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Economists Exam Questions Harvard Michigan Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus, reading assignments, final exam for “Economies of Tropical Africa”. Berg, 1961

 

Today’s post provides material from a regional economics course on economic development in “tropical Africa” by the newly minted Harvard Ph.D., Elliot Joseph Berg, from the Spring term of the 1960-61 academic year. Biographical and career information is provided, followed by the transcription of the course syllabus and final examination.

According to a story about African Studies in the Harvard Crimson (“Harvard Expands Africa Studies with Courses in History, Anthropology”, October 3, 1961), 

“Last year [1960-61] the University offered its first two courses on Africa–one in Government, the other in Economics.”

__________________________

 

Elliot Joseph Berg’s best known publication:

Report of the African Strategy Review Group coordinated by Elliot Berg. Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Agenda for Action. The World Bank, 1981.

Finding aid to Elliot Berg Papers on African Development. (MSS 308 large) Michigan State University Libraries.

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Life and Career

Elliot Joseph Berg
(b. 20 May 1927 in New York City;
d. 21 November 2002 in Alexandria, VA).

Education:

B.A., New York University, 1949
M.A., Columbia University, 1955
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1960.

Teaching Fellow, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University 1959-1964.

Project Director, Harvard Advisory Group, Liberia, 1964-1966.

Awarded Grand Commander Order Star of Africa by the Government of Liberia, 1965.

Professor of Economics, Director of the Center Economic Development, University of Michigan, 1966-1983

1982-1991: President, Elliot Berg Associates. Alexandria, VI.

Adjunct Professor, Universite de l’Auvergne, Clermont, France, 1982-2000

Vice President, Development Alternatives Incorporated, Bethesda, MD, 1990-1995.

Source:   Prabook webpage for Elliot Joseph Berg.

__________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 118. The Economy of Tropical Africa. Dr. E.J. Berg. Half course. (S)

Total 37: 3 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Other Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-1961, p. 76.

__________________________

Syllabus and Readings

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Outline
Economics 118
THE ECONOMIES OF TROPICAL AFRICA

 

  1. The Pattern of Development
    1. The Pre-Colonial Background
    2. Peoples and Cultures: The Colonial Ideology
    3. The expansion of the Money Economy: Measures of Rates of Growth
    4. Types of Economic Growth: The Mining and Settler Economies and the Peasant-Producer Economies
    5. Development of a Labor Force
    6. The Role of the Non-African: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation
  2. Structural Characteristics of African Economies
    1. Population Patterns
    2. The Extent of the Money Economy and the Concept of Dualism
    3. African National Accounts
    4. Export-Orientation and the Terms of Trade
    5. Goods Markets and Price Determination
    6. Labor Markets and Wage Determination
  3. Problems of Economic Policy and the Strategy of Development
    1. The Expansion of Agricultural Output
    2. Internal Trade Policies and Marketing Boards
    3. Transportation and Development
    4. The High-Level Manpower Problem and the Economics of Education
    5. Wage and Labor Policy
    6. Monetary Policy
    7. Tax Policy and Problems of Public Finance
    8. Accelerated Industrialization
    9. Development Planning
    10. The Role of the State: The Socialist Solution in Africa
  4. The Economics of Independence
    1. Economic Viability, Economic Development and the Size of States
    2. Uneven Growth and the Economic of Federalism
    3. External Economic Assistance
    4. Africa and the European Common Market
    5. Problems of African Economic Integration
    6. The Economic Prospects for Africa

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

*Indicates substitutable readings

  1. The Pattern of Development

*Pim, Sir Alan, The Financial and Economic History of the African Tropical Territories. (Oxford, 1940).

*Knowles, L., The Economic Development of the Overseas Empire, (London, 1924), Vol. I, pp. 113-301; 485-508.

Stamp, L.D., Africa—A Study in Tropical Development (New York, 1953) Ch. 2.

Kimble, G. H. T., Tropical Africa (New York, 1960), Ch. 1.

Hancock, W. K., Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs, Vol. II, Problems of Economic Policy, 1918-1939, Part 2 (London, 1942).

Buell, R. L., The Native Problem in Africa (New York, 1928), Ch. 21, 29, 82, 83, 87, 89.

Myint, H., “The Classical Theory of International Trade and the Underdeveloped Countries,” Economic Journal, June 1958, pp. 317-337.

Singer, H., “The Distribution of Gains Between Investing and Borrowing Countries,” American Economic Review, May 1950, Papers and Proceedings, pp. 473-485.

United Nations, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Enlargement of the Exchange Economy in Tropical Africa (New York, 1954).

Hailey, Lord, An African Survey (London, 1957), pp. 1263-1306.

Bauer, P. T., Economic Analysis and Policy in Underdeveloped Countries, Ch. 2.

  1. Structural Characteristics of African Economics
    1. General

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Review of Economic Conditions in Africa. Supplement to World Economic Report, 1949-50 (New York, 1951). Ch. 1.

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Scope and Structure of Money Economies in Tropical Africa. (New York, 1955).

    1. The Dual Economy and the Supply of Effort

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Enlargement of the Exchange Economy in Tropical Africa.

B. Higgins, Economic Development (New York, 1959), Ch. 12, pp. 274-293.

A. I. Richards, Land, Labour and Diet in Northern Rhodesia (OUP, 1939), pp. 201-227.

P. T. Bauer and B. Yamey, The Economics of Underdeveloped Countries (Cambridge, 1957), Ch. VII.

W. O Jones, “Economic Man in Africa,” Food Research Institute Studies (Stanford), Vol. I, #2, May 1960, pp. 107-134.

    1. Population Patterns

G. T. Kimble, Tropical Africa, Vol. I, Ch. 3, pp. 81-124.

A. Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development (New Haven, 1958) pp. 176-182.

East Africa Royal Commission (1953-1955) Report (London, H.M.S.O., 1956. Cmd 9475), Ch. 3, pp. 30-40; Appendix VII, pp. 462-473.

    1. National Income

D. Seers, “The Role of National Income Estimates in the Statistical Policy of an Underdeveloped Area,” in Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XX (1952-3), pp..159-68.

A. R. Prest, The Investigation of National Income in British Tropical Dependencies. University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Commonwealth Papers, No. IV., (London, 1957).

Phyllis Deane, Colonial Social Accounting (Cambridge, 1953) pp. 223-229.

    1. Export-Orientation and the Terms of Trade

Singer, “The Distribution of Gains…(article cited in Part I.)

Higgins, Economic Development, Ch. 15 (omit pp. 374-382).

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, Ch. 3.

G. Haberler, International Trade and Economic Development (Cairo, 1959), pp. 1-24.

    1. Consumer Goods Markets, Price Determination and the Mechanics of Inflation

Gold Coast, Ministry of Finance, A Survey of Some Economic Matters (Accra, 1952), pp. 12-17.

D. Seers and C. R. Ross, Report on Financial and Physical Problems of Development in the Gold Coast(Accra, 1952), pp. 1-72.

P. T. Bauer, West African Trade (Cambridge, 1954), pp. 7-64; 104-144; 156-171; 379-392.

F. Bezy, Problemes Structurels de l’Economie Congolaise (Louvain, 1957), pp. 86-94.

East Africa Royal Commission Report, pp. 64-76.

M. Perham, (ed.), Mining, Commerce & Finance in Nigeria, (London, 1948), pp. 195-202; 218-224 (“Balance of Payments and the Three Sectional Price Levels”).

F. C. Wright, African Consumers in Nyasaland and Tanganyika. An Enquiry into the Distribution and Consumption of Commodities Among Africans Carried Out in 1952-1953. Colonial Research Studies #17 (London, 1955).

W. V. Berelsford, Copperbelt Markets. A Social and Economic Study (Lusaka, 1947), pp. 7-12; 21-41.

M. Capet, Les Economies de l’AOF (Paris, 1958), pp. [no pages given]

    1. Labor Markets, The Migrant Labor System and Wage Determination

International Labour Office, African Labour Survey (Geneva, 1959), pp. 106-120; 127-169; 259-294.

Bezy, Problemes Structurels de l’Economie Congolaise, pp. 101-197.

Sheila Van der Horst, Native Labour in South Africa (London, 1942) pp. [no pages given]

E. A. Royal Commission Report, pp. 146-172.

E. Berg, “French West Africa,” in W. Galenson, ed., Labor and Economic Development (New York, 1959), pp. 193-204.

J. C. Mitchell, “The Causes of Labour Migration,” in Bulletin of the Inter-African Labour Institute, Jan. 1959, pp. 12-45.

W. Elkan, “Migrant Labor in Africa: An Economist’s Approach,” in American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, Vol. XLIX, #2, (May 1959), pp. 188-197.

B. Gussman, “Industrial Efficiency and the Urban African: A Study of Conditions in Southern Rhodesia,” in Africa, Vol. XXIII, #2 (April 1953), pp. 135-144.

W. Watson, Tribal Cohesion in a Money Economy: A Study of the Mambwe People of Northern Rhodesia(Manchester, 1958), Ch. 3-5.

  1. & IV. The Strategy of Development and the Economics of Independence
    1. The Expansion of Agriculture

Food and Agricultural Organization, The State of Food and Agriculture, 1958 (Rome, 1959), Part III, pp. 90-162.

S. H. Frankel, “The Kongwa Experiment: Lessons of the East African Groundnut Scheme,” in The Economic Impact on Under-Developed Societies, (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), pp. 141-153.

K.D.S. Baldwin, The Niger Agricultural Project (Oxford, 1957) pp. 1-7, 81-125; 172-197.

Kimble, Tropical Africa, Vol. I, Ch. 5, pp. 163-193.

E. Africa Royal Commission Report, Part V.

    1. Marketing Boards

P. T. Bauer, West African Trade, pp. 263-343.

    1. Wage and Labor Policy

International Labour Office, African Labour Survey (Geneva, 1958), pp. 259-294.

Inter-African Labour Institute, Commission for Technical Co-operation in Africa South of the Sahara, The Human Factors of Productivity in Africa: A Preliminary Survey, pp. 1-55; 103-106.

Federation of Nigeria, Report of the Fact-Finding Committee on the Minimum Wage Question, (Lagos, 1955), mimeo’d, pp. 10-25.

E. A. Royal Commission Report, pp. 146-162.

E. Berg, “French West Africa,” in W. Galenson (ed.), Labor and Economic Development, pp. 223-241.

    1. High Level Manpower and the Economics of Education

Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria. Investment in education; The Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria. (The Ashby Report.) (Lagos, 1960).

    1. Industrialization

United Nations, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, pp. 134-140.

W. A. Lewis, Report on Industrialization and the Gold Coast (Accra, 1952).

    1. Development Plans and Finance

W.A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan.”

United Nations, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, pp. 135-47.

“The Finance of Development in Tropical Africa,” in United Africa Company, Statistical and Economic Review, #20 (September 1957), and #21 (March 1958).

    1. Integration and the Economics of Federalism

E. Berg, “The Economic Basis of Political Choice in French West Africa,” in American Political Science Review, Vol. LIV, #2 (June, 1960), pp. 391-405.

East Africa, Report of the Fiscal Commission (The Raisman Report).

C. Legum, A New Deal in Central Africa. (“The Economic Argument”).

[No additional reading assignment was given for the Reading Period]

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7, Folder “Economics 1960-61, (1 of 2)”.

__________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 118
FINAL EXAMINATION
May 29, 1961

Dr. Elliot Berg

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer both questions in Part I, and any three questions in Part II. Organize your answers and write clearly.

Part I. Answer both Questions

  1. (45 minutes). An African economist recently made the following statement:
    “The pattern of economic development imposed by the European powers in Africa has been a disaster for Africa. What benefits have we drawn from the European presence? Our people have been exploited, our raw materials drained, our economies tied to specialized products which face a dismal future on world markets. The economic benefits of the colonial experience have accrued to the metropolitan countries.”
    Do you agree? Discuss.
  2. (45 minutes). You are an eminent economist, deputized by a committee of African governments to make recommendations regarding the re-grouping of existing African states into the most “rational” conceivable economic units. If economic considerations alone were decisive, how would you re-draw the African map?
    In your answer you may focus on any one region (i.e., West Africa, East Africa, etc.) or you may discuss the problem more generally. Make clear the theoretical considerations, on which you base your recommendations—e.g., if you think larger states are more conducive to economic growth than smaller ones, give the analysis supporting your position.

 

Part II. Answer any three questions

(30 minutes)

  1. “In the development planning of most African countries, agricultural expansion should receive first attention, for agriculture is the essential springboard on which all economic growth depends.”
    Do you agree? Discuss, giving some attention to the problems of agricultural development, and to alternative methods of agricultural development in Africa.

(30 minutes)

  1. Some economics argue that because of the migrant labor system in Africa wage levels for unskilled African labor are higher than they would otherwise be. On the other hand, Adam Smith wrote, in The Wealth of Nations: “When a person derives his subsistence from one employment, which does not occupy the greater part of his time, in the intervals of leisure he is often willing to work for another for less wages than would otherwise suit the nature of the employment.”
    Are these arguments incompatible? Analyze the effects of labor migration on the level of wages of unskilled African labor.

 

(30 minutes)

  1. Discuss the major problems of national income accounting in African countries.

 

(30 minutes)

  1. African economies are commonly described as “fragile.” In what sense, and to what extent, is this an accurate description? Do you believe that African economies are more susceptible to domestic inflation than are advanced industrial economies?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Bound volume: Social Sciences, Final Examinations. June, 1961. (HUC 7000.28, vol. 134). Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Naval Science, Air Science.

Image Source:  Screen shot of Elliot Berg, President of Elliot Berg Associates, Inc. from C-SPAN, International Conference on Privatization hosted by the Sequoia Institute(February 17, 1986).

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Summer School, Syllabus and Exams for Income Distribution. Bronfenbrenner, 1970

 

 

Try to imagine what a summer school student at Harvard might have thought in the summer of 1970 (scarcely a month after the Kent State University shootings) when confronted with the five page reading list in Martin Bronfenbrenner’s economics course on income distribution. Next jump down to the four page final exam and also imagine that summer student’s reaction.  Well, that was exactly a half-century ago and it was still a time when professors could get away with assigning mountains of reading followed by an examination demanding both comprehension and thought. Chapeau!

Worth noting:  Joan Robinson appeared in four of the seven exam questions. 

_______________________

Summer 1970

INCOME DISTRIBUTION—M. Bronfenbrenner

Text:    B.F. Haley and William Fellner (eds.), Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution.

Note:   Few will have time for even half the materials below. Students should concentrate where their interests are strongest, and/or where class presentation seems weakest.

  1. Introduction
    1. Theoretical

Clark, Distribution of Wealth, Ch. 1.

Galbraith, Affluent Society, Ch. 7.

Kuznets, “Economic Growth and Income Inequality,” AER, Mar. 55.
(Reprinted in Kuznets, Economic Growth and Structure.)

Klein, Introduction to Econometrics, Ch. 4.

M. Friedman, “Choice, Chance, and the Personal Distribution of Income,” JPE, Aug. 53.

Mincer, “Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution,” JPE, Aug. 58.

Weintraub, General Theory of the Price Level, Output, Income, and Growth, Ch. 3-4.

Solow, “Constancy of Relative Shares,” AER, Sept. 58, or Bronfenbrenner “Relative Shares and Elasticity of Substitution,” JPE, June 60.

    1. Statistical

Lydall, Structure of Earnings, Ch. 2-4.

Budd, Inequality and Poverty, pp. x-xxviii (Budd), Parts 2-3 (Solow, Goldsmith, Lampman, Projector and Weiss, Stigler, Meade).

Readings, 4 (Bowman) [“A Graphical Analysis of Personal Income Distribution in the United States”]

Kuznets, Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Saving, pp. xxvii-xli.

Lampman, “Recent Changes in Income Inequality,” AER, June 54.

Lebergott, “Factor Shares in the Long Run,” in NBER, Behavior of Income Shares, pp. 53-86, or Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” AER, Dec. 59.

Phillips, “Labor Share and Wage Parity,” R.E.Stat., May 60.

  1. Maldistribution?
    1. General Ethical Issues

Budd, Part 1 (Meade and Hitch, de Jouvenel, Wallich, Tawney, Friedman)

Shaw, Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, Ch. 2-14, 20-23 (skim).

Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 3.

    1. General Economic Issues

Hobson, Evolution of Modern Capitalism, Ch. 11.

Durbin, Purchasing Power and Trade Depression, Ch. 1.

Bronfenbrenner, Yamane, and Lee, “Study in Redistribution and Consumption,” R.E.Stat., May 55.

Budd, Part 4 (Meade, Friedman, Simons, Pigou).

    1. American Poverty Program

Budd, Part 5 (Harrington, Miller, Ornati, Lampman, Johnson, Ad Hoc Committee on Triple Revolution, Friedman, Tobin)

R.D. Friedman, Poverty, Definition and Perspective, Ch. 2-3.

Green, Negative Taxes and the Poverty Problem, Ch. 4-6, 8.

Thurow, Poverty and Discrimination, Ch. 3-5, 9.

  1. Demand for Productive Inputs
    1. Marginal Productivity

Hicks, Theory of Wages, Ch. 1.

Ferguson, Neoclassical Theory of Production and Distribution, Ch. 4-6, 9, 12.2.

    1. Complications and Objections

Levinson, Unionism, Wage Trends, and Income Distribution, Ch. 1.

Dobb, Wages, pp. 81-92, Ch. 5.

Weintraub, Approach to the Theory of Income Distribution, Ch. 1.

Readings, 6 (Stigler [“Production and Distribution in the Short Run”]), 8 (Machlup [“On the Meaning of the Marginal Product”]) , 12 (Robertson [“Wage-Grumbles”]), 15 (Rolph [“The Discounted Marginal Productivity Doctrine”]).

The Lester-Machlup-Stigler Controversy: AER, Mar. 46 and Sept. 46, Mar. 47. (Reprinted in Clemence, Readings in Econ. Analysis).

Reder, “Marginal Productivity Reconsidered,” JPE, Oct. 47 (Reprinted in Clemence, Readings in Econ. Analysis.)

    1. Exploitation?

Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Ch. 21-26, or Pigou, pt. III, Ch. 14-19.

Rothschild, Theory of Wages, Ch. 7-8.

Readings 7 (Chamberlin [“Monopolistic Competition and the Productivity Theory of Distribution”]), 14 (Bloom [“A Reconsideration of the Theory of Exploitation”]).

Bronfenbrenner, “Potential Monopsony,” Ind. Labor Rel. Rev., Apr. 56.

    1. Impact of Innovations

Ferguson, Ch. 12.3, 16.

Readings, 9 (Robinson [“The Classification of Inventions”]), 10 (Lange [“A Note on Innovations”])

Stiglitz and Uzawa, Readings in Modern Theory of Economic Growth, 6 (Hicks [“From Theory of Wages”]), 9 (Fellner [“Two Propositions in the Theory of Induced Innovations”]), 10 (Kennedy [“Induced Bias in Innovation and the Theory of Distribution”]).

Seeber, “Classification of Inventions,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 62.

  1. Labor Supply

Rothschild, Ch. 3, or Stigler, Theory of Price (3rd), pp. 194-202.

Readings, 13 (Robbins [“On the Elasticity of Demand for Income in Terms of Effort”]).

Long, The Labor Force Under Changing Income and Employment, Ch. 1.

Break, “Income Taxes, Wage Rates, and Factor Services,” Natl. Tax J., Dec. 53.

  1. Collective Bargaining
    1. Theory and Evidence

Hicks, Ch. 7.

Readings, 19 (Dunlop [Wage Policies of Trade Unions]).

Ross, Trade Union Wage Policy, Ch. 2, 6.

Fellner, Competition Among the Few, Ch. 10.

Rees, Economics of Trade Unions, Ch. 4-5.

Lewis, Unionism and Relative Wages in U.S., Ch. 1, 4-6.

Bronfenbrenner, “Incidence of Collective Bargaining Once More,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 58. (Reprinted in Galenson and Lipset, Labor and Trade Unionism.)

    1. The Labor Monopoly Issue

Simons, Economic Policy for a Free Society, Ch. 6.

Lester, “The Labor Monopoly Issue,” JPE, Dec. 47.

Lindblom, Unions and Capitalism, Ch. 1-3, 14-18.

Lerner, Economics of Employment, Part IV, or Rothschild, Ch. 13.

    1. Wage Difference (Omitted in Class)

Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Bk. II, Ch. 14.

Dobb, Ch. 6.

Mills, White Collar, Ch. 6-7, or Harris, Market for College Graduates, Ch. 3, 3-a.

McCaffree, “Earnings Differential Between White Collar and Manual Occupations,” R.E.Stat., Feb. 53.

Burns, “Comparative Economic Position of Manual and White Collar Employees,” Journ. Of Bus., Oct. 54.

Reder, “Wage Differentials,” in NBER, Aspects of Labor Economics, pp. 257-99.

  1. Wages and Employment

Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Ch. 19.

Readings, 18 (Tarshis [“Changes in Real and Money Wages”]), 17 (Lerner [“The Relation of Wage Policies and Price Policies”]).

Slichter-Nathan Controversy: “Raising the Price of Labor as a Method of Increasing Employment,” R.E.Stat., Nov. 49.

Bronfenbrenner, “Contribution to Aggregative Theory of Wages,” JPE, Dec. 56.

  1. Theory of Interest
    1. Real Theories

Conard, Introduction to the Theory of Interest, Ch. 3, 4, 7.

Hirschleifer, “Theory of Optimal Investment Decision,” JPE, Aug. 58.

Knight, “Interest,” in Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, or, “Diminishing Returns from Investment,” JPE, Mar. 44.

Patinkin, Money, Interest, and Prices, Ch. 4.

    1. Monetary Theories

Readings, 22 (Keynes [“The Theory of the Rate of Interest”]), 23 (Robertson [“Mr. Keynes and the Rate of Interest”]), 24 (Hicks [“Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation”]).

Harris, (Ed.), New Economics, 43-46 (Lerner).

Lange, “Rate of Interest and Optimum Propensity to Consume,” in AEA, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, 8.

Conard, Ch. 9-10.

Patinkin, Ch. 15.

    1. Rate Differences

Readings, 26 (Lutz [“The Structure of Interest Rates”])

Hicks, Value and Capital (2nd), pp. 144-52.

Conard, Ch. 17.

Kessel, “Cyclical Behavior of Term Structure of Interest Rates,” (NBER Occasional Paper 91), Ch. 1.

  1. Theory of Rent

Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy, Ch. 2.

George, Progress and Poverty, Bk. III, Ch. 2; also skim Books IV-VI.

Robertson, Lectures on Political Economy, Vol. ii, Ch. 3

Readings, 31 (Buchanan [“The Historical Approach to Rent and Price Theory”]).

Ferguson, Ch. 1.4.2, 2.2.1, 2.3.2, 3.4.3.

  1. Theory of Profit

Knight, Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Ch. 1-2, 8-9.

Readings, 27 (Knight [“Profit”]), 29 (Gordon [“Enterprise, Profits, and the Modern Corporation”]), 30 (Crum [“Corporate Earnings on Invested Capital”]).

Weston, “Generalized Uncertainty Theory of Profit,” AER, Mar. 50.

Marchal, “New Theory of Profits,” AER, Sept. 51.

Bronfenbrenner, “Rehabilitation of Naïve Profit Theory,” So. Ec. J., Apr. 60 (Reprinted in Brait and Hochman, Readings in Microeconomics).

Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Profits Hearings, Dec. 48. (Testimony of Slichter, Harris, Ruttenberg, Montgomery, and Nixon on definition and measurement).

  1. Aggregative Distribution Theories

Scitovsky, “Some Theories of Income Distribution,” in NBER, Behavior of Income Shares, pp. 15-31.

Davidson, Theories of Aggregate Income Distribution, Ch. 4-8.

Douglas, “Are There Laws of Production?” AER, Mar. 48. (Reprinted in Kelley edition of Douglas, Theory of Wages.)

Ferguson, Ch. 12.4-12.9, 15.

Readings, 11 (Kalecki [“The Distribution of the National Income”]), or Rothschild, Ch. 15.

Boulding, Reconstruction of Economics, Ch. 14.

Stiglitz and Uzawa, 21 (Kaldor [“Alternative Theories of Distribution”]) [Also in Kaldor, Essays in Value and Distribution, no. 10.], 22 (Robinson).

Reder, “Alternative Theories of Labor’s Share,” in Abramovitz, Allocation of Economic Resources.

Source:  Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Martin Bronfenbrenner, Box 25, Folder “Micro-econ + Distribution, 1 of 2, 1966-71, n.d.”

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Economics S-222—Income Distribution
Summer 1970—M. Bronfenbrenner
Final Examination

In a (probably unsuccessful) attempt to make my own position clear on a number of controversial issues, I have perhaps understressed in class certain powerful statements of contrary positions.

For purposes of this examination, please consider any four of the quotations below. Indicate the portions of distribution theory to which they apply. Then comment upon them, indicating why they do (or do not) appear convincing.

  1. Technical conditions and the rate of profit determine the pattern of normal prices, including the price of labour-time in terms of each commodity; money-wage rates determine the corresponding money price level. But what determines the rate of profit?
    Marx closes his system sometimes (following Ricardo) by postulating a real-wage rate governed by the conventional standard of life (the value of labour-time) and sometimes by taking as given the share of net profit in the value of net output (the rate of exploitation). Marshall conceals the problem behind a smoke-screen of moral sentiments. The latter-day neoclassicals are for ever chasing definitions around a circular argument. Sraffa offers no observations on the subject. Von Neumann postulates a real-wage rate which is precisely specified in terms of particular quantities of particular commodities, but leaves us helpless when that assumption is relaxed. The question of what determines the rate of profit, when the real-wage rate is not to be taken as given, is a huge blank in traditional economic teaching.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, p. 11]
  2. Even from the momentary market point of view, the Keynesian formulation tends to obscure unduly the parts played by Productivity and Thrift…While there are hints here and there of a broader treatment, in the main (Mr. Keynes’) plan is to set the rate of interest in a direct functional relation only with that part of the money stock which is held for what he calls “speculative reasons”, i.e., because it is expected that the rate of interest will subsequently rise. Thus the rate of interest is what it is because it is expected to become other than it is; if it is not expected to become other than it is, there is nothing left to tell us why it is what it is. The organ which secretes it has been amputated, and yet it somehow still exists—a grin without a cat. Mr. Plumptre of Toronto…has aptly compared the position of the lenders of money under this theory with that of an insurance company which charges its clients a premium, the only risk against which it insures them being the risk that its premium will be raised.
    [Dennis H. Robertson, “Mr. Keynes and the Rate of Interest” in Essays in Monetary Theory, 1940. Pages 35-36.]

The price of pig
Is something big,
Because its corn, you’ll understand,
Is high-priced too;
Because it grew
Upon the high-priced farming land.

If you’d know why
That land is high,
Consider this: its price is big
Because it pays
Thereon to raise
The costly corn, the high-priced pig!

 [Herbert Joseph Davenport, The Economics of Enterprise, 1913. Pages 107-108]

  1. The level of money-wage rates obtaining at any particular moment is an historical accident. The absolute level of wages in terms of money affects nothing except the words and numbers in which money values are reckoned and the nominal value of the stock of currency. But changes in the level of money-wage rates have important effects upon the behavior of the economy in real terms.
    The causes of movements in money-wage rates are bound up with the competition of different groups of workers to maintain or improve their relative positions, and the consequences of changes in wage levels are most important in connection with the competition in international trade.
    The level of money-wage rates may be continuously rising simply because it is easier for each group of employers to give way to the demands of their workers and recoup themselves by raising prices than to incur the losses and unpleasantness involved in resisting them.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 70-71]
  2. A distinction should be made between primary and secondary distribution of the national income.
    The national income first of all falls into the hands of the capitalists. Primary distribution of the national income consists on its being distributed between capitalists and workers. The workers receive wages, the capitalists surplus value, which is distributed among the industrialists, merchants, bankers, and big landed proprietors.
    After the national income has been distributed among the basic elements of capitalist society, a secondary distribution or redistribution takes place. We have seen that in the non-productive branches of the economy (medical institutions, public services, entertainments, etc.) no national income is created. But the capitalists who control these enterprizes and institutions pay salaries to their employees, cover the cost of maintaining premises, and in addition make a profit. The capitalists cover all these items of expenditure out of the national income created in the sphere of material production by charging for the services provided. These payments produce an average profit for the capitalists in the non-productive sphere. Part of the income of the working people is (also) redistributed through the state budget in the interests of the ruling class. The bourgeois state has its army, police, penal institutions and courts, administrative apparatus and so on. All are maintained out of the state budget, taxes levied upon the population being its main source of revenue. After working people have received wages through the primary distribution on the national income, they have to pay taxes out of them. In this way, the part of the national income put at the disposal of the working people is reduced. (Capitalists, too, pay taxes. But part is returned in the form of extremely high payment for supplies and service to the government. Another part is spent in the upkeep of the state apparatus, army and so on, the chief purpose of which is to defend the interests of these same capitalists.)
    This is why not only the distribution, but also the redistribution of the national income in bourgeois society is effected in the interests of the exploiting classes.
    [P. Nikitin, Fundamentals of Political Economy, trans. Violet Dutt and Murad Saifulin (probably 1966), pp. 133-135 quoted by Martin Bronfenbrenner in Income Distribution Theory, Chapter 2, footnote 12. Cf: 1983 Translation of a later edition by Jane Syer, pp. 151-152.]
  3. The neo-classical model is most at its ease in a stationary state. The amount of capital that capitalists are willing to maintain in being (neither saving nor dissaving) is a function of the rate of interest, or, alternatively, there is one rate of interest at which net saving is zero. The physical stock of capital and the real-wage rate are such as to have brought the rate of profit into equality with the rate of interest. There is then one value of the stock of capital that yields the rate of return (with a given labor force fully employed) which will cause it to be maintained. This is the value of capital that satisfies the conditions of the stationary state.
    When it leaves the stationary state, the neo-classical model is all at sea. With any given value of capital in existence, the amount of saving that the capitalists wish to do to increase it depends upon the rate of interest, which must be equal to the rate of profit, but how can we tell what the rate of profit is till we know the rate of accumulation?
    It is an illusion to suppose that “the marginal productivity of capital” provides an independent determinant of the rate of interest. A “quantity of capital” in terms of value has no meaning in terms of physical productivity until the prices of its physical components are known, and this involves the rate of profit. A “quantity of capital” in terms of a list of physical capital goods appropriate to various kinds of output, if they are taken to be fully utilized, entails the output of investment goods, and so the rate of accumulation, independently of the rate of profit that is supposed to determine it. If they are not necessarily fully utilized, then we have to know the current rate of investment to find out the state of effective demand and current profits. Whatever we do, we are one equation short.
    The reason why the model works all right in the stationary state has nothing to do with its stationariness. It works because the rate of accumulation—zero—is specified. With any specified rate of accumulation, the function connecting saving with the rate of profit determines the position, for it shows what the rate of profit and the value of capital must be to make saving equal to investment at full employment.
    [Joan Robinson, Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, pp. 81-82]
  4. The theory of the distribution of the product of industry between wages and profits which is knocking about in current economic teaching consists of a number of propositions, each of which is quite unexceptionable in itself, but none of which bears any relation to the rest…The proposition that the share of profits in income is a function of the ratio of investment to income is perfectly correct, but capacity and the degree of monopoly have to be brought in to determine what income it is that profits are a share of, and investment is related to.
    [Joan Robinson, Collected Economic Papers, II, p. 145]

L’ENVOI

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head.

(Alexander Pope)

 Source: Duke University, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archives. Papers of Martin Bronfenbrenner, Box 24, Folder “Exams. Micro-econ + distribution. 2 of 2, 1954-66, n.d.”

Image Source: Martin Bronfenbrenner. University of Minnesota Archives/Libraries/Umedia.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course outlines and semester exams in money and banking. Smith and Dorfman, 1958-59

 

I was surprised to find that as late as 1958-59 Harvard had no course on its books that even used the word “macroeconomics” in the title. The door to macroeconomics was instead found in undergraduate, graduate courses that were devoted to money and banking: Economics 141–Money, Banking, and Economic Fluctuations” and Economics 241–“Principles of Money and Banking”. I have to admit that I was somewhat puzzled to see the macroeconomist Warren Smith paired with the microeconomist Robert Dorfman for the graduate sequence. Maybe it was because Keynesian economics attracted the whiz-kids of mathematical economics of the time that the department turned to Robert Dorfman for graduate instruction in Keynesian economics, the main subject covered in his semester of the two semester Economics 241 course.

Before getting to the course outlines and exams, I provide memorial minutes  for Warren Smith, who was a visiting professor at Harvard that year from the University of Michigan, and Robert Dorfman, a member of the Harvard faculty, recently acquired from the Berkeley economics department.

___________________________

University of Michigan, LSA Minutes. Memorial.

WARREN L. SMITH
1914 – 1972

Professor Warren Lounsbury Smith was born in Watertown, New York, on March 23, 1914, He died in Ann Arbor on April 23, 1972, He had come to The University of Michigan as a freshman in 1940, and in 1943 he married fellow student Ann Elizabeth Schwartz of Ann Arbor, His studies were interrupted by military service during World War II, but he continued a brilliant career as a student here, earning the B.A.in 1947, the M.A. in 1949, and the Ph.D. in Economics in 1952.

Warren Smith’s professional life as an economist thus began relatively late, at the age of 38. His accomplishments during the all-too-brief span of only 20 years are, therefore, all the more remarkable. He taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Economics Department at Michigan while still a student. After teaching at the University of Virginia and Ohio State University, he returned to Michigan in 1957 with the rank of Associate Professor of Economics. He was promoted to full professor in 1959, and served as Chairman of the Department of Economics from 1963 to 1967 and again in 1970-71. Professor Smith was regarded by graduate and undergraduate students alike as an absolutely superb teacher. His devotion to his responsibilities to students, both in and out of the classroom, brought him the deepest admiration and respect of all those who were privileged to know him in this capacity.

Excellence in teaching, however, was not gained at the expense of scholarship and service to the Department, the University, and the Nation. As Chairman of the Department Professor Smith was unstinting in the time and energy devoted to the task of finding the means to satisfaction of the needs of the Department. His colleagues are universally agreed that a very large part of the qualities of excellence now found in the Department are attributable to his stewardship.

Professor Smith’s public service contributions were both extensive and highly acclaimed. He served as consultant to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Commission on Money and Credit, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the Council of Economic Advisers, and appeared frequently as a public witness before Congressional Committees. In 1962-63 he served as Senior Economist on the Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and in 1968-69 he was a member of the Council.

But in the world of professional economists Warren Smith’s most magnificent monument, the living testimony to the greatness that he achieved, is to be found in his published articles and monographs and his Macroeconomics. As a scholar Professor Smith won world-wide renown, His work was always relevant, always expressive of the keenest insights, and always lucidly and forcefully presented. Few, if any, American economists have done more to shape current thinking on monetary and fiscal policy and debt management than Warren Smith.

To Ann Achwartz Smith, his wife, and to his children, Andrew, Samuel, and Catherine, we the faculty of the Department of Economics and of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts convey our sense of deepest personal loss. No one in our midst has ever more fully and completely exemplified the finest qualities of friend, colleague, teacher, scholar, and public servant than Warren Lounsbury Smith. The lives of all of us have been enriched because we were privileged to know him.

Peter O. Steiner

Source: Warren Lunsbury Smith Memorial Minute, University of Michigan, Faculty History Project.

___________________________

Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Memorial Minute
Robert [Elihu] Dorfman

Robert Dorfman, the late David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, was a leader in the introduction of mathematical methods to economics in the twentieth century. He died on June 24, 2002, at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Dorfman made important contributions, particularly as a pioneer in the use of linear programming, characterizing production relationships in terms of individual activities with fixed coefficients. He collaborated in 1958 with MIT Professors (and later Nobel laureates) Robert M. Solow and Paul A. Samuelson on the classic Linear Programming and Economic Analysis.

He believed that mathematical methods were key – both as analytical tools and as means of exposition. In this regard, Jerry Green, John Leverett Professor in the University and David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, said at Dorfman’s memorial service in 2002, “He was an ambassador for the future of our field.”

Dorfman wrote in 1954: “Is mathematics necessary in social science? I suppose not. It is quite conceivable that all problems could be solved by verbal means, just as it is possible to find that the square root of CXCVI is XIV. Such methods, though, would be not only painful but fearfully inefficient.”

Dorfman also made significant contributions to environmental economics. Beginning in 1972, he edited with his wife, Nancy S. Dorfman, three editions of Economics of the Environment. Testimony to the lasting value of this work is the fact that it is now in its sixth edition (edited since 2000 by Robert Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government at the Kennedy School).

In this realm, Dorfman understood the importance of the underlying natural science. His analysis of water resources in Pakistan, for example, drew on collaborations with engineers and hydrologists. He was for many years an affiliate of Harvard’s Center for Population Studies, where he helped introduce optimization methodologies for resource management to developing countries.

Dorfman’s career at Harvard spanned 32 years. He was Professor of Economics from 1955 to 1972, and then David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy until his retirement in 1987. He was known by junior colleagues as a marvelous mentor. Henry Rosovsky once said that the kindest five words that can be said to a young scholar are, “I have read your thesis.” Jerry Green has observed, “That was exactly what Bob said to me the first time we met. I am sure he said the same to many others.”

From 1976 to 1984, Dorfman served as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Green, an associate editor, observed his style: “I saw how he worked with articles and authors of all kinds. Diamonds in the rough had to be polished.”

Dorfman enjoyed a reputation as a masterful teacher, especially at the graduate level. He taught mathematical economics, microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, and econometrics, and thereby – in the words of Dale Jorgenson, Samuel W. Morris University Professor – “almost single- handedly brought the Harvard graduate program to the level of competing institutions.” Jorgenson recalls the course he took from Dorfman, and counts himself among “the fortunate students who were brought to the frontier of research in economic theory.”

In the 1970s, Dorfman launched a seminar series on the economics of information and organizations with Professor Kenneth Arrow and Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School. Generations of young scholars benefitted from this colloquium, including Green, who later became a co-chair. Zeckhauser recalls that “the most faithful presenter was Eric Maskin (now Professor of Economics), who was then starting to develop his pioneering work in mechanism design that would ultimately win him the Nobel Prize.”

Born on October 27, 1916, in New York City, Dorfman received his B.A. in mathematical statistics from Columbia College in 1936 and an M.A. in economics from Columbia University in 1937. Dorfman was a wartime pioneer in operations research. From 1939 to 1943, he worked as a statistician for the federal government, and then served during World War II as an operations analyst for the U.S. Army Air Force, based in the Southwest Pacific theater and in Washington, D.C.

After the war, Dorfman enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, earning his Ph.D. degree in economics in 1950. He joined the faculty at Berkeley, where he was an associate professor of economics when he moved to Harvard in 1955.

Among his scholarly contributions were four classic articles in the American Economic Review: “Mathematical or ‘Linear’ Programming” (1953), “Operations Research” (1960), “An Economic Interpretation of Optimal Control Theory” (1969), and “Incidence of the Benefits and Costs of Environmental Programs” (1977).

Dorfman was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as vice president of the American Economic Association, and vice president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. In 1972, when Dorfman was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, his citation included this summary: “Robert Dorfman’s characteristic intellectual style is based on a deep and painstaking mastery of the theoretical fundamentals, leading to a clear intuitive grasp of intellectual questions and thence to masterly exposition.”

Thirty years later, his co-author Robert Solow characterized him as “always polite, even self- deprecating, never assertive, he nevertheless stood his ground. If Bob Dorfman mildly and quizzically expressed some hesitation about your pet idea, it was always a good move to look up, just in case a boulder was about to crash down on you—politely, of course.”

According to his wife, Nancy, Dorfman turned to mathematics in college as a substitute for poetry, after concluding that he did not have a future as a poet. But his love of literature was reflected in the clarity and grace with which he explained complex economics in simple terms.

Robert Dorfman is survived by his wife, Nancy, of Lexington; his son, Peter, of Belmont; his daughter, Ann, of Newton; granddaughter, Joni Waldron, of Washington, D.C.; and grandson, Loren Waldron, of Newton.

Respectfully submitted,

Jerry Green
Dale W. Jorgenson Peter P. Rogers
Robert N. Stavins, Chair

SourceThe Harvard Gazette, November 14, 2012.

___________________________

Course Announcement.

Economics 241. Principles of Money and Banking

Full course. M., W., (F.), at 12. Professor Dorfman (spring term) and Associate Professor Warren Smith (University of Michigan).

SourceOfficial Register of Harvard University. Vol. LV, No. 20 (September 3, 1958), p. 95.

___________________________

Course Enrollment.

[Economics] 241 Principles of Money and Banking, (F) Associate Professor Warren Smith (University of Michigan); (S) Professor Dorfman. Full course.

(F) Total 20: 16 Gr., 2 Ra., 2 Others.
(S) Total 18: 16, 1 Ra., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1958-1959, p.73.

___________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Outline and Reading List
Economics 241: Principles of Money and Banking

Fall, 1958-59

  1. Monetary Mechanics
    1. (Sept. 22-29) Determinants of Member Bank Reserves and Money Supply Assignments:

Assignments: W. H. Steiner, E. Shapiro, and E. Solomon, Money and Banking (4th, 1958), Part III; E. S. Shaw, Money, Income, and Monetary Policy (1950), Chaps. II, III, X, XI; Bank Reserves: Some Major Factors Affecting Them (1953); The Treasury and the Money Market (1954).

References: J. P. Powelson, Economic Accounting (1955), Chaps. 13, 25; M.A. Copeland and D.H. Brill, “Banking Assets and Money Supply Since 1929,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Jan. 1948, pp. 24-32; “A Flow-of-Funds System of National Accounts: Annual Estimates,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Oct. 1955, pp. 1085-1124; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Flow of Funds in the United States, 1939-53 (1955); M. A. Copeland, A Study of Moneyflows in the United States (1955); M.A. Copeland, A Study of Moneyflows in the United States (1952).

    1. (Oct. 1-6) Bank Credit Expansion

Assignments: A.G. Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed., 1953), Chap. IV; Shaw, Money, Income, and Monetary Policy, Chaps. VI, VII.

References: J.W. Angell and K. Ficek, “Expansion of Bank Credit,” Journal of Political Economy, XLI, 1933, pp. 1-32, 152-193; W.F. Crick, “The Genesis of Bank Deposits,” Economica, VII, 1927, pp. 191-202, reprinted in F.A. Lutz and L.W. Mints (eds.), Readings in Monetary Theory (1951), pp. 41-53; D. Vining, “A Process Analysis of Bank Credit Expansion,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LIV, 1940, pp. 599-623.

    1. Monetary Policy
      1. (Oct. 8-17) Techniques of Control

Assignments: E.A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy (1951), Chap. V; Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt (Patman Committee Documents), Replies to Questions and Other Material, Part 1, pp. 275-299; R.V. Roosa, Federal Reserve Operations in the Money and Government Securities Markets (1956); W.L. Smith, “The Discount Rate as a Credit-Control Weapon,” Journal of Political Economy, LXVI, April 1958, pp. 171-177.

References: Steiner, Shapiro, and Solomon, Money and Banking (4th), Chaps. 12-14; Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity, Chaps. V, VI; W. W. Riefler, Money Rates and Money Markets in the United States(1930); D.A. Alhadeff, Monopoly and Competition in Banking (1954); G. L. Bach, Federal Reserve Policy Making (1950); L. Currie, The Supply and Control of Money in the United States (1934); C.O. Hardy, Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System (1932); S.E. Harris, Twenty Years of Federal Reserve Policy (1933), 2 vols.; Patman Committee Documents (1952).

      1. (Oct. 20-Nov. 5) How Monetary Policy Works

Assignments: Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2nd), Chaps. XVII, XVIII; J. Tobin, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXIX, May 1947, reprinted in A. Smithies and J.K. Butters (eds.) Readings in Fiscal Policy (1955), pp. 233-247; H.S. Ellis, “The Rediscovery of Money,” and R.V. Roosa, “Interest Rates and the Central Bank,” both in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams (1951), pp. 253-269 and 270-295, respectively; “Influence of Credit and Monetary Measures on Economic Stability,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, March 1953, pp. 219-234; J.G. Gurley and E.S. Shaw, “Financial Aspects of Economic Development,” American Economic Review, XLV, Sept. 1955, pp. 515-538; W.L. Smith, “On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” American Economic Review, XLVI, Sept. 1956, pp. 588-606; “Consumer Instalment Credit” (A Review Article), American Economic Review, XLVII, Dec. 1957, pp. 966-984; and “Monetary Policy and the Structure of Markets,” in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth, Compendium of Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee (1958), pp. 493-511; D. Carson, “Recent Open Market Committee Policy and Technique,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXIX, Aug. 1955, pp. 321-342; A.H. Hansen, The American Economy (1957), Chaps. 3,4.

References: G.L.S. Shackle, “Interest Rates and the Pace of Investment,” Economic Journal, LVI, March 1946, pp. 1-17; F.A. Lutz, “The Interest Rate and Investment in a Dynamic Economy,” American Economic Review, XXXV, Dec. 1945, pp. 811-830; T. Wilson and P.W.S. Andrews, Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism (1951), Chap. I; W.H. White, “Interest Inelasticity of Investment Demand—The Case from Business Attitude Surveys Re-examined,” American Economic Review, XLVI, Sept. 1956, pp. 565-587; J.R. Meyer and E. Kuh, The Investment Decision (1957); R.A. Musgrave, “Credit Controls, Interest Rates, and Management of the Public Debt,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen (1948), pp. 221-254; and “Monetary-Debt Policy Revisited,” in C.J. Friedrich and J.K. Galbraith (eds.), Public Policy, Vol. V, 1954; W.L. Smith and R.F. Mikesell, “The Effectiveness of Monetary Policy: Recent British Experience,” Journal of Political Economy, LXV, Feb. 1957, pp. 18-39; H.P. Minsky, “Central Banking and Money Market Changes,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXI, May 1957, pp. 171-187; United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1954); Monetary Policy: 1955-56 (Joint Economic Committee, 1956); E. Miller, “Monetary Policy in a Changing World,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXX, Feb. 1956, pp. 23-43; Symposium on Monetary Policy, Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Statistics, April, May, and August 1952; J. Tobin, “Monetary Policy and the Management of the Public Debt: The Patman Inquiry,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXV, May 1953, pp. 118-127; P.A. Samuelson, “Recent American Monetary Controversy” Three Banks Review, March 1956, pp. 3-21; and statement to the Patman Committee, Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt, Hearings, pp. 691-698; H.G. Johnson, “The Revival of Monetary Policy in Britain,” Three Banks Review, June 1956, pp. 3-20; J.K. Galbraith, “Market Structure and Stabilization Policy,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, May 1957, pp. 124-133; C.R. Whittlesey, “Monetary Policy and Economic Change,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, Feb. 1957, pp. 31-39; A.H. Hansen, “Monetary Policy,” RES, XXXVII, May 1955, pp. 110-119; S. Weintraub, “Monetary Policy: A Comment,” RES, XXXVII, Aug. 1955, pp. 292-296; J.H. Karekin, “Lenders’ Preferences, Credit Rationing, and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy,” RES, XXXIX, Aug. 1957, pp. 292-301; R.S. Sayers, Central Banking after Bagehot (1957); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Consumer Instalment Credit, 6 vols. (1957); Financing Small Business, Report to the Committees on Banking and Currency and the Select Committees on Small Business by the federal Reserve System, Parts 1 and 2 (1958); Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3 (1957).

  1. Fiscal Policy
    1. (Nov. 7-14) Fiscal Policy and National Income

Assignments: R.L. Bishop, “Alternative Expansionist Fiscal Policies: A Diagrammatic Analysis,” in Income, Employment, and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen, pp. 317-340; R.A. Musgrave, “Alternative Budget Policies for Full Employment,” American Economic Review, XXX, June 1945, pp. 387-400, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 291-306; and “Money Liquidity, and the Valuation of Assets,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams(1951), pp. 216-242.

References: J.A. Maxwell, Fiscal Policy, (1955); O.H.Brownlee and E.D. Allen, Economics of Public Finance(2d ed.; 1954), Part II; J.F. Due, Government Finance: An Economic Analysis (1954), Chaps. 25-28; H.M. Somers, Public Finance and National Income (1949), esp. Part VI.

    1. (Nov. 17-19) Automatic Fiscal Stabilizers

Assignments: R.A. Musgrave and M.H. Miller, “Built-In Flexibility,” American Economic Review, XXXVIII, March 1948, pp. 122-128, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 379-386; Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed.) Chaps. XXVII and XXVIII; M. Friedman, “A Monetary and Fiscal Framework for Economic Stability,” AER, XXXVIII, June 1948, pp. 245-264, reprinted in Lutz and Mints (eds.), Readings in Monetary Theory, pp. 369-393; Committee for Economic Development, Taxes and the Budget: A Program for Prosperity in a Free Economy (1947); W.W. Heller, “The CED’s Stabilizing Budget Policy after Ten Years,” AER, XLII, Sept. 1947, pp. 634-651.

References: D.W. Lusher, “The Stabilizing Effectiveness of Budget Flexibility,” together with comments thereon, in Policies to Combat Depression (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1956), pp. 77-122; W. Egle, Economic Stabilization: Objectives, Rules and Mechanisms (1952), Chaps. 3-7; E.C. Brown, “The Static Theory of Automatic Fiscal Stabilization,” Journal of Political Economy, LXIII, Oct. 1955, pp. 427-440.

    1. (Nov. 21-Dec.1) Discretionary Tax and Expenditure Adjustments Assignments:

Assignments: Hart, Money, Debt, and Economic Activity (2d ed.) Chaps. XXIX and XXX; A. Smithies, “Federal Budgeting and Fiscal Policy,” in H.S. Ellis (ed.), A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. I (1948), pp. 174-209; P.A. Samuelson, “Principles and Rules in Modern Fiscal Policy: A Neo-Classical Reformulation,” in Money, Trade, and Economic Growth: In Honor of John Henry Williams (1951), pp. 157-176.

References: G. Haberler, Prosperity and Depression (3d ed., 1946), Chap. 13; R. Goode, “Anti-Inflationary Implications of Alternative Forms of Taxation,” AER Papers and Proceedings, XLXX (May 1952), pp. 147-160; G. Colm, “The Corporation and the Corporation Income Tax in the American Economy,” J.K. Butters, “Taxation, Incentives, and Financial Capacity” (reprinted in Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 502-520); and J. Lintner, “The Effect of Corporate Income Tax on Real Investment,” all in AER Papers and Proceedings, XLIV, May 1954, pp. 486-503, 504-519, and 520-534, respectively; E.C. Brown, “Consumption Taxes and Income Determination,” AER, XL, March 1950, pp. 74-89; R. Blough, The Federal Taxing Process (1952); A. Smithies, The Budgetary Process in the United States (1955) H.M. Somers, Public Finance and National Income, Part II; Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Subcommittee on Tax Policy of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report (1955); Federal Expenditure Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, Papers Submitted by Panelists Appearing before the Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of the Joint Economic Committee (1957).

    1. (Dec. 3-10) Debt Management

Assignments: E.R. Ralph, “Principles of Debt Management,” AER, XLVII, June 1957, pp. 301-320; R.V.Roosa, “Integrating Debt Management and Open Market Operations,” AER Papers and Proceedings, XLII, May 1952, pp. 214-235, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds), Readings in Fiscal Policy, pp. 265-288; Committee for Economic Development, Managing the Federal Debt (1954) E.A. Goldenweiser, American Monetary Policy, Chap. III.

References: J.M. Buchanan, Public Principles of Public Debt (1958); H.C. Murphy, The National Debt in War and Transition (1950); L.V. Chandler, Inflation in the United States, 1940-48 (1951); C.C. Abbott, The Federal Debt: Structure and Impact (1953); Patman Committee Documents (1952); General Credit Control, Debt Management and Economic Stabilization (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1951); Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3 (1957); “Proposal for a Special Reserve Requirement against the Time and Demand Deposits of Banks,” Federal Reserve Bulletin, Jan. 1948, pp. 14-23; J. Cohen, “A Theoretical Framework for Treasury Debt Management,” American Economic Review, XLV, June 1955, pp. 320-344.

    1. (Dec. 12-19) Co-ordination of Stabilization Policies

Assignments: P.A. Samuelson, “The New Look in Tax and Fiscal Policy,” in Federal Tax Policy for Economic Growth and Stability, (Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 1955), pp. 229-234; R.A. Musgrave, “The Optimal Mix of Stabilization Policies,” in The Relationship of Prices to Economic Stability and Growth, Compendium of Papers Presented by Panelists Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee (1958), pp. 597-609; W.L. Smith, “Monetary-Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, LXXI, Feb. 1957, pp. 36-55; A. Smithies, “The Control of Inflation,” Review of Economics and Statistics, XXXIX, Aug. 1957, pp. 272-283.

References: P.A. Samuelson, “Full Employment versus Progress and other Economic Goals,” in M.F. Milliken (ed.), Income Stabilization for a Developing Democracy (1953), pp. 547-580; R.A. Musgrave, “Monetary-Debt Policy Revisited,” in C.J. Friedrich and J.K. Galbraith (eds.), Public Policy, Vol. V, 1954; J. Tobin, “Monetary Policy and Management of the Public Debt: The Patman Inquiry,” RES, XXV, May 1953, pp. 118-127; G.L. Bach, “Monetary-Fiscal Policy Reconsidered,” Journal of Political Economy, LVII, Oct. 1949, pp. 383-394, reprinted in Smithies and Butters (eds.), Readings in Fiscal Policy (1955), pp. 248-264.

General References

Federal Reserve Bulletin (monthly), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Treasury Bulletin (monthly), U.S. Treasury Department.

Survey of Current Business (monthly), U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Monthly Review of Credit and Business Conditions (monthly), Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Monthly bulletins are also published by the other eleven Federal Reserve banks.

International Financial Statistics (monthly), International Monetary Fund.

Report on Assets, Liabilities, and Capital Accounts—Commercial and Mutual Savings Banks (semiannually), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Federal Reserve Chart Book on Financial and Business Statistics (monthly), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Historical Supplement to Federal Reserve Chart Book (annually in September), Board of Governors of the FRS.

Annual Report, Board of Governors of the FRS.

Annual Report, FRB of New York. The other eleven Federal Reserve Banks also publish annual reports.

Annual Report, Comptroller of the Currency.

Annual Report, Secretary of the Treasury.

Annual Report, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Banking and Monetary Statistics, Board of Governors of the FRS, 1943.

Business Statistics (biennially), U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

National Income Supplement to the Survey of Current Business, latest edition 1954, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Economic Report of the President (annually in January), U.S. Government Printing Office.

Hearings on the Economic Report before the Joint Economic Committee (annually),

Monetary Policy and Management of the Public debt (Patman Committee documents), 3 vols.:

1. Hearings before the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report, 82d Congress, 1952

2. Replies to Questions and Other Material for the Use of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management, Part I, 82d Congress, 1952.

3. Replies to Questions and Other Material for the Use of the Subcommittee on General Credit Control and Debt Management, Part 2, 82d Congress, 1952.

Investigation of the Financial Condition of the United States, Hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Parts 1, 2, and 3, 85th Congress, 1957.

United States Monetary Policy: Recent Thinking and Experience. Joint Committee of the Economic Report, 83d Congress, 1954.

Monetary Policy: 1955-56, Joint Economic Committee, 84th Congress, 1956.

Consumer Instalment Credit, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1957.

B.H. Beckhart (ed.) Banking Systems (1955).

P.G. Fousek, Foreign Central Banking: The Instruments of Monetary Policy, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1958.

[Reading Period: Ec. 141 Fall Term. No further assignment]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1958-1959, (1 of 2)”.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 241
Money and Banking

Midterm Examination
January 22, 1959

I.

“At times short-term interest rates have been higher than long-term interest rates, while on other occasions long-term rates have been higher than short-term rates. Moreover, while short- and long-term rates usually move in the same direction, short-term rates ordinarily fluctuate over a wider range than long-term rates, but long-term security prices fluctuate more widely than short-term security prices.” Show how these patterns of behavior can be explained by the so-called expectational theory of the rate structure.

II.

“The sensitivity of output, employment, and prices to changes in the money supply may vary greatly depending upon the reaction coefficients of the economy and on the prevailing conditions.” Discuss.

III.

Proponents of the so-called “new monetary policy” have argued that even though expenditure schedules may be interest inelastic, restrictive monetary policy may be quite potent due to its effects on the supply of funds. Explain and evaluate their arguments, indicating some of the criticisms that have been advanced.

IV.

In principle at least, a given stabilization objective can be achieved by means of various combinations of monetary and fiscal measures. Taking an inflationary situation as your context, discuss the considerations, both theoretical and practical, which should be taken into account in choosing the optimal mix of stabilization policies.

V.

“If markets were reasonably competitive and prices correspondingly flexible, economic stability would be assured.” Discuss.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, Social Sciences, January 1959. (HUC 7000.28) Vol. 122. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, Government, Economics,…, Naval Science, Air Science. January, 1959.

___________________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 241

READING LIST NO. 1
Spring, 1959

Framework of Keynesian Analyis

A.P. Lerner, “The General Theory (1),” S.E. Harris, ed., The New Economics, Ch. 11.

J. Lintner, “The Theory of Money and Prices,” S.E. Harris, ibid., Ch. 37.

L. Tarshis, “An Exposition of Keynesian Economics,” R.V. Clemence, ed., Readings in Economic Analysis, Vol. I, pp. 197-208.

L.R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, Chs. 3 and 4.

The Consumption Function

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Book III.
(NOTE: All assignments in the General Theory imply assignment of the corresponding passages in A.H. Hansen, A Guide to Keynes.)

R.P. Mack, “Economics of Consumption,” Survey of Contemporary Economics, Vol. II, pp. 39-78.

J.S. Duesenberry, Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior, Ch. 3.

Irwin Friend, Individuals’ Saving, esp. Ch. 8.

M. Friedman, A Theory of the Consumption Function, Ch. 9 at least.

A. Marshall, Principles of Economics (8th edn.), pp. 228-236.

The Multiplier

G. Haberler, “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of the Multiplier,” Readings in the Theory of Business Cycles, Ch. 9.

F. Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” ibid., Ch. 10.

R.M. Goodwin, “The Multiplier,” The New Economics, Ch. 36.

G.L.S. Shackle, “Twenty Years On,” Ec. Journal, 61, June 1951.

Investment

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 11, 12, 16.

A.P. Lerner, Economics of Control, Ch. 25.

I. Fisher, Theory of Interest, Chs. 5-11.

David Durand, “Costs of Debt and Equity Funds for Business,” Universities-National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, ed., Conference on Research in Business Finance, pp. 215-261, 328-330, 333-334.

Interest

J.M. Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

A.P. Lerner, in The New Economics, Chs. 45, 46.

W. Fellner and H.M. Somers, “Alternative Monetary Approaches to Interest Theory,” Rev. of Ec. Stat., Feb. 1941.

B. Ohlin, “Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Saving and Investment,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Ch. 5.

F.A. Lutz, “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion,” ibid. Ch. 6.

J.M. Keynes, Economic Journal, 47 (1937), pp. 241-252, 663-669.

B. Ohlin, Economic Journal, 47 (1937), pp. 423-427.

R.W. Clower, “Productivity, Thrift and the Rate of Interest,” Economic Journal, March 1954.

S.C. Tsiang, “Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds Theories,” American Economic Review, September 1956.

F.A. Lutz, “The Structure of Interest Rates,” Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, Ch. 26.

T. Wilson and P.W.S. Andrews, eds., Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism, Ch. 1

Reading Period: Ec. 141 Spring Term

United States Monetary Policy: Its Contribution to Prosperity without Inflation (The American Assembly, Columbia University, 1958).

___________________________

ECONOMICS 241
Money and Banking

Final Examination
May 28, 1959

READ CAREFULLY: Answer Question 1 (40 points) and any three others (20 points each).

1.

Trace through in detail three of the following economic mechanisms, stating the special assumptions on which they rest:

  1. The manner in which an increase in the level of investment affects the level of income according to the period interpretation of the multiplier.
  2. The manner in which a decrease in wage rates affects the level of employment, according to Keynes.
  3. The manner in which an increase in the money supply leads to an increase in the price level without an increase in the interest rate, according to the “classical” doctrine.
  4. The manner in which an excess of ex ante investment over ex ante saving leads to a cumulative expansion, according to Ohlin and the Swedish school.
  5. The manner in which an excess of the warranted rate of growth over the natural rate of growth leads to chronic depression, according to Harrod.

2.

Explain in some detail the classical theory of investment, as exemplified by Fisher, and then spend most of your time on describing the defects and shortcomings of that theory.

3.

In what way does the theory of income determination employed by Hicks (or Modigliani, if you prefer) differ from Keynes? Explain in full detail the model of income determination used by Hicks or Modigliani, emphasizing (a) the technical devices employed and (b) the deficiencies of the model.

4.

Describe the consumption functions advocated by (a) Duesenberry (early), (b) Friedman, (c) Pigou (late) and discuss the implications of these various consumption functions (as contrasted with Keynes’) for an overall theory of income determination.

5.

Explain the “cost of capital” theory of investment (also called the “corporate investment approach”) and discuss its implications for an overall theory of income determination, as contrasted with the implications of the Fisher-Keynes theory.

6.

Write a belated book review of Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. In the course of it raise the major criticisms and objections that have been advanced by previous reviewers and commentators, and indicate how they affect your appraisal giving, of course, your reasons.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27, Final Exams—Social Sciences-June, 1959. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. June, 1959.

Image Sources: Warren Smith (left) from the University of Michigan Faculty History Project. Robert Dorfman (right). AEA Distinguished Fellow 1992. The American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Jun., 1993).

Categories
Berkeley Exam Questions Problem Sets Suggested Reading Syllabus

Berkeley. Graduate Macroeconomics à la Akerlof, et al. 1992-2007

 

A few days ago, George Akerlof reached the age of 80. I first met George in the summer of 1973 when I was an intern at the Council of Economic Advisers. I worked as a research assistant to two labor economists and George was on university leave to serve a tour of duty as a senior staff economist at the Council. We only overlapped a few weeks but as we both shared a common undergraduate alma mater, Yale College, we were sort of academic siblings. Almost two decades later George and his wife, Janet Yellen, contacted me regarding details of German Democratic Republic economic statistics for their Brookings paper with Andrew K. Rose and Helga Hessenius “East Germany in from the Cold: The Economic Aftermath of Currency Union” (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1:1991). During our long telephone conversation George referred to specific footnotes in my World Bank working paper produced for the project led by Paul Marer that resulted in the book Dollar GNPs of the USSR and Eastern Europe (1985) so naturally I was impressed by his scholarly thoroughness.  There were two other encounters that were roughly a decade apart, the last being a conversation in the lobby of the Mt. Washington Hotel at the Bretton Woods conference of INET in 2011

Like many other economists I have received great inspiration from the work and scientific manner of George Akerlof. So in honor of his eightieth birthday, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror offers this collection of links to internet archived course materials from his graduate macroeconomics course at Berkeley.

P.S. For another shipload of links from the WaybackMachine (not involving George Akerlof), course materials from…

Principles of Macroeconomics at M.I.T. from 1995-2006

Principles of Microeconomics at M.I.T. from 1994-2005

__________________________

Mining the internet archive WaybackMachine

The links to course material for Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory taught at the University of California, Berkeley were assembled from the lists created by  searches using the internet archive WaybackMachine:

54 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu:80/users/akerlof/index.shtml

167 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu:80/users/webfac/akerlof/e202*

83 URLs captured with: http://emlab.berkeley.edu/users/webfac/akerlof/e202a

It is of course frustrating to have so much that is yet so incomplete. Still what we have extracted is conveniently displayed below and perhaps others will be successful in filling gaps in the record.

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1992
George Akerlof

Final exam (1992)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1993
George Akerlof

Final exam (1993)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1995
George Akerlof / G. Mehrez / P. Ghezzi

Final exam (1995)

Final Questions

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 1996
George Akerlof / G. Mehrez / P. Ghezzi

Final exam (1996)

Final Questions Version 1
Final Questions Version 2

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2000
George Akerlof / Andrea De Michelis / Mar-Andreas Muendler

Midterm 2000

Midterm Exam Questions
Midterm Exam Answers

Final exam (2000)

Final Questions Version 1
Final Questions Version 2

_______________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2001
George Akerlof / Andrea De Michelis

 Course Home page (2001)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Lectures (2001)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Final Exam (2001)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Spring 2002
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (S2002)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (S2002)

[Could not find an archived copies of problems]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (S2002)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/De Michelis (with answers)

Final exam (S2002)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2002
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (F2002)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (F2002)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (F2002)

Lectures 1-5 (GA)Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / Lecture 13 (GA) / Lecture 14 (GA) / Lecture 15 (GA) / Lecture 16 (GA)  / Lecture 17 (GA) / Lecture 18 (GA) / Lecture 19 (GA) / Lecture 20 (GA) / Lecture 21 (GA) / Lecture 22 (GA) / Lecture 23 (GA) / Lecture 24 (GA)

Problem Sets and Solutions (F2002)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

Problem Set 4 and Solutions

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

Problem Set 8 and Solutions

Problem Set 9 and Solutions

Problem Set 10 and Solutions

Problem Set 11 and Solutions

Midterm Q’s and A’s (F2002)

Midterm Examination Questions. Akerlof/De Michelis
Midterm Examination Answers. Akerlof/De Michelis 

Final exam (F2002)

Final Questions

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2003
George Akerlof and David Romer

 Course Home page (2003)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2003)

[Could not find an archived copy of syllabus]

Lectures (2003)

[Could not find an archived copies of lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2003)

[Could not find an archived copies of problems]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2003)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Goncalves (with answers)

Final exam (2003)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2004
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (2004)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2004)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2004)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / [Could not find notes for Lectures 7-24]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2004)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

[Could not find problem sets and solutions for 4-10]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2004)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Kroft (with answers)

Final exam (2004)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2005
George Akerlof

 Course Home page (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy]

Syllabus (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy]

Lectures (2005)

[Could not find archived copies of lectures 1-6] / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of lectures 9-15] / Lecture 16 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of lectures 17-?]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2005)

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

 

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2005)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Halac (with answers)

Final exam (2005)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2006
George Akerlof and David Romer

 Course Home page (2006)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2006)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2006)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / [Could not find archived copies of Romer’s Lectures]

Problem Sets and Solutions (2006)

Problem Set 1 and Solutions

Problem Set 2 and Solutions

Problem Set 3 and Solutions

Problem Set 4 and Solutions

Problem Set 5 and Solutions

Problem Set 6 and Solutions

Problem Set 7 and Solutions

Problem Set 8 and Solutions

Problem Set 9 and Solutions

Problem Set 10 and Solutions

Problem Set 11 and Solutions

Problem Set 12 and Solutions

Problem Set 13 and Solutions

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2006)

Midterm Examination Akerlof/Halac (with answers)

Final exam (2006)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

____________________

Economics 202A: Macroeconomic Theory
Fall 2007
George Akerlof (first half) and Maurice Obstfeld (second half)

 Course Home page (2007)

Economics 202A: Homepage

Syllabus (2007)

Economics 202A: Syllabus

Lectures (2007)

Lecture 1 (GA) / Lecture 2 (GA) / Lecture 3 (GA) / Lecture 4 (GA) / Lecture 5 (GA) / Lecture 6 (GA) / Lecture 7 (GA) / Lecture 8 (GA) / Lecture 9 (GA) / Lecture 10 (GA) / Lecture 11 (GA) / Lecture 12 (GA) / Lecture 13 (MO) / Lecture 14 (MO) / Lecture 15 (MO) / Lecture 16 (MO) / Lecture 16a (MO) /Lecture 16b (MO) /  Lecture 17 (MO) / Lecture 18 (MO) / Lecture 19 (MO) / Lecture 20 (MO)

Problem Sets and Solutions (2007)

[Could not find an archived copy of problems or solutions]

Midterm Q’s and A’s (2007)

[Could not find an archived copy of questions or answers]

Final exam (2007)

Final Questions / Final Answers

____________________

Image Source:  George A. Akerlof Facts Page, Nobel Prize Website.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles Suggested Reading Syllabus Teaching Undergraduate

Harvard. Principles of Economics. Reading assignments, Exams, 1928

 

Partial course outlines from Harvard’s principles of economics course from 1927-28 and 1928-29 were found filed with the economics course outlines for 1938-39 in the Harvard Archives. The principal instructors for the courses in both years were Harold Hitchings Burbank and Edward Hastings Chamberlin, so combining the first semester outline from 1928-29 with the second semester outline from 1927-28 as transcribed below gives us a synthetic syllabus for the 1927-29 years. This post also includes enrollment figures for the two academic years as well as the corresponding semester final exams for the course. Links to the assigned textbooks have been added to complete the package.

____________________________

Course Announcement and Description

ECONOMICS
GENERAL STATEMENT

Course A is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor. Students concentrating in Economics should elect Course A in their Sophomore year, except in unusual cases. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics A…

INTRODUCTORY COURSES
Primarily for Undergraduates

A. Principles of Economics

Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Harold Hitchings] Burbank, Dr. [Edward Hastings] Chamberlin, Dr. [Charles Holt] Taylor, and Messrs. [John Bever] Crane, [Melvin Gardner] de Chazeau, [Edgar Jerome] Johnson, [Delmar] Leighton, [Talcott] Parsons, [Carl Johann] Ratzlaff, [James Harold] Shoemaker, [Samuel Sommerville] Stratton, [John Phillip] Wernette, [Harry Dexter] White and [Earle Micajah] Winslow; with lectures on selected subjects by Professor [Frank William] Taussig and other Members of the Department.

Course A gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes an analysis of the present organization of industry, the mechanism of exchange, the determination of value, and the distribution of wealth.

The course is conducted entirely by oral discussion in sections. Taussig’s Principles of Economics is used as the basis of discussion.

Course A may not be taken by Freshmen without the consent of the instructor.

SourceOfficial Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXV, No. 29 (May 26, 1928). Division of History, Government, and Economics 1928-29, pp. 63-64.

____________________________

Enrollment in Economics A, 1928-29

[Economics] A. Professor Burbank and Dr. Chamberlin, Dr. Taylor and Messrs. Leighton, Stratton, Winslow, O.H. Taylor, E.J. Johnson, de Chazeau, Parsons, Wernette, H.D. White, and Ratzlaff, Crane and Shoemaker. — Principles of Economics.

Total 477: 55 Seniors, 127 Juniors, 242 Sophomores, 26 Freshmen, 27 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1928-29, p. 71.

 

____________________________

EXHIBIT D
First Half

OUTLINE OF STUDY FOR ECONOMICS A
1928-29

Hubert D. Henderson. Supply and Demand. (New York: 1922).

D. H. Robertson. The Control of Industry (London: 1923).

Frank W. Taussig. Principles of Economics, Vol. I, 3rd edition, (New York: 1921).

Sept. 27
Sept. 29
Lecture.
Lecture.
Oct. 1 – 6 Taussig, Principles 1. Wealth and Labor.
2. Labor in Production.
3. Division of Labor and Development of Modern Industry.
Oct. 8 – 13


Robertson
4. Large Scale Production.
5. Capital.
6. Corporate Organization of Industry.
1 – 3. Control of Industry.
Oct. 15 – 20 Taussig

8. Exchange, Value, Price.
9. Value and Utility.
10. Market Value. Demand and Supply.
Oct. 22 – 27

17. Coinage.
18. Quantity.
19. Secs. 2, 3, 4: History of Prices.
Oct. 29 – Nov. 3

20. Bimetallism.
22. Changes in Prices.
23. Government Paper Money
Nov. 5 – 10
24. Banking and Medium of Exchange.
25. Banking Operations.
Nov. 12 – 17

27. Banking System of United States
28. Crises.
29. Panics.
Nov. 19 – 24

Hour Exam
30. Prices.
31. Reform.
Nov. 26 – Dec. 1


Henderson
Review 8, 9, 10.
12. Constant Cost.
13. Diminishing Returns.
Demand and Supply (Nov. 26 to Dec. 15).
Dec. 3 – 8 Taussig
14. Varying Cost.
15. Monopoly.
Dec. 10 – 15
Henderson:
16. Joint Cost and Joint Demand.
Ch. 5. Demand and Supply.
Dec. 17 – 22 Taussig 32. The Foreign Exchanges
RECESS Dec. 23 to Jan. 2
Reading Period Jan. 2 to 16  [No additional reading requirements]
Jan. 2 – 7 Taussig
33. International Payments.
34. International Trade.
Jan. 9 – 14
36. Protection.
37. Free Trade.
MIDYEARS:

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2; Folder “Economics, 1938-1939 [sic].”

____________________________

1928-29
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS A
[Mid-Year Examination, 1929]

  1. Many business men are hoping for a period of rising prices; some financial writers are prophesying that it is inevitable. Assuming no change in our existing monetary and banking laws, what causes might lead to an increase in prices? How would such rising prices tend to affect the holders of various types of securities?
  2. “Some people argue that price is determined by cost of production; and yet they admit that producers with too high costs have to drop out. Thus it is clear that in reality a producer’s cost is determined by the price he can get, consequently price cannot be determined by cost of production.” Comment on this statement.
  3. What influence has the existence of joint cost upon the development of large scale production?
  4. It has been stated that with the Federal Reserve System in operation there will never be a recurrence in the United States of such (a) crises and (b) panics as occurred in 1893 and 1907. Do you agree?
  5. What attitude toward the tariff would you expect to be taken by a banker who has made large loans abroad, by a manufacturer of woolen cloth, by a professor of economics, by a Louisiana politician?
  6. Explain briefly:
    1. The principles of subsidiary coinage.
    2. The relation between markets and the division of labor.
    3. The distinction between consumers’ goods and producers’ goods.
    4. The significance of the following: “The plentifulness of money is in itself a matter of indifference.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-Year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 11, Bound volume: Examination Papers: Mid-Years 1929, Papers Printed for Mid-Year Examinations [in] History, New Testament, Government, Economics….Military Science, Naval Science. January-February, 1929.

____________________________

Enrollment in Economics A, 1927-28

[Economics] A. Professor Burbank and Dr. Chamberlin and Messrs. K.W. Bigelow, [Theodore John] Kreps, Stratton, Winslow, O.H. Taylor, E.J. Johnson, de Chazeau, Parsons, Wernette, H.D. White, and D.V. Brown, with lectures on selected subjects by Professor Taussig and other Members of the Department. — Principles of Economics.

Total 532: 61 Seniors, 165 Juniors, 258 Sophomores, 20 Freshmen, 28 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1927-28, p. 74.

____________________________

OUTLINE OF ASSIGNMENTS FOR ECONOMICS A
1927-28, 2nd. Half year.

Thomas Nixon Carver. The Distribution of Wealth (New York: 1921).

Hubert D. Henderson. Supply and Demand. (New York: 1922).

D. H. Robertson. The Control of Industry (London: 1923).

Frank W. Taussig. Principles of Economics, 3rd edition, (New York: 1921). Volume I, Volume II.

Feb. 6

Feb. 11

Review
Value
Diminishing Returns
Carver:

Distribution of Wealth
Ch. I. Value
Ch. II. Diminishing Returns
Feb. 13

Feb. 18

Rent Carver:
Taussig:
V. Rent
Ch. 44. Rent (esp. Capitalization)
Ch. 43. Urban Site Rent
Feb. 20

Feb. 25

Interest Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. VI. Interest
Ch. 40. Interest
Feb. 27

Mar. 3

Wages Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. IV. Wages
Ch. 47. Social Stratification
Mar. 5

Mar. 10

Profits, Population Carver:
Taussig:
Ch. VII. Profits
Ch. 53. Population
Ch. 54. Population, continued
Mar. 12

Mar. 17

Inequality Taussig:


Ch. 7. Productiveness
Ch. 45. Monopoly
Ch. 51. Great Fortunes
Ch. 55. Inequality
Mar. 19

Mar. 24

Land, Risk, Labor, etc. Henderson:



Ch. VI. Land
Ch. VII. Risk Bearing Enterprise
Ch. VIII. Capital
Ch. IX. Labor
Ch. X. Real Costs of Production
Mar. 26

Mar. 31

Labor Taussig:

Ch. 56. Wages system
Ch. 57. Labor Unions
Ch. 58. Labor Legislation
Apr. 2

Apr. 7

Labor

Ch. 59. Industrial Peace
Ch. 60. Workmen’s Insurance
Ch. 61. Coöperation
RECESS April 8-14
Apr. 16

Apr. 21

Railways
Ch. 62. Railways
Ch. 63. Railway Problems, continued.
Apr. 23

Apr. 28

Public Ownership & Combinations
Ch. 64. Public Ownership & Control
Ch. 65 Combinations & Trusts
Apr. 30

May 5

Industry and Capitalism Robertson:


Review
Ch. V. Capitalism of Industry
Ch. VI. Finance and Industry
Ch. VII. Survey of CapitalismCh. X. Workers’ Control
May 7
READING PERIOD BEGINS
May 12
Socialism Taussig:
Ch. 66. Socialism
Ch. 67. Socialism, continued.
May 14

May 19

Social Reform Robertson:

Ch. IX. Collectivism
Ch. X. Workers Control
Ch. XI. Joint Control
May 21

May 26

Taxation

Taussig:

Ch. 68. Principles Underlying Taxation
Ch. 69 Income and Inheritance Taxes
REVIEW
EXAMINATIONS

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 2; Folder “Economics, 1938-1939 [sic].”

____________________________

1927-28
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS A
[Final End-year Examination]

Allow one hour and one-half for the first question.

  1. Explain how the distribution of wealth is affected by the following:
    1. Large and rapid changes in the supply of money.
    2. Labor saving inventions.
    3. A rise in the standard of living of the wage earning classes.
    4. The opening for settlement of new areas of good agricultural land.
    5. The government regulation of public utilities.
  2. Discuss the accuracy of the following statements:
    “Three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves.”
    “The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer.”
    “To abolish wage slavery we must abolish the wages system; only through socialism can the wages system be forced to disappear.”
    “The one way a union can help its members is by limitation of the supply of hands.”
  3. What does each of the following propose: collectivism, single tax, producers’ coöperation, syndicalism?
  4. Explain briefly the case for and against minimum wage laws, unemployment insurance, progressive taxation of incomes, the restriction of immigration.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers, Finals (HUC 7000.28). Bound Volume 70 (1928). Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, Church History,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science, June 1928.

Image Source: Harold Hitchings Burbank from Harvard Class Album 1934.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Syllabus and exams for Government Policy Toward Business. Kaysen, 1961

 

Carl Kaysen
from the 1958 Harvard yearbook

Carl Kaysen, who just this year [1958] was promoted to the position of Professor of Economics, has risen quickly up the educational ladder and has a distinguished record of non-academic accomplishments as well. At the age of 20, he served on the National Bureau of Economic Research, two years later he joined the Office of Strategic Services, and he served in the Air Force from 1943 to 1945. At thirty, he became an Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard, and was promoted to Associate Professor two years ago. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Guggenheim Fellow.

Professor Kaysen is primarily interested in industrial organizations and monopoly practices. He is a co-author of The American Business Creed and is currently engaged in a study of the complexity of modern business firms.

Source: Harvard Class Album 1958.

______________________

Course Description

Economics 144. Government Policy Toward Business
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 10. Professor Kaysen.

This course surveys the major areas of government regulation of the functioning of markets in the United States. Anti-trust policy, agricultural policy, public utility regulation, and the regulation of transportation are examined with an eye to both their underlying economic rationale and their outcome in practice.

Source: Courses of Instruction: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. LVII, No. 21 (August 29, 1960), p. 96.

______________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 144. Government Policy Toward Business. Professor Kaysen. Half course.

(Spring) Total 88: 2 Graduates, 29 Seniors, 32 Juniors, 19 Sophomores, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-61, p. 76.

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Economics 144
Government Policy Toward Business

Professor Kaysen        Littauer 212    MW 11-12
Dr. Fromm                  Littauer 214    MW 11-12
Mr. Wilson                  Littauer 214 Tues 4-6

  1. Policy Goals, Economic Systems, and Policy Instruments (Feb. 6-17)

Watson, Donald S., Economic Policy: Business and Government, Part I, pp. 3-196.

  1. Competition: Enough and Just Enough (Feb. 20 – March 20)

Wilcox, Clair, Public Policies Toward Business, Revised Edition, Chapters 3-5, pp. 49-123.

Bain, Joe S., Industrial Organization, Chapter 13, pp. 477-539.

United States, Department of Justice, Report of the Attorney General’s National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws, Chapters 1 and 3, pp. 1-64 and 115-128.

Stelzer, Irwin M., Selected Antitrust Cases: Landmark Decisions in Federal Antitrust, Chapter 1 (except Yellow Cab Company, et al.) pp. 3-40, 44-59, Chapter 3, pp. 79-94, Chapter 4, pp. 95-105.

Oppenheim, S. Chesterfield, Recent Cases on Federal Anti-Trust Laws, 1951 Supplement to Cases on Federal Anti-Trust Laws;

United States v. American Can Co., pp. 434-451
Tag Mfrs. Institute, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission, pp. 304-318
United States v. Aluminum Company of America, pp. 209-289

Federal Supplement, United States v. Bethlehem Steel Corporation and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., 168 F. Supp. 576.

Levitan, Sar A., Federal Assistance to Labor Surplus Areas, A Report to the Committee on Banking and Currency, United States House of Representatives, 85th Congress, 1st Session, April 15, 1957, pp. 5-35.

Watson, Donald S., Economic Policy: Business and Government, Chapter 25, pp. 658-691.

Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Staff Report on Employment, Growth, and Price Levels, December 24, 1959, Chapter 7, pp. 189-204.

  1. Monopolies, Near Monopolies (March 22 — April 17)

Wilcox, Clair, Public Policies Toward Business, Revised Edition, Chapters 19-22, pp. 539-642.

Watson, Donald S., Economic Policy: Business and Government, Chapter 16, pp. 391-421.

Meyer, J.R., Peck, M.J., Stenason, J., and Zwick, C., The Economics of Competition in the Transportation Industries, Chapters 6-9, pp. 145-273.

  1. External Effects and Ignorance (April 19-28)

Rostow, Eugene V., A National Policy for the Oil Industry, Chapters 3-6, pp. 16-53.

Bain, Joe S., The Economics of the Pacific Coast Petroleum Industry, Volume III, Chapter III, pp. 23-67.

Owen, Wilfred, Cities in the Motor Age, Chapter 2, pp. 18-41, Chapter 8, pp. 138-150.

Haar, Charles M., “The Master Plan: An Inquiry in Dialogue Form,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, August 1959, pp. 133-142.

  1. General Overview (May 1-3)

To be announced.

Reading Period assignment to be announced.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (1 of 2)”.

______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Reading Period Assignments
Spring Term, 1960-61

Ec. 144:

J. E. Meade, Planning and the Price Mechanism, Ch. I, III, IV, AND W.A. Lewis, Principles of Planning, Ch. I, II, IV, VI, VII-IX
OR E. Devons, Planning in Practice.

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

______________________

ECONOMICS 144
Hour Examination
April 14, 1961

Answer ALL questions.

PART I
20 Minutes

  1. Some economists have suggested that a “market power” standard should be used in judging monopolization cases under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. What would the differences between this standard and the exiting performance standard be? What would be achieved by adopting the proposed standard? What new problems might it create?

 

PART II
30 Minutes

  1. Outline the role of government economic policy as interpreted by:
    1. reform liberals
    2. neo-liberals
    3. conservatives
  2. What is the essential economic problem presented by the agricultural sector and the depressed areas? [handwritten note: “allocation of resources + factor mobility”]
  3. There is wide agreement that some regulation of the utility industries, such as electric power, is necessary. What economic facts and judgments underlie this agreement?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 7, Folder “Economics, 1960-1961 (1 of 2)”.

______________________

ECONOMICS 144
Final Examination

PART I

Answer both questions.

  1. (a) Some problems in anti-trust regulation are:
    1. Parallel pricing vs. collusive behavior
    2. Monopolizing vs. monopoly
    3. Market power vs. monopoly

Discuss each in the light of Sherman Act enforcement and the cases you have read.

  1. Assume that you were an economic adviser to the Anti-trust Division during the Dupont Cellophane case. After you had heard Dupont present its defense, what arguments would you have given the Government’s lawyers in order to help them prepare their reply?
  1. (a) Why does the market fail to allocate resources properly in the oil industry? What possible remedies would you recommend and why?

(b) Discuss briefly the arguments why interference with the market mechanism is necessary in order to achieve an optimal allocation of land uses in a city. What do you consider to be the most difficult problems that an urban planning authority would face?

 

PART II

Answer one question only.

  1. (a) What are some of the difficulties encountered by the regulatory authorities when they attempt to set utility rates so as to guarantee a “fair return on investment”?

(b) Give reasons why the present system of pricing by electric utilities leads to misallocation of power uses. Set up a utility pricing scheme that would remove this misallocation.

  1. (a) What accounts for the existence of natural monopoly elements in the transportation industries? What distinguishes these industries from “pure” natural monopolies, such as electric utilities?

(b) Some economists have argued that railroads should be subject to less rather than more regulation. What arguments can be used to support their position? What problems would arise if the railroads were subject to no special regulation at all?

 

PART III

Answer one question only.

  1. Evaluate some of the arguments put forward by Meade and by Lewis to support their contention that some state planning is necessary to improve the functioning of the economic system. Discuss to what extent each of their proposals is an attempt to improve the functioning of competitive markets and to what extent it is an attempt to supplant market determined goals.
  2. Discuss Devon’s account of the problems that arise when planning is carried out in the absence of prices. Why would the use of prices help to solve some of these problems?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [for] History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science  in (Bound) Volume 134, Social Sciences. Final Examinations, June 1961.

Image Source:  Carl Kaysen in the Harvard Class Album 1958.

Categories
Princeton Suggested Reading Syllabus

Princeton. Syllabus and bibliography for public finance. Daniels, 1895

 

 

An original copy of the following twenty page, printed syllabus in public finance for Professor Winthrop More Daniels’ lectures on public finance at Princeton for 1895-96 can apparently be found in the Columbia University Library. According to a handwritten note on the back of the title page, this syllabus was a gift of Professor E.R.A. Seligman.

This post includes some biographical information together with a transcription of the full twenty page syllabus. At the very end of the post you will find links to all the collateral readings as well as the items included in Daniels’ bibliography of “authorities”.

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DANIELS, Winthrop More, 1867-

WINTHROP MORE DANIELS, A.M., Professor of Political Economy at Princeton, was born in Dayton, Ohio, September 30, 1867, son of Edwin Arthur and Mary Billings (Kilburn) Daniels, natives of Massachusetts, but of English ancestry. On the maternal side he is descended from Thomas Kilborne (the common ancestor of all the Kilburns in this country) who was born in the parish of Wood Ditton, County of Cambridge, in 1578, whence he migrated to New England in 1635. The Daniels family came to this country and settled in Massachusetts sometime in the seventeenth century. His early education was obtained at home in the Dayton Public Schools, and at Deaver Collegiate Institute. He was graduated at Princeton in the Class of 1888, and spent part of that year and of the years 1890 and 1891 in foreign travel. He was a teacher of classics in the Princeton Preparatory School in 1888, which position he filled for two years, when he went abroad, and spent two semesters at the University of Leipsic, Germany, studying economics and history. Returning to this country in 1891, he was appointed Instructor in Economics and Social Science at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, remaining there for a year, when, in 1892, he was chosen Professor of Political Economy at Princeton, which position he now holds. Professor Daniels is a member of the Reform Club of New York City, the Nassau and Colonial Clubs of Princeton, and a member of the American Economic Association. He is independent in politics, and has made addresses favoring a revenue tariff and opposing free silver. He was married in 1898 to Joan Robertson of Montville, Connecticut. He has recently published a treatise entitled Elements of Public Finance.

Source: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, ed., Universities and their Sons: History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities, with biographical sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees, Vol. 2 (Boston, 1899) p. 71.

______________________

Obituary for Winthrop More Daniels, 1944

M. Daniels Dies; Former Head of ICC

Saybrook Man Succeeded Woodrow Wilson as Professor at Wesleyan and Princeton

Saybrook, Jan. 3.—(AP)—Winthrop More Daniels, 77, transportation expert who succeeded President Woodrow Wilson in professorship at Wesleyan and Princeton and later served under him in New Jersey as a public utility commissioner and in Washington as chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, died yesterday after a brief illness.

Daniels, who retired as professor of transportation at Yale several years ago, was a native of Dayton, O., and was an author of numerous books, including a history of American Railroads. He leaves his wife, Joan Robertson, and a son, Robertson Balfour. Funeral services will be held at the Saybrook Congregational Church Wednesday with burial in the local cemetery.

Daniels was on the Board of Public Utility Commissioners, New Jersey, while Wilson was governor of that state, and for a number of years was chairman of the ICC, during Wilson’s term as president. He was also a trustee of the New Haven Railroad from 1935 to 1937.

Served as ‘New Haven’ Trustee.

After taking degrees at Princeton and studying a year at the University of Leipzig, Daniels succeeded Wilson at Wesleyan, and later become professor of political economy at Princeton when Wilson left to become governor of New Jersey.

After three years as a member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners, Daniels accepted President Wilson’s call to become a member of the ICC, a post he held until 1923 when he resigned to come to Yale. He was chairman of the ICC from 1918 to 1919.

During the early stages of the “New Haven” Railroad reorganization proceedings, he agreed to serve as a trustee, finally retiring in 1937 to settle down at the house he built here.

In addition to writing numerous books, he also revised a continuation of Alexander Johnson’s History of the United States, and did a continuation of Johnson’s History of American Politics.

Source: Hartford Courant, January 4, 1944, p. 2.

______________________

Syllabus of lectures upon public finance
by Professor Winthrop More Daniels
Princeton, N.J.  1895-96

 

PUBLIC FINANCE.

LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION.
THE DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF PUBLIC FINANCE.

  1. Definition. Public Finance treats of the collection and expenditure of funds legally devoted to public ends, together with such effects, social, political and economic, which result from this exercise of governmental activity.
    1. Distinction between Public Finance and private finance.
    2. Importance of enforced collection.
    3. The French conception of Finance.
    4. The German conception of Finance.
    5. Derivation and meaning of the term—Finance.
  2. Practical Bearings of Finance.
    1. Allegation that Finance is exclusively an Art.
    2. Bearing of Finance on the individual citizen’s income. Luce’s statement: Leroy Beaulieu’s statement.
    3. Special Importance of Finance in the United States.
  3. Historical Bearings of Finance.
    1. Taxation as a dynamic historical agency: examples.
  4. Political Bearings of Finance.
    1. History and Politics in general; their relation.
    2. Finance, the battlefield of Politics.
    3. Finance, the source of constitutional changes.
  5. Economic Bearings of Finance.
    1. Effect of taxation upon social classes.
    2. Socialist proposals.
  6. Relation of Finance to Cognate Disciplines.
    1. Classification of the Sciences.
    2. Relation of Finance to Law, Politics, Economics.

 

LECTURE II.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN FINANCE.

  1. The Modern Financial Constitution.
    1. The Modem Industrial (Factory) System: its characteristics.
    2. The Modern Financial System.
      1. Normal and calculable field of governmental activity.
      2. Periodic contributions in money.
      3. Popular control over governmental income and expenditure.
      4. Public Credit.
  2. The Economic and Financial Constitution of Athens.
    1. Economic Structure:—Slavery: Family-Industry: Sea Commerce.
    2. Financial Constitution: Revenue: The Liturgies.
  3. The Economic and Financial Constitution of Rome.
    1. Economic Structure:—Slavery: Absence of Manufactures,
    2. Financial Constitution: Revenue: its sources and nature.
  4. Summary, and Comparison of Classical and Modern Systems.
    1. Normal vs. abnormal governmental functions.
    2. Taxation in the modern sense, unknown.
    3. Absence of Public Credit.
  5. The Mediaeval Economic and Financial Structure.
    1. Economic Structure.
      1. Production synonymous with Agriculture.
      2. Serf labor.
      3. Embryonic state of Exchange: a “natural” economy.
    2. Financial Constitution.
      1. The Feudal view of Finance.
      2. The importance of personal services.
      3. Rise of Regalian Rights.

 

LECTURE III
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF FINANCE.

  1. Municipal Finance.
    1. The Rise of Cities: the Guild System.
    2. Increased cost of city government.
    3. Self-voted taxes arise; become permanent instead of occasional.
    4. Rise of Municipal Credit.
  2. The Development of Financial Constitutionalism in England.
    1. The Feudal System in England (1066).
    2. The Exchequer system.
    3. Origin of the representative theory. Scutage, 1156; Personal property taxes, 1181; Provisions of Magna Carta,
    4. Complete establishment of the representative financial constitution. The Civil War: The Revolution of 1688.
    5. The Extension of commercial constitutionalism. In the U. S.; in France; on the continent generally.

 

PART I.

LECTURE IV.
THE FIELD OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

  1. Theories of the proper domain of State Expenditure.
    1. Their dependence on the prior theory the State’s nature.
    2. Spencer’s “Specialized Administration.”
      Expenditure warranted from this standpoint
    3. Adam Smith’s “Natural Liberty”.
      Expenditure warranted; Justice and Education.
    4. Mill’s modified laissez faire.
      Warranted expenditure, the “open door” for Socialism.
    5. Roscher’s Culturstaat
      Justifiable expenditure, a historic variable.
    6. Wagner’s State Socialism.
      Enlarged scope of expenditure.
    7. The Collectivist view.
      Public expenditure synonymous with Distribution.
  2. Practical Solution of the Question.
    1. Assumption of the Status quo.
    2. Criteria of proposed concrete extensions of expenditure.
      Sir James Fitzjames Stephen’s three tests.
  3. The Categories of Expenditure.
    1. Historical development.
    2. The Expenditure of modern States.
      1. Defence; 2. Justice; 3. Trade and Industry; 4. Social well-being.
  4. The Growth of Expenditure.
    1. The universal increase.
    2. Causes—Nationality; Socialism.

 

LECTURE V.
EXPENDITURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

  1. Expenditure in the U. S. General Survey.
    1. Distribution of expenditure, federal, state, local.
    2. Comparison of expenditure in U. S. with expenditure elsewhere.
  2. Expenditure upon Administrative Bureaux.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency.
  3. Defence.
    Distribution, Comparison, Tendency,— increase of naval expenditure.
  4. Justice and Security.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency.
  5. Industry, Commerce, Public Works.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency.
  6. Education and Religion.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency,— industrial education, denominational schools.
  7. Charity and Correction.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency.
  8. Interest on Public Indebtedness.
    Distribution; Comparison; Tendency.

 

PART II.

LECTURE VI.
QUASI-ECONOMIC RECEIPTS.

  1. The Classification of Revenues.
    1. Quasi-economic revenues and tax revenues.
      The case of Fees.
    2. Varying proportion of the two kinds of revenue.
      Growing prominence of quasi-economic revenue.
    3. Relegation (1) of the domanial revenue in the U. S.; (2) of the proposed State monopoly of land.
  2. The Economic and Financial Aspect of Quasi-Economic Revenues.
    1. Priority of the economic question.
  3. Definition and Classification of Monopolies.
    1. Definition
    2. Classification: legal, natural, and industrial monopolies.
      Their occasional coalescence.
    3. Extent of monopolies.
  4. The Rise of Modern Monopolies.
    1. Early monopolies, mostly legal.
    2. Status of monopoly in 1800.
    3. Development of modern monopolies.
      1. Caused by city growth.
      2. Caused by industrial growth.
    4. Modification of the doctrine of laissez faire.
    5. Residual Competition.
  5. The Regulation of Natural (urban) Monopolies.
    1. Classes of urban monopolies.
    2. Water supply, its character.
    3. Light supply, its character.
    4. Local transportation, its character.
    5. Miscellaneous urban monopolies.

 

LECTURE VII.
THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLIES. RAILROADS.

  1. Origin and Development of Railroad Systems.
    1. The inception of the systems in various States.
    2. Tendency toward amalgamation.
      1. Linear consolidation.
      2. Parallel consolidation.
    3. Development of the Rate System.
      Tolls; charging “what the traffic will bear.”
    4. Development of Railroad legislation in U. S.
      1. Before 1870 and after.
      2. The Inter State Commerce Act; its provisions.
    5. Inference as to railroad legislation in the U. S.
  2. Possible Relations of the State to Railroads.
    1. State ownership and operation of all roads.
    2. State ownership and operation of some
    3. State operation (as by lease) without ownership.
    4. State ownership not involving State operation.
    5. Regulation (as by Commissions).
  3. State Ownership and Management.
    1. Feasibility viewed from standpoint of construction.
      1. 2. Economy.
        Adverse conclusions to State initiative.
    2. Transportation Rates.
      Prof Hadley’s evidence.
    3. Unjust Discrimination, local and personal.
      1. Natural origin of discrimination against certain localities.
      2. Discrimination against individuals.
    4. Cost of Operation.
      von Scheel’s argument. Leroy Beaulieu’s evidence.
    5. Necessity and advantage of pools.
    6. Alleged Analogy of State management of the Post Office.
      Differences in administration.
    7. Argument from Prussian Railroad management.
  4. The Compromise Systems.
    1. Part ownership and operation.
      Experience of Belgium.
    2. State operation by lease.
    3. State ownership, and corporate operation.
  5. State Regulation.
    1. Limitation of rates. Its inadequacy.
    2. Limitation of dividends. Its inadequacy and disadvantages.
    3. Special taxation, supervision and publicity.
  6. State Control of the Telegraph System.
    1. Monopoly characteristics.
    2. State ownership and operation; in England; on the continent
    3. The transitional period in telegraphic apparatus.
  7. Financial Conclusions.
    1. Governmental assumption of simple monopolies.
    2. Distinction between simple and complex monopolies.
    3. Revenue rule for State-owned monopolies.
    4. Revenue from other monopolies.

 

LECTURE VIII.
THE NATIONAL BANK SYSTEM OF THE U. S.

  1. Previous Banking Systems of the U. S.
    1. The First U. S. Bank: 1791-1811.
    2. The Second U. S. Bank: 1816-1836.
    3. The State Bank System.
    4. Outcome of the State Bank System in New York and Mass.
  2. Origin of the National Bank System.
    1. Financial conditions in 1863.
    2. Legislative Acts creating the National Banks.
  3. Method of Organization.
    1. The Office of Comptroller of the Currency.
    2. Bond deposit and. note issue.
  4. The Bank Note Circulation.
    1. Homogenous in form and security.
    2. Expansion and contraction provisions.
  5. Reserve and Security Funds.
    1. Redemption fund.
    2. Reserve fund held against deposit liabilities.
    3. Priority of obligations in case of failure.
  6. Miscellaneous Banking Regulations.
    1. Prohibited loans.
    2. Examinations and reports.
  7. Earnings — Sources and Limits.
    1. Sources.
    2. Regulations governing profits.
  8. Advantages and Defects of the System.
    1. Character of the currency furnished.
      1. Uniformity and security.
      2. Redemption
      3. Sensitiveness, in normal and abnormal conditions.
    2. Alleged unfair Discrimination.
      1. In favor of bond holders.
      2. Double interest.
  9. The Future Bank Currency of the U. S.
    1. Approaching termination of the present system.
    2. Possible Substitutes.
      1. State Bank Currency.
      2. Exclusive federal issues of paper currency.
      3. The Baltimore Plan for continuing the present system, with a different basis for the note circulation.

 

LECTURE IX.
THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

  1. The Founding of the Bank.
    1. Mixed motives of the Whigs in 1688.
    2. Previous banking; the goldsmiths.
    3. Low credit of the Government in 1694.
    4. Early political character of the Bank.
  2. Original Constitution of the Bank.
    1. Government.
    2. Prohibitions.
    3. Privileges.
  3. Present Constitution of the Bank (since 1844)
      1. Government.
      2. Capital.
      3. Separation of the Banking and Issue Departments.
      4. Suspension of the Act of 1844.
  1. The Position of the Bank in the Money Market.
    1. Sole depository of the reserve.
    2. Regulator of the reserve.
    3. Allayer of panics.

 

PART III.— TAX REVENUE.

LECTURE X.
TAXATION. ITS NATURE.

  1. Taxation.
    1. Definition of a tax.
    2. “Subject” and “Object” of Taxation.
      “Source” of taxation.
    3. Economic Nature of Taxation.
      1. Non-productive, a cost.
      2. Fallacies on the subject
    4. Divisions of the Theory of Taxation.
      1. Incidence, Problems of.
      2. Equity, Problems of.
      3. Administration, Problems

 

LECTURE XI
THE INCIDENCE OF TAXATION.

  1. Incidence.
    1. Definitions.
      Illustrations of the shifting of taxes.
  2. Early Theories of Incidence.
    1. The Physiocratic theory.
      Its inadequacy.
    2. The Diffusion theory.
      Statements of Lord Mansfield, Thiers, Canard, Mr. D. A. Wells.
  3. Incidence, as regards taxed products.
    1. Production under competitive conditions.
      Case I. — Inelastic Demand.
      Case II. — Elastic Demand. Collateral effects.
    2. Production under monopoly conditions.
    3. Actual conditions.
  4. Incidence as regards classes of Income.
    1. Analogy of IV to III sup. cit.
    2. Income by usance.
    3. Income by process of exchange.
      1. Incidence in case of Rent.
      2. Incidence in case of Interest.
      3. Incidence in case of Profits and Salaries.
      4. Incidence in case of Wages.
    4. Qualifications necessary for the application of IV.

 

LECTURE XII
DISTRIBUTION OF TAXATION.

  1. Definition of Distribution.
  2. The Fiscal Theory. McCulloch’s statement.
  3. The Politico-Social Theory.
  4. The Benefit Theory.
    1. Outline of the benefit theory.
    2. Sphere of its application.
    3. Measure of benefits received.
      1. Importance of service rendered.
      2. Cost of service rendered,
    4. Inadequacy of the Benefit-theory.
  5. The Ability Theory.
    1. Outline of the ability theory.
    2. The measure of ability: proportion or progression.
    3. Arguments for and against these tests.
      1. Degree of sacrifice involved.
      2. Socialistic tendency of progression.
      3. Unproductiveness of progression.
      4. Democratic nature of progression.
    4. Conclusions: General Superiority of the proportional system.
      1. In favor of the benefit-theory.
      2. In favor of the progressive rate for specific taxes.

 

LECTURE XIII.
THE TAX SYSTEM; ITS FORMS.

  1. Single vs. Multiple Taxation.
    1. Illustrations of the difference.
    2. Early proposal of a single tax.
      Vauban: the Physiocrats and l’împot unique.
    3. Difficulties of the single system.
      1. Disproportionality.
      2. Necessity of disguising taxation.
      3. Structure of central and local government.
    4. Difficulties of a Single Tax on monopoly gains.
      1. Disclosure difficult.
      2. Revenue inadequate and inelastic.

 

LECTURE XIV.
THE SINGLE TAX THEORY.

Introduction: History of “Progress and Poverty.”

  1. George’s Argument against private property in Land.
    1. The Moral Argument.
      The rightful basis of all property, — the labor basis.
      Criticism of this view. Case cited by Mr. George.
  2. The Economic Argument.
    1. George’s theoretical catena; Criticism thereof.
    2. George’s historical argument.
      Criticism, economic and statistical.
      The increase of poverty, its implications.
  3. Proposed Methods of Land Nationalization.
    1. Classification of Methods.
    2. Criticism of Confiscatory Methods.
    3. Criticism of Compensatory Methods.
      1. Difficulty in discounting rises in value.
      2. Recompense of undeserved losses.
      3. Effect on improvements.
      4. Increase of governmental functions.

 

LECTURE XV.
CLASSIFICATION OF TAXES.

  1. Classification.
    1. Basis of Classification; legal, economic and miscellaneous.
    2. Direct and Indirect Taxes.
  2. Comparison of Direct and Indirect Taxes.
    1. Merits and Defects of Direct Taxes.
      Defects; — do not reach the masses; slow automatic growth.
      Merits;— theoretical fairness where universal; political advantages.
    2. Merits and Defects of Indirect Taxes.
      Merits; — Productivity and relative popularity.
      Defects;— Inequality, hampered production, costliness of collection, and variableness.
  3. Direct and Indirect Taxes in the U. S.
    1. Apportionment of revenue sources.
      Federal and State revenue.
    2. Causes of this Apportionment.
      1. Customs. 2. Internal Revenue. 3. Direct Taxes.

Note:
General Property [&] Corporation and Succession Taxes [->] Direct Taxes:  State Taxes.
Internal Revenue [&] Customs [->] Indirect Taxes:  Federal Taxes.
Income Taxes (direct) States and (formerly) Federal taxes.

 

LECTURE XVI.
THE GENERAL PROPERTY TAX.

  1. Description of the Tax.
    1. Definition.
    2. Distinction between real and personal property.
  2. Operation of the General Property Tax.
    1. Preliminary valuation of property.
      Law of situs: appeals.
    2. Final valuation of property.
    3. Collection of taxes.
  3. Historical Origin of the General Property Tax.
    1. Colonial taxes.
    2. Wolcott’s Report in 1796. Summary.
    3. The Transition Period (1796-1861).
      Growth of wealth: increased amount evidenced by credits; increased import of personal services.
  4. The Defects of the General Property Tax.
    1. False assumption of ability.
    2. Failure to reach personal estate.
    3. Administrative defects.
    4. Regressivity.
  5. The Transformation of the General Property Tax.
    1. Preliminary conditions.
    2. Abolition of the State tax on realty.
    3. Abolition or reduction of Taxes on personal property by local governments.
    4. State taxes on corporations.
    5. Inheritance taxes.

 

LECTURE XVII.
THE INTERNAL REVENUE SYSTEM.

  1. Origin of the Federal System of Internal Revenue.
    1. Earliest Excises.
      The Whiskey Tax; its repeal.
      Excises during the war of 1812.
    2. From 1862.
  2. Taxes on Distilled Spirits.
    1. Previous Condition of Production and Consumption.
    2. Effects of the tax.
      The yield of various rates of taxation.
      Effect on production; on consumption.
      Frauds on the Revenue.
    3. Abatement and Reform of the Tax.
  3. The Tax on Tobacco.
    1. General Features.
    2. Specific Features; steadiness; tendency to increase.
  4. Canons of Excise Taxation.
    1. Taxation as a regulative moral agency.
    2. Productivity, how attained.
    3. Number and nature of articles taxed; raw materials.
    4. Distribution of the burden of excises.

 

LECTURE XVIII
CUSTOMS DUTIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

  1. Origin of Customs.
    1. Historical origin.
    2. “Objects” of customs taxation.
      Transport dues; Export duties; Import duties.
  2. Principles of Revenue and Protective Tariffs.
    1. Definition of protective and revenue Tariffs.
    2. Rates of duty.
    3. Kind and number of articles taxed.
    4. Offsets by excise and drawbacks.
    5. Bases of assessment.
      Ad valorem, specific and minimum duties.
    6. Indirect cost of a protective tariff.
  3. The History of the Customs Policy of the U. S.
    1. Pre-Constitutional Customs Duties.
    2. Early Patristic Legislation, 1789-1808.
    3. Effect of the curtailment of foreign commerce
    4. Rise and Growth of Protection.
      1. Stimulation of domestic manufactures, 1808-1815.
      2. Geographical strength of the policy.
      3. Culmination of the movement in 1828.
    5. The Revenue Period, 1833-1860 [1842-6].
    6. The War Period. 1860-1865.
    7. Post Bellum Legislation.
      1. Repeal of internal revenue taxes.
      2. Repeal of duties on revenue articles.
      3. Protection as a permanent policy, 1890.
        The McKinley Bill: Reciprocity.
      4. The Wilson Bill, 1894.
        The House Bill; the Senate Bill.
    8. Revenue Yield of the Principal Schedules.
      1. Valuation of (total) dutiable imports.
      2. Most important Schedules, their yield.
      3. Other schedules.

 

LECTURE XIX.
INCOME TAXES.

  1. Income Taxes; their history.
    1. Definition.
    2. History of the English Income Tax.
    3. History of the War Income Tax in U. S.
    4. History of the Income Tax of 1894.
  2. Provisions of the Law of 1894.
    1. The two per cent. tax on net income.
    2. Corporation incomes and other incomes.
    3. Exemptions.
    4. Administrative machinery.
  3. Advantages and Defects of Income Taxes in General.
    1. Equalization of Taxation.
      1. Its utility as a fiscal instrument.
    2. Defects.
      1. Failure to discriminate between different kinds of income.
      2. Failure to tax certain kinds of income.
  4. Criticism of the Law of 1894.
    1. Popular (political) criticism.
    2. Effect of the tax on the distribution of taxation.
      1. Incidence of taxation in England.
        Jevons’s estimate. Evidence of Mr. Lowe.
      2. Incidence of Taxation in the United States.
      3. Conclusions as to the probable effect of the law.
    3. Defects of the Law.
      1. High exemption limit.
      2. Minor defects.
  5. The Income Tax Decision.
    1. Explanation of the status of the case.
    2. Contentions of the appellant.
    3. Argument upon the contentions.
    4. Explanation of the Decision.
    5. Probable outcome of the Decision.

 

PART IV.
The Relation of Receipts and Expenditures.

LECTURE XX.
STATE HOARDING.

  1. Time Relation of Receipts and Expenditures.
    1. Normal Equilibrium.
    2. Casual Inequality.
  2. Surplus Financiering.
    1. Its Dangers under representative government.
  3. The War Chest Policy.
    1. History.
      In antiquity: Example of Prussia in modern times.
    2. Criticism of the Policy.
      1. Financial inefficiency.
      2. Effect on industry.
      3. Effect on self-government.

 

LECTURE XXI.
PUBLIC DEBTS.

  1. Historical Development of Public Credit.
    1. Definition of Public Credit.
    2. Its geographical extension.
    3. Nature of the security given.
    4. Time of the loans; rate of interest.
  2. Characteristics of Modern Public Debts.
    1. Preconditions of public Indebtedness.
    2. Extent of public Indebtedness.
    3. Causes of the growth of public debts.
      1. Nationality. 2. Socialism.
  3. The Effect of Public Debts.
    1. Primâ facie economic effects.
    2. Political Effects.
      In municipal politics.
    3. Social and industrial Effects.
    4. Summary of Evils of public Indebtedness.
  4. Public Debts, when justifiable.
    1. General Principles.
      1. Fiscal Deficit. 2. War. 3. Public Works.

 

LECTURE XXII.
FEDERAL INDEBTEDNESS.

  1. Colonial Period, 1607-1775.
    1. Variety in tax systems.
    2. Various media of exchange.
    3. Forced loans by issues of paper currency.
  2. The Revolutionary Period, 1775-1789.
    1. Determinants of the financial policy of the war,
    2. Excessive issue of paper currency.
      Influence of this period upon the Constitution.
  3. The Formative Period, 1789-1861.
    1. Federal Assumption of the Revolutionary Debt.
      Hamilton’s Report; its final adoption.
    2. Funding the Debt.
      The Sinking Fund Policy, its error.
    3. Payment of the Debt under Gallatin,
    4. Financial Policy of the War of 1812.
  4. The Modern Period, 1861-1896.
    1. Financial Policy of the Civil War.
    2. Rapid Growth of the Debt of the United States.
    3. Analysis of the Debt in 1865.
    4. Process of reduction.

 

LECTURE XXIII.
LOCAL INDEBTEDNESS IN THE U. S.

  1. Decline of the financial activity of the States.
    1. Statistical proof of the decline.
    2. Early financial prominence of the States.
    3. Failure of the States’ financial undertakings.
    4. Registry of the failure.
  2. Local Indebtedness; its Causes.
    1. Subsidizing industrial enterprises.
    2. Increase in the expenses of city government.
    3. Municipal misgovernment.
      1. Defective municipal government.
      2. Legislative interference.
      3. Political complications with State and Federal politics.
      4. Underpayment of officials.
  3. Regulation of Local Debts.
    1. Restrictions of floating debts.
    2. Time limit of debts.
    3. Sinking Funds and Repayment.

 

LECTURE XXIV.
BUDGETARY LEGISLATION.

  1. The Budget.
    1. Definition
    2. Historical Origin.
      In England: in France: in the U. S.
  2. The English Budget.
    1. The Estimates, their preparation.
    2. The Parliamentary Presentation.
    3. Execution and Verification.
    4. Merits and Defects.
  3. The French Budget.
    1. Preparation
    2. Legislative Presentation.
    3. Execution and Verification.
    4. Defects of the French System.
  4. The Federal Budget in the U. S.
    1. The Estimates.
    2. The Congressional Presentation.
      In the House of Representatives: in the Senate: Final Outcome.
    3. Execution and Verification.
    4. Defects of the System.

 

Collateral Reading.

Required:

Dunbar [Charles F.]; Theory and History of Banking.  [Chapters on the Theory and History of Banking, 1891]

Taussig [Frank William]; The Silver Situation in the United States [1893].

Recommended:

Adams [Henry Carter]; Public Debts [—An Essay in the Science of Finance (1890)].

Bastable [Charles Francis]; Public Finance [1892].

 

Authorities.

Alexander [E. Porter]: Railway Practice [1887].
Bagehot [Walter]: Lombard Street [1873].
Bastable: [Charles Francis]: Commerce of Nations. [1893].
Bryce [James]: American Commonwealth. [3rd ed., 1893] Volume I: The National Government—The State Governments

[2nd ed., 1889] Volume II: The Party System—Public Opinion—Illustrations and Reflections—Social institutions

Buxton [Sydney]: Finance and Politics. [1888] Volume I; Volume II
Cohn [Gustav]: Nationaloekonomie. [Grundlegung der Nationalökonomie. Ein Lesebuch für Studirende, 1885]
Cooley [Thomas M.]: Taxation. [A Treatise on the Law of Taxation, including the Law of Local Assessments, 2nd ed., 1886]
Dowell [Stephen]: History of Taxation and Taxes. [A History of Taxation and Taxes in England, 2nd edition, 1888.  Volume 1: Taxation, From the Earliest Times to the Civil War; Volume 2: Taxation, From the Civil War to the Present Day; Volume 3: Direct Taxes and Stamp Duties; Volume 4: Taxes on Articles of Consumption.]
Ely [Richard Theodore]: Taxation in American States and Cities [1888].
Enc. Brit.: Art. On Finance by [J. E.]Thorold Rogers.
Eng. Cit. Series: Farrer [Thomas Henry]: The State in its Relation to Trade [1883].
Walpole [Spencer]: The Electorate and the Legislature [1881].
Wilson, [Alexander Johnstone]: The National Budget [—The National Debt, Taxes and Rates (1882)].
George [Henry]: Progress and Poverty [4th edition, 1881].
Von Halle [Ernst]: Trusts or Industrial Combinations [in the United States (1895)].
Leroy Beaulieu [Paul]: [Traité de la] Science des Finances [5th ed. Tome Premier: Des Revenus Publics (1892); Tome Second: Le Budget et le Crédit Public (1891).
Macaulay [Thomas Babington]: History of England from the Accession of James the Second. [Volume I (1877); Volume II (1877)]
Mill [John Stuart]: Political Economy [5th edition. Volume I (1893); Volume II (1893)]; On Liberty [People’s Edition, 1880].
Rae [John]: Contemporary Socialism [2nd ed. (1891)].
Roscher [Wilhelm]: Finanzwissenschaft. [System der Finanzwissenschaft. Ein Hand- und Lesebuch für Geschäftsmänner und Studierende. 3rd edition (1889)]
Schönberg [Gustav von]: Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie. [Third edition.

Volume 1, Volkswirtschaftslehre (1890);

Volume 2, Volkswirtschaftslehre (1891);

Volume 3, Finanzwissenschaft und Verwaltungslehre (1891)]

Seligman [Edwin Robert A.]: Shifting and Incidence of Taxation [1892]: Progressive Taxation [1894]: Taxation of Corporations [Part I (1890); Part II (1890); Part III (1890)].
Shearman [Thomas Gaskell]: Natural Taxation [—An Inquiry into the Practicability, Justice and Effects of a Scientific and Natural Method of Taxation (1895)].
Sumner [William Graham]: The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution. [Volume I, (1891); Volume II, (1891)]
Supreme Court Reports.
Taussig: The Tariff History of the United States [1888]
Wilson [Woodrow]: Congressional Government [—A Study in American Politics (1885)].
Wells [David Ames]: Recent Economic Changes [and their Effect on the Production and Distribution of Wealth and the Well-Being of Society (1889)].
Practical Economics [—A Collection of Essays Respecting Certain of the Recent Economic Experiences of the United States (1888)].

 

Source: Columbia University Libraries. 308/Z/Box 475. Prof. [Winthrop More] Daniels. Syllabus of Lectures upon Public Finance, 1895-6. Princeton, N.J.: C. S. Robinson & Co., University Printers. “Gift of Prof. E. R. A. Seligman 12.23.39[?]”.

Image Source: Portrait of Winthrop More Daniels in Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, ed., Universities and their Sons: History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities, with biographical sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees, Vol. 2 (Boston, 1899) p. 71.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Suggested Reading Syllabus

Johns Hopkins. Reading List and Exam for Aggregate Income Theory. Machlup, 1951

 

Materials (reading list and exams) for Fritz Machlup’s course on income distribution, 18-603, have been transcribed and posted earlier. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror also has a transcription of the final exam for his 1956 course on methodology.

________________________

 

Course Announcement

Theory of Aggregate Income 604. Professor Machlup.
Two hours weekly, second term.

A study of the theory of income formation, linking an analysis of the supply and circulation of money with a dynamic process analysis of autonomous and induced disbursements for consumption and investment; an attempt to explain the level and fluctuations of national income.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. School of Higher Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy, Announcements of Courses 1950-51 (The Johns Hopkins Circular, April 1950), p. 99.

________________________

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
THE THEORY OF AGGREGATE INCOME
18-604

Prof. Fritz Machlup

READING LIST
Spring Term 1951

Books:

Required:

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. (London: Macmillan, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1936) pp. 1-384.

Recommended:

Richard Ruggles, An Introduction to National Income and Income Analysis. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1949)

Thomas C. Schelling, National Income Behavior. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951)

A.E.A., Readings in Business Cycle Theory. (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1944)

Seymour E. Harris (ed.), The New Economics. New York: Knopf, 1947)

 

I. Static and Dynamic Analysis

Paul A. Samuelson, “Dynamic Process Analysis,” A Survey of Contemporary Economics, ed. Howard S. Ellis. (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1948) pp. 352-387.

 

II. Savings, Investment, and National Income

Bertil Ohlin, “Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Saving and Investment,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 87-131.

Friedrich A. Lutz, “The Outcome of the Saving-Investment Discussion,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 131-157.

Abba P. Lerner, “Saving and Investment: Definitions, Assumptions, Objectives,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 158-168.

Oscar Lange, “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 169-192.

Fritz Machlup, “Forced or Induced Saving,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 25 (1943), pp. 26-39.

Dennis H. Robertson, “A Survey of Modern Monetary Controversy,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 311-329.

 

III. The Multiplier

Fritz Machlup, International Trade and the National Income Multiplier (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1943) Chapters 1-7, 10.

Gottfried Haberler, “Mr. Keynes’ Theory of the ‘Multiplier’: A Methodological Criticism,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 193-202.

Fritz Machlup, “Period Analysis and Multiplier Theory,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 203-234.

Robert Eisner, “The Invariant Multiplier,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 17 (1949-50), pp. 198-202.

 

IV. Velocity and Time Lags

James W. Angell, “The Components of Circular Velocity of Money,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 51 (1937), pp. 224-272.

Lloyd Metzler, “Three Lags in the Circular Flow of Income,” Income, Employment, and Public Policy. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1948), pp. 11-32.

Alvin H. Hansen, “The Robersonian and Swedish Systems of Period Analysis,” Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 32 (1959), pp. 24-29.

Harold M. Somers, “A Theory of Income Determination,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 58 (1950), pp. 523-541.

 

V. Wage Rate Reductions and Employment

A. C. Pigou, “Real and Money Wage Rates in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47 (1937), pp. 405-422.

N. Kaldor, “Professor Pigou on Money Wages in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 47 (1937), pp. 745-762.

A. C. Pigou, “Money Wages in Relation to Unemployment,” Economic Journal, Vol. 48, (1938), pp. 134-137.

James Tobin, “Money Wage Rates and Employment”, in The New Economics, pp. 572-587.

 

VI. Tax-Financed Government Expenditures

Trygve Haavelmo, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget,” Econometrica, Vol. 13 (1945), pp. 311-318.

Gottfried Haberler, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Some Monetary Implications of Mr. Haavelmo’s Paper,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 148-149.

R. M. Goodwin, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: The Implications of a Lag for M. Haavelmo’s Analysis,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 150-151.

Everett E. Hagen, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Further Analysis,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 152-55.

T. Haavelmo, “Multiplier Effects of a Balanced Budget: Reply,” Econometrica, Vol. 14 (1946), pp. 156-58.

 

VII. The Accelerator

John M. Clark, “Business Acceleration and the Law of Demand: A Technical Factor,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 235-260.

Paul A. Samuelson, “Interactions Between the Multiplier Analysis and the Principle of Acceleration,” Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 261-269.

F. A. Hayek, Profits, Interest, and Investment. (London: Routledge and Sons, 91939) Chapter I, pp. 3-72.

F. A. Hayek, “The Ricardo Effect,” Economica (1942), pp. 126-152.

 

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

 

________________________

 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Theory of Aggregate Income
(18-604)
Final Exam, May 29, 1951

Professor Fritz Machlup

Answer three questions, one of each group, as concisely as possible without omitting significant steps in your reasoning. Write in English rather than in algebra or geometry.

I.

  1. Explain the possibilities of a general cut in money wage rates bringing about an increase in aggregate employment.
  2. Explain the increase in employment that can be brought about by an increase in tax-financed government expenditures, emphasizing alternatively the significance in the causal sequence of changes in (a) the quantity of money or velocity of circulation, (b) liquidity preference, (c) the propensity to consume, (d) the difference between investment and saving.

 

II.

  1. Explain the meaning of the distinctions between the “consumption lag”, the “output lag”, and the “earnings lag”, and their importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of income.
  2. Explain the meaning of the distinctions between “intended” and “unintended” saving, and “intended” and “unintended” investment, and their importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of income.

 

III.

  1. Explain the interactions between multiplier and accelerator.
  2. Explain the meaning of the “Ricardo Effect” and its importance, or lack of importance, in the determination of the accelerator and of the turning points of the business cycle.

 

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

Image Source: Fritz Machlup is seen presenting in a seminar (note: Evsey Domar is leaning forward on the right side of the table, third from the left). From the Johns Hopkins Yearbook Hullabaloo 1956, p. 15.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Applied Economic Analysis, Readings and Exams. Duesenberry, 1955-56.

 

The Harvard economics professor, James Stemble Duesenberry (b. 18 July 1918; d. 5 October 2009) was best known for his relative-income hypothesis or at least that hypothesis was something I can recall from my undergraduate course taught by James Tobin almost exactly a half-century ago. Following the official Harvard obituary, you will find the reading lists and exams for his two-term course “Applied Economic Analysis” as taught in 1955-56.

____________________

Duesenberry’s Harvard Obituary

Economist Duesenberry dies at 91
by Amy Lavoie

James Stemble Duesenberry, an eminent economist who was an authority on monetary policy and a faculty member of Harvard University’s Department of Economics for more than half a century, recently passed away at his home in Cambridge at the age of 91.

Duesenberry came to Harvard in 1948 as assistant professor of economics and became associate professor in 1953. He received tenure in 1955, and became professor of economics.

An economic theorist who strove to affect policy and improve economic conditions, Duesenberry was a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors from 1966 to 1968, in Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. From 1969 to 1974 he was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and he led the bank during the construction of the First National Bank Building in downtown Boston.

“Jim Duesenberry was a very insightful man who thought deeply about problems in a way that was relatively unconstrained by the fashionable conditions of the day,” said Benjamin Friedman, William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy, who was a colleague of Duesenberry’s. “He thought that the purpose of economics was to speak to the way the economy behaves and what policy can do to improve economic performance.”

In 1969, Duesenberry was named William Joseph Maier Professor of Money and Banking. He was chair of the Department of Economics from 1972 to 1977, and led the department at a time when some called for greater intellectual diversity among the faculty. He retired in 1989, and became William Joseph Maier Professor of Money and Banking Emeritus.

Duesenberry’s first book, “Income Consumption and the Theory of Consumer Behavior” (Harvard University Press), was published in 1949. He is also the author of “Business Cycles and Economic Growth” (McGraw-Hill, 1957), “Money and Credit: Impact and Control” (Prentice-Hall, 1964), “Capital Needs in the Seventies” with Barry Bosworth and Andrew Carron (Brookings Institution, 1975), and “Money, Banking and Economy” with Thomas Mayer and Robert Z. Aliber (W.W. Norton, 1981).

Born in Princeton, W.Va., Duesenberry received his B.A. in 1939, his M.A. in 1941, and his Ph.D. in 1948, all in economics from the University of Michigan.

Duesenberry was a research fellow with the Social Science Research Council in 1941. During World War II, Duesenberry was a statistician in the Air Force, and reached the rank of captain. He was an instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1946, and in 1954, he was a Fulbright fellow at Cambridge University.

Duesenberry is survived by his son John of Brookline, Mass., and daughters Holly of Gouldsboro, Maine, and Peggy of Stirling, Scotland, as well as four grandchildren.

Source: Harvard Gazette, October 15, 2009.

_______________________

Enrollment

[Economics] 106. Applied Economic Analysis. Associate Professor Duesenberry. Full course.

(F) Total 25: 1 Graduate, 1 Other Graduate, 20 Seniors, 3 Juniors.
(S) Total 19: 16 Seniors, 3 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1955-1956, p. 76.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 106

Fall Term, 1955

  1. Wages and Labor Allocation and Efficiency
    1. A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, Bk. VI, Chs. 1-5.
    2. Shister, Economics of the Labor Market, Chs. 14, 15, 16.
    3. M. Friedman, “Significance of Labor Unions for Economic Policy,” Ch. X, in Wright, The Impact of the Union.
    4. Meade and Hitch, Introduction to Economic Analysis and Public Policy, Part II, Ch. 3.
    5. Peterson, Economics, Revised Edition, Ch. 20.
    6. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. II, Ch. 52.
    7. M. Friedman and S. Kuznets, Income from Independent Professional Practice, Ch. 4.
    8. T. Parsons, “The Motivation of Economic Activity,” Ch. IX, in Essays in Sociological Theory.
    9. Sanders, Effects of Taxation on Executives, Chs. I and II.

Reading Period Assignment
Fall Term, 1955-56

Economics 106: O. Lange, “Scope and Method of Economics,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 13 (1943-46)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1955-1956 (1 of 2).

 

1955-56
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 106

Mid-year Examination
(January, 1956)

Answer question 1 and four others

  1. (one hour)
    1. The appearance of unions in an otherwise perfectly competitive labor market with perfect mobility of labor is likely to distort the allocation of resources. Why?
      (Assume that unions do influence wages.)
    2. In the type of labor market which actually exists the adverse effect of unions on resource allocation is much less certain. Why?
  2. Wage differentials attributable to the cost of training both help to determine and are determined by the distribution of income. Discuss.
  3. Outline some of the fundamental factors which make an area a low wage area.
  4. Friedman argues that unions do not influence wages. What evidence does he cite in support of his position? What considerations cast doubt on the proposition?
  5. What are the major reasons for the narrowing of skill differentials in American industry? What evidence would you look for to determine whether any misallocation of resources has resulted?
  6. Wages tend to be higher in rapidly growing industries than in others. Why?
  7. Outline Schumpeter’s views on the influence of monopoly on static efficiency (resource allocation) and progress.
  8. Discuss the effects of income taxes on personal incentives to work.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 23. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. January, 1956.

_______________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 106

Spring Term, 1955-56

Bain, Pricing, Distribution, and Employment, Chs. 5, 6.

P.W.S. Andrews, Manufacturing Business.

T. Scitovsky, Welfare and Competition Ch. 9.

Lutz, Theory of Investment of the Firm, Chs. 2, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16.

Hart, Anticipations, Uncertainty and Dynamic Planning.

Boulding, Economic Analysis, 3rd Edition, Ch. 38.

Durand, “Costs of Debt and Equity Funds” in Conference on Business Finance (National Bureau of Economic Research).

MacLaurin, Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry.

E.S. Mason, “Current Status of Monopoly Problems,” Harvard Law Review, June 1949.

Butters and Lintner, Effects of Taxation on Corporate Mergers, Chs. IX, X.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 106
Reading List (Cont.)

Federal Inter-Agency River Basin Committee, Subcommittee on Benefits and Costs, Proposed Practices for Economic Analysis of River Basin Projects, Chs. 1-5, pp. 1-56.

Smithies, A., The Budgetary Process in the United States, Ch. XIII.

Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, Water Resources and Power, June 1955, Vol. I, pp. 1-85.

Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, Task Force Report on Water Resources and Power, pp. 1-164.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1955-1956 (1 of 2).

 

 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics
Economics 106

Final Examination (May, 1956)

PART I.
(One Hour)

Required.

  1. Discuss the differences between monopoly and oligopoly in terms of (a) relation of prices to costs (b) investment behavior.

PART II.
(Half Hour)

Answer question 2 or 3.

  1. “The possibility that new firms will enter the industry influences the price and investment policies of firms in oligopolistic industries.” Discuss.
  2. The rivalry among oligopolists is more likely to result in product improvement than in price reduction. Why?

PART III.
(45 minutes for each question)

Answer two questions.

  1. What measures would you recommend for the improvement of the Federal Water Resource Program? Give reasons for your recommendations.
  2. The supply of any collective service by government action is likely to involve a redistribution of income. Discuss the possible effects of this on (1) the level at which these services may be supplied; (2) the degree of efficiency of the allocation of resources within a program.
  3. Even in an economy governed by the strongest preferences against government activity some economic needs will be met collectively. Why?

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 24. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economics,…Naval Science, Air Science. June, 1956.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Core economic theory. Readings and Exams. Carver, 1900/01-1902/03

 

 

For the academic years 1900/01 through 1902/03 the core course in economic theory at Harvard was taught by Thomas Nixon Carver. He was substituting for Frank Taussig, who later wrote that he had been “compelled by ill health to withdraw from teaching” (1901-03). [Chapter IX Economics (1871-1929) by The Development of Harvard University since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929 Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1930. p. 191].  

Schumpeter provided more detail: “We speak of nervous breakdown in such cases, which indeed are more frequent in the academic profession than one would infer from the general conditions of a professor’s life. He [Taussig] took leave and went abroad for two years, relaxing completely and spending one winter at Meran in the Austrian Alps, another on the Italian Riviera, and the summer between (1902) in Switzerland. Catastrophe was thus avoided, and in the fall of 1903 he was able to return to teaching and the editorship of the Quarterly Journal.” [Joseph A. Schumpeter, Chapter 7 “Frank William Taussig (1859-1940)” in Ten Great Economists from Marx to Keynes. p. 206.]

During the first term of 1903/04 Taussig resumed teaching the core economic theory course with Carver teaching the second term.  Beginning 1904/05 Taussig once again taught the course by himself.

___________________________

Economics 2.
Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century
1900-01

Enrollment
1900-01

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 2. Asst. Professor Carver.— Economic Theory in the Nineteenth Century.

Total 45: 6 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 3 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1900-01, p. 64.

 

Reading list [previously posted]  for the first term

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Mid-year examination, 1901]

  1. Define value and explain why one commodity possesses more value in proportion to its bulk than another.
  2. Explain the various uses of the term diminishing returns, and define it as you think it ought to be defined.
  3. In what sense does a law of diminishing returns apply to all the factors of production.
  4. State briefly Böhm-Bawerk’s explanation of the source of interest.
  5. What, if any, is the relation of abstinence to interest.
  6. Would you make any distinction between the source of wages and the factors which determine rates of wages? If so, what? If not, why not?
  7. Discuss the question: Is a demand for commodities a demand for labor?
  8. What is the relation of the standard of living to wages.
  9. Discuss briefly the following questions relating to speculators’ profits. (a) Do speculators as a class make any profits? (b) Are speculators’ profits in any sense earned?
  10. In what sense, if any, does the value of money come under the law of marginal utility?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 4, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1900-01.

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Final examination, June 1901]

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The bearing of the marginal utility theory of value upon the questions of wages and interest.
  2. The definitions of capital as given by Taussig and Clark.
  3. Clark’s explanation of the place of distribution within the natural divisions of economics.
  4. Clark’s method of distinguishing between the product of labor and the product of capital.
  5. Clark’s distinction between rent and interest.
  6. Böhm-Bawerk’s theory of the nature of capital.
  7. The origin of capital, according to Böhm-Bawerk and Clark.
  8. The meaning of the word “productive” in the following proposition: “Protection is an attempt to attract labor and capital from the naturally more productive, to the naturally less productive industries.”
  9. The incidence of tariff duties.
  10. The theory of production and the theory of valuation as the two principal departments of economics.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 5, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1900-01. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Design, Music in Harvard College (June, 1901), pp. 23-24.

___________________________

Economics 2.
Economic Theory
1901-02

Enrollment
1901-02

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 2. Asst. Professor Carver.— Economic Theory.

Total 32: 5 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 17 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 2 Others.

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

ECONOMICS 2.
1901-1902

General Reading. Prescribed.

Marshall. Principles of Economics.
Taussig. Wages and Capital.
Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital.
Clark. The Distribution of Wealth.

References for Collateral Reading. Starred references are prescribed.

I. VALUE.

1. Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Chs. 5, 6, and 7.

2. Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 1 and 4.

3. Mill.          “        “     Book III. Chs. 1-6.

4.  Cairnes     “        “     Part I.

5.*  Jevons. Theory of Pol. Econ. Chs. 2-4.

6.   Sidgwick. Pol. Econ. Book II. Ch. 2.

7.   Wieser. Natural Value.

8.* Clark. Philosophy of Wealth. Ch. 5

II. DIMINISHING RETURNS.

1.    Senior. Pol. Econ. Pp. 81-86.

2*.  Commons. The Distribution of Wealth. Ch. 3.

III. RENT.

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nation. Book I. Ch. 2. Pts. 1-3.

2.* Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 2 and 3.

3.   Sidgwick. “     “       Book II. Ch. 7.

4.   Walker.     “     “       Pt. IV. Ch. 2.

5.   Walker. Land and its Rent.

6.  Hyde. The Concept of Price Determining Rent. Jour. Pol. Econ. V.6. p. 368.

7.  Fetter. The Passing of the Old Rent Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 416.

IV. CAPITAL

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book II.

2.   Senior. Pol. Econ. P. 58-81.

3.   Mill.        “       “       Book I. Ch. 4-6.

4.   Roscher. “      “       Book I. Ch. 1. Secs. 42-45.

5.   Cannan. Production and Distribution. Ch. 4.

6.   Jevons. Theory of Political Economy Ch. 7.

7.  Fisher. What is Capital? Economic Journal. Vol. VI. P. 509.

8.  Fetter. Recent Discussion of the Capital Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 1.

9.* Carver. Clark’s Distribution of Wealth. Q.J.E., Aug. 1901.

V. INTEREST.

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 9.

2.   Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 6.

3.   Sidgwick.  “     “        Book II. Ch. 6.

4*.  Carver. Abstinence and the Theory of Interest. Q.J.E, Vol. VIII. P. 40.

5.    Mixter. Theory of Saver’s Rent. Q.J.E. Vol. XIII. P. 345.

VI. WAGES.

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 8.

2*. Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 5.

3.   Senior.       “       “      Pp. 141-180 and 200-216.

4.   Senior. Lectures. Pp. 1-62.

5.   Mill. Pol. Econ. Book II. Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14.

6.   Cairnes. Pol. Econ. Part II. Chs. 1 and 2.

7. Sidgwick.  “       “      Book II. Ch. 8.

8.  Walker.     “       “      Part IV. Ch. 5.

9.  Hadley. Economics. Ch. 10.

10*. Carver. Wages and the Theory of Value. Q.J.E. Vol. VIII, P. 377.

VII. PROFITS.

1.   Walker. Pol. Econ. Part IV. Ch. 4.

2.   Hobson. The Law of the Three Rents. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. V. P. 263.

3.   Clark. Insurance and Business Profits. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 40.

4*.  Hawley, F. B. in Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 459; Vol. XV. Pp. 75 and 603.

5.    MacVane, in in Quar. Jour. Econ.,  Vol. II. P. 1.

6.   Haynes, in               “     “       “     Vol. IX, P. 409.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 1 of 10 (Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003). Folder: 1901-1902.

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Mid-year examination, 1902]

Discuss the following topics.

  1. The relation of utility to value.
  2. The price of commodities and the price of services.
  3. Various uses of the term “diminishing returns.”
  4. The law of diminishing returns as applied to each of the factors of production.
  5. Prime and supplementary cost: illustrate.
  6. Joint and composite demand and join and composite supply.
  7. Quasi rent.
  8. Real and nominal rent.
  9. Consumer’s rent.
  10. The equilibrium of demand and supply

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1901-02.

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Final examination, June 1902]

  1. State some of the different meanings which have been given to the law of diminishing returns, and define the law as you think it ought to be.
  2. Can you apply the law of joint demand to the wages fund questions?
  3. What is meant by an elastic demand and how does it affect monopoly price.
  4. Discuss Clark’s distinction between capital and capital goods.
  5. Under what conditions would there be no rent, and how would these conditions affect the value of products?
  6. Explain Clark’s theory of Economic Causation.
  7. What is the source of interest?
  8. What is the relation of the standard of living to wages?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1902), p. 21.

___________________________

Economics 2.
Economic Theory
1902-03

Enrollment
1902-03

For Undergraduates and Graduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Carver.— Economic Theory.

Total 25: 5 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.

 

Course Description
1902-03

For Undergraduates and Graduates

[Economics] 2. Economic Theory. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 2.30 Professors Taussig [sic] and Carver.

Course 2 is intended to acquaint the student with some of the later developments of economic thought, and at the same time to train him in the critical consideration of economic principles and the analysis of economic conditions. The exercises are accordingly conducted mainly by the discussion of selected passages from the leading writers: and in this discussion of selected passages from the leading writers; and in this discussion the students are expected to take an active part. Lectures are given at intervals outlining the present condition of economic theory and some of the problems which call for theoretical solution. Theories of value, diminishing returns, rent, wages, interest, profits, the incidence of taxation, the value of money international trade, and monopoly price, will be discussed. Marshall’s Principles of Economics [4th ed., 1898], Böhm-Bawerk’s Positive Theory of Capital [1888; William Smart translation, 1891], Taussig’s Wages and Capital [1896], and Clark’s Distribution of Wealth [1899] will be read and criticized.

Course 2 is open to students who have passed satisfactorily in Course 1.

Source: Harvard University.  Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1902-03. The University Publications, New Series, No. 55 (June 14, 1902), pp. 40-41.

 

ECONOMICS 2.
1902-1903

General Reading. Prescribed.

Marshall. Principles of Economics.
Taussig. Wages and Capital.
Böhm-Bawerk. Positive Theory of Capital.
Clark. The Distribution of Wealth.

References for Collateral Reading. Starred references are prescribed.

I. VALUE.

1.  Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Chs. 5, 6, and 7.

2.  Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 1 and 4.

3.   Mill.          “        “     Book III. Chs. 1-6.

4.   Cairnes     “        “     Part I.

5.*  Jevons. Theory of Pol. Econ. Chs. 2-4.

6.   Sidgwick. Pol. Econ. Book II. Ch. 2.

7.   Wieser. Natural Value.

8.* Clark. Philosophy of Wealth. Ch. 5

II. DIMINISHING RETURNS.

1.  Senior. Pol. Econ. Pp. 81-86.

2.  Commons. The Distribution of Wealth. Ch. 3.

3*. Bullock. The Variation of Productive Forces, Q.J.E., August, 1902.

III. RENT.

1.  Adam Smith. Wealth of Nation. Book I. Ch. 2. Pts. 1-3.

2.* Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Chs. 2 and 3.

3.  Sidgwick. “     “       Book II. Ch. 7.

4.  Walker.     “     “       Pt. IV. Ch. 2.

5.  Walker. Land and its Rent.

6.  Hyde. The Concept of Price Determining Rent. Jour. Pol. Econ. V.6. p. 368.

7.  Fetter. The Passing of the Old Rent Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 416.

IV. CAPITAL

1.  Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book II.

2.  Senior. Pol. Econ. P. 58-81.

3.  Mill.        “       “       Book I. Ch. 4-6.

4.  Roscher. “      “       Book I. Ch. 1. Secs. 42-45.

5. Cannan. Production and Distribution. Ch. 4.

6.  Jevons. Theory of Political Economy Ch. 7.

7.  Fisher. What is Capital? Economic Journal. Vol. VI. P. 509.

8.  Fetter. Recent Discussion of the Capital Concept. Q.J.E. Vol. XV. P. 1.

9.* Carver. Clark’s Distribution of Wealth. Q.J.E., Aug. 1901.

V. INTEREST.

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 9.

2.   Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 6.

3.   Sidgwick.  “     “        Book II. Ch. 6.

4*. Carver. Abstinence and the Theory of Interest. Q.J.E, Vol. VIII. P. 40.

5.   Mixter. Theory of Saver’s Rent. Q.J.E. Vol. XIII. P. 345.

VI. WAGES.

1.   Adam Smith. Wealth of Nations. Book I. Ch. 8.

2*. Ricardo. Pol. Econ. Ch. 5.

3.  Senior.       “       “      Pp. 141-180 and 200-216.

4.   Senior. Lectures. Pp. 1-62.

5.   Mill. Pol. Econ. Book II. Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14.

6.   Cairnes. Pol. Econ. Part II. Chs. 1 and 2.

 7.  Sidgwick.  “       “      Book II. Ch. 8.

8.  Walker.     “       “      Part IV. Ch. 5.

9.  Hadley. Economics. Ch. 10.

10*. Carver. Wages and the Theory of Value. Q.J.E. Vol. VIII, P. 377.

VII. PROFITS.

1.   Walker. Pol. Econ. Part IV. Ch. 4.

2.   Hobson. The Law of the Three Rents. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. V. P. 263.

3.   Clark. Insurance and Business Profits. Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 40.

4*.  Hawley, F. B. in Quar. Jour. Econ. Vol. VII. P. 459; Vol. XV. Pp. 75 and 603.

5.   MacVane, in in Quar. Jour. Econ.,  Vol. II. P. 1.

6.   Haynes, in               “     “       “     Vol. IX, P. 409.

Source: Harvard University Archives. HUC 8522.2.1, Box 1 of 10 (Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003). Folder: 1902-1903.

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Mid-year examination, 1903]

Explain and illustrate any twelve of the following subjects.

  1. Marginal utility.
  2. Elasticity of wants.
  3. The law of diminishing returns from land.
  4. The extension of the law of diminishing returns to other factors than land.
  5. The law of economy of organization (Bullock).
  6. The law of varied costs (Bullock).
  7. The cause of rent.
  8. The law of rent.
  9. Quasi rent.
  10. Joint and composite demand.
  11. Joint and composite supply.
  12. Prime and supplementary cost.
  13. The relation of rent to the price of products.
  14. The effect of the shortening of the working day upon the demand for labor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1902-03.

 

ECONOMICS 2
[Final examination, June 1903]

  1. Explain the principal of marginal utility.
  2. Explain the law of diminishing returns and extend it to other factors than land.
  3. What is the relation of cost to value?
  4. What is the relation of rent to value?
  5. What is the relation of waiting to interest?
  6. What is capital?
  7. What is the relation of capital to wages?
  8. Explain joint and composite demand and joint and composite supply.
  9. Does the home consumer necessarily pay the whole of the tariff duty?
    Give reasons for your answer.
  10. Is the value of money determined in all particulars as the value of any other commodity?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1902-03. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College (June, 1903), p. 21.

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