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Harvard Libertarianism Principles Suggested Reading Syllabus

Antioch College. Syllabus for principles of economics. Watts, 1935-1936

Vervon Orval Watts (1898-1993)  was a Thomas Nixon Carver  inspired libertarian economist from pre-Keynesian Harvard times. Before going on to become the first head economist for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (1939-46) and later an economic adviser to the Foundation for Economic Education starting in 1946, Watts taught economics at Antioch College (1930-36) and Carleton College (1936-39). His full biographical timeline can be found at the link above. For this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has transcribed the syllabus with the assigned and optional readings for the principles course Watts taught at Antioch College in 1935-36.

In the mid-1960s Watts was the Dean of the short-lived Freedom School Phrontistery in Colorado, the brainchild of Robert LeFevre that was to become a libertarian version of a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics program of study.

_____________________________

Harvard Ph.D. awarded in 1932

Vervon Orval Watts, A.B. (Univ. of Manitoba) 1918, A.M. (Harvard Univ.) 1923.
Subject, Economics. Special Field, Sociology. Thesis, “The Development of the Technological Concept of Production in Anglo-American Thought.”
Associate Professor of Economics, Antioch College.

Source: Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p.124.

_____________________________

A Syllabus of Instruction
for
Economics 101-102

A Survey of Modern
Economic Life

V. O. Watts
Antioch College
1935-1936

PURPOSES OF THE COURSE

  1. To obtain information concerning American economic institutions.
  2. To develop the habit in the ordinary experiences of daily life of observing, analyzing and appraising the economic results of the conduct of individuals and of groups of individuals as wage-earners, employers, farmers, manufacturers, merchants, financiers, and legislators.
  3. To develop skill in tracing out and explaining the ramifications of the economic effects of an event.

CONDUCT OF THE COURSE

Required Readings

Study of the required readings, those starred and underlined in the list of references in this syllabus, constitutes the larger part of the work of this course. The following methods of study are therefore suggested:

  1. Note the relation of each chapter or section in the text or syllabus to the sections preceding and following it.
  2. Read or scan quickly the material in one or two chapters at a time before underlining or taking notes, so that you may gain perspective and distinguish the more significant principles from the accompanying illustrations and qualifications.
  3. Think out answers to the questions and problems given at the end of each section or chapter in the text or question book, referring back to the appropriate section of the text, when necessary, to clarify your understanding of the principles involved.
  4. Re-read the text, making written note of essential points in definitions of technical terns, statements of important principles, list of arguments pro and con on controversial issues, advantages and disadvantages of proposed policies, and qualifications of principles.
    This note-taking should provide opportunity for practice in expressing yourself in economics, therefore do not copy the author’s words, but put his ideas into your own words. It should also provide an aid to quick and effective review and help you to organize your thinking in this field, therefore keep your notes brief, well-organized, and neatly arranged.
  5. Before class discussions and examinations review those notes, practicing recall, illustrating the points noted, questioning and criticizing the author’s ideas, and formulating your own conclusions.

Periodicals

Each student in this course is expected to keep posted on current economic and political events and opinions through the regular reading of a newspaper or news weekly.

                  Some acquaintance with a number of leading journals in the fields of business and political economy is also required. To that end some of the journals listed below should be consulted with the following questions in mind concerning each: (1) How often is it published? (2) Who are the publishers or editors? (3) What is the professional status or occupation of its contributors? (4) What is the general character or point of view of most of its articles? (5) What special place does it fill in the field and to what type of reader is it likely to have most appeal?

Examine the table of contents for several recent issues of some of these magazines to see if there may be articles which especially interest you. In some journals you may find few or none, but in others you should find many such articles. Try to read at least one article during the semester in each of several of the journals listed.

Recommended Readings

The optional, or recommended, readings listed below present additional information or develop points of view differing more or less from that dominant in the required text. In some cases they may present clearer explanations of the points covered in the required readings.

Class Meetings

There are customarily three class meetings per week.

Conferences

Each student should meet the instructor for a conference at least once in each five-week period. To these conferences the student should bring his economics notebook and recent test papers.

Tests and Examinations

Approximately once a week there will be a ten-minute written test on the subject matter of the required readings. At the end of the first and third divisions there will be a one-hour examination on the readings and lectures. At the end of each semester there will be a three-hour examination covering the entire work of the course to date.

Answers to examination questions should be well planned and neatly written. Each distinct point or argument should be treated in a separate paragraph, and points correlative in meaning and importance should be numbered. All papers should be written in ink.

Oral Report

In the second division of the second semester each student will be expected to present to the class in a ten or fifteen minute report the results of his study outside the required readings of a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. The time allotted for preparation of this report should be approximately one-tenth of the time devoted to the entire course. The report itself should not take the form of reading an essay, but should be a short talk from a brief outline.

Textbooks

L. A. Rufener, Principles of Economics

R. M. Rutledge, Everyday Economics

SCHEDULE OF READINGS, LECTURES, AND EXAMINATIONS

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

FIRST SEMESTER

First Week

*Rufener, ch.1. Wants, Goods, and Welfare

*Rutledge, ch. 1.

Stuart Chase, Your Money’s Worth

C. E. Carpenter, Dollars and Sense

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, Elementary Economics, chs. 1, 7.

S. H. Slichter, Modern Economic Society, ch. 22.

Lecture: The Significance of Scarcity.

Second Week

*Rufener:

ch. 2. Improving Methods of Production
ch. 3. Exchange, Value, and Price
ch. 4. Business Organization and Profits

*Rutledge, ch. 4.

V. O. Watts, The Myth of the Industrial Revolution

Third Week

*Rufener:

ch. 5. Demand and Supply and Market Price
ch. 6. Demand and Supply and Market Price (continued)
ch. 7. Demand Schedules for Producers’ Goods

*Rutledge, ch. 6

W. H. Hamilton, Current Economic Problems, selections 63-66

Slichter, chs. 12, 13, 14

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, chs. 11-15.

Fourth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 8. Costs of Production, Market Price, and Profit
ch. 9. Cost and Price in Agriculture: Wheat-Growing
ch. 10. The Rent and Price of Agricultural Land

*Rutledge, ch. 10.

J. B. Hubbard, Current Economic Policies, pp. 180-207

Slichter, chs. 17, 19. “Public Authority as a Determinant of Price”.

Fifth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 11. Indirect Costs in Agriculture
ch. 12. Economic Rent and the Unearned Increment
ch. 13. Cost of Production in Manufacturing: Decreasing Cost

*Rutledge ch. 12.

Fairchild, Furniss, and Buck, chs. 31, 32.

Hour Examination

Sixth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 14. Decreasing Costs, Indirect Costs, and Price
ch. 15. Monopoly and Monopoly Price
ch. 16. Industrial Monopolies and Government Control

*Rutledge:

ch. 15.
ch. 16.

F. A. Fetter, The Masquerade of Monopoly

M. W. Watkins, Industrial Combinations and Public Policy

Lecture:
The Economies and Limitations of Large-Scale Methods

Seventh Week

*Rufener:

ch. 17. Public Utilities and Government Control
ch. 18. Railroads and Government Control
ch. 19. Demand Schedules for Labor

Slichter, ch. 18.

Eighth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 20. Differences in Wages
ch. 21. Labor Organization

*Rutledge:

ch. 20
ch. 21

Paul Douglas, Real Wages in the United States

Slichter, ch. 24. “The Labor Bargain—The Determination of Wages”

Fairchild, Furniss and Buck ch. 35. “The General Law of Wages.”

Rufener, ch. 22. “Labor Legislation”

Lectures:

Principles of Justice in Distribution
Wage Theories
The Malthusian Principle of Population

Ninth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 23. The Price of Loans.
ch. 24. Producers’ Loans and the Rate of Interest.

*Rutledge, ch. 23.

*R. Epstein, Supplementary Readings in Economics, ch. 18. “The Nature of Capital and Interest”

Lecture:
The Nature and Importance of Saving and Investment.

Tenth Week

Semester Examination

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

SECOND SEMESTER

First Week

*Rufener:

ch. 25. The Qualities and Quantity of Money
ch. 27. Government Paper Money

*Rutledge:

ch. 25
ch. 27

*Rufener, ch. 28. Bank Deposits and Bank Notes

D. H. Robertson, Money

Rufener, ch. 26

Second Week

*Rufener:

ch. 29. Bank Credit and Business Cycles.
ch. 30. Government Regulation of Banking in the U.S.

*Rutledge, ch. 29.

Slichter, ch. 11, ch. 20 (pp. 471-491).

L. Robbins, The Great Depression.

H. Clay, J. Stamp, J. M. Keynes, The World’s Economic Crisis and the Way of Escape.

L. Ayres, The Economics of Recovery.

W. C. Mitchell, Business Cycles, ch. 1, sections 3, 4.

Lecture:
The Causes of the 1930-1935 Depression
.

Third Week

*Rufener:

ch. 31. Risk, Insurance and Speculation.
ch. 32. Clearings, Collections, and Exchange.

*Rutledge, ch. 31.

Slichter, ch. 30. “International Economic Policies—Monetary and Financial Problems.”

H. G. Moulton:

Germany’s Capacity to Pay.
The World War Debt Settlements.

Rufener, ch. 33.

Fourth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 34. International Trade
ch. 35. Protection and Free Trade.

*F. W. Taussig, Free Trade, the Tariff, and Reciprocity, pp. 44-57 and chs. 3,4,7, and pp. 168-179.

S. Crowther, America Self-Contained.

W. Redfield, Dependent America.

J. M. Jones, Tariff Retaliation.

F. Bastiat, Economic Sophisms.

H. F. Fraser, Foreign Trade and World Politics.

Rutledge, ch. 35.

Fifth Week

*Rufener:

ch. 37. Theories of Taxation.
ch. 38. The Tax System of the United States.

Hour Examination

Sixth to Ninth Weeks

*Rufener:

ch.39. Problems of Agriculture.
ch.36. The Functions of Government
ch.40. Evils of the Price and Profit System, and Remedies Proposed.

*Rutledge ch. 40.

*Hubbard, Current Economic Policies, pp. 3-21.

Stuart Chase:

The Tragedy of Waste.
The Economy of Abundance.

T. N. Carver:

Essays in Social Justice, chs. 4-7, 9-16.
The Economy of Human Energy, chs. 2, 3, 6—9.

P. Sorokin, Social Mobility.

A. T. Hadley, Standards of Public Morality, chs. 1-3.

H. M. Robinson, Relativity in Business Morals.

See also the following references to current periodicals.

Lectures:

Economic Inequality
The Social Nature of Property
The Economy of Abundance
Planned Production
A Program of Economic Reorganization
.

Tenth Week

Final Examination.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

PERIODICALS

                  The following publications are devoted partly or wholly to economic and business subjects.

Academy of Political Science, Proceedings

*American Economic Review

*American Labor Legislation Review

American Statistical Association Journal

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

*Annalist

*Business Week

Chase Economic Bulletin

*Commercial and Financial Chronicle

Commonweal

Congressional Digest

*Economic Forum

Economic Geography

*Economic Journal

Factory Management and Maintenance

Foreign Affairs

Fortune

Harvard Business Review

International Labor Review

*Journal of Political Economy

*Magazine of Wall Street

Monthly Labor Review

Nation (New York)

National City Bank of New York Bulletin

Nation’s Business

New Republic

Personnel Journal

*Political Science Quarterly

*Printer’s Ink

*Quarterly Journal of Economics

Review of Economic Statistics

Yale Review

*Current issues in the Economics Reading Room, Main Bldg., Room 37.

The following articles in issues of the past year are especially recommended:

First Semester

“The Coal Resources of China,” W. Belden, M. Salter, Economic Geography, July 1935.

“The Public Utility Issue,” L. Olds, The Yale Review, Summer, 1935.

“Economic Effects of Wages and Hour Provisions in Codes,” T. O. Yntema, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Supplement (Papers and Proceedings) March 1935.

“The American Labor Movement Since the War,” D. J. Saposs, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1935.

“Economic and Political Radicalism,” M. C. Kruger, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1935.
(The effect of the depression on the economic and political policies of organized labor.)

“Workers’ Education in the United States,” A. S. Cheyney, International Labor Review, July, 1935.

“The Negro in Industry,” G.S.Mitchell, The American Scholar, Summer 1935.
(The problem of race prejudice in trade unions)

“Incidence upon the Negroes,” C.S. Johnson, American Journal of Sociology, May, 1935.
(Incidence of the burdens of the depression upon negroes)

“Compensation of Corporation Executives, 1928-1932 Record,” J.C.Baker and W. L. Crum, Harvard Business Review, Sumner 1935.

“Old Age Security,” E. E. Witte, National Municipal Review, July 1935.

“Paying for Economic and Social Security,” J. P. Harris, National Municipal Review, August 1935.

“Problems of Social Security Legislation in the United States,” several articles in the Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, June 1935.

Second Semester

“The Royal Road to Inflation,” A. Wolff, Economic Forum, Spring 1935.
(Shows how continued federal budget deficits may lead to currency inflation.)

“Trade Treaty Need,” Cordell Hull, “American Trade Policy and World Recovery,” P. Molyneaux, International Conciliation, June 1935.

“Death Duties, Enterprise, and the Growth of National Capital,” B. M. Anderson, Chase Economic Bulletin, August 6, 1935.

“The Outlook for American Cotton,” J. D. Black, Review of Economic Statistics, March 1935.
(Is America losing her foreign cotton markets?)

“The New Deal and Economic Liberty,” A. A. Berle, and other articles on government control of business, Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, March 1935.

“A Planned Economy for Wall Street,” C. H. Meyer, The American Scholar Summer 1935.
(The economic consequences of the Securities Acts of 1933, 1934)

“Government Control of Investments and Speculation,” R. S. Tucker, American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1935.

“The Paths of Economic Change,” Calvin B. Hoover, American Economic Review, Supplement (Papers and Proceedings) March 1935.
(Fascism, Communism, and Capitalism compared.)

“The Corporate State and NRA,” G. Bottai, Foreign Affairs, July 1935.

“The Permanent New Deal,” W. Lippmann, The Yale Review, Summer 1935.
(A comparison of the policies of Herbert Hoover with those of Franklin D. Roosevelt.)

“Borrowing Machines,” H. A. Davis, National Municipal Review, June 1935.
(Are the now “authorities” a blessing or menace?)

“Gyp Vendor & Co.,” G. B. Seybold, National Municipal Review, June 1935.
(New York’s attempt to secure economy in municipal expenditures discloses numerous rackets and forms of graft.)

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of V. Orval Watts, Box 1, Folder “Misc. writings, etc. 1930s + 1940s”.

Image Source: Harvard Class Album, 1932.

Categories
Business School Columbia Economists Money and Banking Syllabus

Columbia. Course outline and readings for foreign banking systems. Beckhart, 1939-1940

This post serves double duty as(1) an addition to the series “Meet an Economics Ph.D.”, providing biographical and career information for Benjamin H. Beckhart, and (2) a transcribed syllabus for “Foreign Banking Systems” that was offered jointly by the Columbia University school of business and in the department of economics in the winter term of 1939-40. 

The circumstances surrounding the forced retirement of Beckhart from Columbia at age 65 can be found in the Columbia University archives. Perhaps he was fighting a mandatory retirement age being imposed by the university and/or business school? At least something for someone (else) to check out.

___________________________

Benjamin Haggott Beckhart
c.v.

1898. Born in Denver, CO.

1919. A.B. (Phi Beta Kappa) Princeton.

1920. M.A. Columbia.

1924. Ph.D. Columbia.

1920-21. Instructor in economics and social institutions at Princeton.

1921. Married Margaret Good Myers (b. 1899; d. 1988). Columbia economics Ph.D. (1931) and later professor of banking at Vassar (1934-64).

1921-24. Columbia University. Instructor of Banking.

1924-31. Columbia University. Assistant Professor of Banking.

1927-36. Educational supervisor of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Banking.

1931-39. Columbia University. Associate Professor of Banking.

1938-45. Secretary of the board of trustees of the Banking Research Fund of the Association of Reserve City Bankers.

1939-63. Columbia University. Professor of Banking.

1939-49. Director of research for the Chase National Bank.

1948. President of the American Finance Association.

1949-54. Economic consultant to Chase.

1953. Chairman of the Conference of Business Economics.

1954-61. Economic consultant to the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

1957. Visiting professorships at the universities of Melbourne and Sydney

1960. Visiting professorship at the Australian Administrative Staff College

1963. Forced to retire from Columbia.

1964-66. President of the Unitarian Fellowship of Poughkeepsie.

1967. Visiting professorship at Kobe University, Japan.

1968-73. President of the Dutchess Senior Citizens Housing Corp.

1975. Died in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Books by Benjamin Haggott Beckhart

The Discount Policy of the Federal Reserve System (1924).

Foreign Banking Systems, co-authored with H. Parker Willis (1929).

The New York Money Market, four volumes (1932‐33).

V. 1. Origins and development, by Margaret G. Myers.
V. 2. Sources and movements of funds, by B.H. Beckhart and J.G. Smith.
V. 3. Uses of funds, by B.H. Beckhart.
V. 4. External and internal relations, by B.H. Beckhart, J.G. Smith and W.A. Brown, Jr.

Banking Systems, editor (1954).

Business Loans of American Commercial Banks (1959).

The Federal Reserve System (1972).

Sources: Obituaries: Poughkeepsie Journal (22 Mar 1975), p. 7. New York Times (22 March 1975), p. 34. Information also in Beckhart’s entry at prabook.com.

___________________________

Forced Retirement in 1963

Correspondence, memoranda and reports on the controversy surrounding the forced retirement of Benjamin Beckhart. The collection consists of the files of three Columbia professors involved in the case: Harold Barger, professor of economics and Robert K. Webb, professor of history, who were chairmen of the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors, 1959-1964 and 1964-1965, respectively; and Arthur Robert Burns, professor of economics, a member of the Committee on Conference of the University Council, which advised the President on matters of tenure, dismissal and retirement. Included is the correspondence of Beckhart, Barger, Burns, Webb, President Grayson Kirk, Courtney C. Brown, Dean of the School of Business, Harry M. Jones, professor of law, other Columbia faculty and officials of the national office of the AAUP. The reports and memoranda are chiefly those issued by the Committee on Conference.

Columbia University: Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Benjamin Haggott Beckhart papers, 1959-1965.

From the Class Notes of the Princeton Class of 1919…

“….Haggott Beckart, now retired, has amused himself of late by writing letters to the Wall Street Journal (with his tongue, practically dislocated, in his cheek) on the achievement of prosperity through deficit financing. He was also given a dinner on Feb. 27 in honor of his retirement from the Columbia University faculty by his friends in the academic and financial world.”

Source: Princeton Alumni Weekly (May 3, 1963), p. 24.

___________________________

Class announcement

Banking 115—Foreign banking systems. 3 points. Winter Session. Professor Beckhart.
Tu. and Th. at 9. 511 Business.

A comparative study of credit structures and of banking institutions. Emphasis is given to the differences and similarities to be found in the financial organizations of the United States and in those of the foreign countries studied. The types of commercial and investment credit instruments in use, the development of banking institutions, problems relating to branch banking and banking concentration and to governmental control and supervision are given consideration. A study is made of the factors affecting the cash ratios of commercial banks, methods of financing domestic and foreign trade, the nature of bank deposit liabilities, and the character of bank loans and investments. Review is made of the work of governmental and of urban and rural mortgage credit institutions and of the rôle of savings institutions. The changing character of bank assets and liabilities since 1929 is given particular attention.

Source: History, Economics, Public Law, and Social Science. Courses Offered by the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions, 1939-1940. Published in the Columbia University  Bulletin of Information (July 8, 1939), p. 40.

____________________________

Winter
1939-1940

Foreign Banking Systems
Banking 115

Topical Assignments

  1. The BackgroundTrends in Banking 1925-1933

Commercial Banks — 1925-1933, League of Nations, no. 8-33.

Money and Banking, 1938-1939. League of Nations, Monetary Review, Vol. I, pp. 72-99.

  1. Types of Banking Systems

Foreign Banking Systems, edited by H. Parker Willis and B. H. Beckhart, Chapter 1.

Commercial Banks, 1913-1929, League of Nations, pp. 3-14.

The International Money Markets, by John T. Madden and Marcus Nadler, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

  1. Bank Incorporation and Organization.

Foreign Banking Systems, pp. 321-323; 1166-1167.

Paris as a Financial Centre, by Margaret G. Myers, op. 100-101.

  1. Bank Examination and Inspection

Foreign Banking Systems, pp. 436-445; 1038-1939.

Allen et al. Commercial Banking Legislation and Control, pp. 3-52.

  1. Bank Mergers and Banking Concentration

Foreign Banking Systems, pp. 325-34, 707-708, 1048-1053, 1162-1165, 1239-1240.

  1. Bank Portfolio Developments

Commercial Bank — 1929-1934, League of Nations, XXXV-XLII.

Money and Banking — 1937-1938, League of Nations, Vol. I, Monetary Review, pp. 37-60.

Money and Banking, 1938-39. League of Nations. Monetary Review. Vol. I, pp. 99-113.

Sayers, Modern Banking, Chapter IX.

Testimony of Mr. Frederick Hyde, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee on Finance and Industry, 1931, Vol. I, pp. 56-69.

  1. Bank Deposit Fluctuations

Commercial Banks — 1929-1934, League of Nations, pp. VII-XIX, XXX-XXXV.

Money and Banking — 1937-1938, League of Nations, Vol. I. Monetary Review, pp. 61-78.

Sayers, Modern Banking, Chapter X.

  1. Bank Reserves

Commercial Banks — 1913-1929, League of Nations, pp. 49-55.

Commercial Banks — 1929-1934, League of Nations, pp. XLII-XLVI.

  1. The Money Markets and Interest Rate Fluctuations

Commercial Banks —  1929-1934, League of Nations, pp. L-LIV.

Money and Banking — 1935-1936, League of Nations, Vol. I, Monetary Review, pp. 53-59.

Money and Banking, 1936-1937, League of Nations, Monetary Review, Vol. I. pp. 78-110.

  1. The Foreign Exchange Markets

Commercial Banks, 1929-1934, League of Nations, pp. LXI-LXX.

Money and Banking, 1936-1937, League of Nations, Monetary Review, Vol. I. pp. 9-59.

Money and Banking, 1937-1938, League of Nations, Vol. I, Monetary Review, pp. 9-37.

Money and Banking, 1938-1939, League of Nations. Vol. I, Monetary Review, pp. 9-37.

  1. Agricultural Credit Institutions

Foreign Banking Systems, pp. 63-69, 680-690; 1040-1044.

  1. Investment and Intermediate Credit Institutions

Foreign Banking Systems, pp. 1225-1235.

Paris as a Financial Centre, Chapter 6.

  1. State Intervention in Banking

Commercial Banks — 1925-1933, League of Nations, pp. 44-47; 110-121 (with reference to Germany).

Commercial Banks — 1929-1934, League of Nations, pp. 45-51; 103-104.

  1. Recent Banking Legislation

Money and Banking — 1935-1936, League of Nations, Vol. II. Commercial Banks, pp. 27-28; 118-121.

Money and Banking — 1937-1938, League of Nations, Vol. I. Monetary Review, pp. 92-105.

Money and Banking, 1937-1938, League of Nations, Vol. II. Commercial and Central Banks, pp. 30-32; 165-167.

  1. Resume of Banking Systems in Principal Countries

Committee on Finance and Industry, Report, 1931, Part I, Chapter 4.

Paris as a Financial Centre, Chapters 1, 5 and 7.

The International Money Markets, Chapters 14, 15, 16, 18.

Bibliography

Allen, A.M., Cope, S. R., Dork, L.J.H., and Witheridge, H.J, Commercial Banking Legislation and Control. London: Macmillan and Co., 1938.

Madden, John T. and Nadler, Marcus. The International Money Markets. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc.1935.

Myers, Margaret G. Paris as a Financial Centre. London: P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 1936.

Savers, R.S. Modern Banking, London: Oxford University Press, 1938.

Willis, H. Parker and Beckhart, B.H. Foreign Banking Systems. New York: Henry Holt and. Co., 1929.

Committee on Finance and Industry. Report. London: Printed and Published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office. 1931. (The Macmillan Report)

Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee on Finance and Industry. Volumes I and II. London: Printed and Published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office. 1931.

Memorandum on Commercial Banks, 1913-1929. League of Nations. Geneva.1931.

Commercial Banks, 1925-1933. League of Nations. Geneva. 1934.

Commercial Banks, 1929-1934. League of Nations, Geneva. 1935.

Money and Banking, 1935-1936. Vol, I. Monetary Review, Vol. II. Commercial Banks. Geneva, 1936

Money and Banking, 1936-1937. Vol. I. Monetary Review. Vol, II. Commercial Banks. Geneva. 1937.

Money and Banking, 1937-1938. Vol. I. Monetary Review. Vol. II. Commercial and Central Banks. Geneva, 1938.

Money and Banking, 1938-1939, Vol. I. Monetary Review, Geneva, 1939.

Source: Columbia University Archives. Department of Economics Collection, Box 6, Folder “School of Business Curriculum”.

Image Source: Vassar Chronicle, Volume XV, Number 18 (1 March 1958), p. 3.

Categories
Development Exam Questions Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Economic Development, Theory and Problems. Hainsworth, Bell and Papanek, 1960-1961

The announced cast of instructors for “Theories and Problems of Economic Development” offered at Harvard in 1960-61 was headlined by Professors Edward S. Mason and John Kenneth Galbraith. With the election of John F. Kennedy to the U.S. Presidency, all sorts of staff adjustments became necessary in the economics department and the graduate school of public administration, e.g. Galbraith took leave beginning the second semester to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to India. I don’t know why Mason changed his teaching plans, but I figure his Dean duties might have played a role.

The actual staffing for this course in 1960-61 is recorded in the staffing and enrollment information published in the annual report of the President of Harvard College also transcribed here. The course was the economics department offering that ran parallel to the Graduate School of Public Administrations seminar on the same subject.

This post begins with biographical information for the three course instructors: Geoffrey Brian Hainsworth, David E. Bell and Gustav Papanek.

The course outline and reading list is probably what had been originally planned/approved by Mason and Galbraith, though that is merely a presumption to be sure. Only the final exam for the first semester was found in the collection of economics exams in the Harvard Archive.

In preparing this post I learned that Gustav Papanek had been one of many academics purged from government service during the McCarthy years. The 2019 BBC story “How we endured the McCarthy purges in US” mentions his case and is the source of the photo of young Gus Papanek.

__________________________

Who’s Who
1960-61

HAINSWORTH, Geoffrey Brian, academic; b. Bramley, Yorkshire, Eng., 1934; B.S. in Econ., London Sch. of Econ., 1955; Ph.D., U. Calif. at Berkeley, 1960.
DOC. DIS. “Classical Theories of Overseas Development,” 1960. PUB. Japan’s Decision to Develop, 1969; Economic Development in South-East Asia, 1969; “The Lorenz Curve as a General Tool of Economic Analysis,” Econ. Record, Sept. 1964:
RES. Manufacturing Development and Economic Growth in Southeast Asia; Text on Economic Development with special reference to Asia.
Instr. econ., Harvard, 1958-61, tutor Lowell House, 1958- 61; asso. with Pakistan and Iran Advisory Project, 1958-61; research fellow, Australian Nat’l U., 1961-65; asst. prof., Williams Coll., 1965-68, U. British Columbia since 1968.

Source: American Economic Association, List of Members, 1969 p. 173.

In Memoriam:
Professor emeritus Geoffrey Hainsworth
1934 – 2011

Geoffrey was born in Bramley, Yorkshire. In 1952 he received a state scholarship to attend the University of London, graduating from the London School of Economics in 1954 and receiving the Allyn Young Honours Prize. A Fulbright Scholars grant enabled him to obtain his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, his thesis being classical theories of overseas development, a subject he pursued throughout his working life. He taught at Harvard from 1958 to 1960 while supervising the study program for foreign service fellows under the Harvard Development Advisory Service, along with participation in Pakistan’s Second Five‑Year Plan. He spent 1960 to 1965 as a research fellow and instructor at the Australian National University in Canberra, with research work in Papua New Guinea. His three children were born in Canberra. Returning to the US, he taught at Williams College in Massachusetts while supervising specially selected mature foreign student fellows at the Centre for Economic Development. Geoffrey started his career at UBC in 1968, where he founded the Centre for Southeast Asia Studies, retiring as its director in 2001. He was one of a select Canadian Educators Group invited in 1976 to visit institutions in China. He organized the first international conference for Southeast Asian Studies in 1979 and was twice elected president of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies. He was greatly respected and valued by colleagues in Canada and abroad, having lived in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam working with their governmental agencies and their universities. Dedicated to equality, justice and compassion, he touched the lives of many. Learning, understanding and laughter was his way.

SourceThe University of British Columbia Magazine.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

PAPANEK, Gustav F., academic; b. Vienna, Austria, 1926; B.S., Cornell U., 1947; M.A., Harvard, 1949, Ph.D., 1951.
DOC. DIS. Food Rationing in Britain, 1939-1945, 1950.
PUB. Pakistan’s Development – Social Goals and Private Incentives, 1967; Development Policy – Theory and Practice (ed.), 1968.
RES. Development Policy II – The Pakistan Experience. Dep. chief, Program Planning for S. & S.E. Asia, Dept. of State, Tech. Cooperation Adm., 1951-54; actg. project dir. & advr., Harvard Advisory Group to Planning Commn., Pakistan, 1954-58; dep. dir., Dev. Advry. Service, 1958-65, dir. since 1965.

Source: American Economic Association, List of Members, 1969 p. 332.

Gustav Fritz Papanek
d. September 20, 2022

Professor Gustav Fritz Papanek, died peacefully at his home in Lexington, MA on September 20, 2022. Gus, the husband of the late Hanna Kaiser Papanek was born in Vienna, Austria on July 12, 1926, the son of the late Dr. Ernst Papanek and Dr. Helene Papanek. His father was a committed social democrat and educator who was forced into exile in 1935 as the impending storm approached in Germany and Austria. His mother, a physician, looked after Gus and his late brother, George as Ernst evaded persecution. As Socialists and Jews, the family fled initially to France where Ernst ran homes for refugee children. Gus met his future wife Hanna when they were 13 years old in one of the children’s homes. With the impending fall of France, the family knew that Europe was no longer safe for them and in 1940 with the support of the International Rescue Committee they made it to New York. Gus frequently reminisced about teaching English during the journey and sailing into New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty.

 

Gus graduated from high school at age 16 and went to Cornell University – initially studying agriculture and working his way through school with farm jobs. His college years were interrupted by WWII – he enlisted in the army and was trained in the infantry and artillery until the army realized that a native German speaker was more valuable in military intelligence. Gus trained at the well-known Fort Ritchie in Maryland and was then deployed to Germany where he assisted in finding Nazi war criminals. He was always proud of his military service.

 

When he returned home, he graduated from Cornell. Gus and Hanna married soon after their college graduation. Gus went on to study economics at Harvard University under John Kenneth Galbraith, receiving his Ph.D. In 1952. Hanna received her Ph.D. in Sociology at Harvard, and their careers and work were entwined for the duration of their nearly 70-year marriage. Gus went on to take a job in the US State Department in Washington, DC working with the Agency for International Development – however it was the height of the McCarthy era and Gus was fired for his socialist beliefs. He rebounded and returned to Harvard where he began his life’s work of studying income distribution, employment, and poverty in developing countries. He and Hanna moved to Karachi, Pakistan with daughter Joanne and son Tom, returning to Harvard in 1958. Gus worked in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – advising governments on developing effective economic policies Gus ultimately specialized in Asian economies where he was recognized as a pre-eminent expert on Pakistan and Indonesia. He developed strong ties in both countries as a friend and trusted advisor. During the struggle for the independence of East Pakistan, Gus was an active advocate testifying before the US Congress and recognized by the government of Bangladesh as a Friend or the Liberation War Honor.

 

In 1974, Gus moved to Boston University as Chair of Economics, building a renowned department with strong interests in development economics. During his career, Gus trained two generations of economists who would go on to take important leadership positions in their home countries. After achieving emeritus status at BU, Gus continued his consulting work through his company the Boston Institute for Development Economics – working on books, papers and giving invited university lectures until several months ago. This year, he sent his last two books to the publisher – one a blueprint for the Indonesian economy and the last a memoir drawn from a series of talks that he gave to family and friends this past spring.

 

Gus was devoted to his family – teaching his son and daughter to ski, white-water kayak and hike in New Hampshire and Maine, and snorkel the reefs of the Caribbean. For over 40 years, Gus and Hanna’s vacation home in Brownfield, ME was a focal point of family life for their children and grandchildren. As Gus traversed the globe, he always ensured that his itinerary included Chicago to spend time with Tom, Doris, and their children. He and Hanna traveled widely – often visiting family and drawn overseas by interests in other cultures and landmarks. They instilled their love of travel in their grandchildren, who accompanied them on many journeys over the years. Meals were the focal point of family gatherings – with long, spirited and often political conversations – always concluding with chocolate in some form.

 

Gus is survived by his son Tom Papanek (Doris Wells Papanek) of Barrington, IL, daughter Joanne Papanek Orlando (Rocco Orlando, III) of South Glastonbury, CT, grandchildren Jessica Papanek, Julia Papanek, Rocco Orlando, IV (Katie Moran), Alexander Orlando, great granddaughters Brooke and Willow Orlando as well as his nephew Michael Papanek, niece Deborah Ferreira (Chris). His niece Susan Papanek McHugh (Steve) pre-deceased him recently.

Source: Gustav Fritz Papanek of Lexington, Massachusetts, 2022 Obituary. Anderson-Bryant Funeral Home (September 30, 2022).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

David E. Bell, the Clarence James Gamble Professor of Population Sciences and International Health Emeritus, died Sept. 6, 2000, after a brief illness. He was 81.
An economist who served as special assistant under President Truman and as director of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget and of the Agency for International Development (USAID) under President Kennedy, Bell headed the Harvard Advisory Group to Pakistan from 1954 to 1957, an effort that later evolved into the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and more recently the Center for International Development (CID). From 1957 to 1960, he taught economics at Harvard.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Bell led the international work of the Ford Foundation. He returned to Harvard in 1981, becoming director of the Center for Population and Development Studies at the School of Public Health (HSPH). He became emeritus in 1988, but continued to work at the Center on a daily basis, making himself available to students, fellows, and faculty who were able to benefit from his experience and wisdom.
University Provost Harvey Fineberg said of Bell: “David Bell lived a life dedicated to public service and to education. His leadership was the bedrock for programs in population and international health at the School of Public Health and the Center for Population and Development Studies. He was an invaluable guide to a generation of students and to colleagues at every stage of their careers. Anyone privileged to work with him became better by the experience.”
Lincoln Chen, formerly the Taro Takemi Professor of International Health at HSPH and currently executive vice president for program strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, had this to say of his former colleague:
“David Bell was a supreme global public servant, bringing his talents, skills, and commitments to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems — health, population, economic development. Due to his modesty and despite his extraordinary history of work, David Bell’s contributions are imbedded in the people and institutions he helped create, nurture, and grow. He did little to aggrandize his own name or reputation; indeed, his stature and wisdom were such that it was not necessary.”
Derek Bok, the Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor and Harvard President Emeritus, called David Bell “one of the finest human beings I have been privileged to know during my 40 years at Harvard. His combination of experience, judgment, compassion, and impeccable ethical standards are simply irreplaceable.”
Born in Jamestown, N.D. in 1919, Bell earned his bachelor’s degree in 1939 from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and his master’s degree from Harvard in 1941. His pursuit of a doctoral degree was interrupted when he agreed to direct the Harvard Advisory Group to Pakistan.
A fellowship was established in his honor at the Center in 1991, helping to host fellows with the objective of preparing scholars, managers, and policy makers for leadership roles in developing countries. The David E. Bell Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1999.
He leaves his wife of 56 years, Mary Barry Bell; his daughter, Susan Bell of Putney, VT; his son, Peter Bell of Watertown, MA; his sister, Barbara Bell Dwiggins of San Luis Obispo, CA.; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Source:  Ken Gewertz, “Economist David Bell dies at 81,” The Harvard Gazette, September 21, 2000.

__________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 169 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, I
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor [Edward S.] Mason, Dr. [Gustav] Papanek and Mr. [David] Bell.

A systematic survey of the subject, including consideration of theories of growth for both advanced and underdeveloped economies, the different historical paths to development, and the problems of technological change, capital accumulation, and economic planning. Intended for advanced undergraduates and graduates.
Prerequisite: Economics 98a.
[Junior year tutorial for credit dealing with macroeconomic theories and policies. The course serves as preparation for more specialized training in the subject matter in Group IV graduate and undergraduate courses. The course consists of both lectures and tutorial, normally with one lecture and one tutorial session per week. It was taught by Professor Smithies in 1960-61.]

Economics 170 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, II
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor [John Kenneth] Galbraith, Dr. Hainsworth and Mr. [David] Bell.

A continuation of Economics 169. Prerequisite: Economics 98a or 169.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, 1960-1961. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 57, No. 21 (August 29, 1960), pp.97-98.

__________________________

Course Enrollments and Staffing

[Economics] 169 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, I. Dr. Hainsworth and Mr. Bell. Half course. (Fall)

Total 58: 12 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Radcliffe, 27 Others.

[Economics] 170 (formerly Economics 108). Theory and Problems of Economic Development, II. Dr. Papanek. Half course. (Spring)

Total 58: 10 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Radcliffe, 26 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President, 1960-61, p. 77.

__________________________

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Economics 169
Theories and Problems of Economic Development (I)
Fall 1960

  1. Introduction:

Scope and method of course, definition and measurement of economic development, characteristics of underdeveloped countries.
(September 26-30)

Assigned reading:

W. A. Lewis, Theory of Economic Growth, Ch. 1 and appendix

S. Kuznets, Six Lectures on Economic Growth, Lectures I and III

Suggested reading:

E. E. Hagen, “Some Facts About Income Levels and Economic Growth,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1960

M. Abramovitz, “The Welfare Interpretation of Secular Trends in National Income and Product,” in The Allocation of Economic Resources (Stanford, 1959)

  1. Evolution of Growth Theories in Advanced Countries
    (October 3-28)

Assigned Reading:

Meier and Baldwin, Economic Development, Chs. 1-4

H. Mint, Theories of Welfare Economics, Ch. 1

Allyn Young, “Increasing Returns and Economic Progress,” Economic Journal, Dec. 1928, reprinted in R. V. Clemens, Readings in Economic Analysis, Vol. I, Ch. 6.

W. J. Baumol, Economic Dynamics: An Introduction, Ch. 2

W. Fellner, Trends and Cycles in Economic Activity, Chs. 4-9

Suggested Reading:

E. Domar, Essays in the Theory of Econmic Growth, Ch. 1

K. Boulding, “In Defense of Statics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov. 1955.

J. M. Letiche, “The Relevance of Classical and Contemporary Theories of Growth to Economic Development,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, May 1954.

  1. Historical Patterns of Economic Development
    (October 31 – November 25)

Assigned Reading:

Meier and Baldwin, op. cit., Chs. 7,8,9.

H. F. Williamson (ed.) The Growth of the American Economy, Chs. 1, 5, 17, 34, 48.

B. Higgins, Economic Development, Chs. 9 and 10.

A. Bergson (ed.), Soviet Economic Growth, Chs. 1 and 2.

W. W. Lockwood, Economic Development of Japan, Chs. 1 and 10.

Suggested Reading:

W. Rostow, Stages of Economic Growth.

T. S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830.

W. Ashworth, A Short History of the International Economy 1850-1950, esp. Chs. 1, 2, 3.

E. A. J. Johnson and H. E. Knoos, The Origins and Development of the American Economy.

Committee for Economic Development, Economic Growth in the United States, Feb. 1958

  1. Theories of Underdevelopment and How Development Can be Started
    (November 28 – December 21)

Assigned Reading:

B. Higgins, Economic Development, Part IV.

Suggested Reading:

P. Baran, “The Political Economy of Backwardness,” The Manchester School, Jan. 1950

E. Hagen, “How Economic Growth Begins,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall, 1958.

A. Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development.

H. Leibenstein, Economic Backwardness and Economic Growth.

H. Myint, “An Interpretation of Economic Backwardness,” Oxford Economic Papers, June 1954.

H. Oshima, “Economic Growth and the ‘Critical Minimum Effort’”, Economic Development and Cultural Change, July 1959

W. Rostow, “The Take-off into Sustained Growth,” Economic Journal, March 1956.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Economics 170
Theories and Problems of Economic Development II
Spring 1961

  1. Political, Social, Cultural Factors – Organizations and Institutions
    (February 6-10)

Assigned Reading:

W. A. Lewis, Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 57-162, 408-418

P. Baran, “The Political Economy of Backwardness,” The Manchester School, January 1950. (Reprinted in Agarwala and Singh, op. cit.)

G. A. Almond and J. S. Coleman (Eds.), The Politics of the Developing Areas, pp. 536-544

Suggested Reading:

S. Frankel, Economic Impact on Underdeveloped Societies, Chapter 8

M. Levy, “Some Social Obstacles to Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Areas,” in Capital Formation and Economic Growth, (Princeton 1955)

T. Parsons, [title left blank] in The Challenge of Development (Tel Aviv 1957)

  1. Productivity, Technology and Technical Change
    (February 13-24)

Assigned Reading:

Lewis, Chapter 4

C. P. Kindleberger, Economic Development, Chapters 6 & 10

Suggested Reading:

C. Kerr, “Productivity and Labor Relations,” in Productivity and Progress, (Proceedings of the Summer School, Australian Institute of Political Science, 1957)

R. Eckaus, “Factor Proportions in Underdeveloped Areas,” American Economic Review, September 1955, (Reprinted in Agarwala and Singh, op. cit.)

G. Ranis, “Factor Proportions in Japanese Development,” American Economic Review, September 1957

W. Moore, Industrialization and Labor

T. Scitovsky, “Two Concepts of External Economics,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1954

J. A. Stockfisch, “External Economics, Investment, and Foresight,” Journal of Political Economy, October 1955

A. Hirschman, “Investment Policies and ‘Dualism’ in Underdeveloped Countries,” American Economic Review, September 1957

  1. Capital Accumulation
    (February 27 – March 22)

Assigned Reading:

Lewis, pp. 201-244

R. Nurkse, Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries, Chapters 1-3

N. Kaldor, Indian Tax Reform: Report of a Survey (New Delhi, 1956)

Bernstein and Patel, “Inflation in Relation to Economic Development,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 1952

T. Schelling, “American Aid and Economic Development: Some Critical Issues,” in International Stability and Progress (The American Assembly, 1957)

Suggested Reading:

R. Mikesell, Promoting U. S. Private Investment Abroad, (National Planning Association Pamphlet, 1957)

M. Bronfenbrenner, “The Appeal of Confiscation in Economic Development,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, April 1955

S. Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” American Economic Review, March 1955

  1. Planning and Resource Allocation
    (March 24 – April 19)

Assigned Reading:

G. Haberler, International Trade and Economic Development, (National Bank of Egypt Lectures, 1959)

E. Mason, Economic Planning: Government and Business in Economic Development(Fordham University Lectures 1958)

J. Tinbergen, The Design of Development, (Johns Hopkins, 1958), pp. 1-58

G. Papanek, Framing a Development Program, (International Conciliation, March 1960), p. 307-337

Suggested Reading:

R. Nurkse, “Reflections on India’s Development Plan,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1957

W. Nicholls, “Investment in Agriculture in Underdeveloped Countries,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 1955

W. A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan,” Economic Bulletin, (Ghana), May – June 1959
(Mimeographed copies are on reserve in Lamont and Littauer Libraries)

D. Bell, “Allocating Development Resources: Some Observations Based on Pakistan Experience,” Public Policy IX, (Yearbook of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Harvard University, 1959)

  1. Case Studies
    (April 21 – May 1)

Note:
This is a preliminary list only. Other countries may be added and the assignments for the countries now listed will be changed to some extent.

Assigned Reading:
The assigned reading for this section of the course is the material listed below for one country only. (Students coming from underdeveloped countries are requested to read the material for a country other than their own. Please note that there will be one question on the final examination calling for an answer in terms of the country selected.
There will be no additional assignment during the reading period.

Indonesia

Background:

L. Fischer, The Story of Indonesia

Development Problems:

B. Higgins, Indonesia’s Economic Stabilization and Development

B. Higgins, Economic Development, pp. 50-58, 730-741

India

Background:

M. Zinkin, Development for Free Asia

Development Problems:

Government of India, Second five Year Plan, Chapters 1-7

Government of India, Second Five Year Plan Progress Report, 1958-59 (April 1960), pp. 1-28

M. Brower, “Foreign Exchange Shortage and Inflation Under India’s Second Plan,” Public Policy IX, 1959

W. Malenbaum, “India and China, Contrasts in Development,” American Economic Review, June 1959

R. Nurkse, “Reflections on India’s Development Plan,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1957

Pakistan

Background:

M. Zinkin, Development for Free Asia

Development Problems:

Government of Pakistan, Second Five Year Plan (June 1960), pp. 1-118, 397-414

Government of Pakistan, Planning Commission, Report of the Panel of Economists on the Second Five Year Plan (August 1959)

F. Shorter, “Foodgrains Policy in East Pakistan,” Public Policy IX, 1959

Ghana

Background:

D. Apter, The Gold Coast In Transition

Development Problems:

Government of Ghana, Second Development Plan (March 1959)

Government of Ghana, Economic Survey 1958

W. A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan,” Economic Bulletin, June-July 1959 (Mimeographed copies on reserve in Lamont and Littauer Libraries).

Western Nigeria

Background:

IBRD Mission, The Economic Development of Nigeria, 1955

Government of Western Nigeria, Development of the Western Region of Nigeria 1955-60

Government of Western Nigeria, Progress Report on the Development of the Western Region of Nigeria, 1959

Government of Nigeria, Economic Survey of Nigeria 1959

  1. Summary and Conclusions
    (May 3)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (2 of 2)”.

__________________

ECONOMICS 169
Final Examination
January 25, 1961

Answer five questions, one from each part of the examination. Observe the time allocation of each part: weight in grading will be apportioned in correspondence with this allocation.

Part I (30 minutes)

Answer ONE of the following questions:

  1. Compare and contrast the analysis of “the limits to the production of wealth” in the writings of two of the following authors: A. Smith, D. Ricardo, J. S. Mill.
  2. “The classical theory of economic policy was not simply a doctrinaire adherence to the prescription: ‘Laissez-faire’. It is better regarded as a series of individual and practical suggestions on how an underdeveloped country might best achieve economic growth.”
    Discuss the above quotation with reference to the recommendations for economic policy of either a leading classical economist, or the classical economists in general.
Part II (45 minutes)

Answer ONE of the following questions:

  1. Give a brief account of the views of two of the following authors on the subject of capital and its investment (and, where possible, on innovation), and compare their relevance to the conditions of present-day underdeveloped countries: Karl Marx, J. A. Schumpeter, J. M. Keynes, W. Fellner, E. Domar (or R. F. Harrod).
  2. “Both neoclassical and modern theories of the determination of national output are greatly dependent upon the institutional structure of the countries whose economic operations they were devised to explain. Both sets of theory, therefore, are very limited in their application to other institutional frameworks — particularly those of 20th century underdeveloped countries.”
    To what extent do you believe the above to be a valid criticism of attempts to apply either neoclassical or modern economic theory to underdeveloped countries? Is any attempt made to qualify such theory when it is so applied?
    (You may illustrate your answer by reference to the structure of a presently underdeveloped country.)
    Can you suggest any major respects in which neoclassical or modern theory might be amended when applied to such a context? Or is the criticism valid to the extent of making such attempts at amendment futile?
Part III (30 minutes)
  1. Give an account of the influence of one of the following components in the economic development of either the United Kingdom in the 18th and 19th centuries, or the United States in the 19th and early 20thcenturies:
    1. land use and ownership
    2. location of industry
    3. capital formation
    4. transport and communications
    5. staple industries
    6. foreign commerce.

Note: In dealing with either the U.K. or the U.S. experience, it is permissible to draw upon the experience of the other country for purposes of comparison or contrast.

Part IV (30 minutes)
  1. You are economic advisor to the Prime Minister of Pogoland, a recently independent country with 60 million inhabitants. It has little industry in the modern sense; an agriculture that produces enough rice for home consumption; a per capita income of $50; small exports of pepper use to finance its very limited import needs (luxury goods for the small wealthy class, and some capital goods largely for the transport system). The country has some raw materials for industry, but not much. It can increase agricultural production, and there is a good international market for some of its agricultural products.
    The Prime Minister, who is a highly intelligent and able man with a degree in Elizabethan poetry from Oxford, has been impressed by the rapid and successful development of Japan and Russia. He would like you to outline very briefly (he is both busy and intelligent) what major aspects of either the Japanese or the Russian experience he can apply in his country, and what aspects he cannot apply, and why or why not. He is notinterested in receiving direct recommendations for Pogoland as such, only in the major aspects of Japanese or Russian experience which could, or could not, be useful to him.
Part V (45 minutes)
Reading Period Assignment
  1. As announced in lecture before Reading Period, you are expected to give a critical appraisal of a recent contribution to the discussion of one of these issues in development theory:
    1. Population.
    2. Dual economies, or the problem of backwardness.
    3. Motivation, or’ other social/cultural factors.
    4. Balanced vs. unbalanced growth.
    5. The “big push” or “critical minimum effort.”
    6. Stages of economic growth, the concept of take-off.

Note: Pleaase indicate clearly at the beginning of your discussion the contribution (article, articles, etc) you have selected for appraisal.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,.., Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. January 1961. In the bound volume: Social Sciences, Final Examinations, January 1961.

Image Source: (Young) Gustav Papanek during a trip to Asia. From BBC “How we endured the McCarthy purges in US” (12 May 2019).

 

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and Exam for U.S. Economic History. Gay, 1906-1907

Edwin Francis Gay solo-taught the course on U.S. economic and financial history in 1906-07. He modified and expanded the course reading list from that used in the previous year by him and Taussig, but the structure of the course nonetheless appears to have been essentially unchanged.

__________________________

Previously…

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan. The Taussig/Gay reading list and final exam for 1905-06.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 6b 2hf. Professor [Edwin Francis] Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 112: 20 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 44 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 8 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

__________________________

Course Reading List
1906-07

[Library Stamp: “May 13, 1907”]

ECONOMICS: 6b

Required Reading is indicated by an asterisk (*)

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-29; printed also in Ashley’s Surveys, pp. 309-335.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp.36-51.

McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 1-102.

Eggleston, Transit of Civilization, pp. 273-307.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 5-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Lord, Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, pp. 56-86; 124-139.

1776-1860.
2. COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History of the United States, pp. 68-154

*Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-79, 103-107, (79-103).

Bolles, Industrial History of the United States, Book II, pp. 403-426.

Bishop, History of American Manufactures, Vol. II, pp. 256-505.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States (ed. 1835), pp. 368-412.

Gallatin, Free Trade Memorial, in Taussig’s State Papers, pp. 108-213.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 146-183.

Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer. Econ. Assoc. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

3. AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY. — WESTWARD MOVEMENT.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257; printed also in Q.J.E., Vol. I, pp. 169-183, 251-254.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 67-119.

*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, pp. 52-74.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assoc., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 1-29, 196-239, 332-356.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, IV. Nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

Sanborn, Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways, Bulletin of Univ. of Wisconsin Econ., Pol. Sci, and Hist. Series, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 269-354.

Hart, History as Told by Contemporaries, Vol. III, pp. 459-478.

4. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162; printed also separately, pp. 3-54.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. IV, Thos. C. Purdy’s Reports on History of Steam Navigation in the United States, pp. 1-62, and History of Operating Canals in the United States, pp. 1-32.

Chevalier, Society, Manners and Politics in the United States, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, pp. 41-54, 64-166.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I, pp. 724-921 (see especially maps, pp. 744, 762, 764, 820, 830).

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), pp. 531-581.

Chittenden, Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River, Vol. II, pp. 417-424.

5. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, pp. 75-117, 223-237, 252-262.

*Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, pp. 1-24, 68-119, 376 map, 402-403, 464-477.

*Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-93.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. I, pp. 15-37. 64-76.

Kinley. History of the Independent Treasury, pp. 16-39.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson (ed. 1886), pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Ross, Sinking Funds, pp. 21-85.

Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 33-196.

Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, pp. 1-43, 125-135.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, pp. 310-347.

6. POPULATION AND SLAVERY.

*Cairnes, The Slave Power (2d ed.), pp. 32-103, 140-178.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 34-66.

Russell, North America, its Agriculture and Climate, pp. 133-167.

De Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ed. 1838), pp. 336-361, or eds. 1841 and 1848, Vol. I, pp. 386-412.

Helper, Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South, pp. 7-61.

1860-1900.
7. FINANCE, BANKING AND CURRENCY.

*Mitchell, History of the Greenbacks, pp. 3-43, 403-420.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 1-72, 234-254 (73-233).

Taussig, Silver Situation in the United States, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-26; printed also in Dunbar’s Economic Essays, pp. 227-247.

Howe, Taxation and Taxes in the United States under the Internal Revenue System, pp. 136-262.

Tenth United States Census (1880), Vol. VII; Bayley, History of the National Loans, pp. 369-392, 444-486.

8. TRANSPORTATION.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 1-23, 125-145.

*Johnson, American Railway Transportation, pp. 24-68, 307-321, 367-385.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Adams, Chapters of Erie, pp. 1-99, 333-429.

Davis, The Union Pacific Railway, Annals of the Amer. Acad., Vol. VIII, pp. 259-303.

Villard, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 284-312.

Dixon, Interstate Commerce Act as Amended, Q.J.E., Vol. XXI, pp. 22-51.

9. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE WEST.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-167.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-187.

Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. V, pp. xvi-xlii.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, pp. 120-226.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CXX, pp. 394-424.

Bemis, Discontent of the Farmer, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. I, 193-213.

10. THE TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 156-229.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Robinson, History of Two Reciprocity Treaties, pp. 9-17, 40-77, 141-156.

Laughlin and Willis, Reciprocity, pp. 311-437.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION.

*Twelfth United States Census (1900), Vol. VII, pp. clxx-cxc (note especially the maps and comments on pp. clxx-clxxviii).

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, pp. 113-126.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 725-748.

Wells, Recent Economic Changes, pp. 70-113.

12. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Quart., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

Soley, Maritime Industries of the United States, in Shaler’s United States, Vol. I, pp. 518-618.

Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, pp. 150-171.

McVey, Shipping Subsidies, J. Pol. Ec., Vol. IX, pp. 24-46.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, pp. 1-94.

13. INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION.

*Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-107.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 188-209.

Twelfth Census, Vol. VII, pp. cxc-ccxiv.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIII, pp. v-xviii.

Bullock, Trust Literature, Q.J.E., Vol. XV, pp. 167-217.

14. THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, No. 18 (Sept. 1898), pp. 665-670; No. 30 (Sept. 1900), pp. 913-915; No. 53 (July, 1904), pp. 703-728.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 3-16, 502-547.

Levasseur. American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor, pp. 391-411.

Twelfth Census, Special Report on Employees and Wages, p. xcix.

National Civic Federation, Industrial Conciliation, pp. 40-48, 141-154, 238-243, 254-266.

15. POPULATION, IMMIGRATION
AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*United States Census Bulletin, No. 4 (1903), pp. 5-38.

*Industrial Commission, Vol. XV, pp. xix-Ivii.

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 68-112.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 38-78.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-451.

Hoffmann, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 250-309.

Tillinghast, The Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-228.

Twelfth Census Bulletin, No. 8.

United States Bureau of Labor Bulletins, Nos. 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Stone, A Plantation Experiment, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 270-287.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder: “Economics 1906-07”.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6b
Year-end Examination, 1906-07

  1. Describe briefly (not more than five minutes each) :—
    1. Independent Treasury.
    2. Greenbacks
    3. Mills Bill.
    4. Minimum system.
    5. Homestead system.
    6. Chief Canal systems.
  2. Outline succinctly :—
    1. The history and results of the tariff on wool and woolens.
    2. The experience of the United States with reciprocity.
  3. Comment on the following (from Grant’s message of 1870):
    “Building ships and navigating them utilizes vast capital at home; it creates a home market for the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American vessels, and gives us a supremacy of the seas of inestimable value in case of foreign war.”
  4. Compare in its more important features the economic history of the decade 1870-80 with that of the decade 1890-1900.
  5. [International labor migration]
    1. Describe the administration of the alien contract labor law.
    2. What are the present tendencies in the distribution of immigrants?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 29-30.

Image Source: Edwin F. Gay, seated in office, 1908. From Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Education Harvard Labor Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list for economics of education and technology. Bowles, 1967-68

The following reading list comes from a Harvard course on the economics of education and technology offered by assistant professor Samuel S. Bowles in the spring semester of the 1967-68 academic year. Bowles was 28 years young then. Here is a link to his Santa Fe Institute webpage.

Only the pages of the syllabus with the reading lists were submitted to the Harvard library for the purpose of putting books on reserve. Not included were the couple of paragraphs of motivation/description for each of the seven sections of the course. I had to insert approximate titles for sections IV and VII and have put those words between square brackets.

__________________________

Most likely spot to find more course content

Samuel Bowles, Planning Educational Systems for Economic Growth. Harvard University Press, 1969.

[When you get an account with archive.org, it is like having an old fashioned library card and you will have access to this book for an hour at a time when it is not being borrowed by another user.]

__________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 151 (formerly Economics 177). Economics of Education and Technology (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Education)
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 9. Assistant Professor S. S. Bowles

Attention will be given to the economics of the education process, the theory and implications of innovation, the effects of education and technological change on the distribution of income and the role of education and technological change in economic growth. Relevant case studies and current policy issues related to the United States and underdeveloped countries will be considered.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, Harvard and Radcliffe, 1967-68, p. 124.

__________________________

Reading list
Ec. 151
Sam Bowles

I. THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME — RECENT U.S. EXPERIENCE

A. Batchelder, “Decline in the Relative Income of Negro Men,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1964, pp. 525-48.

*H. Miller, Rich Man, Poor Man, chapters 1, 2, 4-6, pp. 54-134.

I. Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” American Economic Review, 1959, pp. 917-947.

R. Lampman, The Share of Top Wealth-Holders in National Wealth, chapter 1, pp. 1-26; also Table 97, p. 209.

(Supplementary)

*G. Kolko, Wealth and Power in America.

H. Miller, Distribution of Income in the United States.

II. EDUCATION AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
  1. Education and Earnings

*H. Miller, Rich Man, Poor Man, Chapters 8 and 9, pp. 148-194.

  1. Education as Investment

I. Fisher, The Theory of Interest, Chapters 4, 7, 10, and 11, pp. 61-98, 159-177, and 231-287.

T. Ribich, Poverty and Education, Chapter I, pp. 1-17 and 23-32, mimeo.

G. Becker, Human Capital, Chapters 1-5; 7 and 8, pp. 1-123; 136-159.

  1. Equality of Educational Opportunity

J. Coleman, “Equal Schools or Equal Students,” in The Public Interest, Summer, 1966, pp. 70-75.

*P. Sexton, Education and Income, pp. 58-69.

(Supplementary)

*Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU), Youth in the Ghetto: A Study in the Consequences of Powerlessness, Chapter 7.

*J. Conant, Slums and Suburbs, Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

*P.  Sexton, “City Schools,” in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1964, reprinted in L. Ferman, et al., eds., Poverty in America.

  1. A Model of Education and the Distribution of Earnings

G. Becker, “Human Capital and the Personal Distribution of Income: An Analytical Approach,” mimeo, 59 pp.

  1. Education and the War on Poverty

B. Weisbrod, “Preventing High School Dropouts,” in R. Dorfman, (*) Measuring the Benefits of Government Investments, pp. 117-148.

J. K. Folger and C. B. Nam, Education of the American Population (U.S. Department of Commerce).

(Supplementary)

O. Lewis, “The Culture of Poverty,” Scientific American, October, 1966, pp. 19-25.

*Haryou, Youth in the Ghetto, Chapter 12.

C. A. Anderson, “A Skeptical Note on Education and Mobility,” in H. Halsey, J. Floud, C. Anderson, (*) Education Economy and Society.

III. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
  1. The Theory of Production and Distribution

M. Brown, On the Theory and Measurement of Technological Change, chapter 2, pp. 9-28.

*J. Meade, Efficiency, Equality and the Ownership of Property, Chapter 1, pp. 11-26.

J. Hicks, Theory of Wages, Chapter VI, pp. 112-135.

  1. Commentaries, Past and Present

A. Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter 1.

D. Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Chapter 31, “On Machinery.”

K. Marx, Capital, Volume I, Chapter XV, sections 3, 5 and 6, pp. 430-456; 466-488. (Pages refer to Modern Library edition.)

P. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chapter 5, pp. 75-95.

R. Solow, “Technology and Unemployment,” The Public Interest, Fall, 1965, pp. 17-26.

(Supplementary)

R. Eckaus, “The Factor Proportions Problem in Underdeveloped Areas.” American Economic Review, September, 1955, reprinted in A. Agarwala and S. P. Singh; (*) The Economics of Underdevelopment, pp. 348-78.

  1. Making the Most Out of Technological Change

*J. Meade, Efficiency, Equality and the Ownership of Property, Chapters 2-7, pp. 27-77.

*National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress, Technology and the American Economy, Vol. 1, chapters 1-4, pp. 1-58.

IV. [ECONOMIC GROWTH: MEASUREMENT, THEORY, PRODUCTIVITY]
  1. The Measurement and Characteristics of Economic Growth

S. Kuznets, Postwar Economic Growth, Lecture II, “Characteristics of Modern Economic Growth,” pp. 36-68.

*C. Cipolla, The Economic History of World Population, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 15-58.

*E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the United States, Chapters 1, 2, and 3, pp. 3-22.

(Supplementary)

M. Abramovitz, “The Welfare Interpretation of Secular Trends in National Income and Product,” Abramovitz, et al. (*) The Allocation of Economic Resources, pp. 1-22.

*S. Kuznets, Modern Economic Growth.

*O. Morgenstern, On the Accuracy of Economic Observations, Chapters 1 and 2.

  1. Theories of Economic Growth

G. Winston, “The Power Growth Model,” mimeo, 18 pp.

*J. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development, Chapters 1 to 4, pp. 3-156.

*J. Meade, A Neoclassical Theory of Economic Growth, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-18.

  1. The Advance of Productivity in the U.S. Economy

J. Kendrick, Productivity Trends in the United States, pp. 3-12, 59-77.

(Supplementary)

M. Abramovitz, “Resource and Output Trends in the U.S. Since 1870,” American Economic Review, 1956.

R. Solow, “Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1957.

V. EDUCATION AND GROWTH

T. Schultz, The Economic Value of Education, pp. 1-70.

S. Strumilin, “The Economic Significance of National Education,” in J. Vaizey and E. A. G. Robinson, The Economics of Education, pp. 276-323.

B. Weisbrod, “Education and Investment in Human Capital,” Journal of Political Economy Supplement, October, 1962, pp. 106-123.

W. Bowen, Economic Aspects of Education, Essay I, “Assessing the Economic Contribution of Education,” pp. 3-38.

*E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the U.S. and the Alternatives Before Us, pp. 23-46; 66-80; 84-87.

T. Schultz, “Investing in Farm People,” in T. Schultz, (*) Transforming Traditional Agriculture, pp. 175-206.

(Supplementary)

T. Schultz, “Investment in Human Capital,” American Economic Review, December, 1961.

W. Bowman, “The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 39, No. 2, Spring, 1966, pp. 112-137.

*B. Weisbrod, The External Benefits of Public Education.

A. Harberger, “Investment in Men vs. Investment in Machines: The Case of India,” in M. Bowman and C. A. Anderson, Education and Economic Development, pp. 11-33.

Carl Shoup, et al., The Fiscal System of Venezuela, pp. 406-409.

M. Bowman and C. Anderson, “Concerning the Role of Education in Development,” in C. Geertz, Old Societies and New States, pp. 247-279.

S. Bowles, “Sources of Growth in the Greek Economy,” mimeo.

VI. TECHNOLOGY AND GROWTH
  1. The Production of New Technologies

J. Enos, “Invention and Innovation in the Petroleum Industry,” in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, pp. 299-322.

H. Dickenson, “The Steam-Engine to 1830,” in Charles Singer et al. A History of Technology, Volume IV, pp. 168-198.

(Supplementary)

Articles by Peck, Mueller and Nelson, in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity.

R. Nelson, “The Economics of Invention: A Survey of the Literature,” in Journal of Business, April, 1959, pp. 101-127.

J. Schmookler, Invention and Economic Growth, Chapters 6 and 7.

  1. The Spread of New Technologies

W. E. G. Salter, Productivity and Technical Change, Chapters 4, 5, 6 and appendix to Chapter 7, pp. 48-82, 95-99.

Z. Griliches, “Hybrid Corn and the Economics of Innovation,” Science, July 29, 1960, Vol. 132, pp. 275-280.

(Supplementary)

J. Habakkuk, American and British Technology.

  1. Technology and Growth

E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the United States, pp. 154-255.

Z. Griliches, “Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn and Related Innovations,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1958, pp. 419-431.

  1. Efficiency of Resource Allocation in Research and Development

R. Nelson, “The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research,” in Journal of Political Economy, June, 1959, pp. 297-306.

(Supplementary)

K. Arrow, “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention,” in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, pp. 609-625.

VII. [ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION]
  1. The Concept of Efficiency in Education

H. Johnson, “Economics and Education,” in School Review, Autumn, 1957, pp. 260-269.

(Supplementary)

Project Talent, Studies of the American High School, Cooperative Research Project 226, U.S. Office of Education. Chapters 6, 9, and 10.

J. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office of Education.

  1. The Market for Educated Labor

H. Leibenstein, “Shortages and Surpluses in Education in Underdeveloped Countries,” in M. J. Bowman and C A. Anderson, Education and Economic Development, pp. 51-62.

K. Arrow and W. Capron, “Dynamic Shortages and Price Rises, The Engineer-Scientist Case,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1959, pp. 292-308.

  1. Market Solutions to the Problem of Efficient Resource Allocation in Education

M. Friedman, “The Role of Government in Education,” in R. Solo, Economics and the Public Interest, pp. 123-144.

A. Daniere, Higher Education in the American Economy, chapters 2 and 4-5 pp. 13-19, 33-55.

(Supplementary)

C. Jencks, “Is the Public School Obsolete?” in The Public Interest.

  1. Educational Planning

M. Blaug, “Conflicting Approaches to Educational Planning,” mimeo, 34 pp.

H. Johnson, “The Economics of the Brain Drain,” Minerva, 1965.

A. Daniere, “Rate of Return and Manpower Approach in Educational Planning” in Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration, Public Policy, 1965, pp. 162-200.

(Supplementary)

F. Harbison and C. Myers, Education, Manpower and Economic Growth.

J. Tinbergen, et al., Econometric Models of Education, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 1965; An Experiment in Planning by Six Countries, 1966.

H. Parnés, Forecasting Education Needs for Economic and Social Development, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 1962.

R. Hollister, A Technical Evaluation of the First Stage of the Mediterranean Regional Project, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1966.

R. Eckaus, “Economic Criteria for Education and Training,” Review of Economics and Statistics, (May, 1964), pp. 181-190.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1967-1968, Box 9. Folder “Economics, 1967-68”.

Image Source: The Boston Globe (December 5, 1969), p. 15.

Categories
Econometrics Harvard Statistics Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus and partial reading list for graduate time-series econometrics. Sims, 1968-1969

 

Future economics Nobel laureate (2011) Christopher A. Sims was a 26 year old assistant professor at Harvard tasked in the fall term of 1968 to teach a graduate level introduction to time-series econometrics. He had been awarded a Harvard economics Ph.D. earlier that year. His dissertation supervisor was Hendrik Houthakker.

A copy of Sims’ initial list of reading assignments and topics can be found in the papers of Zvi Griliches in the Harvard Archives. Sims does appear to have offered a rather heavy dose of time-series econometrics for that time. Perhaps it was too much of a good thing, at least too much to swallow for most of the department’s graduate students. In any event Econometric Methods I was transferred to / taken over by Zvi Griliches in the following years when the topic of time series was reduced to an amuse-bouche of serial correlation.

In the previous year the course had been taught by Marc Nerlove (Yale University) with the following brief description provided in the course catalogue:  “An introduction to the construction and testing of econometric models with special emphasis on the analysis of economic time series.” 

_______________________

Course Announcement
Fall Term, 1968

Economics 224a. Econometric Methods

Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., S., at 9. Assistant Professor C. A. Sims

The theory of stochastic processes with applications to the construction and testing of dynamic economic models. Analysis in the time domain and in the frequency domain, in discrete time and in continuous time.

Prerequisite: Economics 221b [Multiple regression and the analysis of variance with economic applications] or equivalent preparation in statistics.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, 1968-69, p. 133.

_______________________

Fall 1968
Economics 224a
Asst. Prof. C. Sims

Course Description

            The accompanying Course Outline gives a detailed description of topics 0 through III which will (hopefully) occupy the first third of the semester. These topics include most of the mathematical tools which will be given econometric application in the later sections. The list of topics in the outline, even under the main headings 0 through III, is not exhaustive; and the topics listed are not all of equivalent importance.

            Many of the references listed overlap substantially. In the first, theoretical, section of the course (except for Section 0) the references are chosen to duplicate as nearly as possible what will be covered in lectures. They should provide alternative explanations when you find the lectures obscure or, in some cases, provide more elegant and rigorous discussion when you find the lectures too pedestrian.

            The primary emphasis of this course will be on the stationarity, or linear process, approach to dynamic models. The Markov process, control theory, or state space approach which is currently prominent in the engineering literature will be discussed briefly under topics V and VII.

            The latter parts of the course will apply the theory developed in the first parts to formulating and testing dynamic economic models or hypotheses. Some background in economics is therefore essential to participation in the course. The mathematical prerequisites are a solid grasp of calculus, a course in statistics, and an ability to absorb new mathematical notions fairly quickly.

            The course text is Spectral Methods in Econometrics by Gilbert Fishman. Spectral Analysis by Gwilyn M. Jenkins and Donald G. Watts is more complete in some respects, but it is less thorough in its treatment of some points important in econometrics and it costs three times what Fishman costs. A list of other texts which may be referred to in the accompanying course outline or in future outlines and reading assignments follows. Some of these texts are at a higher mathematical level than is required for this course or cover topics we will not cover in detail. Those texts which should be on library reserve are marked with a “*”, and those which are priced below the usual high prices for technical texts are marked with a “$”.

List of Text References

* Ahlfors, Lars, Complex Analysis, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1953.

Acki, Max., Optimization of Stochastic Systems, Academic Press, 1967.

* Deutsch, Ralph, Estimation Theory, Prentice Hall, 1965.

* Fellner, et.al., Ten Economic Studies in the Tradition of Irving Fisher, Wiley, 1967.

* Freeman, H., Introduction to Statistical Inference, Addison-Wesley, 1963.

Granger, C.W.J., and M. Hatanaka, Spectral Analysis of Economic Time Series, Princeton University Press, 1964.

Grenander, U., and M. Rosenblatt, Statistical Analysis of Stationary Time Series, Wiley, 1957.

Grenander, U., and G. Szego, Toeplitz Forms and Their Applications, University of California Press, 1958.

*$ Hannan, E.J., Time Series Analysis, Methuen, London, 1960.

$ Lighthill, Introduction to Fourier Analysis and Generalized Functions, Cambridge University Press.

Rozanov, Yu. A., Stationary Random Processes, Holden-Day, 1967.

*$ Whittle, P., Prediction and Regulation by Linear Least-Square Methods, English Universities Press, 1963.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Preliminary Course Outline
Fall 1968

Economics 224a
Asst. Prof. C. Sims

0. Elementary Preliminaries.

Complex numbers and analytic functions, definitions and elementary facts. Manipulation of multi-dimensional probability distributions.

The material in this section will not be covered in lectures. A set of exercises aimed at testing your facility in these areas (for your information and mine) will be handed out at the first meeting.

References: Ahlfors, I.1, I.2.1-2.4, II.1; Jenkins and Watts, Chapters 3 and 4 or the sections on probability in a mathematical statistics text, e.g. Freeman, part I.

I. Stochastic Processes: Fundamental definitions and properties.
  1. Definitions:

stochastic process;
normal (stochastic) process;
stationary process;
linear process; — autoregressive and moving average processes;
covariance stationary process.
autocovariance and autocorrelation functions
stochastic convergence — in probability, almost sure, and in the (quadratic) mean or mean square;
ergodic process — n’th order ergodicity, sufficient conditions for first and second order ergodicity.
process with stationary n’th difference
Markov process

  1. Extensions to multivariate case.

References: Fishman, 2.1-2.5; Jenkins and Watts, 5.1-5.2.

II. Background from Mathematical Analysis
  1. Function spaces.
  2. Linear operator on function spaces; their interpretation as limits of sequences of ordinary weighted averages.
  3. Convolution of functions with functions, of operators with functions; discrete versus continuous time.
  4. Measure functions; Lebesgue-Stieltjes measures on the real line.
  5. Integration; the Lebesgue integral, the Cauchy-Riemann integral, and the Cauchy principal value; inverting the order of integration.
  6. Fourier transforms; of functions; of operators; continuous, discrete, and finite-discrete time parameters; the inverse transform and Parseval’s theorem.
  7. Applications to some simple deterministic models.

References: Jenkins and Watts, Chapter 2. For more rigor, see Lighthill. No reference I know of covers topics 4 and 5 in as brief and heuristic a way as we shall.

III. The spectral representation of covariance-stationary processes and its theoretical applications.
  1. Random measures; the random spectral measure of a covariance stationary process; characteristics of the random spectral measure in the normal and non-normal cases.
  2. The spectral density; relation to autocovariance function; positive definiteness.
  3. Wold’s decomposition; regular, mixed, and linearly deterministic processes; discrete and continuous component in the spectral measure; example of non-linearly deterministic process; the criterion for regularity with continuous spectral density.
  4. The moving average representation; criteria for existence of autoregressive representation.
  5. Optimal least squares forecasting and filtering.
  6. Generalized random processes.
  7. The multivariate case; cross spectra.
  8. Applications to econometric models.

References: Fishman, 2.6-2.30; Jenkins and Watts, 6.2 and 8.3: For a much more abstract approach, see Rozanov, chapters I – III.

IV. Statistical analysis using spectral and cross-spectral techniques.

V. Regression in time series.

VI. Seasonality.

VII. Estimation in distributed lag models.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 123. Folder “Econometric Methods 1968-1982.”

Image Source: Christopher A. Sims ’63 in Harvard Class Album 1963. From the Harvard Crimson article “Harvard and the Atomic Bomb,” by Matt B. Hoisch and Luke W. Xu (March 22, 2018). Sims was a member of the Harvard/Radcliffe group “Tocsin” that advocated nuclear disarmament.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Chicago Suggested Reading Syllabus

Chicago. Assigned Readings for Price and Income Instability. T. W. Schultz, 1956

Beginning in 1957 Zvi Griliches took over the course at Chicago on Price and Income Instability with special reference to agriculture. The course was previously taught by T. W. Schultz. In his files for the course Griliches kept a copy of the course outline and readings for the Spring 1956 quarter taught by his predecessor.

There were 86 numbered items on Schultz’s reading list that he referenced by the item number with chapter/page selections for some of the items. You will have to jump down from the course outline to the list of course readings and back, which I find a very peculiar way to present a course outline, but it didn’t keep him from getting a Nobel prize in economics in 1979.

_________________________

T. W. Schultz
University of Chicago

Economics 355 B
Price and Income Instability

(as problems in economic organization with special reference to agriculture)

Economics 355 B will cover the following classes of problems:

      1. general characteristics of policies and programs which are related to agriculture.
      2. analysis of the price and income instability that confronts agriculture.
      3. alternative measures for reducing or accommodating price and income instability.
      4. some research proposals directed to this set of problems.
  1. General characteristics of policies and programs for agriculture by types of countries and during different periods.

(to be developed in class)

  1. Analysis of price and income instability that confronts agriculture.

38, chs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 10;
55, chs, 11 and 20.

    1. Instability of the economy as a whole.

19;
5;
23;
50;
67;
44.

    1. Particular instabilities of farm product prices during the stock period.

45: pp. 14-15, 65-66, 76-77;
31, Ch. 2;
10: pp. 42-44;
51.

      1. Producer supply schedule for stock period.

(1) Farm household activities.

55, ch. 14;
49, ch. 6.

(2) Farm-firm activities.

55, ch. 14;
68, ch. 2.

      1. Demand schedule confronting producers restricted to stock period.

55, ch. 11;
68, ch. 2.

      1. Spot and forward markets.

38, ch. 10;
27;
42;
43;
32;
37;
28;
29;
6;
14;
54;
58;
69;
70.

    1. Particular instabilities of farm product prices for time intervals longer than stock period (up to and including two production periods).
      1. Planned and unplanned variations in production (supply).

55, chs. 11, 12, 13;
40;
68, ch. 2.4;
12;
11;
1;
2b;
65;
13;
16;
61;
66.

      1. Shifts in demand schedule during relatively short periods.

55, ch. 11;
12;
68, ch. 2;
71;
8;
9;
17;
18;
22;
46;
56;
57;
59;
62;
63;
64.

  1. Measures for reducing or accommodating farm product prices and income instability.

7;
44;
67;
26, pp. 247-252.

    1. Particular abrupt and large shifts in the demand schedule.

55, pp. 344-346.

    1. Large year to year changes in production.

55, ch. 19;
38, ch. 13;
2b;
3;
4;
15;
24;
25;
30;
34;
35;
36;
41;
48;
52;
53;
60.

    1. Increasing the price elasticity of the relevant schedules.

55, pp. 349-358.

    1. By way of accommodation.

55, pp. 358-366.

      1. Farms with more capacity to cope with price and income instability.
      2. Possibilities by storage.
      3. Safeguarding income during depressions.
  1. Some research proposals

(to be based on III and the research interest of the student)

_________________________

T. W. Schultz
Spring, 1956

Economics 355 B
List of Readings

  1. Barber, Lloyd, “Variability of Wheat Yields by Counties in the United States,” BAE (September, 1951).
  2. (a) Barber, E. Lloyd, “Summerfallowing to Meet Weather Risks in Wheat Farming,” Agricultural Economics Research, III (October, 1951).
  1. (b) Barton, Glen T. and Cooper, Martin R., “Relation of Agricultural Production to Inputs,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX (May, 1948).
  2. Barber, E. Lloyd and Thair, Philip J., “Institutional Methods of Meeting Weather Uncertainty in the Great Plains,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXII (August, 1950).
  3. Barber, E. Lloyd, Meeting Weather Risks in Kansas Wheat Farming, Kansas Agr. Ext. Sta. and BAE Agr. Report 44 (September, 1950).
  4. Bennett, M. K. and Associates, International Commodity Stockpiling as an Economic Stabilizer (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1949).
  5. Blau, G., “Some Aspects of the Theory of Futures Trading,” The Review of Economic Studies, XI (1943-44).
  6. Brownlee, O. H. and Johnson, D. Gale, “Reducing Price Variability Confronting Primary Producers,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXII (May, 1950).
  7. Burk, Marguerite, “Recent Relationships between Income and Food Expenditure,” Agricultural Economics Research, BAE, III (July, 1951).
  8. ___________, “Changes in the Demand for Food from 1941 to 1950,” Journal of Farm Economics,” XXXIII (August, 1951).
  9. Clark, Colin, Conditions of Economic Progress, 2nd ed, (London: Macmillan, 1951).
  10. Cochrane, Willard W., An Analysis of Farm Price Behavior, Progress Report Agricultural Experinent Station, Pennsylvania State College (May, 1951)
  11. ___________, “Farm Price Gyrations — An Aggregative Hypothesis,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXIX (May, 1947).
  12. Day, Emily L. and Barber, Lloyd, Physical Risks in Farm Production, Selected References, 1930-1948. USDA Library, List 49 (August, 1949).
  13. Dow, J. C. R., “A Theoretical Account of Futures Markets,” The Review of Economic Studies, VII (1939-40).
  14. Ellickson, John C., “Hail Insurance on Growing Crops in the United States,” Agricultural Finance Review, BAE, XIII (November, 1950).
  15. Foote, Richard J. and Bean, Louis H., “Are Yearly Variations in CropYield Random?” BAE, Agricultural Economics Research, III (January, 1951).
  16. Fox, Karl A., “Factors Affecting Farm Income, Farm Prices and FoodConsumption,” Agricultural Economics Research, III (July, 1951).
  17. ___________ and Norcross, Harry C., “Agriculture and the General Economy,” Agricultural Economics Research, IV (January, 1952).
  18. Friedman, Milton, “Commodity-Reserve Currency,” Journal of Political Economy. LIX (June, 1951).
  19. Galbraith, John K., American Capitalism—The Concept of Countervailing Power (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1952).
  20. Galbraith, John K., “Economic Preconceptions and Farm Policy,” American Economic Review, XLIV (March, 1954).
  21. Girschick, M. A. and Haavelmo, T., “Statistical Analysis of the Demand forFood,” Econometrica, XV (April, 1947).
  22. Graham, Benjamin, Storage and Stability (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1937).
  23. Halcrow, Harold G., “Actuarial Structure of Crop Insurance,”Journal of Farm Economics, XXXI (August, 1949).
  24. ___________, The Theory of Crop Insurance, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Chicago, 1948.
  25. Haley, Bernard F. (ed.), A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. I (Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1952).
  26. Hardy, C. O., “Recent Developments in the Theory of Speculation,” American Economic Review, XXVII (1937).
  27. ___________ and Lyon, L. S., “The Theory of Hedging,” Journal of Political Economy, XXXI (1923).
  28. Hawtrey, R. G., “Mr. Kaldor on the Forward Market,” The Review of Economic Studies, VIII (1940-41).
  29. Heisig, Carl P., “Income Instabillty in High Risk Farming Areas,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXVIII (1946).
  30. Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939).
  31. Hicks, J. R., “Theory of Uncertainty and Profit,” Economica, VI (1939).
  32. Hoos, Sidney,“Relations between Agricultural Price Policy and MarketingResearch,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXIII (August, 1951).
  33. Horton, Donald C., “Adaptation of the Farm Capital Structure to Uncertainty,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXI (February, 1949).
  34. ___________, The Pattern of Farm Financial Structure, National Bureau of Economic Research, a preliminary draft (May, 1951).
  35. ___________ and Barber, E. Lloyd, “The Problem of Farm Business Survival in Areas of Highly Variable Rainfall,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXI, Proceedings (November, 1942).
  36. Houthakker, H. S., “A Proposed Inquiry into Some Markets with Forward Trading,” Cowles Commission Discussion Paper Economics 2036 and Agricultural Economics Research Paper No. 5211, March 21, 1952. Mimeo.
  37. Johnson, D. Gale, Forward Prices for Agriculture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1947).
  38. ___________, Trade and Agriculture: A Study of Inconsistent Policies (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1950).
  39. ___________, “The Nature of the Supply Function for American Agriculture,” American Economic Review, XL (September, 1950).
  40. Jones, Lloyd E.,“Stabilizing Farming by Shifting Wheat Land to Grass in Northern Great Plains,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXII (August, 1950).
  41. Kaldor, N., “A Note on the Theory of the Forward Market,”The Review of Economic Studies, VII (1939-40).
  42. ___________, “Speculation and Economic Stability,” The Review of Economic Studies, VII (1939-40).
  43. Keynes, J. M., “The Policy of Government Storage of Food-Stuffs and Raw Materials,” Economic Journal, XLVIII (September, 1938).
  44. Knight, Frank H., The Economic Organization (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1951).
  45. Mack, Ruth P., “The Direction of Change in Income and the Consumption Function,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXX (1948).
  46. Mehrens, George L., “Comparative Costs of Agricultural Price Supportsin 1949,” Proceedings, American Economic Review, XLI (May, 1951).
  47. Nebraska Agr. Exp. Sta., Toward Stability in the Great Plains Economy, Proceedings of a conference held at Custer, South Dakota in 1949. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 399 (July, 1950).
  48. Reid, M. G., Food for People (New York: Wiley, 1943).
  49. Reifler, Winfield, “A Proposal for an International Buffer-Stock Agency,” Journal of Political Economy, LIV (December, 1946).
  50. Robbins, Lionel,“Elasticity of Demand for Income in Terms of Effort,” Economica (1930).
  51. Schickele, Rainer, “Farm Business Survival under Extreme Weather Risk,”Journal of Farm Economics, XXXI (November, 1949),
  52. ___________, “Farmers Adaptation to Income Uncertainty,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXII (August, 1950).
  53. Schultz, T. W., Production and Welfare of Agriculture (New York: Macmillan, 1949).
  54. ___________, The Economic Organization of Agriculture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953).
  55. Schultz, Henry, The Theory and Measurement of Demand (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938).
  56. ___________, “The Shifting Demand for Selected Agricultural Commodities, 1875-1929,” Journal of Farm Economics, XIV (April, 1932).
  57. Stewart, Blair, An Analysis of Speculative Trading in Grain Futures, USDA Commodity Exchange Authority, Bul. No. 1001. October, 1942.
  58. Stone, J. R. K., “Analysis of Market Demand,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, CVIII (1945).
  59. Thair, Philip J., Stabilizing Farm Income against Crop Yield Fluctuations, Agr. Exp. Sta. North Dakota and BAE Bul. 362, September, 1950).
  60. Timoshenko, P., “Variability in Wheat Yields and Outputs, Part I. Cycles or Random Fluctuations,” Wheat Studies of the Food Research Institute, XVIII (Stanford, California, 1942).
  61. Tintner, Gerhard,“Multiple Regression for System of Equations,” Econometrics, XIV (January, 1946).
  62. Tobin, James,“A Statistical Demand Function for Food in the U.S.A.,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, CXIII (1950), Part II.
  63. U.S.D.A., BAE, Consumption of Food in the United States, 1909-48, Misc. Pub. 691 (August, 1949).
  64. U.S.D.A., BAE, Farm Production Practices, Costs and Returns, Stat. Bul. 83 (October, 1949).
  65. U.S.D.A., Fluctuations in Crops and Weather, 1866-1948, Stat. Bul. 101 (June, 1951).
  66. Viner, Jacob, “International Finance in the Post-War World,”Lloyds Bank Review (October, 1946).
  67. Waugh, Frederick V., Readings in Agricultural Marketing (Ames: Iowa State College Press, 1954).
  68. Williams, J. B., “Speculation and the Carryover,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, LI (1936).
  69. Working, H. “Theory of the Inverse Carrying Charge in Futures Markets,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXX (1948).
  70. Working, E. J., “Appraising the Demand for American Agricultural Output during Rearmament,” Journal of Farm Economics XXXIV, May, 1952.
Supplementary List #1
  1. Bauer, P. T., West African Trade (Cambridge: The University Press, 1954), esp. Parts 3, 5, and 6.
  2. ___________ and Paish, F. , “The Reduction of Fluctuations in the Incomes of Primary Producers,” Economic Journal, LXII (December, 1952).
  3. ___________, “The Reduction of Fluctuations in the Incomes of Primary Producers Further Considered,” Economic Journal, LXIV, (December, 1954).
  4. Friedman, Milton, “The Reduction of Fluctuations in the Incomes of Primary Producers: A Critical Comment, Economic Journal, LXIV (December 1954).
  5. Gustafson, Robert L.,Optimal Carryover Rules for Grains, The University of Chicago RMA Study (January 31, 1954). Agricultural Economics Research Paper).
  6. Heady, Earl O., Kehrberg, Earl W., and Jebe, Emil B., Economic Instability and Choices Involving Income and Risk in Primary or Crop Production, Res. Bul. 404 (January, 1954) Agric. Exp. Iowa State College.
  7. Heady, Earl, “Diversification in Resource Allocation and Minimization of Income Variability,” Journal of Farm Economics XXXIV (November, 1952).
  8. Johnson, D. Gale, “Competition in Agriculture: Fact or Fiction?”American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings XLIV (May, 1954).
  9. Kaldor, Donald R. and Heady, Earl O., An Exploratory Study of Expectations, Uncertainty and Farm Plans in Southern Iowa Agriculture, Res. Bul. 408 April, 1954) Agric. Exp. Sta. Iowa State College.
  10. Kaplan, Marshall.On Estimating Demand Parameters With Special Reference to Food, AgriculturalEconomics Research Paper No. 5415. September 24, 1954.
  11. Lee, Ivan M., “Temperature Insurance — An Alternative to Frost Insurancein Citrus,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXV (February, 1953).
  12. Nordin, J. A., Judge, George G., and Wohby, Omar, Application of Econometric Procedures to Demands for Agricultural Products, Res. Bul 410 (July, 1954) Agri. Exp. Sta. Iowa State College.
  13. Tolley, George, “Minimizing Grain Storage Costs,” Journal of Farm Economics, XXXV (November, 1953).
  14. Foreign Agricultural Service. Agricultural Market and Price Policies in Foreign Countries. Report No. 74 (September, 1953).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 130, Folder “Syllabus and exams, 1955-1959”.

Image Source:  T. W. Schultz, University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-07484, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list and final exam for U.S. economic and financial history. Taussig and Gay, 1905-1906

Assistant Professor Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague taught the Harvard course “Economic History of the United States”/ “Economic and Financial History of the United States” in 1901-02 (with James Horace Patten), 1902-03, 1903-04, and 1904-05. The course was taken over in 1905-06 by Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay after Sprague left for a full professorship at the Imperial University of Japan.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 6 2hf. Professor Taussig and Asst. Professor Gay. — Economic and Financial History of the United States.

Total 79: 14 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 37 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 72.

__________________________

READING FOR ECONOMICS 6
(1905-6)

Prescribed reading is indicated by an asterisk (*).

1. COLONIAL PERIOD.

*Ashley, Commercial Legislation of England and the American Colonies, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 1-30; printed also in Surveys, pp. 309-335.

Schmoller, Mercantile System, pp. 57-80.

Beer, Commercial Policy of England, pp. 1-158.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 3-91.

Eggleston, Agriculture and Commerce in the Colonies, The Century Magazine, Jan. and June, 1884, Vol. V, pp. 431-449; Vol. VI, pp. 234-256.

2. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES, 1776-1815.

*Hill, First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States, Amer Econ. Assn. Pub., Vol. VIII, pp. 107-132.

Pitkin, Statistical View of the United States, ed. 1835, ch. ix, pp. 368-412.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, pp. 287-324, 95-145.

Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, in Taussig’s State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 1-108.

3. REVOLUTIONARY AND NATIONAL FINANCE – WESTWARD MOVEMENT, 1776-1815.

*Dewey, Financial History of the United States, chs. ii-vi, pp. 33-141.

Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the United States, pp. 60-78.

Hamilton, Reports on Public Credit, Amer. State Papers, Finance, Vol. 1, pp. 15-37, 64-67.

Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History, in Report of Amer. Hist. Assn., 1893, pp. 199-227.

Semple, American History and its Geographical Conditions, chs. iv, v, pp. 52-92.

4. FINANCE AND BANKING, 1815-1860.

*Dewey, Financial History, pp. 223-237, 252-262.

Sumner, Andrew Jackson, ed. 1886, pp. 224-249, 257-276, 291-342.

Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States, chs. xvi-vviii, pp. 376-403, 430-452.

Conant, History of Modern Banks of Issue, ch. xiv, pp. 310-347.

White, Money and Banking, chs. ix-xii, pp. 324-361.

5. TARIFFS AND MANUFACTURES, 1815-1860.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 1-154.

Taussig, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff, pp. 108-385.

Rabbeno, American Commercial Policy, 146-199, 325-383.

6. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 1815-1860.

*Callender, Early Transportation and Banking Enterprises, Q.J.E., Vol. XVII, pp. 111-162.

Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, chs. vii, xx, xxi, pp. 80-87, 209-276.

Pitkin, Statistical View (1835), Vol. XII, pp. 531-581.

Gallatin, Plan of Internal Improvements, Amer. State Papers, Misc., Vol. I.

Tanner, Railways and Canals of the United States. See, especially, the map.

7. LAND POLICY AND AGRICULTURE, 1815-1860.

*Hart, Practical Essays on American Government, pp. 233-257.

*Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. iii, pp. 67-119.

Donaldson, Public Domain.

Sato, History of the Land Question in the United States, Johns Hopkins University Studies, 4th series, nos. 7-9, pp. 127-181.

8. POPULATION AND SLAVERY, 1815-1860.

*Cairnes, Slave Power, chs. ii, iii, v, pp. 34-93, 120-150.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, ch. ii, pp. 34-60.

Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, ch. ix, pp. 150-177.

9. FINANCE, BANKING, AND CURRENCY PROBLEMS, 1860-1900.

*Dewey, Financial History, chs. xii, xiii, xx, pp. 271-330, 463-473.

*Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, chs. i, ii, iii, x, pp. 1-72, 234-254.

Taussig, Silver Situation, pp. 1-157.

Dunbar, National Banking System, Q.J.E., Vol. XII, pp. 1-36.

10. TRANSPORTATION; TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 155-230.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 466-481.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, chs. ii, ii, v, pp. 13-38, 52-68.

Taussig, Contribution to the Theory of Railway Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. V, pp. 438-465.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, pp. 24-56.

11. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION AND TARIFF.

*Taussig, Tariff History, pp. 230-409.

Stanwood, American Tariff Controversies, Vol. II, pp. 243-394.

Taussig, Iron Industry, Q.J.E., Vol. XIV, pp. 143-170, 475-508.

Industrial Commission, Vol. XIX, pp. 485-519, 544-569.

Twelfth United States Census, Vol. IX, pp. 1-16; Vol. X, pp. 723-743.

Taussig, Wool and Woolens, Q.J.E., Vol. VIII, pp. 1-39.

Wright, Wool-growing and the Tariff since 1890, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 610-647.

Willoughby, Integration of Industry in the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XVI, pp. 94-115.

12. AGRICULTURE AND OPENING OF THE FAR WEST.

*Industrial Commission, XIX, pp. 43-123, 134-168.

Hammond, Cotton Industry, Book I, chs. iv-vii, ix, pp. 120-228, 324-356.

Adams, The Granger Movement, North American Review, Vol. CLXXV, pp. 394-424.

13. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

*Meeker, Shipping Subsidies, Pol. Sci. Qr., Vol. XX, pp. 594-611.

*Noyes, Recent Economic History of the United States, Q.J.E., Vol. XIX, pp. 167-209.

Wells, Our Merchant Marine, chs. i-v, pp. 1-94.

14. WAGES AND THE LABOR PROBLEM.

*Levasseur, American Workman, pp. 436-509.

Mitchell, Organized Labor.

Industrial Conciliation, National Civic Federation.

Wright, Industrial History of the United States, Part III, pp. 231-322.

15. IMMIGRATION AND THE RACE QUESTION.

*Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, chs. iii, iv, pp. 33-78.

Tillinghast, Negro in Africa and America, pp. 102-227.

Hoffman, Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, pp. 141-148, 170-176, 310-329.

Washington, Future of the American Negro, pp. 3-244.

Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration, pp. 79-167, 227-283.

Walker, Discussions in Economics and Statistics, Vol. II, pp. 417-434.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in conomics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1905-1906”.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 6
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe the history of the agitation for “cheap money” in the United States; the forms assumed both before and after 1860, its causes and the probability of its recurrence.
  2. Compare critically the financing of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Spanish War.
  3. (a) Summarize the principal features of our tariff legislation from the close of the Civil War to the Dingley Tariff.
    (b) What has been the effect of the tariffs on the iron and steel industry?
  4. Give the history of the Union Pacific Railroad and its relations to the government.
  5. Account for the changes in the character of the foreign trade of the United States in respect to the excess of imports or of exports.
    Take one of the following questions:
  6. Discuss the significance and causes of the increase of farm tenancy and the rural exodus.
  7. What can you say as to agricultural conditions in the South before and since the Civil War? What about the negro problem?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), pp. 31-32.

Image Source: Portraits of Frank William Taussig and Edwin Francis Gay from the Harvard Class Album 1906.

 

Categories
Computing Socialism Suggested Reading Syllabus

Columbia. Structure of the Soviet Economy, Reading assignments. Bergson, 1954-1955

Abram Bergson was forty-years old and well on the way to becoming the “Dean of Soviet Economics” in the United States when he taught the following course on the structure of the Soviet Economy at Columbia University.

Bergson, along with my Yale professors Mike Montias and Ray Powell together with my M.I.T. dissertation supervisor Evsey Domar, got me hooked on the economic theory of index numbers. For my fellow index number nerds I link to a draft of my homage à Bergson The ‘Welfare Standard’ and Soviet Consumers” that I presented at the Abram Bergson memorial conference (published in Comparative Economic Studies, 2005, vol. 47, issue 2, pp. 333-345).

The reading list for Bergson’s Economics of Socialism (Harvard, 1977) has been posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

________________________

Course Announcement

Economics 145 (Russian Institute)—Structure of the Soviet Economy. 2 pts. Professor Bergson
Tu. Th. 11. 403 Schermerhorn.

Analytical and statistical survey of the growth, operating principles, and organization of the economy of the Soviet Union under the Five-Year Plans, with attention to resources, population and labor, agriculture, industry, and domestic and foreign trade.

Source: Announcement of the Faculty of Political Science for the Winter and Spring Sessions, 1954-1955. Printed as Columbia University, Bulletin of Information. Vol. 54, No. 123 (June 19, 1954), p. 36.

________________________

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
RUSSIAN INSTITUTE

Winter Session, 1954-55

Economics 145
Structure of the
Soviet Economy

  1. THE RATE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH UNDER THE FIVE YEAR PLANS: ALTERNATIVE MEASURES.

Assigned Reading

Clark, C.; Gerschenkron, A.: “Russian Income and Production Statistics,” Review of Economic Statistics, Nov. 1947.

Dobb, M., “A Comment on Soviet Economic Statistics,” Soviet Studies, June 1949.

Gerschenkron, A., A Dollar Index of Soviet Machinery Output, The RAND Corporation 1951, Chs. 1-4.

Jasny, N., The Soviet Economy during the Plan Era, Stanford 1951.

Kaplan, N.M., “Arithmancy, Theomancy and the Soviet Economy,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1953.

Bergson, A., “Reliability and Usability of Soviet Statistics: Summary Appraisal,” American Statistician, June-July 1953.

Chapman, J. “Real Wages in the Soviet Union, 1928-52, Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1954.

Other References:

Baykov, A., “Postwar Economic Development….”, Univ. of Birmingham Bulletins, May 1953.

Bergson, A., “Soviet National Income: and Product in 1937,” New York 1953.

Clark, C., “The Valuation of Real Income in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Progress, Feb. and Mar. 1949.

Dobb, M., “A Comment on Soviet Statistics,” Review of Economic Statistics, Feb. 1948.

Harris, S.E.; Gerschenkron, A.; Bergson, A.; Baran, P.; and Yugow, A.: “Appraisals of Russian Economic Statistics,” Nov. 1947.

Hodgman, D., “Industrial Production,”;and Galenson, W., “Industrial Labor Productivity,” in Bergson, A., ed., Soviet Economic Growth, Evanston, Ill., 1953.

Kasdan, S., “Relationship between Machinery and Steel Production in Russia and the United States,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Feb. 1952.

Rice, S.; Schwartz, H.; Lorimer, F.; Gerschenkron, A.; Volin, L., “Reliability and Usability of Soviet Statistics,” American Statistician, April-May, June-July 1953.

Wyler, J., “The National Income of the Soviet Union,” Social Research Dec. 1946.

  1. SOVIET ECONOMIC GROWTH: SURVEY OF CONDITIONS AND PERSPECTIVES.

Assigned Reading

Grossman, G., “National Income”; Kaplan, N.M., “Capital Formation and Allocation”;

“Industrial Resources”; and Comments on foregoing in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

“Directives on the Fifth Five Year Plan,” pp. 21-28, Malenkov Report, pp. 106-115, in L. Gruliow, ed., Current Soviet Policies, New York, 1953.

Dobb, M., “Rates of Growth under the Five Year Plans,” Soviet Studies, April 1953.

Other References

Balzak et al., Economic Geography of the USSR, New York 1949.

Blackman, J.A., „Transportation,” and comments on this essay in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Hoeffding, O., Soviet National Income and Product in 1928, New York 1954.

Bergson, A. and Heymann, H., “Soviet National Income and Product 1940-48.”

Schwartz, H., Russia’s Soviet Economy, 2nd ed. New York 1954, Ch. XV.

Shimkin, D., Minerals—A Key to Soviet Power, Cambridge, 1953.

Wiles, Peter, “Soviet Russia Outpaces the West,” Foreign Affairs, July 1953.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE DECISION ON COLLECTIVIZATION.

Assigned Reading

Dobb, M., Soviet Economic Development since 1917, New York 1948, Chs. VIII-IX.

Erlich, A., “Preobrajenski and the Economics of Soviet Industrialization, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb. 1950.

Stalin, J.V., Selected Writings. “On the Grain Front,” “Right Danger,” “Right Deviation,” “Problems of Agrarian Policy,” “The Policy of Eliminating the Kulaks as a Class,” “Dizzy with Success.”

Other References

Baykov, A., Development of the Soviet Economic System, New York, 1946, Ch. XII.

Dobb, M. Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. X.

Maynard, J., Russia in Flux, New York 1948, Chs. XVI, XIX.

  1. AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: TRENDS UNDER THE FIVE YEAR PLANS: PERSPECTIVES.

Assigned Reading

Schwartz, H. Russia’s Soviet Economy, Chs. VIII, IX.

Jasny, N., The Socialized Agriculture of the USSR, Stanford 1949, pp. 1-99.

Timoshenko, V.P., “Agricultural Resources”; Kershaw, J., “Agricultural Output and Employment”; and comments on these essays in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Volin, L., “The Malenkov-Khrushchev New Economic Policy”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1954.

Other References

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Ch. XVII.

Baykov., A., “Agricultural Development in the USSR,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, December 1951, May 1953.

in, G.; Schwarz, S.; and Yugow, A., Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, New York 1944. Ch. X – XVII.

Finegood, I.M., “A Critical Analysis of Some Concepts Concerning Soviet Agriculture,”

Soviet Studies, July 1952.

Hubbard, L.E., Economics of Soviet Agriculture, London 1939.

Maynard, Russia in Flux, Ch. XX.

Schlesinger, R.A.J., “Some Problems of Present Kolkhoz Organization, Soviet Studies, April 1951. See also the further discussion by Jasny, Nove and Schlesinger in Soviet Studies, Oct. 1951, Jan. 1952.

Volin, L., “Turn of the Screw in Soviet Agriculture,” Foreign Affairs, Jan. 1952.

  1. LABOR RECRUITMENT AND WAGE POLICY; INEQUALITY

Assigned Reading

Bergson, A., Structure of Soviet Wages, Cambridge, Mass., 1944 Chs. IV, X – XIV, Conclusion and Appendix F.

Inkeles, A., “Social Stratification and Mobility in the Soviet Union: 1940-1950,” American Sociological Review, August 1950.

Deutscher, I., Soviet Trade Unions, New York 1950.

Gsovski, V., Soviet Labor Law, Monthly Labor Review, March, April 1951.

Other References

Barker, G.R., “Soviet Labor,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, June 1951.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XIII, XVIII.

Bergson, “On Inequality of Incomes in the USSR,” American Slavic and East European Review”, April 1951.

Bienstock, Schwarz and Vugow, Management in Soviet Industry and Agriculture, Ch. VIII.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. XVI.

Eason, W.W., “Population and Labor Force,” and comments in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Gordon, M. Workers before and after Lenin, New York 1941.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Labor and Industry, London 1942.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy. Ch. XIII.

Schwarz, Solomon, Labor in the Soviet Union, New York 1952.

  1. FISCAL POLICY AND THE PRICE LEVEL

Assigned Reading

Berliner, J. S., “Monetary Planning in the USSR,” American Slavic and East European Review, Dec. 1950.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917. Ch. XIV.

Holzman, F.D, “Commodity and Income Taxation in the Soviet Union,” Journal of Political Economy, Oct. 1950.

Holzman, F.D, “The Soviet Budget, 1928-1952,” National Tax Journal, Sept. 1953.

Other References

Arnold, A.Z., Banks, Credit and Money in Soviet Russia. New York 1937.

Baran, P.A., “Currency Reform in the USSR,” Harvard Business Review, March 1948.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System. Ch. XIX.

Baykov, A. and Barker G.R. “Financial Developments in the USSR,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, August 1950.

Bergson, A., Soviet National Income and Product in 1937. New York 1953.

Holzman, F.D., “The Burden of Soviet Taxation,” American Economic Review, Sept. 1953.

Bogolepov, M.I., The Soviet Financial System. (Pamphlet) London 1945.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Money and Finance, London 1936.

Reddaway, W.B., The Russian Financial System, London 1935.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy. Ch. XII.

Davies, R.W., “Finance,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, December 1952.

  1. THEORY OF SOCIALIST ECONOMICS

Assigned Reading

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. I.

Lange, O., “On the Economic Theory of Socialism,” In B. Lippincott, ed., O. Lange, F. Taylor, On the Economic Theory of Socialism, Minneapolis 1938.

Other References

Bergson, A., “Socialist Economics,” in H. Ellis, ed. A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Philadelphia 1948.

Dickinson, H.D., Economics of Socialism, Oxford 1939.

Dobb, M., Political Economy and Capitalism, New York 1940.

Hayek, F.A., ed., Collectivist Economic Planning, London 1935.

Lenin, V.I. State and Revolution.

Marx, K., Critique of the Gotha Programme, Political Economy in the Soviet Union (Pamphlet) New York, International Publishers, 1944.

Stalin, J., Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, Moscow, 1952.

  1. ECONOMICS OF THE FIRM

Assigned Reading

Bienstock, Schwarz and Yugow: Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, Chs. I — VI, IX.

Granick, D., “Initiative and Independence of Soviet Plant Management,” Plant Management, American Slavic and East European Review, Oct. 1951.

Berliner, J., “The Informal Organization of the Soviet Firm,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1952.

Other References

Arakelian, A., Industrial Management in the USSR, Washington, D.C. 1950.

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XI, XVI.

Granick, D., Management of the Industrial Firm in the USSR, New York 1954.

Hubbard, L.E., Soviet Labor and Industry.

  1. GENERAL PLANNING

Assigned Reading

Baykov, Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. XIV, XV, XX.

Dobb, Soviet Economic Development since 1917, Ch. I, XIII.

Hunter, H., “Planning of Investments in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Statistics, February 1949.

Grossman, G., “Scarce Capital and Soviet Doctrine,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug. 1953.

Jasny, N., The Soviet Price System, Stanford 1951, Chs. I-IV.

Other References

Bettleheim, C., “On the Problem of Choice between Alternative Investment Projects,” Soviet Studies, July 1950.

Brutzkus, B., Economic Planning in Soviet Russia, London 1935.

Dobb, M., “The Problem of Choice between Alternative Investment Projects,” Soviet Studies, January 1951.

Eason, W., “On Strumilin’s Model,” Soviet Studies, April 1950.

Jasny, N., Soviet Prices of Producers’ Goods, Stanford 1952.

Kaplan, N., “Investment Alternatives…,” Jour. of Polit. Econ., April 1952.

Kursky, A., The Planning of the National Economy of the USSR, Moscow 1949.

Lange, O., The Working Principles of the Soviet Economy, New York 1943. (Pamphlet)

Miller, J., “Some Recent Developments in Soviet Economic Thought,” Soviet Studies, September 1949.

Miller J., ed., “Three Articles on the Effectiveness of Investments,” Soviet Studies, April 1950.

“Problems of Planning Capital Investment,” The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. II, No. 1, Feb. 18, 1950. “Planning Capital Investment II,” The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. II, No. 3, March 4, 1950.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy, Ch. V.

Zauberman, “Economic Thought in the Soviet Union,” Review of Economic Studies, 1949-1950, Nos. 39-40.

Zauberman, A., “Prospects for Soviet Investigations into Capital Efficiency,” Soviet Studies, April, 1950.

  1. FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Assigned Reading

Gerschenkron, A., Economic Relations with the USSR (The Committee on International Economic Policy in Cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), New York 1943.

Hoeffding, O., “Soviet Economic Relations with the Orbit”; Schwartz, H., “East-West Trade”; and comments on these essays in Bergson, Soviet Economic Growth.

Other References

Baykov, A., Soviet Foreign Trade, Princeton 1946, Chs. II – VI.

Condoide, M.V., Russian-American Trade, Columbus, Ohio 1946.

Dewar, M., Soviet Trade with Eastern Europe, New York 1951.

Gerschenkron, A., “Russia’s Trade in the Postwar Years,” The Annals, May 1949.

Kerblay, B.H., “Economic Relations of the USSR…,” Univ. of Birmingham, Bulletins on Soviet Economic Development, March 1951.

Schwartz, Russia’s Soviet Economy, Ch. XIV.

Yugow, A., Russia’s Economic Front for War and Peace, Ch. V.

Source: Columbia University Libraries, Manuscript Collections. Joseph Dorfman Collection, Box 13, Unlabeled Folder containing miscellaneous course reading lists.

Image Source: Tourist Card for Citizens of American Countries for a Thirty-Day Stay in Brazil (20 Aug. 1962) of Abram Bergson.

Categories
Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Course description and outline. Economic Theory. Daniere, 1963-1964.

 

 

Edward Chamberlin had a lock-hold on the first graduate economic theory course at Harvard in the 1950s, Economics 201. Towards the end of the decade, Chamberlin began to co-teach the course with Leontief’s student, assistant professor André Lucien Danière (Harvard economics Ph.D., 1957). In 1963-64 Danière solo taught “Chamberlin’s” course and the outline to his own version of the course is transcribed below. No exams for Daniere’s Economics 201 were included in the official Harvard printed exam collection in the archives. After his term as assistant professor at Harvard, André Danière moved on to the economics department at Boston College where he worked on the economics of higher education and development economics. 

______________________

Course Announcement

A. General Courses

Economics 201. Economic Theory

Full course. Tu., Th., (S.), at 10. Assistant Professor Daniere.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction for Harvard and Radcliffe, 1963-1964, p. 107.

______________________

Course Description
and Outline

                           Harvard Economic Project Research
André Danière
September 12, 1963

Economics 201
Description of the course

The first half is meant to be a self-contained basic course in micro-theory, with emphasis on the “useful”, for the benefit of students both in the department and in connected fields requiring some knowledge of economic theory. The techniques used will not go beyond elementary algebra and geometry, although some generalizations will be cast in terms requiring acquaintance with basic calculus and elements of modern linear algebra. The reading under each topic will consist in general of one modern article or book chapter selected mostly for its clarity of exposition, and one or two references to earlier classical or neo-classical literature.

The second half is integrated with the first in what is believed to be a logical overall plan, but treats of topics which either are of less urgency or are not normally included as such in –“theory” courses. For instance, a fair amount of time will be spent on central planning, with particular emphasis on “indicative” planning of the French variety. The last section on distribution will be an exercise in the history of economic thought, mostly neo-classical.

First semester

Note: Bracketed topics will be treated in no more than one lecture and are introduced only for purposes of completeness and connectedness.

  1. Framework of Economic Decisions
    1. Objectives of Economic Policy

Selected readings in chronological order from Turgot to Tinbergen.

    1. Modern Theory of Production

1) Input-Output; Linear Options; “Smooth” production function.

2) Time in the production function.

3) Definition of an “industry” production function.

    1. The Transformation Function; General Equilibrium in Production

1) Static assumptions

—with Constant Cost industries,
—with some Decreasing Cost industries,
—with jointness; external economies.

2) Dynamic models with capital accumulation

3) Semi-Aggregative models — Cobb Douglas type functions.

    1. Modern Theory of Consumption

1) Household Consumption and Income

—Utility maximization under static assumptions,
—Utility maximization over time,

2) Characteristics of Collective Consumption.

    1. Social Welfare

1) Efficiency criteria — Pricing as a tool.

2) Social vs. individual welfare

—Interpersonal comparisons; “aggregate” efficiency;
—Collective benefits in the welfare calculus
—[Basic theory of taxation]
—Philanthropy.

3) Pricing in Public utilities

4) Social investment criteria

5) [Special problems of growth in underdeveloped economies]

  1. The market economy
    1. Theory of the firm under free enterprise
    2. Alternative forms of competition

1) Industry behavior in the purely competitive model

2) Industry behavior under monopolistic competition

—Balanced competition of large numbers
—Oligopoly situations
—Public utilities

3) The determinants of competitive behavior.

    1. Welfare implications of alternative forms of competition

1) Welfare analysis

—Welfare properties of the purely competitive model
—Effect of monopoly power with fixed number of commodities
—Product differentiation.

2) [Social control and regulation of market behavior]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 201
Second Semester (summarized)

Note: Bracketed topics will be treated in no more than one lecture and are introduced only for the purposes of completeness and connectedness.

    1. Theory of investment of the firm.
    2. [The Capital market] Money and General Equilibrium
    3. [Elements of National Income Analysis]
      [Growth and Business Cycles] (sample model)
  1. Central Economic Planning
    1. [Budgetary and monetary planning]
    2. Structural planning

1) “Marginal” planning of public services — Projection models

2) “Indicative” planning (France) — “Consistent” forecasting models.

3) “Compulsive” target planning

4) Regional planning

  1. Distribution

1) Theory of rent

2) Theory of wages

3) Theory of interest

4) Theory of profits.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 8, Folder “Economics, 1963-1964”.

Image Source: Boston College Association of Retired Faculty. Bulletin (Summer 2014). Photo of André Daniere on page 2.