assets, (c) member bank reserves, (d) currency in circulation, (e) the rate of interest.
  2. Discuss major problems currently confronting the Federal Reserve System including an appraisal of various proposals to deal with these problems.

Part B. Write on any three questions.

  1. Write an essay (historical and analytical) on the relation of the money supply to the national income. In this connection discuss: (a) the Quantity Theory (b) the Marshallian “k” and (c) the Keynesian liquidity preference functions.
  2. Using the diagrams and analysis of Hicks and Keynes, discuss the role of (a) the schedule of the marginal efficiency of capital (b) the consumption function (c) the liquidity preference function and (d) the quantity of money, as determinants of the rate of interest and of income.
  3. State precisely the conditions (in particular including the relevant functions and their interest-elasticities) under which Monetary Policy alone, or Fiscal Policy alone (without either being supplemented by the other) may be (a) fully effective, (b) wholly ineffective, in raising income.
  4. Write an essay on the “theory of prices” including a discussion of money, income, wage and cost functions; in particular make use of the Keynesian analysis contained in the General Theory, Book V. (Money, Wages, and Prices.)
  5. Write an essay on any one of the following:
    1. International Currency Experience (League of Nations).
    2. Hawtrey, The Art of Central Banking.
    3. Keynes: Treatise on Money.
    4. Robertson: Essays on Monetary Theory.
    5. Williams, Postwar Monetary Plans.
    6. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution.
    7. Wicksell: Interest and Prices.

Note: You will be expected to write on 4 questions (one from part A and three from Part B.

Final. January, 1948.

 

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

____________________________

 SECOND SEMESTER
ECONOMICS 141b: PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

  1. International Monetary Equilibrium:
    1. Cassel, G., The Downfall of the Gold Standard (1936).
    2. Copland, Douglas, Australia in the World Crisis (1934).
    3. Ellis, H. S., Exchange Control in Central Europe (1941).
    4. Graham and Whittlesey, Golden Avalanche (1939).
    5. Hall, M. F., The Exchange Equalization Account (1935).
    6. Hahn, George, International Monetary Cooperation (1945).
    7. Hansen, Alvin, H., America’s Role in the World Economy (1945).
    8. Hardy, C. O., Is There Enough Gold (1936).
    9. Harris, S. E., Exchange Depreciation (1936).
    10. Harris, S.E., Economic Problems of Latin America (1944).
    11. Iverson, Carl, International Capital Movements (1936).
    12. Kindelberger, C. P., International Short-term Capital Movements (1937).
    13. League of Nations, Final Report on Gold (1932).
    14. League of Nations, Economic Fluctuations in the United States and the United Kingdom, 1918-22 (1942).
    15. Nurkse, R., International Currency Experience (1944).
    16. Warren and Pearson, (a) Gold and Prices (1935);
      (b) World Prices and the Building Industry (1937).
    17. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans (Second Edition, 1945)
  2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy:
    1. Beveridge, Sir William, Full Employment in a Free Society (1945).
    2. British White Paper on “Employment Policy” (1944).
    3. de Chazeau, Hart, and Others, Jobs and Markets (1946).
    4. Economics of Full Employment. Six Oxford Economists (1945).
    5. Fellner, W., Monetary Policies and Full Employment (1946).
    6. Financing American Prosperity, Twentieth Century Fund (1945).
    7. Groves, H. M., (a) Production, Jobs and Taxes (1944).
      (b) Postwar Taxation and Economic Progress (1946).
    8. Hansen, Alvin, H., Economic Policy and Full Employment (1946).
    9. Harris, S. E., Postwar Economic Problems (1943).
    10. Harris, S. E., Economic Reconstruction (1945).
    11. Hayes, H. Gordon, Spending, Saving and Employment (1945).
    12. League of Nations: Anti-Depression Policy (1945).
    13. Langum, John K., Postwar Banking Problems (1946).
    14. Postwar Economic Studies No. 3, Public Finance and Full Employment (1945).
    15. Postwar Economic Studies No. 8, Federal Reserve Policy (1946).
    16. Ruml and Sonne, Fiscal and Monetary Policy (1944).
    17. Terborgh, George, The Bogey of Economic Maturity (1945).
    18. Williams, John H. Postwar Monetary Plans (Second Edition, 1945), Chapters 4, 5.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

____________________________

Year-end Exam

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141b
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss one question in each part.

I

  1. Your own appraisal of Keynes’ “General Theory.”
  2. The role of money in Keynes’ “General Theory”.

II

  1. Postwar Federal reserve policy.
  2. The secondary (government security) reserve proposal.

III

  1. International monetary and trade adjustment in the postwar world.
  2. Harrod’s “Are These Hardships Necessary?”
  3. The franc devaluation.

 

Final. May, 1948.

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

____________________________

 ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
GENERAL REFERENCE READING
[13 pages!]

Has been transcribed and posted with the material for 1946-47.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-47 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Income Distribution Theory, Readings and Exams. Machlup, 1950’s

 

 

The following reading list on the theory of income distribution taught by Fritz Machlup in the mid-1950s at Johns Hopkins University was found in a file in the Evsey Domar papers marked “Macroeconomics, Old Reading Lists”. I hadn’t realized until this post that Machlup’s papers are archived at the Hoover Institution, where 45 boxes alone are filled with the archival remains of his academic career. OK, next time.

I remember that my dissertation supervisor, the same Evsey Domar, did not particularly “like” Fritz Machlup. The two of them were at Johns Hopkins in the 1950s, Machlup being a dozen years Domar’s senior. It is not that Evsey Domar would have actually trash-talked Fritz Machlup in front of a student of his, but I do have a vague recollection of Domar judging Machlup’s approach to economics as having been excessively concerned with terminological issues over substantive economics. Also I sensed that Domar considered Machlup to have viewed matters of academic rank and relative status with excessive seriousness. But these memories fall closer to the legend end of the historical spectrum than to those frequencies reserved for documented anecdotes. 

____________________

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
THE THEORY OF RELATIVE INCOMES
18-603, Fall Term 1954-55
Prof. Fritz Machlup

READING LIST

Texts:

  1. American Economic Association, Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution. (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1946)
  2. Any one of the books on the list below.

 

  1. General Background

Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (London: Macmillan, 8th ed. 1936) Books V and VI.

[Handwritten note, “theory of derived demand exp. Ch. 1-6”, apparently referring to Marshall, Book V (“derived demand” found in Chapter 6 of Book V)]

Eugen v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital (London: 1891; Reprinted New York, Stechert, 1940) Book III, Ch. X; Book IV, Ch. VII.

Philip H. Wicksteed, The Common Sense of Political Economy. London: Routledge, 1933) Vol. I, Book I, Chapter IX.

Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (Boston: 1921, Repreinted London School of Economic) Part II.

John R. Hicks, Value and Capital (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939) Part II.

 

  1. General Equilibrium Theory

Gustav Cassel, A Theory of Social Economy (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1924) Chapter IV.

Bertil Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1933) Appendix I.

George Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories (New York: Macmillan, 1941) Chapter IX and XII.

Joan Robinson, “Euler’s Theorem and the Problem of Distribution” Economic Journal, Vol. XLIV (1934).

 

  1. Marginal Productivity and Substitution

John Bates Clark, The Distribution of Wealth (New York: Macmillan, 1900) Chapter XII and XIII.

Joan Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition (London: Macmillan, 1934) Books VII, VIII, IX.

John R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages (London: Macmillan, 1935) Chapter I and VI.

Paul H. Douglas, The Theory of Wages (New York: Macmillan, 1934) Chapter III.

Paul H. Douglas, “Are There Laws of Production?” American Economic Review, Vol. XXXVIII (1948).

Fritz Machlup, “The Commonsense of the Elasticity of Substitution,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. II (1935).

Richard A. Lester, “Shortcomings of Marginal Analysis for Wage-Employment Problems.” American Economic Review, Vol. XXXVI (1946)

Fritz Machlup, “Marginal Analysis and Empirical Research” American Economic Review, Vol. XXXVI (1946).

Articles by Cassels, Stigler, Chamberlin, Machlup, Robinson, Lange, and Kalecki in A.E.A. Readings.

 

  1. Wage

John R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages Chapters II, III, IV.

Paul H. Douglas, The Theory of Wages Chapter X.

Edwin Cannan, “The Demand for Labour”, Economic Journal, Vol. XLII. (1932)

Fritz Machlup, The Political Economy of Monopoly (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1952) Chapters IX and X.

Articles by Robertson, Robbins, Bloom, Rolph, Reynolds, Lerner, Tarshis, and Dunlop in AEA Readings.

 

  1. Rent

David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1st ed. 1817) Chapter II.

Hubert D. Henderson, Supply and Demand (Cambridge: University Press, 1922, Revised, 1932) Chapter VI.

Joan Robinson, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Chapter VIII.

Gordon F. Bloom, “Technical Progress, Costs, and Rent”. Economica IX, New Series (1942)

Articles by Buchanan, and Boulding in AEA Readings.

 

  1. Interest

Eugen v. Böhm-Bawerk, The Positive Theory of Capital, Books II, V, VI, and VII.

Knut Wicksell, Lectures on Political Economy (New York: Macmillan, 1934) Vol. I, Part II, Ch. 2.

John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (London: Macmillan, 1936) Chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14.

Friedrich A. Hayek, The Pure theory of Capital (London: Macmillan, 1941) Chapters III, V, VI, VIII, XI-XIV.

Fritz Machlup, “Professor Knight and the ‘Period of Production’”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. XLIII (1935).

____________ “The Rate of Interest as Cost Factor and as Capitalization Factor”, American Economic Review, Vol. XXV, (1935)

Articles by Hayek, Knight, Keynes, Robertson, Hicks, Somers, and Lutz, in Readings.

 

  1. Profit

Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Chapters IX-XII.

Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934) Chapter IV.

Robert Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1940) Chapter V.

Fritz Machlup, The Economics of Sellers’ Competition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1952), Chapters VII and VIII.

Articles by Knight, Hart, Gordon, and Crum, in Readings.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Project, Papers of Evsey Domar, Box 15, Folder “Macroeconomics, Old Reading Lists”.

____________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
The Theory of Relative Incomes
18-603

January 21, 1953

Professor Fritz Machlup

Answer three questions, one from each group.

Write on loose sheets of paper; start a new sheet for each question.
Identify each sheet by the Question Number in the left corner and your Examination Number (which you draw before the examination) in the right corner; your name should appear nowhere.(I.

  1. Describe in words, without using any symbols, the Walrasian system of general equilibrium, stating the essential assumptions, the variables assumed to be given, and the unknowns to be derived.

II.

  1. Discuss the influence of different types of inventions on the marginal productivity of labor. Indicate also their probably effects on the total income of the labor class and on its relative share in the national income.
  2. Dennis H. Robertson divides the effects which “an artificial raising of the wages” is apt to have upon employment into “two analytically separable reactions”, first, “a movement along the existing [marginal productivity] curve,” and second, “a cumulative lowering of the curve”. Explain the two reactions and indicate what assumptions concerning other factors of production, especially capital, are involved.

III.

  1. State the three grounds on which Böhm-Bawerk bases his explanation of the existence of interest and discuss whether each or any of them constitutes a necessary and/or sufficient condition of the existence of interest. (You may avoid committing yourself to the arguments expressed by attributing them to “some writers”.)
  2. Without indicating your own opinions or inclinations, present both sides in the controversy between Frank H. Knight and the “Austrians” with respect to the following points:
    1. that all capital is conceptually perpetual or conceptually non-permanent;
    2. that economic progress may result in a “shortening” of the investment period;
    3. that an increase in the supply of capital need not change the original factors of the remote past.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 6, Exams, 1956-62. Box 3/1, Folder “Graduate Exams, 1933-1965”.

____________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
THEORY OF RELATIVE INCOMES
18.603

January 1957

Professor Fritz Machlup

Answer four questions, one from each part.

Write on loose sheets of paper; start a new sheet for each question.
Identify each sheet by the Question Number in the left corner and your Examination Number (which you draw before the examination) in the right corner; your name should appear nowhere.
You are on your honor not to use notes or to give or accept advice.

PART I.

  1. A product, X, is made from three “ingredients” or factors of production, A, B, and C, all of which are necessary and can be used only in a fixed proportion. Total output of X is 1000 units per unit of time; the product sells at a price of $100 per unit. The factor costs per unit of product are $60 for A, $30 for B, and $10 for C. The supplies of A and B are perfectly elastic to the industry. The demand for X has an elasticity of -2. The industry is competitive both in its buying and selling.
    Assume that the quantity of C which is available to the industry is reduced by 20 per cent. Calculate the elasticity of the industry’s derived demand for C. Show your reasoning step by step.
  2.      a. Define or explain the concept of elasticity of substitution as it is used by Mrs. Robinson.
    1. Is it “technical” substitution or “total” substitution which is involved in Mrs. Robinson’s concept? What is the difference between the two substitutabilities?

PART II.

  1. Discuss various concepts of “bargaining power” in the labor market, commenting on the selection of criteria, the problem of measurability, and the uses to which the concepts are put.
  2. Ricardo says in the chapter “On Rent” of his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation: “If the high price of corn were the effect, and not the cause of rent, price would be proportionately influenced as rents were high or low, and rent would be a component part of price. But that corn which is produced by the greatest quantity of labor is the regulator of the price of corn; and rent does not and cannot enter in the least degree as a component part of its price.” Discuss. Take account of the possibility that land has other uses besides the production of corn.

PART III.

  1. Without indicating your own opinions or inclinations, present both sides in the controversy between Frank H. Knight and the “Austrians” with respect to the following points:
    1. that all capital is conceptually perpetual or conceptually non-permanent;
    2. that economic progress may result in a “shortening” of the investment period;
    3. that an increase in the supply of capital need not change the original factors of the remote past.
    4. that it is not possible to identify the contributions of the original factors of the remote past.
  2. On p. 208 of his Lectures, Vol. I, Wicksell quotes the following statement by Gustav Cassel: “A man who attaches the same importance to future needs as to present ones, if he expects to be able to provide for his needs in the future just as easily as he does now, has no reason for setting aside anything of his present income.” According to Wicksell, “Cassel is not quite correct” inasmuch as his “argument actually presupposes the absence of any rate of interest.” Explain.

PART IV.

  1. What, if anything, does general-equilibrium theory contribute to the understanding or development of income-distribution theory?
    In order to facilitate a thoughtful discussion of this question it is suggested that you treat it in three parts:

    1. The function of a theory of relative incomes. (What is it designed to do? What kind of general principles or conceptual schemes seem to be useful in developing a theory of income distribution?)
    2. The essentials of general-equilibrium theory. (What is it designed to do and how? What do we learn from it?)
    3. The contribution, or lack of it, of general-equilibrium systems to the theory of relative incomes.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 6, Exams, 1956-62. Box 3/1, Folder “Graduate Exams, 1933-1965”.

Image Source:  Fritz Machlup page  at the website Austrian Economics Center.

 

Categories
Harvard M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Undergraduate reading list for Industrial Organization and Public Policy. Bishop, 1955-56

 

 

Robert L. Bishop was called by his alma mater to render service to cover the undergraduate course on industrial organization and public policy in 1955-56. He still taught that year at M.I.T. according to the course staffing records, so the cross-Cambridge commute was a convenient (for all parties) gig. The previous year the same course was co-taught by Carl Kaysen and Merton Peck. Comparing the Spring term syllabus, items I, III, and V were the taken over “as is” by Bishop. The only question is now how much of the Fall term reading list was in common.

_____________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 161. Industrial Organization and Public Policy. Associate Professor Bishop. (M.I.T.). Full course.

(Fall) Total 130: 2 Freshmen, 15 Sophomores, 74 Juniors 36 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.
(Spring) Total 123: 2 Freshmen, 8 Sophomores, 73 Juniors 37 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College 1955-56, pp. 77-78.

_____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 161
Fall Term 1955-56
Professor Bishop

 

  1. The Modern Business Unit (Sept. 26 – Oct. 7; 4 lectures, 2 sections)

N. S. Buchanan: The Economics of Corporate Enterprise, Ch. 3
H.G. Guthman and H.E. Dougall, Corporate Financial Policy, Ch. 2
A.A. Berle and G.C. Means: The Modern Corporation and Private Property, Bk. II, Ch. 1
R.A. Gordon: Business Leadership in the Large Corporation, Ch. 1-3, 12-14
National Bur. of Ec. Research: Cost Behavior and Price Policy, Ch. X
H.L. Purdy, M.L. Lindahl and W.A. Carter: Corporate Concentration and Public Policy, (2nd ed.) Ch. 7
J.K. Butters and J.V. Lintner: The Effects of Taxation on Corporate Mergers, Chs. IX, X

  1. The Functioning of Markets and the Economic Norms of Public Policy (Oct. 10-Nov. 4; 7 lectures, 4 sections)

J. S. Bain: Price Theory (or Pricing, Distribution, and Employment, Rev. Ed.) Ch. 1-7 (Ch. 3 is useful chiefly as review)

  1. Monopolistic and Oligopolistic Markets (Nov. 7 – Nov. 30; 8 lectures, 2 sections, hour exam)

Donaldson Brown, “Pricing Policy in Relation to Financial Control” (reprints)
TNEC Monograph No. 21; Monopoly and Competition in American Industry, Ch. IV
W. Nutter: “The Extent and Growth of Enterprise Monopoly” (pp. 141-153) in Gramp and Weiler, eds., Economic Policy: Readings in Political Economy
W.A. Adams, ed.: The Structure of American Industry (rev. ed.) Ch. V-XI
F. Machlup: The Basing-Point System, Ch. 1, 3, 6, 7
“Big Business in a Competitive Society,” Fortune, Supplement, Feb. 1953

  1. Anti-Trust Policy (Dec. 5- Dec. 21; 6 lectures, 2 sections)

S. C. Oppenheim: Cases on Federal Anti-Trust Laws, pp. 57-69; App. A, B, C (pp. 963-85) pp. 106-127, 164-182, 250-265, (monopoly cases); pp. 281-286, 291-301, 310-330 (combination cases)
S.C. Oppenheim: 1951 Supplement, pp. 203-289 (Alcoa remedy)
U.S. v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., Fed. Supp.
E.S. Mason: “The Current Status of the Monopoly Problems in U.S.,” Harvard Law Review, June 1949
C.E. Griffin: An Economic Approach to Anti-Trust Problems
J.B. Dirlam and A.E.Kahn: Fair Competition: The Law and Economics of Anti-Trust Policy, Ch. 1, 2, 5, 9

Reading Period Assignment

Markham: Competition in the Rayon Industry

_____________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 161
Spring Term 1956
Professor Bishop

 

  1. Markets of Large Numbers (Feb. 1 – Mar. 2; 8 lectures, 5 sections)

Agriculture
Cotton Textiles
Women’s clothing
Crude Oil

R. Schickele, Agricultural Policy, Ch. 9-11, 13-17.
K. Brandt, Farm Price Supports, Rigid or Flexible?
J.K. Galbraith, “Farm Policy: The Current Position,” Journal of Farm Economics, May, 1955, pp. 292-304.
A.M. McIsaac, “The Cotton Textile Industry,” in Adams, The Structure of American Industry, 2nd ed.
“Adam Smith on 7th Avenue,” Fortune [handwritten note: Jan. 1949?]
N. Ely, “The Conservation of Oil,” Ch. 11 in Readings in the Social Control of Industry.
E.V. Rostow, A National Policy for the Oil Industry, Part II.

  1. The Plane of Competition—The Securities Markets (Mar. 5-Mar. 9; 2 lectures, 1 section)

Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane, How to Read a Balance Sheet.
W. E. Atkins, G.W. Edwards, and H.G. Moulton, The Regulation of the Securities Markets, Chs. 2-6.

  1. The Regulated Industries (Mar. 12 – Apr. 13; 8 lectures, 3 sections; hour exam, Apr. 13)

Electric Power
Transportation

Twentieth Century Fund: Electric Power and Government Policy, Ch. I-IV, X.
M. L. Fair and E.W. Williams, Jr., Economics of Transportation, Ch. 18-23, 25, 30, 32.

  1. The Patent System (Apr. 16 – Apr. 20; 2 lectures, 1 section)

Symposium, Law and Contemporary Problems, Vols. 12 and 13 (1947-48)—articles by:

Hamilton and Till, Vol. 13, pp. 245-59,
Abramson, Vol. 13, pp. 339-53,
Stedman, Vol. 12, pp. 649-79,
Davis, Vol. 12, pp. 796-806.

R. L. Bishop, “The Glass Container Industry,” in Adams, The Structure of American Industry, 1st ed.

  1. Nationalization and Planning (Apr. 23 – Apr. 30; 3 lectures, 1 section)

J. E. Meade, Planning and the Price Mechanism, pp. 1-104.
B.W. Lewis, British Planning and Nationalization, Ch. 1-3.
H.A. Clegg and F.E. Chester, The Future of Nationalization, Ch. 1, 3.

Reading Period Assignment

To be announced.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1955, 1956, (2 of 2)”.

Image Source:   Robert Lyle Bishop. MIT Museum.