Category: Syllabus

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Chicago Courses Syllabus

Chicago. Graduate Price Theory. Economics 300A. Harberger, 1955

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Thus far Economics in the Rear-View Mirror has been able to provide syllabi for the following four professors who had taught the first core price theory course at the University of Chicago spanning nearly a quarter of a decade during the middle third of the 20th century:

Today I add the syllabus for Arnold Harberger (a.k.a.”Triangle Man”, see the photo credit below). Note: chapters from Samuelson’s Foundations are only recommended readings, not yet required.

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Economics 300A
Mr. Harberger
Autumn 1955

 

Texts:

  1. Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, 8th
  2. George Stigler, Theory of Price, revised ed.
  3. H. Knight, The Economic Organization

 

Supplementary material (Purchase not required):

  1. American Economic Association, Readings in Price Theory
  2. Milton Friedman, Essays in Positive Economics
  3. Milton Friedman, Notes on Lectures in Price Theory (mimeographed)

Students are expected to be familiar with the materials in Stigler’s Theory of Price before entering the course. Readings marked with an asterisk (*) are recommended, not required.

 

Reading List

 

  1. Introduction:

Knight, The Economic Organization, pp. 1-37
Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 1-3
Friedman, “The Methodology of Positive Economics” in Essays in Positive Economics

  1. Demand:

Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 4-5
Marshall, Book III, Chs. 2-4, Book V, Chs. 1-2
Knight, Risk, Uncertainty and Profit, Ch. 3
Hicks, Value and Capital, pp. 11-52
Working, “What do Statistical Demand Curves Show?” Quarterly Journal of Economics
*Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. 5

  1. Supply:

Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 6-8
Marshall, Book V, Chs. 3-5, 12, Appendix H
Robinson, Joan, Economics of Imperfect Competition, Ch. 2
Clark, J.M., Economics of Overhead Costs, Ch. 9
Viner, “Cost Curves and Supply Curves”, Zeitschrift fuer Nationaloekonomie, Book III (Sept 1931) pp. 23-46, reprinted in Readings in Price Theory, pp. 198-232
*Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, Ch. 4

  1. Market Organization:

Stigler, Theory of Price, Chs. 9-13
Stigler, “Monopolistic Competition in Retrospect” in Five Lectures on Economic Problems
Harrod, “Doctrines of Imperfect Competition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1934, pp. 442-461
Chamberlin, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 3, 5
*Robinson, E.A.G., The Structure of Competitive Industry
*Robinson, E.A.G., Monopoly.

  1. Utility and Welfare Economics:

Alchian, “The Meaning of Utility Measurement”, American Economic Review, March 1953, pp. 26-50
Friedman and Savage, “The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk”, Journal of Political Economy, August 1948, pp. 279-304. Reprinted in Readings in Price Theory, pp. 57-96
Scitovsky, “The State of Welfare Economics”, American Economic Review, June 1951, pp. 303-315
Hicks, “The Four Consumers’ Surpluses”, Review of Economic Studies, XI (1943-44), pp. 31-40
*Hotelling, “The General Welfare in Relation to Problems of Taxation and of Railway and Utility Rates,” Econometrica (VI) (1938), pp. 242-269
*Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis, Chs. 5-7

 

Source: Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Milton Friedman, Box 77, Folder “77.1 University of Chicago Econ 300 A & B”.

Image Source: “[Arnold] Harberger strips down to reveal himself as “Triangleman” at the University of Chicago Economics Christmas Party, probably December 1970”. Robert J. Gordon’s website.

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Courses Exam Questions Problem Sets Syllabus

MIT. Core Microeconomic theory III. Hal Varian, 1975

Hal R. Varian, chief economist at Google since 2007, was a 28 year old assistant professor at M.I.T. in 1975 when he taught my cohort the third in a sequence of four half-term courses that constituted MIT’s required core of graduate microeconomic theory. He assigned draft chapters from his graduate textbook Microeconomic Analysis (published in 1977). For this post I have transcribed the course outline, five problem sets and the final examination for the course.

Core microeconomic theory at MIT in 1974-75:

14.121 (linear models and production) was taught by Martin Weitzman,
14.122 (competitive and noncompetitive market structures) taught by Robert L. Bishop,
14.123 (theory of the consumer and resource allocation) was taught by Hal Varian,
14.124 (capital theory, uncertainty and welfare economics) was taught by Paul Samuelson.

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14.123—Microeconomic Theory III
Theory of the Consumer and Resource Allocation

Professor Hal R. Varian, E52-353, 3-2662
Spring, 1975

Feb. 5 advanced placement exam
Feb. 10 utility; demand; expenditure
Feb. 12 indirect utility; Slutsky equation
Feb. 17 no class
Feb. 19 no class
Feb. 24 demand functions; duality
Feb. 26 expected utility; properties
Feb. 28 general equilibrium; existence
Mar. 3 welfare theory
Mar. 5 the core of an exchange economy
Mar. 10 general equilibrium and production
Mar. 12 dynamics and general equilibrium
Mar. 17 malfunctions of the market mechanism
Mar. 19 final exam

Course text will be lecture notes available from me. Malinvaud and Arrow and Hahn are highly recommended secondary reading. There will be four or five problem sets and a problem session on Fridays, 9-10:30.

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14.123 Spring, 1975
Professor Hal R. Varian

Consumer Theory I

  1. Consider a consumer with a Cobb-Douglas utility function:
    u(x,y) = a ln x + (1-a) ln y.
    Calculate:

    1. demand functions for x and y
    2. the indirect utility function
    3. the expenditure function
    4. the Hicksian demand functions.
  2. In a general equilibrium analysis, we cannot take income as an exogenous variable in the demand function since income, y = p.w, depends on the vector of relative prices. Derive the Slutsky equation for Dpm(p, p.w) in this case.
  3. At a general equilibrium price vector p*, we have aggregate supply equal aggregate demand:
    Σ mi(p*, p*.w) = Σ wi. Show that if all agents have identical marginal propensities to consume each good (Dymi(p*, p*.w) = Dymj(p*, p*.w) for all i and j) then all aggregate demand curves must be downward sloping at equilibrium. More generally, show that Dp(Σ mi(p*, p*.wi)) is negative semi-definite.
  4. Define eij = (-pj/xi) Dpjmi(p,y) be the cross price elasticity of good i with respect to price j, and ri = pi mi(p, y)/y, the income share of commodity i.
    Show that r1e11 + r2e21 +r3e31  = r1.

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14.123 Spring, 1975
Professor Hal R. Varian

Consumer Theory II

  1. A consumer is found to have a utility function of the form
    u = -1/x1 – 1/x2.

    1. Starting from the utility function, compute the market demand functions for the consumer when he has income y and faces prices p1 and p2.
    2. Use the market demand functions to show that the indirect utility function is
      u = -( √(p1) + √(p2))2/m.
    3. Compute the expenditure function from the indirect utility function.
    4. Compute the consumer’s compensated and market demand curves from the expenditure function.
  2. Suppose at prices (p1, p2) = (5,10) and income y = $100, a rational consumer consumes the bundle (6,7). Assume that we have measured the following derivatives:

∂H1/∂p1 (p1, p2, ū) = -2
∂H1/∂p2 (p1, p2, ū) = +1
∂M1/∂y (p1, p2, y) = 2/7

where H1 and H2 are the Hicksian demand functions for goods 1 and 2 and M1 is the Marshallian demand function for good 1. Find an estimate of the consumption bundle of the consumer at (p1, p2) = 5,11).

  1. Suppose a consumer has an expenditure function of the form e(p, u) = u.g(p). Show that his utility function is homogenous of degree one. Suppose e(p,u) is of the form e(p,u) = h(u)g(p). How does the consumer’s behavior differ?
  2. Suppose a consumer has a differentiable expected utility function for income with Dyu(y) strictly positive. Show that he will always take a small enough bet as long as it has positive expected value.

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14.123 Spring, 1975
Professor Hal R. Varian

General Equilibrium III

  1. Show that Walras law holds for a production economy with fully distributed profits.
  2. Prove the theorem that a general equilibrium is pareto efficient for an economy with production.
  3. Suppose we have a productive economy with two agents. The producer has a production function x = q1/2 where x is output and q is labor.
    The consumer has a utility function u(x,q) = x1/2(1-q)1/2. Calculate the general equilibrium real wage and equilibrium level of profits.

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14.123 Spring, 1975
Professor Hal R. Varian

General Equilibrium Theory and Welfare Economics I

  1. Show that any solution to

max Σ ai ui(xi), ai>0
s.t. Σ xi ≤ w

is necessarily pareto efficient.

  1. Suppose we have two agents with indirect utility functions

v1(p1, p2, y) = ln y –a ln p1 – (1-a) ln p2
v2(p1, p2, y) = ln y –b ln p1 – (1-b) ln p2

and initial endowments

w1 = (1,1)
w2 = (1,1)

Calculate the market clearing price.

  1. We have two agents with utility functions

u1(x1, y1) = a ln x1 +(1-a) ln y1
u2(x2, y2) = b ln x2 + (1-b) ln y2

and initial endowments

w1 = (1,0)
w2 = (0,1)

Calculate the market equilibrium prices in terms of the parameters a and b.

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14.123 Spring, 1975
Professor Hal R. Varian

General Equilibrium Theory and Welfare Economics II

  1. Two agents with strictly convex preferences have equal initial endowments
    w1 = w2. They trade to an arbitrary allocation in the Core (w1,w2), (x1,x2). Prove that this allocation is necessarily fair:

    1. Draw an Edgeworth box and give a geometric argument;
    2. give an algebraic argument in the general case (there is a one-line proof.)
    3. Show in a three person economy there are allocations in the equal division core that are not fair.
  2. Suppose we have n agents with identical, strictly convex preferences and we have some initial bundle of k goods to be divided among them. Let x be a fair allocation; show that x must give the same bundle to each agent. (Recall that a fair allocation is one that is strongly pareto efficient and such that no agent prefers any other agent’s bundle to his own.)
  3. Show that under appropriate assumptions of convexity, every pareto efficient allocation is necessarily a solution to a problem of maximizing a weighted sum of utilities. What is the economic interpretation of the weights?
  4. Suppose we are at a market allocation that is considered good. Since it is a market equilibrium it is pareto efficient and therefore maximizes a certain weighted sum of utilities Σ ai* ui(x). Accordingly, we will use Σ ai* ui(x) to evaluate small projects. Suppose we are considering a small project that will change x = (x1,…, xn) to x´= (x1´,…, xn´). Show that it should be undertaken if and only if it increases national income; that is, iff Σ p.(xi´-xi) >0.

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14.123 FINAL EXAMINATION
March 19, 1975

Professor H. Varian

Answer any 2 out of 4. All questions have equal weight. Good luck!

  1. A consumer has a utility function of the form u(x1, x2) = ln x1 + x2. He faces prices p1 and p2 and has income y. Calculate:
    1. his Marshallian demand functions for each good
    2. his indirect utility function
    3. his Hicksian demand functions
    4. his expenditure function.
  2. There are two consumers A and B with the following utility functions and endowments:

UA(XA1, XA2) = a ln XA1 + (1-a) ln XA2 , WA = (0,1)
UB(XB1, XB2) = min (XB1, XB2) , WB =(1,0)

Calculate the market clearing prices and the equilibrium allocation.

  1. We have n agents with identical strictly concave utility functions, u1(x1),…,un(xn). There is some initial bundle of goods w. Show that equal division is a pareto efficient allocation.
  2. A consumer has a differentiable expected utility function u(y) with u´(y) > 0. (There are no conditions on u´´(y)). His initial level of wealth is w and he is contemplating a bet which gives him $e with probability p > ½ and he loses $e with probability 1-p. (Notice the bet has positive expected value.) Show that he will always take the bet if e is small enough. (Hint: try Taylor series.)

 

Source: Personal copies.

Image Source: Detail from 1976 departmental group photo.

Categories
Courses Exam Questions M.I.T. Suggested Reading Syllabus

M.I.T. Capital Theory, Uncertainty, Welfare Economics. Half-semester Core Microeconomics. Samuelson, 1975

From my files from graduate school I have transcribed the syllabus and final exam for the fourth of the four half-semester core microeconomic theory courses taught at M.I.T. during the academic year 1974-75. The topics of capital theory, uncertainty and welfare economics fell to Paul Samuelson. The preceding three half-semester microeconomics theory courses were taught by Robert Bishop, Martin Weitzman and Hal Varian.

 

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READING LIST FOR 14.124
P. A. Samuelson
SPRING 1975

MICROECONOMIC THEORY

I. CAPITAL THEORY

  1. I. Fisher

Theory of Interest
Part II, all; Part I, Chs. 1,3; Part III, Chs. 10,11.

  1. E. Böhm-Bawerk

Positive Theory of Capital
Book V, all; Book VI, Chs. 6,7,8.

  1. R. M. Solow

“A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth”
Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1956; pp. 65-94.

Capital Theory and the Rate of Return
(DeVries Lectures) North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1963.

  1. T. Koopmans

Three Essays, pp. 105-126.

  1. F. Ramsey

E.J., 1928

  1. N. Kaldor

“Alternative Theories of Distribution”
RES, 1955

  1. Sraffa

Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities
Chs. 1, 2, 3.

  1. Dorfman-Samuelson-Solow

Linear Programming and Economic Analysis
Chs. 11, 12.

  1. A. Samuelson

“A Summing Up”
QJE, 1966

II. ECONOMICS OF UNCERTAINTY

  1. K. Arrow

Theory of Risk Bearing
Chs. 3,1,2,4.

  1. J. Tobin

RES, 1958

  1. H. Markowitz

Portfolio Selection
sample

III. MODERN WELFARE ECONOMICS

  1. A. Bergson [A. Burk]

“A Reformulation of Certain Aspects of Welfare Economics”
QJE, 52 (February 1938)
pp. 310-334

  1. J. Hicks

“The Foundations of Welfare Economics”
EJ, 49 (December 1939)
pp. 696-712

  1. P. A. Samuelson

Foundations of Economic Analysis (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1947)
Chapter 8, “Welfare Economics”

  1. P. A. Samuelson

“The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure”
Review of Economics and Statistics, 36 (November 1954)
pp. 387-389

reproduced as
Chapter 92
The Collected Scientific Papers of Paul A. Samuelson, Vol. II
MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1966; editor: J.E. Stiglitz

  1. K. Arrow

Social Choice and Individual Values, 1951
Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Monograph #12
Wiley, New York, second edition, 1963

  1. J. Rawls

A Theory of Justice
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1971

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Background Reading

  1. A. C. Pigou

The Economics of Welfare, 1920
Macmillan, London, 4th edition, 1932
reprinted in new appendices, 1952

  1. L. Robbins

An Essay of the Nature and Significance of Economic Science, 1932
Macmillan, London, 2nd edition, 1935

  1. van der Graaf

Theoretical Welfare Economics
Cambridge University Press, London, 1957, paperback

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FINAL EXAM
14.124
MAY 20, 1975

This is a 1 ½ hour exam. You may take up to an extra half hour, but only if you need it and not in order to establish extra credit for all you know.
Answer any 3 of the following four questions, thus allowing about one half hour for each.

 

  1. Society consists of 2N people [equal numbers of men (i=1) and women (i=2)] who will live and consume for two periods: t=1,2, or now and tomorrow. Also, society has a Solow neoclassical production function:

C(t) + K(t+1) = F[L(t),K(t)]

All 2N people have the same labor, namely Li(t) = 1/2N. The women or men possesss equal shares in the initial capital good, K(1) = k/2N, but it is an unknown of the problem to find out what will be K(2).

Intertemporal tastes of the representative man and woman involve the same concave u[C(t)] function, and with equal Böhm-Fisher subjective time preference factors, ρ1 and ρ2, in:

U1 = u[C1(1)] + u[(C1(2)]/(1+ρ1), U2 = u[C2(1)] + u[(C2(2)]/(1+ρ2), ρ1 = ρ2.

(You may set N=1 to simplify your expositions if you wish to do so.)
The equilibrium is now determinable.

(a)  Describe graphically, and/or mathematically, and/or literally, how Irving Fisher or any modern economist would determine the equilibrium for:

C1(1)*, C1(2)*, C2(1)*, C2(2)*, K(2)*; r*, the rate of interest between period 1 and 2. (Hint: Will women lend to men or borrow from them?)

(b)  Very briefly, modify your above answer to show what will happen when men are more “impatient” than women, so that ρ1 > ρ2.

  1. Prove that fair-game investing or gambling will (a) be avoided by what class of people?; (b) be embraced by what class of people? How do you reconcile under (a) the purchases of insurance at unfavorable-game premiums?
  1. Lerner, Lange, and others wish to utilize market pricing in achieving maximization of a social welfare function appropriate to a socialist state where (a) all non-labor inputs are owned by the State; (b) “people’s changing tastes are to count,” (c) where the bureaucrats responsible for the different industries do not necessarily in every case face constant returns to scale and classical returns.

Describe how goods and services should be priced, how people’s total spendable incomes are to be determined, and also any special problems that might arise for the Lerner-Lange-Smith VISIBLE HAND.

  1. Bentham says that people may differ in the heights of their marginal utility from the same number of chocolates (or real incomes). But he believes that this difference in intensities of enjoyments is distributed “in about the same way among the very rich and the very poor.” What kind of income tax formula would he then presumably want to legislate? What “incentive effects” would you want to keep in mind appraising this solution?

Source: Personal copies

Image Source: Left to right: Robert C. Merton, Jerome Bert Wiesner and Paul A. Samuelson with Vol. 3 of Samuelson’s Collected Scientific Papers (1972). MIT Webmuseum.

Categories
Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of Transportation. Chamberlin, 1931

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Every year from 1927/28 through 1931/32, Edward Chamberlin taught a semester-long course on the economics of transportation. He took over the course that had been previously taught by Professor William Zebina Ripley, who continued teaching the next semester course in the sequence on the economics of corporations. In the following year these two courses morphed into the full-year course “Monopolistic Industries and their Regulation” co-taught by Chamberlin and Edward S. Mason.

The final examination questions for 1932 have been transcribed for this course.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 4a 1hf. Asst. Professor Chamberlin.—Economics of Transportation.

Total: 149. 5 Graduates, 46 Seniors, 85 Juniors, 7 Sophomores, 6 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments, 1931-1932. p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 4a
1931-32

Lectures: Section Meetings:
Oct. 1-17 inclusive

Nov. 3-19 inclusive

Dec. 8-15 inclusive

Oct. 19-27 inclusive.

Nov. 20-Dec. 1 incl.

Dec. 16-22 inclusive

Assignments
Before Oct. 20

Chapter

Historical Sketch
Taussig—Principles of Economics

62, 63
Ripley—Railroads, Rates and Regulation

1
Ripley—Railroad Problems 

1,2

Rates
Jones—Principles of Railroad Transportation

4-9 inclusive
Jones and Vanderblue—Railroads, Cases & Selections

VIII

Traffic Geography
Jones and Vanderblue—Railroads, Cases & Selections

II
Daggett—Principles of Inland Transportation

8-14 inclusive

Finance
Jones

2, 16, 18
Jones and Vanderblue

XX, Section 1

Hour Examination October 29
Before Nov. 21

History of Regulation to 1917
Ripley—Railroads, Rates and Regulation

13-17 inclusive
Jones

14
Sharfman—American Railroad Problem

pp. 51-64

Federal Operation During the War
Sharfman

3, 4, 5
 

Nationalization
Sharfman

6

The Act of 1920
Sharfman

pp. 347-357
Sharfman

11

Valuation
Jones

15
Jones and Vanderblue

IV

Motor Truck Transport
Daggett

6, 34
Peterson—“Motor Carrier Regulation and Its Economic Basis”—Quarterly Journal of Economics—Aug. 1929

Inland Water Transport
Daggett

2, 33

Hour Examination December 3
Before Dec. 17

Consolidation
Jones

17
Daggett

22, 23, 24
Jones and Vanderblue

XXIV Sections 1 and 2
Foreign Experience
Daggett

30, 31

 

Reading Period

Read one of the following:

  1. Rates

Vanderblue and Burgess—Railroads, Rates, Service, Management. Chs. 5-12 inclusive.
Clark—Economics of Overhead Costs. Chs. 13, 14

  1. Valuation

Glaeser—Outlines of Public Utility Economics. Chs. 14, 19, 21. 
I.C.C. Finance Docket #3908 (O’Fallon Case)
Sup. Ct. Opinion #131, 132. October, 1928.

  1. Waterways

Moulton—St. Lawrence Navigation and Power Project. pp. 1-240
Journal of Political Economy—Feb. 1930, pp. 86-107; June 1930, pp. 345-353
Moulton—Waterways vs. Railways. Chs. 2, 3, 20.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1931-1932”.

Image Source:  Edward Chamberlin, Harvard Class Album 1932.

Categories
Economic History Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Economic History of Europe Since 1800. Edmund E. Lincoln, 1920.

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This post provides a transcription of over thirty printed pages from the List of References in Economics 2 at Harvard published in 1920 by Edmund Earle Lincoln (1888-1958). These pages include all the bibliographic references for the first semester course “Economic History of Europe since 1800” along with an introductory note and a short list of titles recommended for students who wish to build a personal library in European and U.S. economic history. The final examination questions and a course description have also been transcribed. The list of references for Economics 2b, “Economic History of the United States” will be posted sometime in the near future.

Edmund Earle Lincoln was born February 5, 1888 in McCook, Nebraska. He received an A.B. from Ohio Wesleyan in 1909; a B.A. from Oxford in 1910; M. A. from Oxford in 1914; Ph.D. from Harvard in 1917 with the thesis, “The Results of Municipal Electric Lighting in Massachusetts.” He was appointed Instructor in Economics and Tutor at Harvard in 1915 (where he stayed at least until the 1920 U.S. Census). As of the 1930 U.S. Census Lincoln worked as an executive with International Telephone & Telegraph Co. in New York City. From 1931 to his retirement in 1953 Lincoln was an economist with E. I. Du Pont Nemours & Co. He died May 15, 1958 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Apparently his 1950 published translation of Dangers of Inflation: An Address by Pierre Samuel du Pont, 1790, is still available from the Harvard Business School for $20 as Kress Collection Publication No. 7.

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Economics 2: Course Enrollment, 1920-21

[Economics] 2a 1hf. Dr. E. E. Lincoln, assisted by Mr. Hyde.–European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century

Total 70: 18 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 15 Others.

[Economics] 2b 2hf. Dr. E. E. Lincoln, assisted by Mr. Hyde.–Economic History of the United States.

Total: 148: 13 Graduates, 34 Seniors, 47 Juniors, 26 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 25 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1920-21, p. 95.

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LIST OF REFERENCES IN ECONOMICS 2
ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EUROPE SINCE 1800,
AND OF THE UNITED STATES

Revised, Enlarged, and Rearranged

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
PUBLISHED BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1920

 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The following list of readings is a rearrangement, revision and extension of the references originally prepared by Professor E. F. Gay for use in connection with the courses in European and American Economic History at Harvard College. The changes and additions have been such as to make this practically a new list. It in no way purports to be a complete bibliography of the subject, nor is it necessarily definitive in form. It is intended simply to serve as a guide to reading on the topics of the course, especially on those subjects which are not covered by the lectures, and should prove particularly useful to graduate students who wish to pursue their studies independently.

The aim has been to include only the more authoritative readings on a given topic, though on such questions as are admittedly mooted an attempt is made to cite the more representative writers on either side. Occasionally, also, in lieu of any work treating of a given subject in a more satisfactory manner, books have been listed of which the compiler thoroughly disapproves. In such cases, however, there are good reasons for the inclusion: As the list is itself a careful selection, it does not seem necessary for present purposes to add critical comments on the various authors.

Each section (indicated by Roman numerals) maps out a week’s work. The required reading for the present year (tested by means of fortnightly papers) is marked with an asterisk. There has, however, been such an arrangement of topics that the requirements can readily be varied from year to year. The bibliographies cited at the end of each section give further references on the topics under discussion; they are also useful as starting points in the thesis work of the course.

Edmond E. Lincoln, M.A. (Oxon), Ph.D.

 

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS

Although no text-books are required in the course, most of the books in which reading is assigned are recommended for purchase by those who wish to start a library on the subject, and the following titles are suggested for those who desire to purchase a few inexpensive and rather general but thoroughly useful books:

Economics 2a
(European Economic History in the last century.)

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (ed. 1910).

Ashley, W. J., Economic Organization of England.

Ashley, W. J., British Industries.

Barker, J. Ellis, Economic Statesmanship (ed. 1920).

Dawson, W. H., The Evolution of Modern Germany.

Day, Clive, History of Commerce. (Useful also in Economics 2b. Good bibliography.)

Hobson, J. A., Evolution of Modern Capitalism.

Marshall, A., Industry and Trade.

Morley, Life of Cobden.

Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe. (Bibliography at end of each chapter.)

Perris, G. H., The Industrial History of Modern England.

Prothero, R. E., English Farming, Past and Present.

Raper, Railroad Transportation. (Useful also in Economics 2b.)

Robinson, E. van D., Commercial Geography; or Smith, J. R. Commerce and Industry. (Useful also in Economics 2b.)

Toynbee, Industrial Revolution.

Usher, A. P., Introduction to the Industrial History of England.

Wallace, D. M., Russia (ed. 1912).

 

Economics 2b
(Economic History of the United States.)

Bishop and Keller, Industry and Trade.

Bogart, Economic History of the United States. (“Selected Readings” by Bogart and Thompson is also useful.)

Callender, Economic History of the United States. (Selected readings before 1860.)

Dewey, Financial History of the United States. (Bibliography.)

Jenks and Clark, The Trust Problem.

Johnson and Van Metre, Principles of Railroad Transportation.

Noyes, Forty Years of American Finance.

Taussig, Some Aspects of the Tariff Question.

Taussig, Tariff History (ed. 1914).

 

General Bibliographical Aids in Thesis Writing

American Economic Review (Contains conveniently classified lists of recent books and magazine articles from 1911 to date. Earlier lists are to be found in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1886-1907, and the Economic Bulletin, 1908-1911.

Catalogue of Parliamentary Papers, 1801-1900; and Decennial Supplement, 1901-1910.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), Bibliographies.

Harvard College Library, Subject Catalogue by names of countries.

Library of Congress, Bibliographies on special topics.

Poole’s Index of Periodical Literature.

Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-).

University of Chicago, Bibliography of Economics.

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ECONOMICS 2a
FIRST HALF-YEAR

ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EUROPE SINCE 1800

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND AIDS TO THESIS WORK IN ECONOMICS 2a

 

Official Publications

Annuaire Statistique.

Berichte über Handel und Industrie.

Parliamentary Papers, particularly Commercial Reports (annual); Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries.

Statistisches Jahrbuch.

U. S. Dept. Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries (1909).

U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Consular Reports (formerly published by the State Department); Special Agent’s Series, and Bulletins.

 

Periodicals

Annual Register.

Archiv für Socialwissenschaft und Socialpolitik.

Bankers’ Magazine (London).

Economic Journal.

Journal des Économistes.

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.

London Economist. (A weekly financial paper, well indexed, with valuable information on commercial and industrial subjects.)

London Times, with Russian and South American Supplements.

Revue d’ Économie Politique.

Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik.

 

Encyclopedias, Yearbooks, Dictionaries, etc.

Bartholomew, J. G., Atlas of the World’s Commerce.

Dictionary of National Biography.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.).

Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaft.

Jahrbücher fur Nationalökonomie.

McCulloch, Commercial Dictionary (ed. 1856).

Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy (including 1909 supplement).

Statesman’s Year-Book.

Wörterbuch der Volkswirtschaft (ed. Elster).

 

General Books

Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History: Select Documents.

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Part 2, Vols. II, III. (A carefully arranged, exhaustive bibliography at the end of Vol. III.)

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany.

Day, History of Commerce. (Useful bibliography with each chapter.)

Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrières en France depuis 1789; Questions Ouvrières et Industriélles en France sous la Troisième République.

Levi, L., History of British Commerce, 1763-1878.

Macpherson, D., Annals of Commerce, Vol. IV.

Mavor, Economic History of Russia.

Page, Commerce and Industry. (Based on Hansard’s Debates. Vol. II,’ ‘Tables of Statistics for the British Empire from 1815,” is useful.

Porter, Progress of the Nation. (Hirst edition, 1912. Contains some interesting data for Great Britain.)

Smart, Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century, Vols. I and II, 1801-1830. (A convenient digest of economic materials in annuals and official publications of the time.)

Smith, J. R., Industrial and Commercial Geography.

Sombart, Die deutsche Volkswirtschaft im Neunzehnten Jahrhundert.

Traill, ed., Social England. (Includes contributions by leading authorities on economics and economic history. Vols. V, VI cover the period of this course. Useful bibliography with each chapter.)

Wallace. D. M., Russia (ed. 1912. Still probably the best general book on Russian economic conditions.)

Webb, Trade Unionism (ed. 1911); Industrial Democracy. (These two volumes contain the best bibliographies on English labor problems.)

Williams, J. B., Guide to English Social History, 1750-1850. (Contains some useful though frequently inaccurate bibliographies.)

 

Text-Books

Economic histories of England are legion. Among these may be mentioned the following:

Perris, G. H., The Industrial History of Modern England (covers the period of this course); Rogers, J. E. T., Industrial and Commercial History of England; Tickner, Social and Industrial History of England; Usher, Introduction to the Industrial History of England; Warner, G. T., Landmarks in English Industrial History.

Probably Dawson’s Evolution of Modern Germany and Wallace’s Russia are the most satisfactory books on these countries. Russia: Its Trade and Commerce, by Raffalovich, is a useful recent book on Russia. For more general reading, Ogg’s Economic Development of Modern Europe covers parts of the field of this course and has some useful bibliographies at the end of each chapter. Rand’s Economic History since 1763 (a collection of readings) is still of some service.

Slater, G., Making of Modern England, and Hayes, C. J. H., Political and Social History of Modern Europe, attempt to link up political and economic development.

_____________________

Required reading is indicated by an asterisk (*). Large Roman numerals indicate volumes; Arabic numerals pages. References in brackets [ ] are recommended but not required.

 

I. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

General Reading

*Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism (ed. 1902), 10-82, or ed. 1910 and 1917, 30-102.

*Toynbee, Industrial Revolution (ed. 1908), 22-96.

Ashley, Economic Organization of England, 140-172.

Bücher, Industrial Evolution, 150-184, 282-314.

Cheyney, Readings in English History, 610-616.

Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, III, 620-668.

Lewinski, L’Évolution Industrielle de la Belgique.

Mantoux, Révolution Industrielle, 179-502.

Rappard, La Révolution Industrielle en Suisse.

Traill, ed., Social England, V, 301-357.

Veblen, Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution, 168-270.

Wood, H. T., Industrial England in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century.

 

The Factory System

Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History: Select Documents, 545-643.

Engels, Condition of the Working Classes in 1844.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation (ed. 1911), 1-42.

Marx, Das Capital, Vol. I, passim.

Cooke-Taylor, The Modern Factory System, 44-225.

Villermé, L’État Physique et Moral des Ouvriers.

Wallas, Life of Francis Place, 197-240.

Webb, History of Trade Unionism, 24-101.

Woolen Report of 1806; reprinted in Bullock, Selected Readings in Economics, 114-124.

 

Introduction of Textile Machinery

Babbage, The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures.

Chapman, The Lancashire Cotton Industry, 1-112.

Clapham, “Transference of the Worsted Industry,”Economic Journal, XX, 195-210.

Guest, R., Compendious History of the Cotton Manufacture (1823).

Radcliffe, W., Origin of the New System of Manufacture (1828).

Walpole, “The Great Inventions,” in History of England, I, 50-76; reprinted in Bullock, 125-145, and Rand, Selections illustrating Economic History, ch. ii.

 

Bibliographies

Cannon, References for English History, 399-400.

Cunningham, III, 944-946, 990-996.

Hunt, W., Political History of England, 1760-1801 (Hunt and Poole Series, X), 468-469.

Traill, ed., Social England, V, 364-365, 627.

 

II. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT — CONTINENT

Germany

*Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 255-294.

*Morier, “Agrarian Legislation of Prussia,” in Probyn, Land Tenure in Various Countries, 267-275; also in Rand, 98-108.

*Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, I, 287-297; in Rand, 86-98.

Brentano, “Agrarian Reform in Prussia,” Econ. Jour., VII, 1-20 (March, 1897).

Knapp, Bauernbefreiung in Preussen.

Preuss, Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Bedeutung der Stein-Hardenbergschen Reform.

Probyn, ed., Land Tenure in Various Countries, 243-287.

Von der Goltz, Agrarwesen und Agrarpolitik, 40-50; also Geschichte der deutschen Landwirtschaft.

 

France

*Dumas, “French Land System,” Econ. Jour., XIX, 32-50 (March, 1909).

*Von Sybel, French Revolution, in Rand, Selections, 55-85.

Cliffe Leslie, The Land System of France, in Carver’s Selected Readings in Rural Economics, 410-432.

De Foville, Le Morcellement, 52-89.

Flour de St. Genis, La Propriété Rurale, 80-164.

Levasseur, Histoire des Classes Ouvrières (ed. 1867), 23-42.

Young, A., Travels in France.

 

Other Countries

Chlapowski, Belgische Landwirtschaft.

Faucher, J., Russian Agrarian Legislation of 1861, in Probyn, Land Tenure in Various Countries, 309-346.

Laveleye, Économie Rurale de la Belgique.

Leroy-Beaulieu, The Empire of the Czars, I, 403-580; II, 1-57.

Mavor, Economic History of Russia, I.

Schulze-Gaevernitz, Volkswirtschaftliche Studien aus Russland, 308-383.

Simkhovitch, Feldgemeinschaft in Russland.

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, X, 795, 884, 886.

Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Générale, IX, 417, 622; X, 472.

 

III. AGRARIAN MOVEMENT — ENGLAND

General Agricultural Conditions

*Prothero, R. E., English Farming Past and Present, 148-189, 207-252, 290-315.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850, 473-528.

Curtler, Short History of English Agriculture, 190-270.

Garnier, English Landed Interests.

Levy, H., Large and Small Holdings (1911 transl.), 3-54.

Levy, Entstehung und Rückgang des landwirtschaftlichen Grossbetriebs in England.

Parliamentary Reports: 1816, Committee on Mendicity and Vagrancy; 1821, IX, Committee on Agriculture; 1822, V, Committee on Agricultural Distress.

Smart, Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century, 1801-20, chs. vi, xx, xxii.; 1821-30, chs. i, v, x, xii.

Young, A., Tour through the Southern Counties (1768).

 

The Small Holder

Broderick, English Land and English Landlords, 65-240.

Colman, European Agriculture (2d ed.), I, 10-109, 133-174.

Green, F. E., The Small Holding.

Hasbach, History of the English Agricultural Labourer, 71-147.

Johnson, A. H., Disappearance of the Small Land Holder in England, 7-17, 107-164.

Prothero, R. E., English Farming, Past and Present, 190-206.

Taylor, Decline of the Land-owning Farmers in England, 1-61.

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, X, 884-885.

Garnier, English Landed Interests, II, 536, 553.

Levy, H., Large and Small Holdings, 230-235.

Traill, ed., Social England, V, 513; VI, 110.

 

III. AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION AND RECENT AGRARIAN HISTORY

England and Ireland

*Prothero, R. E., English Farming Past and Present, 316-331, 346-418.

Adams, “Small Holding in the United Kingdom,” Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, 412-437.

Arch, Autobiography, 65-144, 300-345.

Barker, E., Ireland in the Last Fifty Years, 69-141.

Bastable, “Economic Movement in Ireland,” Econ. Jour., XI, 31-42.

Besse, P., L’Agriculture en Angleterre de 1875 à nos jours.

Caird, in Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 129-153.

Caird, English Agriculture in 1850.

Curtler, Short History of English Agriculture, 271-322.

Curtis, C. E., and Gordon, Handbook upon Agricultural Tenancies.

Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, Report on Agricultural Credit in Ireland (1915).

Gray, H. L., War Time Control of Industry, 249-269, “Agriculture.”

Green, F. E., History of the English Agricultural Labourer, 1870-1920.

Haggard, Rural England, II, 536-576.

Hasbach, English Agricultural Labourer, 274-353.

Herrick, M. T., Rural Credits, 148-160.

Levy, H., Large and Small Holdings, 55-213.

Parliamentary Tariff Commission, III, Report of the Agricultural Committee, 1906.

Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (ed. 1905), 175-209.

Royal Commission of 1897, Report on Agricultural Depression, 6-87.

Thompson, “Rent of Agricultural Land in England and Wales,” Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1907, 587-611.

Turner, E. R., Ireland and England, 188-225.

 

Other Countries

Brentano, Die deutschen Getreidezölle (ed. 1911).

Chlapowski, Belgische Landwirtschaft.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 226-293.

Ely, R. T., “Russian Land Reform,” Am. Econ. Rev., VI, 61-68.

Goulier, Commerce du Blé en France.

Haggard, Rural Denmark and its Lessons.

Herrick, M. T., Rural Credits, 34-147, 161-186.

Imbart de la Tour, Le Crise Agricole, 24-34, 127-223.

King and Okey, Italy To-day, 156-192.

Mavor, Economic History of Russia, II, 251-357.

Méline, J., Return to the Land, 83-144, 185-240.

Morman, J. B., Principles of Rural Credits, 3-141.

Rowntree, Land and Labour, Lessons from Belgium.

Simkhovitch, “Agrarian Movement in Russia,” Yale Rev., XVI, 9-38.

Wallace, D. M., Russia.

 

Bibliographies

Besse, P., L’Agriculture en Angleterre.

Cambridge Modern History, XII, 856-862, 866-867, 872-873.

Levy, Large and Small Holdings, 235-242.

Traill, ed., Social England, VI, 452.

 

V. THE FREE TRADE MOVEMENT — ENGLAND

*Armitage-Smith, G., Free Trade and its Results, (ed. 1898), 39-60, 130-163.

*Morley, Life of Cobden, chs. vi, vii, xvi.

Ashworth, Recollections of Cobden and the League, 32-64, 296-392.

Cambridge Modern History, XI, 1-21.

Cheyney, Readings in English History, 702-716.

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, 27-99.

Curtler, Short History of English Agriculture, 271-293.

Day, History of Commerce, 354-372.

Levi, History of British Commerce, 218-227, 261-272, 292- 303; in Rand, 207-241.

McCulloch, J. R., Dictionary of Commerce (ed. 1850), 411-449, 1272-1289.

Mongredien, History of the Free Trade Movement.

Morley, Life of Gladstone, I, 247-303, 443-476; II, 18-69.

Nicholson, J. S., History of the English Corn Laws.

Northcote, Twenty Years of Financial Policy.

Parker, Sir Robert Peel from his Private Letters, II, 522-559; III, 220-252.

Parliamentary Reports: 1840, Committee on Import Duties; 1843-1845, Commission on the Health of Towns; 1842-1843, 1863-1868, Committees on Employment of Children, Young Persons, and Women in Mines, Manufactures, and Agriculture.

Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, I, 49-77.

Schulze-Gaevernitz, Britischer Imperialismus, 243-375.

Tooke, History of Prices, 1839-1847, V, 391-457.

Trevelyan, G. M., Life of John Bright, 45-153.

 

Bibliographies

Arnauné, Le Commerce Extérieur, 199-226, notes.

Cambridge Modern History, X, 868-870; XI, 869, 871-872.

Cannon, References for English History, 423-424.

Morley, Life of Cobden (ed. 1908), II, 495-504.

N. Y. State Library, Bulletin, May, 1902, “Bibliography of the Corn Laws.”

 

VI. TARIFF HISTORY — CONTINENT

General Reading

*Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (ed. 1910), 3-73, 359-372.

Bastable, Commerce of Nations.

Day, History of Commerce, 342-352, 391-417.

Fisk, G. W., “Middle European Tariff Union” (Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, November-December, 1902).

 

Germany

*Bowring, “Report on Prussian Commercial Union,” Parl. Doc., 1840, in Rand, Selections, 170-196.

Bigelow, P., German Struggle for Liberty, III, ch. 17.

Dawson, W. H., Protection in Germany.

Lang, Hundert Jahre Zollpolitik, 168-230.

Weber, W., Der Deutsche Zollverein.

Worms, L’Allemagne Économique, 57-393.

 

France

Amé, Les Tarifs de Douanes, I, 21-34, 219-316.

Arnauné, Le Commerce Extérieur et les Tarifs de Douane, 90-269.

Meredith, H. O., Protection in France.

Morley, Life of Cobden, ch. xxix.

Perigot, Histoire du Commerce Français, 77-185.

 

Bibliographies

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (ed. 1910), 165-166, 437-438.

Cambridge Modern History, X, 832; XI, 878.

Lavisse et Rambud, Histoire Générale, X, 472, 668.

 

VII. RECENT TARIFF HISTORY

Return to Protection; France and Germany

*U. S. Tariff Commission, Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties, 461-510.

Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (ed. 1910), 80-121, 145-154, 373-436.

Arnauné, Le Commerce Extérieur, 247-350.

Dawson, Protection in Germany, 26-160.

Dijol, La France sous la Régime Protectionniste de 1892.

Meredith, Protection in France, 54-129.

Zimmermann, Deutsche Handelspolitik, 218-314.

 

English Controversy; Imperial Federation

*Ashley, W. J., Tariff Problem, 114-167.

Armitage-Smith, Free Trade Movement and its Results, 188-203.

Balfour, Economic Notes in Insular Free Trade, 1-32; Fiscal Reform, 71-95, 97-113, 266-280.

Caillard, V. H. P., Imperial Fiscal Reform.

Chamberlain, Imperial Union and Tariff Reform, 19-44.

Coates, G., Tariff Reform Employment and Imperial Unity.

Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement, 100-168.

Drage, G., Imperial Organization of Trade.

Marshall, Fiscal Policy of International Trade, 30-82.

Pigou, Protective and Preferential Import Duties, 1-117. (See also his Riddle of the Tariff, 1-107.)

Root, J. W., Trade Relations of British Empire.

Smart, Return to Protection, 27-44, 136-185.

Tariff Reform League, Speakers’ Handbook.

 

Bibliographies

U. S. Library of Congress, Foreign Tariffs (1906); British Tariff Movement (1904).

Cambridge Modern History, XI, 878, 969; XII, 872.

Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Générale, XII, 788.

 

VIII. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING

England

*Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century, (ed. 1905), 55-96, 141-147.

*Grosvenor, G. M., Government Aid to Merchant Shipping, 45-61, 75-86, 135-165.

Bourne, S., Trade, Population, and Food.

Cornewall-Jones, British Merchant Service, 252-260, 306-317.

Ginsburg,”British Shipping,” in Ashley, British Industries, 173-195.

Glover, “Tonnage Statistics of the Decade, 1891-1900,” Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1902, 1-41.

Kirkaldy, British Shipping: its History, Organization, and Importance.

Lindsay, Merchant Shipping, IV.

Meeker, History of Shipping Subsidies, 1-67, 79-95.

Porter, Progress of the Nation (Hirst, ed.), 473-546.

Root, “British Shipping Subsidies,” Atlantic Monthly, LXXXV, 385-394 (1900).

Root, J. W., Trade Relations of the British Empire.

Smith, J. Russell, Influence of the Great War on Shipping, 153-184, 244-265.

Smith, J. R., The Ocean Carrier.

Taylor, “British Merchant Marine,” Forum, XXX, 463-477 (1900-1901).

U- S. Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries (1909).

Ward, T. H., Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 111-118.

 

Other Countries

Arnauné, Le Commerce Extérieur, 425-460.

Austin, O. P., Effects of the War on World Trade and Industry.

Bracq, J. C., France under the Republic, ch. 3.

Charles-Roux, L’Isthme et le Canal de Suez, II, 287-339.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 65-74.

Hauser, H., Germany’s Commercial Grip on the World.

Le Roux de Bretagne, Les Primes à la Marine Marchande, 93-224.

Marx, A., Französische Handelsgesetzgebung.

Snow, C. D., Germany’s Foreign Trade Organization (U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, miscellaneous series, no. 57).

Von Halle, Volks-und Seewirtschaft, 136-219.

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, XII, 872-873.

Day, History of Commerce, 380, 398, 407-408, 417.

Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Générale, X, 472.

Van der Borght, Handel und Handelspolitik.

 

IX. TRANSPORTATION — PRIVATE OWNERSHIP

*Cunningham, W. J., “Characteristics of British Railways,” New Eng. R.R. Club, 8-60.

*Hadley, Railroad Transportation, 187-202.

*Raper, Railway Transportation, 14-60.

 

General Reading

Hendrick, Railway Control by Commissions, chs. ii, vii.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, 322-334.

Parliamentary Papers, Reports of Board of Trade Railway Conference: 1909, Germany, Austria, and Hungary; 1910, Belgium, France, and Italy.

Sterne, “Railway Systems in Europe,” U. S. Sen. Misc. Doc., 66, II, 1886-1887.

U. S. Industrial Commission, Report, IX, 946-949, 955-957.

 

England

Acworth, Railways of England, 1-56.

Acworth, Elements of Railway Economics, 61-74, 131-159.

Cohn, G., Englische Eisenbahnpolitik.

Dixon, F. H., and Parmelee, War Administration of the Railroads in the United States and Great Britain, 71-127.

Edwards, “Railways and the Trade of Great Britain,” Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1908, 102-131.

Evans, A. D., “British Railways and Goods Traffic,” Econ. Jour., 1905, 37-46.

Forbes and Ashford, Our Waterways, 107-177, 215-252.

Francis, J., History of the English Railway.

Gordon, W. J., Our Railways.

Gray, H. L., War Time Control of Industry, 1-13, “The Railways.”

Grindling, “British Railways as Business Enterprises,” in Ashley, British Industries, 151-172.

Jackman, W. T., The Development of Transportation in Modern England, particularly II.

Johnson and Van Metre, Principles of Railroad Transportation, 385-414.

McDermott, Railways, 1-149.

McLean, “English Railway and Canal Commission of 1888,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XX, 1-55 (1905); also in Ripley, Railway Problems, 602-649 (ed. 1907).

Moulton, Waterways versus Railways, 98-169.

Porter, Progress of the Nation (ed. 1851), 287-339.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, 1-184.

Protheroe, E., The Railways of the World, 1-528.

Stephens, E. C., English Railways; their Development and their Relation to the State.

Thompson, H. G., Canal System of England, 1-73.

Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 83-129.

France

Buckler, “Railway Regulation in France,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XX, 279-286 (1906); also in Ripley, Railway Problems, 652-659 (ed. 1907).

Colson, Legislation des Chemins de Fer, 3-20, 133-182.

Colson, Railway Rates and Traffic, 53-111.

Guillamot, L’Organisation des Chemins de Fer, 82-120.

Kaufmann, Die Eisenbahnpolitik Frankreichs, II, 178-284.

Leon, Fleuves, Canaux, et Chemins de Fer, 1-156.

Lucas, F., Voies de Communication de la France.

Monkswell, French Railways.

Picard, A., Traité des Chemins de Fer, 5 vols.

Raper, Railway Transportation, 61-101.

 

Bibliographies

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, 146-202, notes.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, 334.

Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Générale, X, 472; XI, 876-877.

U. S. Library of Congress, Government Regulation of Railways in Foreign Countries (1905-1907).

 

X. TRANSPORTATION — STATE OWNERSHIP

General Reading

*Raper, Railway Transportation, 278-305.

Acworth, W. M., Historical Sketch of Government Ownership of Railways in Foreign Countries.

Acworth, “Relation of Railways to the State,” Econ. Jour., 1908, 501-519.

Archiv fur Eisenbahnwesen. (Best general periodical for all aspects of continental railway problems and history.)

Dunn, Government Ownership of Railways, 14-36.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, 236-258.

Jevons, The Railways and the State.

Johnson, American Railway Transportation, 336-348.

McPherson, L. G., Transportation in Europe, 149-175.

Pratt, Railways and their Rates, 185-236; Railways and Nationalization, 1-120, 253-293.

 

Germany

*Cunningham, “Administration of the State Railways of Prussia-Hesse,” Proceedings N. Y. Railroad Club, XXIII, 3124-3127, 3146-3155.

*Raper, Railway Transportation, 134-177.

Cohn, G., “State Railway Administration in Prussia,” Jour. Pol. Econ., I, 172-192.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, ch. xi.

Johnson and Van Metre, Principles of Railroad Transportation, 415-434.

Lotz, Verkehrsentwicklung in Deutschland, 2-47, 96-142.

Lenshau, Deutsche Wasserstrassen, 9-56, 95-161.

Mayer, Geschichte und Geographie der deutschen Eisenbahnen, 3-41.

Meyer, B. H.,”Railroad Ownership in Germany, Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Sci., X, 399-421, also in Ripley’s Railway Problems (ed. 1913), 803-825.

Meyer, H. R., Government Regulation of Railway Rates, 3-33, 69-92.

Moulton, Waterways versus Railways, 170-323.

 

Other Countries

*Holcombe, A. N., “The First Decade of the Swiss Federal Railways,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XXVI, 341-362.

Cucheval-Clarigny, “Les Chemins de Fer Italiens,” Rev. des Deux Mondes, July 1, 15, 1884.

Hadley, Railroad Transportation, 203-235.

Peschaud, “Belgian State Railways,” in Pratt, State Railways, 57-107.

Raper, Railway Transportation, 102-133.

Tajani, “Railway Situation in Italy,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XXIII, 618-651.

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, XII, 872-873, 883-884.

U. S. Library of Congress, Government Ownership of Railroads; Railroads in Foreign Countries.

 

XI. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT: ENGLAND

*Ashley, W. J., British Industries, 2-38.

*Clapham, J. H., Woollen and Worsted Industry, 1-24, 125-173.

Ashley, W. J., Adjustment of Wages, 185-229, 268-311.

Chapman, S. J., The Lancashire Cotton Industry.

Cox, British Industries under Free Trade, 2-84, 142-175, 235-276.

Gray, H. L., War Time Control of Industry, 61-100, “The Coal Mines.”

Great Britain: Coal Industry Commission (1919), Interim Report and Final Report (“Sankey Report”).

Great Britain: Final Report of the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy after the War, Parl. Doc. 9035 (1918).

Helm, E., “Survey of the Cotton Industry,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XVII, 417-437.

Jeans, J. S., Iron Trade of Great Britain, 1-72, 100-111.

Jevons, H. S., The British Coal Trade.

Jones, J. H., The Tinplate Industry.

Lloyd, Cutlery Trades, 30-63, 171-208.

Macrosty, Trusts and the State.

Marshall, A., Industry and Trade, 32-106.

Pollock, Shipbuilding Industry.

Porter, Progress of the Nation (Hirst, ed.), 213-432.

Schoenhof, History of Money and Prices, 148-173, 215-323.

Spicer, A. D., Paper Trade.

U. S. Dept. Commerce and Labor, English Cotton Industry (1907); British Iron and Steel Industry (1909).

Ward, ed., Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 153-196 (Slagg, Cotton Trade); II, 197-238 (Bell, Iron Trade).

 

XII. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CONTINENT

General Reading

*Copeland, Cotton Manufacturing Industry, 275-332.

Beck, Die Geschichte des Eisens.

Brauns, Samt- und Seiden Industrie.

Marshall, A., Industry and Trade, 107-139.

Schultze, Die Entwicklung der chemischen Industrie.

U. S. Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Special Agents Series, 1909-13; continued in publications of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

 

Germany

*Helfferich, Germany’s Economic Progress, 1888-1913, 13-85.

Barker, J. E., Modern Germany.

Berglund, A., “The Iron Ore Problem of Lorraine,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XXXIII, 531-554.

Blondel, L’essor industriel et commercial du peuple allemande (3d ed.), 1-114, 272-412.

Dehn, R. M. P., The German Cotton Industry.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 37-65.

Farrington, F. E., Commercial Education in Germany.

Von Halle, “Die deutsche Volkswirthschaft an der Jahrhundertwende,” Volks- und Seewirthschaft, 13-219.

Haskins and Lord, Some Problems of the Peace Conference, 117-152, “The Rhine and the Saar.”

Hauser, Germany’s Commercial Grip on the World; also Les Méthodes Allemandes d’Expansion Économique.

Howard, Recent Industrial Progress in Germany, 51-109.

Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 56-251.

Laughlin, J. L., Credit of the Nations, 1-38.

Schumacher, H., Die westdeutsche Eisenindustrie.

Sombart, Die deutsche Volkswirthschaft im neunzehnten Jahrhundert.

Sombart, “Industrial Progress of Germany,” Yale Rev., XIV, 6-17, 134-154.

Williams, E. E., “Made in Germany.”

Wolfe, A. J., Commercial Organization in Germany (U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Sp. Ag. Ser. No. 98).

 

Other Countries

Aftalion, Le Développement de la Fabrique dans les Industries de l’Habillement.

Fischer, Italien und die Italiener (ed. 1901), 240-267.

The Industries of Russia, prepared by Department of Trade and Manufactures, Ministry of Finance, St. Petersburg, for the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.

Kennard, The Russian Year Book (1911- ).

La Belgique, 1830-1905, 397-617.

Levasseur, Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France sous la troisième République, 27-166.

Machat, Le Développement Économique de la Russie, 157-229.

Raffalovich, Russia: its Trade and Commerce.

U. S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Russia: A Handbook of Commercial and Industrial Conditions, (U. S. Consular Report, No. 61, 1913).

Wolfe, A. J., Commercial Organization in France (U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Sp. Ag. Ser., No. 98).

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, XI, 931; XII, 866, 872, 883, 903, 960.

Howard, Industrial Progress in Germany, x-xiii.

U. S. Library of Congress, Iron and Steel in Commerce (1907).

 

XIII. INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION

*British Ministry of Reconstruction, Report of Committee on Trusts (1919), 15-30.

*Marshall, A., Industry and Trade, 544-635.

Baumgarten und Meszleny, Kartelle und Trusts, 83-152.

Brodnitz, “Betreibskonzentration in der englischen Industrie,” Jahrb. fur Nat. Oek., 1908-1909, XC, 173-218; XCII, 51-86, 145-184.

Carter, G. R., The Tendency toward Industrial Combination.

Chastin, Les Trusts et les Syndicats, 13-127.

Davies, J. E., Trust Laws and Unfair Competition, 529-662.

Deutsches Kartell-Jahrbuch.

Hauser, “La Syndicalisation Obligatoire en Allemagne,” Revue d’Économie Politique, XXXII, 230-265.

Kartell Rundschau.

Liefmann, Kartelle und Trusts (ed. 1910).

Liefmann, Beteiligungs- und Finanzierungsgesellschaften.

Liefmann, R., Die Kartelle in und nach dem Kriege.

Macrosty, Trust Movement in British Industry, 24-56, 81-84, 117-154, 284-307, 329-345.

Macrosty, “Trust Movement in Great Britain,” in Ashley, British Industries, 196-232.

Notz, W., “Kartels during the War,” Jour. Pol. Econ., XXVII, 1-38.

Passama, Formes Nouvelles de Concentration, 1-171.

Paul, L., Histoire du Mouvement Syndical en France (1789-1910).

Tosdal, ” Kartell Movement in the German Potash Industry,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XXVIII, 140-180.

Tosdal, “The German Steel Syndicate,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XXXI. 259-306.

Tschierschky, Kartelle und Trusts.

U. S. Industrial Commission, Report, XVIII, 7-13, 75-88, 101-122, 143-165.

U. S. Federal Trade Commission, Report on Coöperation in the American Export Trade, I, 98-127, 272-279, 285-292.

Utsch, Kartelle und Arbeiter.

Walker, Combinations in the German Coal Industry, 38-111, 175-289, 322-327.

Walker, “German Steel Syndicate,” Quar. Jour. Econ., XX, 353-398.

 

Bibliographies

Cambridge Modern History, XII, 960-961.

Carter, G. R., The Tendency toward Industrial Combination, xi-xv.

Chastin, Les Trusts, 13-127, notes.

Liefmann, Beteiligungs- und Finanzierungsgesellschaften, ix-x.

Passama, Formes Nouvelles de Concentration, xxi-xxiii.

 

XIV. BANKING AND FINANCE IN RELATION TO INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

*Hobson, C. K., Export of Capital, 95-163.

*Riesser, The German Great Banks and their Concentration, 703-750.

Andréadès, History of the Bank of England, 331-369, 381-388.

Bastable, Public Finance (3d ed.), 629-657.

Bagehot, Lombard Street (ed. 1910).

Burrell, “Historical Survey of the Position Occupied by the Bank of England,” etc., Journal of the Institute of Bankers, XXXVI (1915), 405-425.

Dunbar, History and Theory of Banking (ed. 1917), 132-219.

Giffen, Economic Inquiries, I, 75-97, 121-228.

Giffen, Growth of Capital, 115-134.

Huth, W., Die Entwickelung der deutschen und französischen Grossbanken.

Jevons, Investigations in Currency and Finance, 34-92.

Juglar, Crises Commerciales.

Liesse, Credit and Banks in France (in Nat. Mon. Com. Reports).

McLeod, Theory and Practice of Banking (4th ed.), I, 433-540; II, 1-197.

Patron, Bank of France (in Nat. Mon. Com. Reports).

Powell, E. T., The Evolution of the Money Market, 243-705.

Van Antwerp, The Stock Exchange from Within, 323-412.

Vidal, History and Methods of the Paris Bourse (in Nat. Mon. Com. Reports).

Warburg, P. M., The Discount System in Europe (in Nat. Mon. Com. Reports).

Withers, Meaning of Money, 85-106, 138-172.

Withers, War Time Financial Problems, 15-30, 76-90, 163-179.

 

 

XV. LABOR PROBLEMS

General Reading

*Cole, G. D. H., World of Labor, 101-127.

*Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 106-134 [135-169].

*Hammond, M. B., British Labor Conditions and Legislation during the War, 3-21.

*Webb, “Social Movements,” in Cambridge Modern History, XII, 730-765.

Ashley, W. J., German Working Classes, 1-141.

Board of Trade Report, 1909, Cost of Living of the Working Classes in the United Kingdom, Germany, France.

Board of Trade Report, 1911, Cost of Living of the Working Classes in American Towns (comparisons with English conditions).

Booth, Life and Labor of the People in London.

Bowley, Wages in the United Kingdom, 22-57, 81-127.

Cole, “Recent Development in the British Labor Movement,” Am. Econ. Rev., VIII, 485-505.

Cole, G. D. H., The World of Labor.

Dawson, German Workman, 1-245.

Engels, Condition of the Working Class in 1844.

Gray, H. L., War Time Control of Industry, 14-60, “Munitions and Labor.”

Hammond, J. L., and Barbara, The Village Labourer (1760-1832); The Town Labourer (1760-1832); The Skilled Labourer (1760-1832).

Hammond, M. B., British Labor Conditions and Legislation during the War (passim).

Hayes, C., British Social Politics.

Herkner, Arbeiterfrage.

Hutchins, Women in Industry (ed. 1920).

Kirkup, History of Socialism.

Lecky, Democracy and Liberty, II, 224-503.

Levasseur, Questions Ouvrières et Industrielles en France, 523-600.

Macrosty, Trusts and the State (passim).

Nicholls, G., History of the English Poor Law, II, chs. xi-xii; III (supplementary vol., 1834-1898, by Thos. Mackay).

Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages (one vol. ed., 1884), 468-575.

Schloss, Methods of Industrial Remuneration.

Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency (ed. 1906), II, 307-350; or in ed. 1909, 533-568.

U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 15th Ann. Report (1900), Wages in Commercial Countries.

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 237, Industrial Unrest in Great Britain.

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, April, 1918, 63-83, “Social Reconstruction Program of the British Labor Party.”

U. S. Commission of Labor, 21st Annual Report (1906), Strikes and Lockouts, 775-916.

Wallas, G., Life of Francis Place, ch. viii.

Ward, ed., Reign of Queen Victoria, II, 43-83 (Mundella and Howell, Industrial Association).

Webb, English Poor Law Policy.

Wood, “Real Wages since 1860,” Roy. Stat. Soc. Jour., 1909, 91-101.

 

Labor Organizations

Ashley, Adjustment of Wages, 160-183.

Kulemann, Die Gewerkschaftsbewegung.

Levasseur, Questions Ouvrières et Industrielles en France sous la Troisième République, 642-741.

Levine, Labor Movement in France.

Webb, S. and B., History of Trade Unionism (ed. 1920).

Webb, Industrial Democracy.

 

Factory Legislation

Barrault, La Réglementation du Travail à Domicile en Angleterre.

Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation.

Hutchins and Harrison, History of Factory Legislation (ed. 1911).

Pic, Traité Élémentaire de Législation Industrielle (ed. 1912).

Plener, English Factory Legislation.

Taylor, R. W. C., Factory System and Factory Acts.

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 146, Administration of Labor Laws and Factory Inspection in Certain European Countries.

 

Coöperation and Profit-sharing

Aves, E., Coöperative Industry.

Corréard, J., Des Sociétés coopératives.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, 294-307.

Fay, C. R., Cooperation at Home and Abroad (ed. 1920).

Herrick, M. T., Rural Credits, 247-455.

Holyoake, Cooperation in England (ed. 1908), I, 32-162; II, 361-396.

Maxwell, W., History of Cooperation in Scotland, 43-114.

Potter, B. (Mrs. Webb), Cooperative Movement in Great Britain.

Report of U. S. Commission to investigate and study agricultural credit and coöperation in Europe (1914): 63d Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Doc. 380.

Valleroux, La Coopération.

(See also topic no. IV of this list)

 

Workingmen’s Insurance and Unemployment

Beveridge, Unemployment.

Dawson, Social Insurance in Germany.

Frankel and Dawson, Workingmen’s Insurance in Europe.

Gibbon, I. G., Unemployment Insurance.

Willoughby, Workingmen’s Insurance, 29-87.

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 206, The British System of Labor Exchanges.

 

Population and Emigration

Bullock, Selected Readings in Economics, 255-286.

Dawson, Evolution of Modern Germany, chs. xvi, xvii.

Duval, Histoire de L’Émigration au XIXe Siècle.

Foerster, R. F., Italian Emigration of Our Times, 3-202, 415-525.

Godwin, Wm., Of Population.

Gonnard, L’Émigration Européenne au XIXe Siècle.

Leroy-Beaulieu, P., La Question de la Population.

Leroy-Beaulieu, P., De la Colonisation chez les Peuples Modernes, II, 435-522.

Malthus, Essay on Population.

Nitti, Population and the Social System.

Philippovich, “Auswanderung und Auswanderungspolitik in Deutschland,” in Schriften des Vereins für Socialpolitik, LII bd.

Wakefield, E. G., The Art of Colonization.

 

Bibliographies

Adams and Sumner, Labor Problems, references.

Cambridge Modern History, XII, 960-966.

Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, 465-488.

Frankel and Dawson, Workingmen’s Insurance, 435-443.

Gibbon, Unemployment Insurance, 337-342.

Harvard University, Dept. of Social Ethics, Guide to Reading in Social Ethics, 68-163, 183-209.

Hutchins and Harrison, Factory Legislation, 279-284.

Ogg, Economic Development of Modern Europe, at the end of chs. xvi-xx, inclusive.

Taylor, F. I., Bibliography of Unemployment.

Webb, Trade Unionism (ed. 1911), 499-543.

Webb, Industrial Democracy, 879-900.

Wright, Practical Sociology, references.

 

Image Source: Edwin Francis Gay and Edmund E. Lincoln from Harvard Class Album 1920.

Categories
Courses Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus for Money, Banking & Commercial Crises. Anderson, 1917-18.

Benjamin McAlester Anderson (1886-1949) was awarded a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in 1911. His dissertation, Social Value–A Study in Economic Theory Critical and Constructive was published in the Hart, Schaffer & Marx Prize Essays series. From 1913-18 he held the rank of Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Today I post his syllabus for the course “Money, Banking and Commercial Crises” from 1917-18 that is wonderfully detailed  both with respect to topics and detailed reading assignments. The final examination questions for the second-term of the two-term course have been transcribed and posted too. I have included Anderson’s c.v. as of the publication of his dissertation in November, 1911 below. I’ll next post the University of California’s brief biography of Anderson published in its “In Memoriam” series.

_______________________

VITA
[Benjamin M. Anderson 1911]

The author was born in Columbia, Missouri, May 1, 1886. He was prepared for college in the high
school in Columbia, and attended the State University of Missouri, receiving the A. B. degree from that institution in 1906. His work in economics at Missouri was chiefly with Professor J. E. Pope. He was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Missouri, in 1905. He filled a temporary vacancy in the chair of history at the State Normal School in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, during the summer session of 1905. He was Professor of Political Economy at Missouri Valley College, Marshall, Missouri, 1906-7, and from 1907 to 1911 was Head of the Department of History and Political Economy in the State Normal School at Springfield, Missouri, though on leave of absence during the years 1909-10 and 1910-11. He was Fellow in Economics at the University of Illinois during the term 1909-10, working in the seminars of Dean Kinley and Professor E. L. Bogart, and, in philosophy, in the seminar of Professor B. H. Bode. He received the A. M. degree at Illinois in 1910. As Garth Fellow in Political Economy at Columbia University, 1910-11, he studied under Professors Seligman, Seager, H. L. Moore, Giddings and John Dewey, doing seminar work with Professors Seligman, Seager and Giddings. He was appointed in 1911 Instructor in Political Economy at Columbia University. In May, 1909, he was married to Miss Margaret Louise Crenshaw, at St. Louis, Mo.

Source: Benjamin M. Anderson, Social Value–A Study in Economic Theory Critical and Constructive, p. i.

_______________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Anderson, assisted by Mr. Laporte.—Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises.

Total 38: 13 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 6 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1917-18, p. 54.

_______________________

 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1917-18

SYLLABUS FOR ECONOMICS 3

(Money, Banking, and Commercial Crises)
Assistant Professor Anderson

Required reading is marked with an asterisk

 

Part I. MONEY

  1. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS.
    1. Definitions: money; specie; currency, etc.
    2. Origin of money; origin of gold and silver money; gold as a commodity.
    3. Functions of money; common measure of values; medium of exchange; legal tender; standard of deferred payments; store of value; bearer of options; reserve for credit operations.
    4. Standard and subsidiary money; Gresham’s law and monometallism; the gold standard.
    5. Value of money: preliminary statement.

Reading.

Anderson, Value of Money, pp. 397-427.*
Phillips, Readings in Money and Banking, pp. 1-26.*
Moulton, Money and Banking, Pt. I, pp. 45-62.*
Laughlin, Principles of Money, passim.
Menger, art. “Geld” in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften.

  1. GOVERNMENT PAPER MONEY.
    1. Colonial and Revolutionary Paper Money.
    2. The French Assignats.
    3. The Greenbacks.
    4. Causes governing the value of inconvertible paper.
      1. Gold premium and index numbers.
    5. Financial results of inconvertible paper.
    6. Social and industrial consequences of inconvertible papers.

Reading.

Moulton, Pt. I, pp. 134-162; 168 (chart); 178-209, 260-66.*
Horace White, Money and Banking, chs. on Revolutionary Bills of Credit, and Greenbacks.*
Phillips, pp. 26-70, 115-120.*
Mitchell, W. C., History of the Greenbacks, and Gold, Wages and Prices under the Greenback Standard.

  1. THE STANDARD QUESTION.
    1. Early history of metallic money.
    2. History of bimetallism.
      1. Mediaeval and early modern times.
      2. England
      3. France
      4. United States.
    3. Theory of bimetallism:
      1. Theory of the ratio:
        1. Gresham’s Law.
        2. The compensatory principle.
      2. The standard of deferred payments: justice between debtor and creditor:
        1. Index numbers: of commodity prices; of wages.
        2. The commodity standard upheld by bimetallists.
        3. The labor standard by monometallists.
      3. Theory of exchanges between gold and silver countries.
    4. The monetary system of the United States.

Reading.

Phillips, Chs. VI and VII.*
Moulton, Pt. I, pp. 66-68, Chs. IV, VI, and VIII.*

    1. The gold exchange standard, and the triumph of the gold standard.
      1. India.
      2. Philippines.
      3. Mexico.
      4. Straits Settlement.
      5. Gold standard in 1914.

Reading.

Phillips, Chs. XII and XIV.*
Kemmerer, Modern Currency Reforms.

  1. THE VALUE OF MONEY.
    1. Economic Value.

Reading.

Anderson, Ch. I.

    1. Must the value of money rest on a commodity basis? Quantity theory doctrine that inconvertible paper may be sustained in value by limitation in supply.
    2. The quantity theory v. Gresham’s Law.

Reading.

Anderson, Chs. VII and XVII.
Fisher, Purchasing Power of Money, pp. 14-32.*

  1. STABILIZING THE GOLD DOLLAR.

Reading.

Moulton, Pt. I, pp. 258-60; 266-71.*
Phillips, Ch. XIII.*

PART II. CREDIT AND BANKING

  1. NATURE OF CREDIT.
    1. Kinds of credit instruments.
    2. Definitions of credit.
    3. Bank-credit—analysis of bank statement.
    4. The mechanism of the modern bank.

Reading.

Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 12-37.*
Anderson, Ch. XXIII.*
Dunbar, Theory and History of Banking, Chs. I-V.*
Fiske, The Modern Bank, pp. 25-260, omitting Chs. XXI, XXVIII, XXX.*
Horace White, ch. on Bank Statement.*

    1. The use of checks in payments in the United States.

Reading.

Phillips, pp. 150-58.*
Kinley, The Use of Credit Instruments in Payments in the United States, National Monetary Commission Report.

    1. The volume of money and credit and the volume of trade,—trade and speculation.

Reading.

Anderson, Ch. XIII.*

  1. BANK-NOTES AND BANK DEPOSITS: “CURRENCY SCHOOL” v. “BANKING SCHOOL.”
    1. Currency School and the quantity theory.
    2. Essential identity of notes and deposits under “assets banking.”
    3. Systems of bank-note issue: Suffolk system; Canada; England; France; Germany; Austria; United States national banking system.

Reading.

Anderson, Ch. XIV.*
Mill, J. S., Principles of Political Economy, Bk. III, Ch. XXIV, pars. 1 and 2.*
Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 225-58.*
Conant, Modern Banks of Issue, passim.

  1. THE ENGLISH BANKING SYSTEM.
    1. History.
    2. Analysis of present system in London: Bank of England; Joint Stock Banks; branches of foreign banks; discount houses; acceptance houses; bill brokers; Stock Exchange; commodity speculation; warehousing system and commission houses; insurance; foreign exchange.

Reading.

Withers and Palgrave, English Banking System, National Monetary Commission Report, pp. 3-110.*
Phillips, pp. 435-442; 464-473.*
Withers, The Meaning of Money.
Bagehot, Lombard Street.
Conant, Modern Banks of Issue.

  1. FOREIGN EXCHANGE.

Reading.

Escher, Foreign Exchange.*
Anderson, Ch. XVI, and Appendix to Ch. XIII.*
Weekly article in Annalist on foreign exchange market.

  1. SPECULATION ON THE STOCK AND PRODUCE EXCHANGES.
    1. Theory of speculation.
    2. The New York Stock Exchange.
      1. Methods of doing business.
      2. Contrasted with London, Paris, and Berlin exchanges.
    3. Investment bankers and underwriters.
    4. Chicago Board of Trade; New York Cotton Exchange.

Reading.

Emery, Speculation on the Stock and Produce Exchanges.
Pratt, Work of Wall Street.
Van Antwerp, The Stock Exchange from Within.
Passages to be assigned.
Weekly articles in Annalist on stock and bond markets.

  1. “COMMERCIAL BANKING” AND SPECULATION; BANK ASSETS AND BANK RESERVES.

Reading.

Fisher, Purchasing Power of Money, pp. 47-54.*
Anderson, Ch. XXIV, and pp. 363-81, and 177-85.
Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 66-89.*

  1. CLEARING HOUSES.
    1. Methods.
    2. Extraordinary functions.
    3. The interpretation of “clearings.”

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XIX.

  1. THE “MONEY MARKET.”
    1. “Money” v. money.
    2. “Money rates” v. interest rates.
    3. Analysis of causes governing money rates:
      1. General causes.
      2. Causes affecting special types of “paper.”

Reading.

Scott, W. A., Money and Banking, ch. on “Money Market.”* (1910 or later editions.)
Anderson, pp. 375-79; 425-32; 453-58;495-97; 516-27; 529-44.*
Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 120-136.*
Weekly article on “Money” in the Annalist.

  1. BANKING IN GERMANY.

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXV.*

  1. BANKING IN CANADA.

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXI.*

  1. BANKING IN FRANCE.

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXIV.*

  1. BANKING IN THE UNITED STATES.
    1. Before the Civil War.
      1. The two National Banks.
      2. State and private banks.
    2. Origin of the national banking system.
    3. State banks and trust companies; private banks; savings banks, etc.
    4. Comparative growth and present status of different classes of institutions. Geographical distribution.

Reading.

Horace White, Chs. on First and Second National banks, The Bank War, The Suffolk Bank System, The Safety Fund System, The Free Bank System, The National Bank System.*
Phillips, Chs. XV and XX.*
Barnett, State Banks and Trust Companies.

 

PART III. CRISES AND PANICS

  1. THEORY OF CRISES.
  2. FINANCIAL PANICS.

Reading.

Phillips, pp. 644-71.*

  1. HISTORY OF CRISES UNDER THE NATIONAL BANKING ACT.

Reading.

Sprague, History of Crises under the National Banking System, National Monetary Commission Report, pp. 153-320.*

  1. THE ENGLISH BANKING SYSTEM DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
  2. NEW YORK AND THE CRISIS OF 1914.

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXXII.*

  1. REMEDIES FOR CRISES AND PANICS. BUSINESS BAROMETERS.

 

PART IV. THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Reading.

Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 259-337.*

 

PART V. MISCELLANEOUS

  1. AGRICULTURAL CREDIT.

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXVII.*

  1. THE “MONEY TRUST.”

Reading.

Phillips, Ch. XXVIII.*
Anderson, pp. 516-20.*
Moulton, Pt. II, pp. 471-95.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 1, Folder “Economics 1917-1918”.

Image Source: Benjamin M. Anderson in Harvard Album, 1915.

Categories
Courses M.I.T. Syllabus

M.I.T. Industrial Economics Syllabus. Bishop. 1957

Robert Lyle Bishop was born June 4, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1937.  He was awarded a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship that financed a ten month study tour in Europe. He then went to Princeton for the following year (1938-9), but returned to Harvard where he received an appointment as instructor in economics and tutor in the Division of History, Government and Economics. Bishop moved to M.I.T. in September 1942. Robert Bishop received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1950. The title of his doctoral dissertation was “The Mechanization of the Glass-Container Industry: a Study in the Economics of Technological Change.”  Besides having served as department chairman (1958-1965) and as dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science (1964-73),  his biggest mark in the education of economists at M.I.T. is to be found in his mimeographed notes for 14.121, the graduate-level introduction to microeconomic theory. Bishop died February 7, 2013.

This reading list for Robert L. Bishop’s first term in a two-term sequence is found filed in a folder of reading lists in Robert Solow’s papers at Duke.

Fun fact: A future president of the United States, an undergraduate named John F. Kennedy, lived in the suite directly below Bishop’s tutorial quarters in F entry of Winthrop House.

_______________________________

Course Enrollment

“Problems in Industrial Economics” (14.271) in the Fall term of 1957 was taught by Professor Robert L. Bishop. The course met three hours per week. Seven students were enrolled.

Source: MIT Libraries, Institute Archives. MIT Department of Economics Records, Box 3, Folder “Teaching Responsibility”.

_______________________________

Brief Course Description

The prerequisite for the course was the intermediate microeconomics course “Prices and Production” (14.03).

Small and large enterprises in the American economy; market structures; degrees of monopoly and competition; requisites of public policy.

Source: Course Catalogue of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1957-1958, p. 234.

_______________________________

 

14.271 Reading List
Fall, 1957

  1. General

  1. P.W.S. Andrews, “Industrial Economics as a Specialist Subject,” Journal of Industrial Economics, Nov. 1952.
  2. W. Leontief, “Input-Output Economics,” Scientific American, Oct. 1951.
  3. Bureau of the Census, 1952 Annual Survey of Manufactures, pp. 1-12, 201-06.
  4. Conklin and Goldstein, “Census Principles of Industry and Product Classification”, Universities: National Bureau of Economic Research, in Business Concentration and Price Policy, pp. 15-55.
  5. J.S. Bain, “Price and Production Policies,” in Ellis (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. I., pp. 129-73.
  6. J.K. Galbraith, “Monopoly and the Concentration of Economic Power,” in Ellis (ed.), Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. I. pp. 99-128.
  7. E.A.G. Robinson, The Structure of Competitive Industry.
  8. Foss and Churchill, “The Size Distribution of the postwar Business Population,” Survey of Current Business, May 1950, pp. 12-20.
  9. Survey of Current Business, National Income Supplement, July 1954, Tables 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 25, 27, 29.

  1. Big Business Concentration, and the “Monopoly Problem”

  1. A. A. Berle, The 20th Century Capitalist Revolution, pp. 1-60.
  2. Joel Dean, Managerial Economics, pp. 97-109.
  3. A. Papandreou, “Problems in the Theory of the Firm, “ in Haley (ed.) Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, pp. 183-222.
  4. Kaplan and Kahn, “Big Business in a Competitive Society,” Fortune, Feb. 1953, pp. 1-14.
  5. Corwin Edwards, “Conglomerate Bigness as a Source of Power,” in National Bureau of Economic Research, Business Concentration and Price Policy, pp. 331-60.
  6. T.N.E.C. Monograph No. 27, Part I, pp. 1-18, 54-57; Part V, 273-96, 407-12; Part VI, pp. 581-91, 660-71.
  7. Stocking and Watkins, Monopoly and Free Enterprise, pp. 53-84.
  8. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy, pp. 219-66.
  9. A. N. Burns, The Decline of Competition, pp. 1-42.
  10. E.S. Mason, “Industrial Concentration and the Decline of Competition,” in Explorations in Economics, pp. 434-43; also available in Mason, Economic Concentration and the Monopoly Problem, pp. 16-43.
  11. J.M. Clark, The Economics of Overhead Cost, pp. 434-50.
  12. Butters, Lintner, and Cary, The Effects of Taxation: Corporate Mergers, Chs. IX, X.
  13. M.A. Adelman, “The Measurement of Industrial Concentration,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1951, pp. 269-96.
  14. Edwards, Stocking, George, and Berle, “Four Comments on ‘The Measurement of Industrial Concentration,’ with a Rejoinder by Professor Adelman,” Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1952, pp. 156-78.
  15. J.M. Blair, “The Measurement of Industrial Concentration: A Reply,” M.A. Adelman, “Rejoinder,” Lintner and Butters, “Further Rejoinder,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Nov. 1952, pp. 343-67.

  1. General Motors and the Automobile Industry

  1. Joel Dean, Managerial Economics, pp. 397-403, 427-57.
  2. Donaldson Brown, “Pricing Policy in Relation to Financial Control,” Management and Administration, Feb., Mar., and Apr., 1924.
  3. Albert Bradley, “Financial Control Policies of General Motors,” paper read to American Management Association, 1926, revised 1928.
  4. H.B. Vanderblue, “Pricing Policies in the Automobile Industry,” Harvard Business Review, (1939), Vol. 18, pp. 385-401, and Vol. 19, pp. 64-81.
  5. Wall Street Journal, “How Auto Firms Figure Their Costs to Reckon The Price Dealers Pay”, December 10, 1957.
  6. General Motors Corporation, The Dynamics of Automobile Demand, articles by Horner and S.M. Du Brul, pp. 3-18, 124-139.
  7. D.A. Moore, “The Automobile Industry,” in Adams (ed.), The Structure of American Industry, 2nd ed., pp. 274-325.

  1. Competition in the Steel Industry

  1. Walter Adams, “The Steel Industry,” in Adams (ed.), The Structure of American Industry, 2nd ed.
  2. R.L. Bishop, “Price Stability v. Flexibility,” manuscript.
  3. U.S. Steel Corporation, Business, Big and Small, Built America, articles by D. Austin and B.B. Smith, pp. 69-111.
  4. Synopses and Excerpts from Affidavits in U.S. v. Bethlehem Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube, 1957.
  5. R.L. Bishop, “On the Definition of Markets,” manuscript.
  6. Fritz Machlup, The Basing-Point System, Chs. 1, 3, 5.
  7. J.M. Clark, “Basing Point Methods of Price Quoting,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 1938, pp. 477-89.
  8. Carl Kaysen, “Basing Point Pricing and Public Policy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Aug. 1949.

  1. Cost Determination and Analysis

  1. J. M. Clark, The Economics of Overhead Costs, pp. 17-69, 201-03, 459-79.
  2. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy, pp. 1-32, 51-218.
  3. Caleb Smith, “Survey of the Empirical Evidence on Economies of Scale,” in Universities, National Bureau of Economic Research, Business Concentration and Price Policy, pp. 213-38.
  4. J.S. Bain, “Economies of Scale, Concentration, and Condition of Entry in Twenty Manufacturing Industries,” Economic Review, 1954, pp. 15-39.
  5. Leonard J. Doyle, “Most Profitable Product Volume,” N.A.C.A. Bulletin No. 30 (Feb. 1, 1949), pp. 643-52.
  6. James Earley, “Marginal Policies of ‘Excellently Managed’ Companies,” American Economic Review, Mar. 1956, pp. 44-70.
  7. Joel Dean, Managerial Economics, pp. 247-347.

 

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

Image Source:   Robert Lyle Bishop. MIT Museum.

Categories
Courses Harvard Socialism Syllabus

Harvard. Socialism and Communism. Carver and Bushee, 1901

Beginning with his second year at Harvard, Thomas N. Carver regularly offered a course on schemes of social improvement which covered utopias through marxian socialism, including communistic experimental communities in America. He co-taught his first offering of “Socialism and Communism” in 1901 with the graduate student Frederick A. Bushée who was to go on to teach at Clark University, Colorado College and the University of Colorado. Following a brief c.v. for Bushée, enrollment numbers for the course and its reading list are provided in this post.

Carver’s course reading lists for 1919-20 and 1920 have been previously posted.

Since this post was completed, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has acquired and transcribed a copy of the final exam for this course.

Links to all the readings but one (Anton Menger, The Right to the Whole Produce of Labor) can be found in the post for Economics 14 (1902-1903).

___________________

Bushée, Frederick Alexander.

Harvard thesis title: Ethnic factors in the population of Boston. New York, Macmillan (London, Sonnenschein), 1903, 8°, pp. viii, 171 (Publ. Amer. Econ. Assoc., ser. 3, 4: no. 2). Preliminary portion pub. as “The growth of the population of Boston,” in Publ. Amer. Statist. Assoc., 1899, n. s., 6: 239-274.

1872, July 21. Born in Brookfield, Vermont.
1894. Litt. B. Dartmouth College.
1894-95. Resident South End House, Boston.
1895-96. Hartford School of Sociology.
1896-97. Resident South End House, Boston.
1897-1900. Graduate student, Harvard University.
1898. Harvard University, A.M.
1900-01. Collège Libre des Sciences Sociales, Collège de France, Paris; University of Berlin.
1901-02. Assistant in Economics, Harvard University.
1902. Harvard University, Ph.D. in Political Science.
1902-03. Instructor in Economics and History in the Collegiate Department of Clark University.
1903-08. Assistant Professor in Economics, Clark University.
1907-08. Instructor in Economics and Sociology, Clark University.
1910-12. Professor of Economics and Sociology at Colorado College.
1912. Hired by University of Colorado. Boulder, Colo.
1916. Professor of Economics and Sociology, and Secretary of the College of Commerce, University of Colorado. Boulder, Colo.
1925-32. Professor of Economics and Sociology, and Acting Dean of the School of Business Administration, University of Colorado. Boulder, Colo.
1939. Retired.
1960, April 4. Died in Boulder, Colorado.

Reminiscence of the Bushees by Earl David Crockett, the son of Bushee’s successor at the University of Colorado.

___________________

[Course Enrollment]

[Economics] 14 1hf. Asst. Professor Carver and Mr. Bushée.—Socialism and Communism.

Total 27: 5 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 3 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1901-02, p. 77.

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ECONOMICS 14

Topics and references. Starred references are prescribed.

HISTORICAL

  1. *Ely, R. T. French and German Socialism.
  2. Russell, Bertrand. German Social Democracy.
  3. Rae, John. Contemporary Socialism.
  4. Kirkup, Thomas. A History of Socialism.
  5. Menger, Anton. The Right to the Whole Produce of Labor.
  6. Bliss, W. D. P. A Handbook of Socialism.
  7. Graham, William. Socialism New and Old.

 

EXPOSITORY AND CRITICAL

  1. *Schaeffle, Albert. The Quintessence of Socialism.
  2. [Shaeffle, Albert.] The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
  3. *Marx, Karl. Capital.
  4. [Marx, Karl] and Engels, Frederick. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
  5. Engels, Frederick. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
  6. Gonner, E. C. K. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
  7. [Gonner, E. C. K.] The Socialist State.
  8. Shaw, Bernard, and others. Fabian Essays in Socialism.
  9. Fabian Tracts.
  10. Ely, R. T. Socialism: an Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
  11. Bernstein, Edward. Ferdinand Lassalle.
  12. Hyndman, Henry M. The Economics of Socialism.
  13. Webb, Sidney, and Mrs. Beatrice. Problems of Modern Industry.
  14. Simonson, Gustave. A Plain Examination of Socialism.

 

UTOPIAS

  1. *Plato’s Republic.
  2. *More, Sir Thomas. Utopia.
  3. *Bacon, Francis. New Atlantis.
  4. *Campanella, Tommaso. The City of the Sun.
    (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Henry Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
  5. Cabet, Etienne. Voyage en Icarie.
  6. Morris, William. News from Nowhere.
  7. Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward.
  8. [Bellamy, Edward.] Equality.

 

COMMUNISTIC EXPERIMENTS

  1. *Nordhoff, Charles. The Communistic Societies of the United States.
  2. Kautsky, Karl. Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
  3. Hinds, W. A. American Communities.
  4. Noyes, J. H. History of American Socialisms.
  5. Codman, J. T. Brook Farm Memoirs.
  6. Shaw, Albert. Icaria.
  7. Randall, E. O. History of the Zoar Society.
  8. Landis, G. B. The Separatists of Zoar.

 

WORKS WITH SOCIALISTIC TENDENCIES

[Under this heading is brought several classes of theories wrongly confused with socialism.]

A. CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM

  1. Lamenais and Kingley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
  2. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
  3. Kingsley, Charles. Alton Locke.
  4. Gladden, Washington. Tools and the Man.
  5. Strong, Josiah. Our Country.
  6. [Strong, Josiah.] The New Era.

B. STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, which is generally made to include all movements for the extension of government control or ownership, especially over Transportation and Lighting systems.

C. AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

  1. *George Henry. Progress and Poverty.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1901-1902”.

Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver in Harvard Album, 1906.

Categories
Economic History Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. European Economic History, Usher. 1921

________________________

Abbott Payson Usher (1883-1965) first taught his nineteenth century European economic history course at Harvard in the fall semester of 1921-22 at the rank of Lecturer. Usher received his A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard in 1904, 1905, 1910, respectively. 

The syllabus for the course is provided in this post and all readings are linked to their respective texts!

Before returning to Harvard, Usher was professor of History of Commerce and Economic History of the College of Business Administration at Boston University for the 1920-21 academic year [possibly 1921-22 too?], coming from Cornell University where he taught as Instructor (1910-14) and then Assistant Professor of Economics (1914-1920).

Material from his Modern Economic History Seminar, 1937-41, was posted earlier.

________________________

Course Announcement for 1921-22

2a 1hf. European Industry and Commerce in the Nineteenth Century
Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., Sat., at 9. Dr. Usher.

 

Source: Harvard University. Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1921-22, 3rd edition. p. 109.

________________________

 

READING ASSIGNMENTS
Economics 2a
1921-22

I. The Industrial Revolution

Usher, Industrial History, Chapters 1, 10, 12, 13, 14

II. Agrarian Movement, Continent

Usher, Industrial History, pp. 112-20
Seeley, Life & Times of Stein, Rand [Benjamin Rand, Selections illustrating Economic History Since the Seven Years’ War. 5th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1911], pp. 86-98
Brentano, Agrarian Reform in Prussia – Econ. Jour. 1-20
Von Sybel, – in Rand, pp. 55-85

III. Agrarian Movement, England.

Usher, Industrial History, pp. 225-40
Curtler, Short History of English Agriculture, pp. 190-262

IV. Agricultural Depression

Prothero, R. E. (Baron Ernle) English Farming Past & Present, pp. 316-31, 346-418
Usher, Industrial History, pp. 240-47

V. Free Trade Movement, England

Armitage-Smith, Free Trade & Its Results, 39-60, 130-163
Morley, Life of Cobden, chs. XV & XVI

VI. Tariff History, Continent

Ashley, P. Modern Tariff History, (1910) 3-63, 359-372

VII. Recent Tariff History

U. S. Tariff Commission, Reciprocity & Commercial Treaties, 461-510

VIII. Commerce & Shipping

Bowley, England’s Foreign Trade in the 19th Century, ed. 1905 pp. 55-96
Grosvenor, Gov’t Aid to Merchant Shipping, 45-61, 75-86, 135-65

IX. Transportation – Private Ownership

Cunningham, W. J. Characteristics of British R. R., N. E. R. R. Club 8-60
Usher, Industrial History, chs. 17 and 18

X. Transportation – State Ownership

Raper, Railway Transportation, pp. 134-177, 278-305

XI. Industrial Development: England

Ashley, W. J. ed. British Industries, 2-38 (Jeans, British Iron and Steel/1902)
Clapham, J. H. Woolen & Worsted Industry, 1-24, 125-173

XII. Industrial Development: Continent

Copeland, Cotton Manufacturing Industry, 275-311

XIII. Industrial Combination

British Ministry of Reconstruction, Report on Trusts, 1919, pp. 15-30
Marshall, Industry & Trade, pp. 544-65, 577-98
Usher, Industrial History, ch. 19

XIV. Banking & Finance

Riesser, The German Great Banks, 703-750
Andréadès, History of the Bank of England, 331-69

XV. Labor Problems & Public Health

Usher, Industrial History, chs. 15, 16 & ch. 20 secs. 2 & 3

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1921-1922

Image Source: Harvard Album, 1923.

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

MIT. Robert Solow’s Advanced Economic Theory Course, 1962

Robert Solow taught the course Advanced Economic Theory at MIT in the Spring of the 1961/62 academic year. Of the dozen graduate students who took the course for credit were a future Nobel prize winner (Peter Diamond), a future Princeton professor and later member of Jimmy Carter’s Council of Economic Advisers (Stephen Goldfeld), a future professor at University of Pennsylvania/Washington University (Robert Pollak), a future professor and later chairman of Hebrew University (David Levhari), and a professor of economics and the first woman to head an MIT academic department, economics! 1984-1990 and MIT’s first female academic dean, School of Humanities and Social Science (Ann Friedlaender).

The three A’s awarded in the course went to Diamond, Levhari and Goldfeld.

The comprehensive exam questions for advanced economic theory from May 1962 were transcribed in the previous post.

_____________________________________

 

14.123—Advanced Economic Theory
Spring 1962—Professor Solow

FIRST READING LIST: LINEAR PROGRAMMING AND RELATED SUBJECTS

This should occupy 6-9 weeks. Most of the reading is in Gale: The Theory of Linear Economic Models and Dorfman, Samuelson, Solow: Linear Programming and Econmic Analysis, referred to below as G and D respectively.

  1. Mathematical background: I hope to avoid spending any time on this. Mainly elements of matrix algebra—14.102 should be enough. For review, see D (Appendix B) and G (Ch. 2, more difficult).
  2. Elements of Linear Programming; D (Ch. 2,3), G (Ch. 1,3).
  3. Algebra and Geometry of Linear Programming, Simplex Method; D (Ch. 4, Sec. 1-11), G (Ch. 4).
  4. Applications; D (Ch. 5-7), Manne: Economic Analysis for Business Decisions (Ch. 4,5).
  5. Two-person zero-sum games; D (Ch. 15), G (Ch. 6,7).
  6. Leontief and similar systems; G (Ch. 8, 9 Sec. 1-3), D (Ch. 9, 10).
  7. Activity analysis; G (Ch. 9, Sec. 4), Koopmans: Three Essays on the State of Economic Science (pp. 66-104).
  8. Von Neumann’s model; D (Ch. 13, Sec. 6), G (Ch. 9, Sec. 5-7).
  9. Sraffa: Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities.
    Robinson: “Prelude to a Critique of Economic Theory”, Oxford Economic Papers, February 1961, 53-58.
  10. If time permits, the turnpike theorem; D (Ch. 12), Hicks: “Prices and the Turnpike”, Review of Economic Studies, February 1961, 77-88.
    Radner: “Paths of Economic Growth that are Optimal, etc.”, Review of Economic Studies, February 1961, 98-104.

(Further references may follow.)

 

SECOND READING LIST: PUBLIC INVESTMENT CRITERIA

  1. Hirshleifer: “On the Theory of Optimal Investment Decision”, Journal of Political Economy, August 1958, pp. 329-352.
  2. Graaff: Theoretical Welfare Economics, Chs. 6-8.
  3. Eckstein: “A Survey of the Theory of Public Expenditure Criteria”, in Public Finances: Needs, Sources and Utilization, with “Comments” by Hirshleifer.
  4. Margolis: “The Economic Evaluation of Federal Water Resource Development”, AER, March 1959, pp. 96-111.
  5. Steiner: “Choosing Among Alternative Public Investments”, AER, Dec. 1959, pp. 898-916.
  6. Maass, al.: Design of Water-Resource Systems, Chs. 2, 13 (and passim).
  7. Eckstein: Water Resource Development, Ch. 1-4.

_____________________________________

April 11, 1962

14.123—Exam

Answer all questions.

  1. A function f of vectors x,y,… is called subadditive if f(x+y) ≤ f(x) + f(y) for all vectors x, y, and called superadditive if the inequality is reversed.
    Consider the LP problem of maximizing C′x subject to Ax ≤ b. The value of the maximum is a function of C, b, and A. Show that it is a subadditive function of C and a superadditive function of b.
  2. A firm can produce n commodities with a linear technology involving one activity for each commodity. Production involves only fixed factors, m in number, m<n, of which specified amounts are available. The output is sold at market prices p, and the firm chooses non-negative vector x of outputs to maximize p′x subject to the fixed-factor limitations.
    (a) Prove that the supply curve is not negatively sloped; that is, prove that if p1 increases, other prices constant, the optimal x1 must increase or remain unchanged, but cannot decrease. (Hint: a straightforward procedure is to consider closely the final simplex tableau, the signs of various elements, and what can happen to require further iteration if p1 There is a much simpler proof, comparing the before-and-after optima.)
    (b) State and interpret the dual to the theorem just proved.
  3. Consider a simple linear model of production, with 2 goods, and with 2 fixed factors, land and labor, available in specified amounts.
    (a) Sketch possible shapes for the set of feasible net outputs, or net production-possibility curve.
    (b) Suppose demand conditions are such that consumption expenditures on the two commodities are always equal. Give a complete analysis of the determination of the prices of the two goods and also the rent of land and the wage of labor. Graphical methods will help. (Hint: at one key point the construction of an isosceles triangle is very useful.)

 

Source: Duke University. Rosenstein Library. Robert M. Solow Papers, Box 67, Folder “14.123 Final Exam Fall-1969[sic|”.

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