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M.I.T. Suggested Reading Uncategorized

M.I.T. Imperfect competition and capital theory reading lists. Samuelson, 1948

 

 

The following two reading lists come from the second semester of the two-semester course Economic Analysis that Paul Samuelson taught in the 1940s. The first list covers Duopoly and Bilateral Monopoly followed by Monopolistic Competition. There is no date on that reading list, but based on the newest item of the list, Hurwicz’s Dec. 1945 paper in the AER, it is safe to say that the reading list was for the second half of the 1940’s. The fact that this mimeographed reading list immediately precedes the reading list for capital theory (also assigned to the same course, EC18) which is explicitly dated “Spring Semester 1948” makes it likely that this pair of reading lists were from the same semester. The folder has no other material for the course.

 

 

READING LIST EC18

  1. Duopoly and Bi-lateral Monopoly

Chamberlin, E. H., Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Ch. 3, Appendix A
Hicks, J.R., “Theory of Monopoly”, Econometrica, V. III, No. 1 (1935)
Cournot, A., Math. Principles of the Theory of Wealth, Ch. 7
Hurwicz, L., American Economic Review, Vol. 35, “Theory of Economic Behavior”, p. 909.

Optional

von Stackelberg, H., Marktform und Gleichgewicht. (German)

  1. Monopolistic Competition

Chamberlin, E. H., Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Chaps. 4,5.
Triffin, R., Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Intro., pp. 17-35, 49-51, Chaps. 2, 3,5.
Stigler, G. J., Theory of Price, Chaps. 11, 15, pp. 266-287.

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Readings on Capital Theory
Spring 1948

Ec 18

Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital

Translator’s Preface
Book V, all
Book VI, Chs. V, VI, VII

Wicksell, LecturesVol. I

Part II
Part III

I. Fisher, Theory of Interest

Part I, Chs. I, III
Part II, all
Part III, Chs. X, XI

Hicks, Value and Capital

Part III, all
Part IV, Chs. XVII, XIX

Keynes, General Theory

Chs. 11, 13, 14

Knight, Ethics of Competition

Social Science Encyclopedia article on Interest
Cf. E.J., J.P.E., Economica, articles on same subject

N. Kaldor, Econometrica Annual Survey

(gives bibliography)

F. Lutz, Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., 1940

 

Source:  Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Paul A. Samuelson Papers. Box 33, Folder “Miscellaneous Teaching Materials”.

Image Source:  Samuelson Memorial Information Page/Photos from Memorial Service.  Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

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Harvard. Alumnus Economics Ph.D. Canadian Prime Minister, W. L. Mackenzie King. 1909

 

 

In the continuing series, Get to Know an Economics Ph.D., we meet W. L. Mackenzie King who made his way to Harvard via the Universities of Toronto and Chicago. In a quick internet background check I stumbled upon the fact that this most distinguished Harvard alumnus was also someone who consulted crystal balls and regularly attended seances to communicate with the dead. These odd  facts only became known upon the publication of his diaries that can be consulted online at the Libaries and Archives Canada website. In this post I provide a 1921 report from the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and the excerpt from his diary describing his first day at Harvard.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. XVII (1941-1950).
Library and Archives Canada. Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King.

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A Harvard Prime Minister.
W. L. Mackenzie King, A.M. 1898, Ph.D. 1909

To W. L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister. A.M. ’98, Ph.D. ’09, who led the Liberals to victory in the recent Canadian elections and now becomes Prime Minister of the Dominion, we are glad to extend our felicitations. Harvard men have had seats in the Cabinet at Ottawa on several previous occasions, but this is the first time that the University has had one of her graduates at the head of the ministerial table there.

After taking his undergraduate course at the University of Toronto, Mr. King came to Harvard in September, 1897. He had already acquired an interest in labor problems and his chief purpose in coming to Cambridge was to study economics under the guidance of Professor Taussig. His strength of intellect and his vigorous personality soon made an impression, both in the classroom and out of it; Mr. King was generally regarded as one of the ablest among the graduate students of his day. After receiving his master’s degree in 1898 and spending a further year in work leading to the Ph.D. degree in economics, he was awarded the Henry Lee Memorial Fellowship for study abroad, and spent the winter of 1899-1900 in Europe, chiefly at the London School of Economics.

Returning from London in the summer of 1900, Mr. King was offered an instructorship in economics at Harvard and was on the point of accepting it when a new development caused him to shift his plans. The Canadian government, just at this time, had decided to establish a Labor Bureau, and, casting about for a capable young man to take charge of it, offered the post to Mr. King, who accepted it with some misgivings because he had set his ambitions upon an academic career. At any rate, the Department of Economics had to find another instructor while King went to Ottawa where he became Deputy Minister of Labor and filled that post with such conspicuous success that in 1909 he was made a member of the Laurier Cabinet. With the defeat of the Liberals in 1911 he went out of office, but not out of public life, and on the death of Sir Wilfred Laurier he became the leader of the Liberal party. Now, at the age of forty-seven, he has reached the top rung of his political ladder.

During the twenty years since he left the University, Mr. King has never lost touch with Harvard. Among Harvard graduates in Canada he has been one of the most loyal and enthusiastic. From time to time he has looked in upon us during brief visits to Boston and we count him no stranger here. He has our best wishes for a successful administration.

Source: Harvard Alumni Bulletin. Vol. XXIV, No. 13 (December 22, 1921), pp. 285-286.

________________________

 First Day at Harvard
from W. L. Mackenzie King’s Diary

Tuesday, September 28, 1897.
(Handwritten—p. 271)

…We arrived at Boston about 10.30 got off at Huntingdon St. & was greatly taken with the first glimpse at the city, everything so clear, like an English city, the names etc. not so much smoke or rush, took a street car for Harvard square & went at once to the College yard.

After looking about for a while I met Prof. Ashley & gave him the letter from Mr. Smith. He was very kind in showing me the library & taking me to the Episc. Theol. Seminary, where he sd. he hoped I wd. get a room as the life there was more like the Oxford life than anything in Cambridge. He tried to find the Bursar, pointed out to me the Washington Elm & the Craigie House, which are both close by, told me about other points of interest. I am much taken with the beauty of Cambridge, it is an ideal college town—the trees are beautiful, people live as well as exist here. I met Mr. Jno. Cummings during the afternoon. He is quite a young fellow & not just the man I expected. Spent a good part of the afternoon waiting upon the Bursar of the Epis. Theol. Seminary. May be able to get a room there. Went on a search for other rooms. About tea time got a place at 14 Millar St., Mrs. Morrison, where I could room & board till I get settled. The woman told me all her sorrows at the table. After dinner, after helping some girls with a bicycle, I called on Prof. Taussig—short call. I went for a stroll after dinner met a young girl was anxious to talk with some one lonely a little & restless. We walked about awhile together. Had I read my diary before going out I wd. not have gone so far—returned about 10. Went to bed tired & sorry at the mistake I had made.

Met Prof. Peabody who was very kind in offering to be of any service to me. Prices are very high here. Saw a room on 14 Sumer St. I like very much too high, 150 wd. come down 10.

Source:  Libraries and Archives Canada. Diaries of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, MG26-J13. Item: 1650.

Image Source: William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1899. Wikipedia.

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MIT. Economics Ph.D. alumnus (1957) Jaroslav Vanek. Obituary, 2017

 

When I conducted a bit of scholarly due diligence to try to establish the date of a Harvard economics skit I posted a few days ago (the script refers to the fact that Professor Vanek was leaving the Harvard department much to the regret of the skit-writers), I discovered that MIT Ph.D. alumnus, Jaroslav Vanek, passed away last month. Having been raised a comparative economics economist, I was aware of some of his work and post the local obituary that provides some insight into the man and scholar. 

______________________

Vanek, Jaroslav
04/20/1930-11/15/2017
Published in Ithaca Journal on Nov. 18, 2017

Ithaca resident Jaroslav Vanek, 87 years of age, passed away peacefully at Hospicare of Ithaca on Wednesday, November 15, due to the effects of myelodysplasia. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on April 20, 1930, to Josef and Jaroslava Vanek. His father worked in the Czech government’s labor ministry. He survived the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Axis forces from 1938 to 1945, and during this time his mother took up beekeeping as a way to make ends meet, which turned into an interest that he would continue in his later years. Other early activities included building a canoe to paddle on the Vltava River that passes through Prague, and time spent at the family’s summer house in the village of Voznice, in the forested hills about 25 miles south of the city.

Jaroslav graduated from the Prague Gymnasium (high school) in 1949, where he was the pole vaulter on the track and field team. Later in life he reconnected with his high school classmates and attended many reunions with them in the Czech Republic in recent years. In September 1949, the family fled for political reasons into Germany, where they at first landed in a refugee camp in Munich, before eventually settling in Geneva and Paris.

The hardships of the Second World War and the communist takeover of Eastern Europe instilled in Jaroslav a lifelong desire to make the world a better place, including at first social justice and eradication of poverty, and later protection of the environment and development of renewable energy. Desire to increase the welfare of ordinary people led to an interest in economics, and he earned a degree in the field from the University of Geneva in 1954. He stayed on in Geneva to work as a professional economist, and while there met Prof. Charles Kindleberger of MIT. In 1955 he left Geneva for Cambridge to pursue a doctorate in economics under Prof. Kindleberger’s supervision, which he earned in 1957. He then taught economics at Harvard University. In 1958 while teaching at Harvard he met Wilda Marraffino of Larchmont, NY, then a doctoral candidate in history at Harvard, and they married on December 26, 1959.

Jaroslav left Harvard for an economics position with the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC, in 1963, and then came to Ithaca in 1964 to take a position with the Department of Economics in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell. Upon arrival they rented a house from the late Prof. Herbert Gilman of Cornell’s Veterinary College at 414 Triphammer Road, and later purchased the house. Although he and Wilda traveled widely, they would always call the house, known among family members as either “Triphammer” or “414”, home for the rest of his days and years.

His early work focused on international economics, one notable book being “Maximal Economic Growth” published in 1968. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he turned his attention to labor managed cooperatives as an alternative to mainstream economic models, leading to titles such as “The Participatory Economy: An Evolutionary Hypothesis and a Strategy for Development” in 1971. He was visiting professor in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Louvain, Belgium; Wassenaar, Netherlands; and The Hague, Netherlands. These appointments gave his growing family a chance to live and go to school in several foreign countries, which formed an influential part of their upbringing. He also advised the governments of Peru and Turkey during this time.

In 1979 while on his second sabbatical at the Institute for Social Studies in The Hague, he got to know a Bangladeshi graduate student named Shakur who was eager to start a cooperative using solar energy to bake clay building bricks. This encounter sparked Jaroslav’s lifelong interest in appropriate technology combined with cooperatives, as a way to address economic inequality in the world. On his return to Ithaca he started the “Ensol” solar energy cooperative and began involving his family and graduate students in a flurry of low-tech solar inventions ranging from very large inflated parabolic discs, simple parabolas to generate steam power and improving simple one-pot solar oven design.

Jaroslav would also develop prototypes to harness wind and wave power. In 1986, as the work continued and attracted interest from around the world, Jaroslav and Wilda created the S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation not-for-profit (Sustainable Technology and Energy for Vital Economic Needs) to fund continuing research and outreach abroad. Longtime Ithacans may remember the shiny Mylar-lined parabolic solar collectors which were visible in front of their home at 414 Triphammer Rd in the eighties and nineties.

Jaroslav enjoyed physical activity whether building his inventions in the backyard, walking or biking to his office on Cornell campus or summertime swimming in the local parks. In 1988 at 58 years old he biked around Cayuga Lake. His mother had remained in Geneva, Switzerland, and took up beekeeping as she had done during the war, so over the years he would help her when visiting. His children distinctly remember dad loading the family Volkswagen bus within an inch of breaking the rear axle at the Migro supermarket in Geneva with bags of sugar for mixing sugar-water for the beehives. In retirement, he enjoyed pitching in with projects at his daughter Teresa’s farm, notably assisting in beginning the beekeeping operation there and passing the interest to the third and eventually fourth generation. He also helped three local children with building their homes: a straw-bale home for each Teresa and her brother Steven, and a cohousing home for their brother Francis in the Ecovillage at Ithaca Second Neighborhood.

In 1989, forty years after he escaped with his parents, Jaroslav was invited to present at an economic conference in what was still Czechoslovakia – just before the Velvet Revolution. He brought the family along to see his birthplace for the first time. Thankfully he was able to reconnect with many friends and family. In 1992 the rise and fall of communism in Czechoslovakia came full circle and the summer house in Voznice that had been confiscated was returned to Jaroslav and his brothers’ ownership. This sturdy house that bordered on forests and a large swimming pond became a home away from home during annual visits to Czech Republic. Jaroslav and Wilda (and frequently their children and grandchildren) enjoyed bicycling, walking in the nearby forests – sometimes collecting delicious mushrooms and berries — and the cultural riches of Prague. They were fortunate to revive friendships in Czech Republic that continue until this day.

In closing, Jaroslav truly lived the maxim to “do all the good you can, for as long as you can.” He is survived by his wife of 57 years Wilda Vanek, and children and grandchildren: Josef Vanek, MD, surgeon in Uniontown, PA (wife Sue, children Carolyn and Tess); Francis (wife Catherine Johnson, children Ray and Mira), faculty at Cornell University; Rosie (husband Jon Liden), the Global Fund, Geneva, Switzerland; Steven (wife Leia Raphaeledis, children Anais and Jan), faculty at Colorado State University, Fort Collins; and Teresa (husband Brent Welch, children Milan and Luka), co-owner of Bright Raven Farm and Apiary.

A mass of Christian burial will be held at Immaculate Conception Church, 113 N. Geneva St., Ithaca, on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 11:30 AM. Family will receive friends at the church at 10:45 AM. Burial will take place at Pleasant Grove Cemetery, in Cayuga Heights, following a brief reception after mass.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theithacajournal/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=187271566

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Curriculum Harvard Uncategorized Undergraduate

Harvard. Undergrad economics program described in The Harvard Crimson, 1953

 

 

The Harvard Crimson has a really useful search function that can get you a student’s perspective on undergraduate economics education in Harvard’s ivy-covered (well, sometimes) lecture halls. I added links to courses and professors for a bit of value-added. Otherwise the article speaks for itself.

_______________________

The Harvard Crimson
April 22, 1953

Economics
Number of Concentrators: 331.
1952 Commencement Honors: cum, 17; magna, 20; summa, 1; 2 cums in General Studies.

The fact that Economics can boast one of the top faculties in the country, and probably has more nationally known professors than any other department in the College, is one of the main drawbacks to the concentrator. For few undergraduates are able to claim having really studied under any of them.

Most of the courses are conducted under the lecture system which does allows the undergraduate little contact with the men who divide their time between Washington and Cambridge.

The mistake should not be made that a concentrator in Economics will be trained in how to make his first million, no illusions should be developed that Economics is just another term for business administration. What the Department of Economics attempts to do is quite simple: the development of the economic background to present day social and political issues.

Tutorial

Economics I, required of every concentrator, is designed to introduce the student to the field. Its main criticism is that it is too general. But in the past it has been quite efficient in preparing students for the more advanced courses.

In an attempt to introduce some personal contact, the Department has now extended tutorial to all sophomores and juniors. According to Departmental chairman Arthur Smithies, its purpose is threefold: 1) to make specific things brought up in classes more concrete, 2) to tie the various fields of economics together, 3) to bring out the close relationship between economics and the other social sciences.

Tutorial in the junior year, usually limited to honors candidates, is now open to non-honors candidates also. Called “presumptive honors tutorial,” it meets in sessions conducted along honors tutorial lines. The program was opened last year with the hope of inducing more concentrators to apply for honors in their senior year. According to Ayers Brinser ’31, Head tutor of Economics, a great majority of the juniors who enter the junior tutorial with no intention of being an honors-candidates, change their minds during the junior year. By offering the presumptive tutorial, the department enables students who did not sign for honors to change in their senior year.

Basic Courses

Requirements for concentration do not impose too great a restriction on the concentrator’s program. Four Economic courses including Economics I are a must for non-honors men, while honors candidates are held for five. Three of the courses must be chosen from the basic courses: Economics 101, Economic Theory and Policy; Economics 141, Money, Banking and Economics Fluctuations; Economics 151. Public Finance; Economics 161, Business Organization and Public Regulation; Economics 171, Economics of Agriculture; and Economics 181a and b, Trade Unionism and Collective Bargaining, Public Policy and Labor.

Honors candidates may elect to take tutorial for credit for one semester of their senior year, while they work on their 40,000 word theses. Currently, more than a third of the concentrators are honors candidates.

The department also requires all concentrators to take full courses in Government, History, Social Relations or the second group Social Science courses.

Most popular of the advanced courses last year was Economics 161. Professors Kaysen and Galbraith divided last year’s schedule. The course deals with the structure and character of business and their markets; the attitude of the public toward combination and regulation, including the transportation industry and the public utilities; and the problems of resource conservation and industrial mobilization.

Labelled by most concentrators as the most difficult of the basic courses, Economics 141 crams a great deal into its program. Most concentrators prefer to get this one out of the way in their sophomore or junior year, since it is a good foundation for other courses in the field.

Labor Economics

One of the most popular professors teaching an undergraduate courses, John Dunlop will be back to give the two semesters of Labor Economics. Different from the other basic courses in that it emphasizes more human aspects, Economics 181 combines human and legal aspects of the labor movement as well of the economic foundation.

Economics 101, the basic theory course for undergraduates, is restricted to honors candidates in their last year of study.

Source: The Harvard Crimson, April 22, 1953.

 

 

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Swarthmore. Economic Theory Honors Exam Questions by Samuelson. 1943

____________________________________

Harvard economics alumnus Wolfgang Stolper (Ph.D. 1938)  was able to leverage his friendships and connections from graduate school to obtain a flow of external examiners for Swarthmore College’s honors examinations in economics. For today’s post I have transcribed the examination questions in economic theory provided by Paul Samuelson.

I find particularly interesting the early use by Samuelson of the term “neoclassical synthesis” under which he grouped “Marshall, Walras, Wicksell, Cassel or the Austrians” and that he considered distinct from the later synthesis of “orthodox economic thought” by Hicks.

I have also attached to this post a most delightful artifact, Paul Samuelson’s remembrance sent to the seventieth birthday celebration for James Tobin’s wife, Elizabeth (a.k.a. Bess, Betty) Ringo, who had been a graduate student of Samuelson’s at M.I.T. after having been one of his (probably January) examinees that year at Swarthmore.

____________________________________

Samuelson’s Remembrance of Being a Swarthmore External Examiner

“Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is an orphan.” John F. Kennedy said that, and so before him did Mussolinis son-in-law. I claim some credit for bringing Bess Ringo to Cambridge and into Jim Tobin’s orbit.

It was Wolfi Stolper who persuaded me to be an external Swarthmore examiner. I never worked a harder weekend. Janet Goodrich and John Chapman, Peter and Freddie Kuh, Bess, and many more were part of that intense honors group. Even the faculty lobbied our Olympian outside group.

No good deed goes unrewarded. My booty from the countryside was Ringo’s promise to come to MIT’s new graduate program in economics, which was starved for draft-proof students. Nuns cannot be trusted except in pairs and to Betty’s indignation we admitted a female from Hunter College to be her buddy.

The rest is history.

Blessed history—for Betty and Jim and theirs have enriched the lives of us happy many.

[signed] Paul Samuelson

Paul Samuelson (and, by proxy, Marion Crawford Samuelson)

1 August 1992

 

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Papers of Paul A. Samuelson, Box 73, Folder “Tobin, James”

____________________________________

 

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
1943
Department of Economics

 

Honors Examination                       Division of the
Thursday, January 28                     Social Sciences

ECONOMIC THEORY

Examiner: Professor Paul A. Samuelson
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Answer one question from each of four sections.

Section I

Write an hour essay on one of the following subjects.

  1. The use of a pricing system in a completely planned and socialized society.
  2. The difficulties faced in the classification of monopoly and competition, with a provisional, constructive solution of them.
  3. The significant meanings of the term “exploitation of a factor of production.”
  4. The marginal productivity theory and its difficulties.
  5. The relationship between firms and industry, between cost and supply, in the long and in the short run.
  6. Conflicting views as to the true nature of profit.

Section II

  1. Discuss price determination and allocation of supply between more than one market, under simple and discriminating
  2. “Edgeworth is wrong when he says that Giffen’s Paradox, positively inclined demand curve, is highly unrealistic and not to be found in practice. I have often observed that poor people eat more bread and potatoes than the wealthy, precisely because their income is less.” (Marshall) Comment upon this quotation bringing out the analytical point at issue.
  3. Why is it said that price is indeterminate under oligopoly and duopoly?
  4. Why has the Marshallian concept of consumer’s surplus been under attack? What did it attempt to do and under what conditions was it valid?

Section III

  1. “It is illogical that the Keynesians should speak of a future possibility of inadequate investment relative to saving since they insist on the necessary equality of these magnitudes.” Examine the issue raised here, making reference to other schools of thought. If you dare, attempt a synthesis of divergent theories and definitions.
  2. “Labor is like any other commodity. If its supply is excessive relative to its demand, lower its price and you will clear the market.” Comment.
  3. “I deny the very existence of a business cycle, and challenge anyone to produce evidence of its reality.” Meet this challenge.
  4. “The business cycle is monetary in origin, being nothing more than the ‘dance of the dollar’.” Comment.
  5. “The interest rate is a purely monetary phenomenon.” Comment.

Section IV

  1. Discuss the revolution in population outlook after World War I, and the economic problems raised.
  2. Will our major post-war problem be that of controlling a boom or combating a depression? Defend your stand.
  3. Disillusioned with monetary controls, governments have turned to fiscal policy to combat the business cycle. Give reasons and implications.
  4. When we have solved the problem of unemployed resources, there will arise the necessity to allocate resources in their optimal What are the criteria by which correct decisions are made in this sphere, and how is the perfection of competition involved?

____________________________________

 

Professor Paul A. Samuelson
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

            Honors Examination                        May 19, 1943                       Division of the
Department of Economics               Social Sciences

 

ECONOMIC THEORY

Answer one question from each of four sections.

Section I

Write an hour essay on one of the following subjects.

  1. The relationship between firms and industry, between cost and supply, in the long and in the short run, under perfect and imperfect competition.
  2. The scope and method of economics.
  3. We have had at last four syntheses of orthodox economic thought: (a) that of Smith; (b) that of John Stuart Mill; (c) the neo-classical synthesis (Marshall, Walras, Wicksell, Cassel or the Austrians); (d) Hicks. Write a critical contrast of at least two of these.

Section II

  1. Discuss discriminatingly the multitude of meanings of the term “excess capacity.”
  2. What bearing does the use of indifference curves have upon
    1. the problem of the measurability of utility
    2. the definition of complementarity, independence, competitiveness; joint demand and substitutability
    3. Giffen’s paradox and “inferior” goods?
  3. “Since each worker is paid the productivity of the last worker, (marginal productivity), a really smart and unscrupulous employer would hire so many workers as to cause the wage to be zero, or at least only enough above zero to support a physiological minimum of existence.” Comment.

Section III

  1. “Everybody talks about the disparity between saving and investment, but nobody attempts to measure it.” Discuss the theoretical and statistical problems involved here.
  2. “There is an inherent instability in the banking system, and this gives rise to the business cycle which is essentially ‘the dance of the dollar.’” Analyze.
  3. Describe the “multiplier doctrine,” its fields of application, its validity and shortcomings.

Section IV

  1. Weigh the arguments for and against secular stagnation.
  2. Defend or attack the thesis that there will be a post-war boom. Give your characterization of the post-war economy.
  3. “The business cycle is a misnomer; it is a question of many cycles not of one.” Discuss the historical, statistical, and theoretical issues raised by this statement.
  4. Describe the cyclical behavior and importance of
    1. the building industry or
    2. consumers credit and installment institutions.

 

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Papers of Wolfgang Stolper, Box 22, Folder1.

Image Source: Elizabeth Fay Ringo from Swarthmore’s Halcyon 1943. Paul Samuelson (1940) from M.I.T. Memorial.

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Harvard. Labor Organization and Collective Bargaining. Dunlop, 1947.

 

 

John T. Dunlop’s course reading lists go on for pages. He mediated, arbitrated and advised besides teaching courses in labor relations including this post of material for his undergraduate course on unions and collective bargaining. His New York Times’ obituary closes with a nice 1973 quote published in Fortune Magazine: “Unless you can work out a consensus on a problem, it’s not a very good solution.” I guess we just now live in an age of diminished solutions. Material for next semester’s course 81b “Labor and Public Policy” has been posted as well.

_____________________

Course Enrollment for Economics 81a, Fall Term 1947

[Economics] 81a. Associate Professor Dunlop.–Trade Unionism and Collective Bargaining (F).

3 Graduates, 80 Seniors, 64 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 15 Radcliffe: Total 187.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-48, p. 90.

_____________________

OUTLINE
Economics 81a
Fall, 1947

LABOR ORGANIZATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

I.  Labor and Management Organization

    1. The Institutional Setting
      1. The Beginnings of Organization
      2. The Relation of Labor Organization to “Capitalist” Society
      3. The Characteristics of the Labor Market
    2. Development of the American Labor Movement
      1. Comparisons with other Countries
      2. Theories of Labor Organization Development
      3. Relation to the Growth of the American Economy
      4. Role of Community Values, Ideas, Legal Concepts, and Politics
    3. Structure and Government of Labor Organizations
      1. Constitutional Government of the AFL and CIO
      2. Relations of Locals to International Bodies
      3. Labor Leadership
      4. Administrative Aspects of Labor Organizations
    4. Management Organization in Industrial Relations
      1. The Locus of Policy Making Affecting Industrial Relations
      2. Management Organization for Bargaining
      3. Management Leadership

II.  Operation and Results of Collective Bargaining

  1. The Bargaining Process: Mechanics
    1. The Collective Bargaining Agreement
    2. The Scope and Area of Bargaining
    3. Techniques of Bargaining
  2. The Results on the Social Structure of a Work Community
  3. The Results on the Conditions of Employment
    1. Status of Union Members
    2. Division of Work Opportunities
    3. Procedures for Settling Disputes
  4. The effects on Wages, Prices and Employment
    1. Wage Determination under Collective Bargaining vs. the “Free Market”
    2. Effects on the Shares of Real Income
    3. Effects on Income and Employment Over Time
  5. The Problem of Wage and Price Policies at Full Employment
  6. The Impact on the Social Structure and the Political “Balance of Power” in the Nation

III.  Public Policy Issues Raised by Labor and Management Organization and Collective Bargaining

_______________________

Economics 81 a
Questions

  1. How do you account for the emergence of labor organizations? What are the distinctive features of the American labor movement?
  2. To what extent is the American labor movement devoted to changing or preserving “capitalist” institutions?
  3. What standards would you establish to appraise the extent to which a particular labor organization was “democratic”?
  4. What are the possibilities of “peace” within the labor movement? What are the principal obstacles to effective unity?
  5. What are the principal changes introduced into a work community by a labor organization? What changes typically take place in the management of the company?
  6. What is collective bargaining? What is its scope? What problems and rights question, if any, are exclusively “prerogatives” of a union or a management?
  7. What are the effects of collective bargaining on wages, prices, national income and the share of income going to various groups?
  8. To what extent can the opposition of interest between employees and unions be relied upon to protect the public interest?
  9. What scope would you give to the principle of seniority in layoff? In promotion?
  10. Can union support be elicited to improve methods of production and to reduce costs? If so, how?
  11. The area of bargaining has been growing. What are the consequences of industry-wide bargaining?
  12. How would you appraise the following as principles of wage determination: the cost of living, ability to pay, productivity, wage rates in “comparable” firms and operations?
  13. What should a “theory of wages” attempt to do? What do you understand by marginal productivity?
  14. Is collective bargaining compatible with economic stability? May wages and prices be pushed up, of necessity, so rapidly as to result in instability in output and employment?
  15. In view of long-term tendencies at work in our society, what kind of economic institutions and labor relations to you foresee 50 years from now?
  16. The influence of labor organizations in the American social or political life has increased very materially in recent years. Why?

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Required and Recommended Reading

I.  LABOR AND MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

  1. The Institutional Setting

Required Reading:

Bakke, E. Wight, Mutual Survival, The Goal of Unions and Management, pp. 1-82

Golden, C., and Ruttenberg, H., the Dynamics of Industrial Democracy, pp. 1-47

Leiserson, W. L., “The Role of Government in Industrial Relations,” Industrial Disputes and the Public Interest, pp. 35-51, (Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California)

Simons, Henry C., “Some Reflections on Syndicalism,” Journal of Political Economy, March, 1944, pp. 1-25

Slichter, Sumner H., The Challenge of Industrial Relations, pp. 1-28

Recommended Reading:

Brooks, R. R., As Steel Goes, pp. 1-20

Halevy, Elie, The Growth of Philosophical Radicalism

Hammond, J. L., and B., The Town Labourer, 1780-1832, Chap. 2, 10-15

Hobson, John A., The Evolution of Modern Capitalism

Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement, pp. 1-98

Lenin, V. I., What Is To Be Done?, pp. 31-93

Lester, R. A., Economics of Labor, pp. 3-49

Perlman, Selig, A Theory of the Labor Movement

Pound, Roscoe, Social Control Through Law

Schumpeter, Joseph A., Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

Shaw, George B., An Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism

Veblen, Theory of the Business Enterprise, Chapter 8

Wadsworth, A. P., and Mann, Julia, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780, pp. 311-408

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, Industrial Democracy

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, The History of Trade Unionism, pp. 1-112

Whitehead, A. N., Adventures in Ideas

  1. The Development of the American Labor Movement

Required Reading:

Harris, Herbert, American Labor, pp. 1-95

Commons, John R., and Associates, History of Labor in the United States, Vol. II, pp. 332-429

Millis, H. A., and Montgomery, R. E., Organized Labor, pp. 76-242

The United Steelworkers of America, The First Ten Years

Recommended Reading:

Bimba, A., The Molly Maguires

Brissenen, Paul, The I.W.W.

David, Henry, The History of the Haymarket Affair

Dunlop, John T., “The Changing Status of Labor,” The Growth of the American Economy, Edited by H. F. Williamson, pp. 607-31

Fine, Nathan, Labor and Farmer Parties in the United States, 1828-1928

Foner, P. S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States

Foster, William Z., From Bryan to Stalin

Frey, S. P., Craft Unions of Ancient and Modern Times

Galenson, Walter, Rival Unionism in the United States

Gluck, Elsie, John Mitchell, Miner

Gompers, Samuel, Seventy Years of Life and Labor

Grossman, Jonathan, William Sylvis, Pioneer of American Labor

Hollander, J. H., and Barnett, G. E., Studies in American Trade Unionism

Hoxie, Robert F., Trade Unionism in the United States

Jamison, Stuart, Labor Unionism in American Agriculture, Bulletin 836, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Lorwin, L. L., The American Federation of Labor

McCabe, D. A., National Collective Bargaining in the Pottery Industry

Morris, Richard B., Government and Labor in Early America

Perlman, S. and Taft, P., History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932

Powderly, T. V., The Path I Trod

Roberts, Bryn, The American Labour Split and Allied Unity

Stolberg, Benjamin, Tailor’s Progress

Ware, Norman, Labor in Modern Economic Society

White, Kenneth, Labour and Democracy in the United States

Wolman, Leo, Ebb and Flow of Trade Unionism

Suggested Reading on Foreign Labor Movements

Cole, G. D. H., A Short History of the British Working Class Movement

Foenander, O. R, Towards Industrial Peace in Australia

Marquand, H. A., Laborer on Four Continents

Norgren, Paul, The Swedish Collective Bargaining System

Robbins, J. J., The Government of Labor Relations in Sweden

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, Industrial Democracy

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization?

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, The History of Trade Unionism

Ehrmann, H. W., French Labor From Popular Front To Liberation

Wunderlich, F., German Labor Courts

Cole, G. H. and Postgate, R. W., British People, 1746-1947

Wunderlich, Frieda, Labor Under German Democracy, Arbitration 1918-33

Gualtieri, H. L., Labor Movement in Italy

Fitzpatrick, B. C., Short History of the Australian Labor Movement

Snow, H. F., Chinese Labor Movement

Hubbard, L. M., Soviet Labor and Industry

  1. Structure and Government of Labor Organizations

Required Reading:

Herberg, Will, “Bureaucracy and Democracy in Labor Unions,” Antioch Review, Fall 1943, pp. 405-17

Millis, H. A., and Montgomery, R. E., Organized labor, pp. 243-320

Mills, C. Wright, “The Trade Union Leader: A Collective Portrait,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Summer, 1945, pp. 158-75

The Constitutions of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations

Slichter, Sumner H., The Challenge of Industrial Relations, pp. 99-123

Taft, Philip, “Opposition to Union Officers in Elections,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February, 1944, pp. 256-64; “Judicial Procedure in Labor Unions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1945, pp. 370-85; “Dues and Initiation Fees in Labor Unions,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1946, pp. 219-32

Boyer, Richard O., “Profiles, Union President” in The New Yorker, July 6, 1946, pp.22-30; July 13, 1946, pp. 30-42; July 20, 1946, pp. 26-35

Recommended Reading:

Brazeal, B. R., The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Brown, L. C., Union Policies in the Leather Industry

Carsel, Wilfred, A History of the Chicago Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union

Chicago Joint Board, The Clothing Workers of Chicago, 1910-1912

Christenson, Collective Bargaining in Chicago; 1929-30

Green, Charles H., The Headwear Workers

Henig, Harry, The Brotherhood of Railway Clerks

Hill, Samuel E., Teamsters and Transportation

Hoxie, Robert F., Trade Unionism in the United States, pp. 177-87

Jensen, Vernon H., Lumber and Labor

LaMar, Elden, Philadelphia Clothing Workers

Levine, Louis, The Women’s Garment Workers

McCaleb, Walter F., Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

Minton, Bruce and Stuart, John, Men Who Lead Labor

Mulcaire, Michael A., International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Northrup, Herbert, Organized Labor and the Negro

Northrup, H. R., Unionization of Professional Engineers and Chemists

Northrup, H. R., “The Tobacco Workers International Union,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1942

Painter, Leonard, Through Fifty Years with the Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America

Powell, Isona M., The History of the United Typothetae of America

Rubin, Jay and Obermeier, M. J., The Life and Times of Edward Floro

Ryan, Frederick L., Industrial Relations in the San Francisco Building Trades

Seidman, Joel, Labor Czars

Seidman, Joel, The Needle Trades

Soule, George, Sidney Hillman

Stolbert, Benjamin, Tailor’s Progress

Strong, Earl D., Amalgamated Clothing Workers

Wechsler, J. A., Labor Baron, Portrait of John L. Lewis

  1. Management Organization in Industrial Relations

Required Reading:

Roethlisberger, F. S., Management and Morale, pp. 88-134

Twentieth Century Fund, Trends in Collective Bargaining, pp. 22-33

Hill, L. H. and Hook, C. R., Jr., Management at the Bargaining Table, pp. 56-138

Pigors, Paul and Meyers, Charles A., Personnel Administration, (pages to be assigned)

Recommended Reading:

Baker, Helen, The Determination and Administration of Industrial Policies

Barnard, Chester I., The Functions of the Executive

Gardiner, Glenn, When Foremen and Stewards Bargain

Gordon, R. A., Business Leadership in the Large Corporation

National Research Council, Fatigue of Workers, Its Relation to Industrial Production

Riegel, John W., Management, Labor and Technological Change

Scott, Walter D., Clothier, Mathewson, Spriegel, Personnel Management, Principles, Practices, and Points of View

Yoder, Dale, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations

II. OPERATIONS AND RESULTS OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

  1. The Bargaining Process: Mechanics

Required Reading:

Peterson, Florence, American Labor Unions, pp. 187-210

Selected Agreements

Settling Plant Grievances, Bulletin 60, Division of Labor Standards

Recommended Reading:

Block, Louis, Labor Agreements in Coal Mines, pp. 71-124.

Hamburger, L., “The Extension of Collective Agreements to Cover Entire Trades and Industries,” International Labour Review, August, 1939, pp. 166-94

Lieberman, Elias, The Collective Labor Agreement, pp. 3-34

National Foremen’s Institute, How To Handle Collective Bargaining Negotiations

National Labor Relations Board, Written Trade Agreements, Bulletin No. 4

Pipin, Marshall, “Enforcement of Rights under Collective Bargaining Agreements,” University of Chicago Law Review, June, 1939

Updegraff, C. M., and McCoy, W. P., Arbitration of Labor Disputes

  1. The Results on the Social Structure of a Work Community

Required Reading:

Mayo, Elton, The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization, pp. 59-112

Selekman, Benjamin M., “When the Union Enters,” Harvard Business Review, Winter, 1945, pp. 129-43

Selekman, Benjamin M., Labor Relations and Human Relations, (pages to be assigned)

Golden, Clinton S., and Ruttenberg, H. J., The Dynamics of Industrial Democracy, pp. 190-291

Recommended Reading:

Mayo, Elton, Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization

Moore, W. E., Industrial Relations and the Social Order

Robinson, G. Canby, “The Patient as a Person, The Social Aspects of Illness,” in Modern Attitudes in Psychiatry, pp. 43-60

Roethlesberger, F. J. and Dickson, W. J., Management and the Worker

Warner, W. Lloyd and Low, J. O., The Social System of the Modern Factory The Strike: A Social Analysis

Whitehead, T. N., Leadership in a New Society

  1. The Results on the Conditions of Employment

Required Reading:

Slichter, Sumner H., Union Policies and Industrial Management, pp. 1-8, 53-136, 164-200, 241-81, 282-310, 572-79

Kennedy, Van Dusen, Union Policy and Incentive Wage Methods, pp. 50-104

National Industrial Conference Board, Job Evaluation, Formal Plans for Determining Basic Pay Differentials, pp. 1-12, 21-24

Twentieth Century Fund, How Collective Bargaining Works, pp. 227-79, 450-507

Recommended Reading:

Barnett, G. C., Chapters on Machinery and Labor

Drake, Leonard A., Trends in the New York Printing Industry

Haber, William, Industrial Relations in the Building Industry

Hill, Samuel E., Teamsters and Transportation

Jensen, Vernon H., Lumber and Labor

Lahne, Herbert J., The Cotton Mill Worker

Lytle, Charles W., Wage Incentive Methods, pp. 67-135

Morton, Thomas L., Trade Union Policies in the Massachusetts Shoe Industry

Ober, Harry, Trade Union Policy and Technological Change, (W.P.A., National Research Project)

Palmer, Gladys, Union Tactics and Economic Change

Patterson, W. F. and Hodges, M. H., Educating for Industry, Policies and Procedures for a National Apprenticeship System

Randall, Roger, Labor Relations in the Pulp and Paper Industry of the Pacific Northwest

Roberts, Harold S., The Rubber Workers

Ross, Murray, Stars and Strikes, Unionization of Hollywood

Seidman, Joel, The Needle Trades

  1. The Effects on Wages, Prices and Employment

Required Readings:

Boulding, Kenneth, Economic Analysis, pp. 485-511

Slichter, Sumner H., Basic Criteria Used in Wage Negotiation

Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bulletin, July 1947 “Consumer Incomes and Liquid Asset Holdings”

Slichter, Sumner H., “The Responsibility of Organized Labor for Employment,” American Economic Review, May 1945, pp. 193-208

Dunlop, J. T., Wage Determination Under Trade Unions, pp. 8-27, 45-73, 95-121 “American Wage Deterination: The Trend And Its Significance”

Clark, J. M., “The Relation of Wages to Progress” in The Conditions of Industrial Progress (Wharton School of Finance and Commerce), pp. 22-39

Recommended Reading:

    1. Wage and Employment Relations

Bissell, R. M., “Price and Wage Policies and the Theory of Employment,” Econometrica, June 1940, pp. 199-239

Cannan, Edwin, “The Demand for Labor,” Economic Journal, 1932

Carlson, Sune, A Study on the Pure Theory of Production

Douglas, Paul H., The Theory of Wages, pp. 113-58

Douglas, Paul H., “Wage Theory and Wage Policy,” International Labour Review, March 1939

Fellner, William and Haley, B. F., Editors, Readings in the Theory of Distribution

Hansen, Alvin H., Economic Policy and Full Employment

Hicks, J. R., Theory of Wages, pp. 1-38, 58-110

Keynes, J. M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (especially Chapter 19)

Lederer, Emil, “Industrial Fluctuations and Wage Policy: Some Unsettled Points,” International Labour Review, January, 1939.

Lester, Richard A., “Shortcomings of Marginal Analysis for Wage Employment Problems,” American Economic Review, March 1946, pp. 63-82

Mendershausen, H., “On the Significance of Professor Douglas’ Production Function,” Econometrica, October 1939

Machlup, Fritz, “Marginal Analysis and Empirical Research,” American Economic Review, September 1946, pp. 519-54

Pigou, A. C., The Economics of Welfare, 4th edition, pp. 451-61, 531-71, 647-55

Pigou, A. C., The Theory of Unemployment, pp. 1-108

Pigou, A. C., Lapses from Full Employment

Pool, A. G., Wage Policy in Relation to Industrial Fluctuations

Reynolds, Lloyd G., “Relations between Wage Rates, Costs, and Prices,” American Economic Review, Supplement, March 1942, pp. 275-89

Robertson, D. H., “Wage Grumbles,” in Economic Fragments

Robinson, Joan, Essays in the Theory of Employment, pp. 1-104

Stigler, George J., Production and Distribution Theories, The Formative Period

Walker, E. R., “Wage Policy and Business Cycles,” International Labour Review, December 1938

Wermel, Michael T., The Evolution of the Classical Wage Theory

    1. Wage Movements and Productivity

Ahearn, Daniel J., The Wages of Farm and Factory Laborers, 1914-1944

Bell, Spurgeon, Productivity: Wages and National Income

Bowden, Witt, “Wages, Hours and Productivity of Industrial Labor, 1909 to 1939” Monthly Labor Review, September 1940, pp. 517-44

Douglas, Paul H., Real Wages in the United States, 1890-1926

Ducoff, Louis J., Wages of Agricultural Labor in the United States, Technical Bulletin 895, Department of Agriculture

Fabricant, Solomon, Labor Savings in American industry 1899-1939

Lederer, Emil, Technical Progress and Unemployment

Lester, Richard A. and Robie, Edward A., Wages Under National and Regional Collective Bargaining

    1. Share in National Income

Dunlop, J. T., Wage Determination Under Trade Unions, pp. 141-91

Kalecki, Michael, Essays in the Theory of Economic Fluctuations

Kuznets, Simon, National Income and Its Composition, 1919-38, Vol. I, pp. 215-65

Pigou, A. C., Economics of Welfare, pp. 619-41

Survey of Current Business, June 1947 (Supplement)

    1. Size Distribution of Income

Bowman, Mary Jean, “A Graphical Analysis of Personal Income Distribution in the United States,” American Economic Review, September 1945, pp. 607-28

Clark, Colin, The Conditions of Economic Progress, Chapter 12

Mendershausen, Horst, Changes in Income Distribution During the Great Depression

National Resources Committee, Consumer Incomes in the United States

Staehle, Hans, “Short Period Variations in the Distribution of Incomes,” Review of Economic Statistics, 1937

    1. The Annual Wage

Latimer, Murray W., Guaranteed Wages, Report to the President by the Advisory Board, OWMR (See Appendix F for economic analysis by Hansen and Samuelson)

Snider, Joseph, Guarantee of Work and Wages

Leontief, Wassily, “The Pure Theory of the Guaranteed Annual Wage Contract,” Journal of Political Economy, February 1946.

  1. The Problem of Wage and Price Policies at Full Employment

Recommended Reading:

Leontief, W., “Wages, Profit and Prices,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1946, pp. 26-39

Fellner, W. J., Monetary Policies and Full Employment

Lange, Oscar, Price Flexibility and Full Employment

Dunlop, John T., “Wage-Price Relations at High Level Employment,” American Economic Review, Proceedings, May, 1947, pp. 243-53

  1. The Impact on the Social Structure and the Political “Balance of Power” in the Nation

 

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

 

Image Source: Cigar box label from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

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Johns Hopkins. Henry L. Moore on Thünen, 1893

Henry L. Moore was an early pioneer of econometrics whose most important disciple was Henry Schultz who later brought econometrics to the University of Chicago. Today’s posting is a summary of Moore’s presentation to the “economics conference” at Johns Hopkins in March 1893. Moore’s dissertation,“Von Thünen’s Theory of Natural Wages”, was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. IX, Nos. 3 and 4 (April and July, 1895) and reprinted as a book with that title by George H. Ellis of Boston in the same year.  An overview of Moore’s career is provided in George Stigler’s article in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (1968). 

While Moore was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins, John Bates Clark offered a series of lectures on the economics of distribution.  The intense personal bond between Clark and Moore, at least felt on Moore’s side judging from the letters he wrote to his revered “Pater”, most certainly can be traced to that time.

Here is a “fun” link to the von Thünen Estate Museum in Tellow, Germany. While the website is in German, there are some nice pictures. 

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If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled thus far. You can subscribe to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror below. There is also an opportunity for comment following each posting….

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[The Economics Conference of the Johns Hopkins University, 1892-93]

 

Dr. [Sydney] Sherwood has conducted on alternate Fridays throughout the year a voluntary conference of nineteen graduate students, giving special attention to economics. The work was devoted mainly to the investigations of recent tendencies in economic theory, and was carried on with great enthusiasm by the members. Several valuable contributions were made to economic literature. Among the papers read and discussed at the Conference may be mentioned the following: “The Theory of Final Utility in its Relation to Money and the Standard of Deferred Payments,” by L. S. Merriam, published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 1893; “Value and its Measurement,” by David I. Green, published in abstract in the University Circulars, May, 1893; “The Place of Abstinence in the Theory of Interest,” by T. N. Carver, published in abstract in the above named Circular; “Mill’s Fourth Fundamental Proposition concerning Capital,” by J. H. Hollander, published in abstract in the above named Circular, “The Logical Content of the Terms Labor and Capital,” by Frank I. Herriott, published in abstract in the above named Circular; “The Wage Theory of Von Thünen,” by H. L. Moore, published in abstract in the above named Circular; and “Marshall’s Theory of Distribution,” by A. F. Bentley.

 

Source: Eighteenth Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University. (Baltimore, Maryland: 1893), p. 61.

_______________________________

 

Some Notes on von Thünen. By H. L. Moore.
[From a paper read before the Economic Conference, March 10,1893.]

Johann Heinrich v. Thünen was descended from a noble Frisian family. He was born June 24, 1783, upon his father’s estate, Kanarienhausen, in Jeverland, and received his first training at the high school at Jever. Later, he studied agriculture under Thaer at Celle, and spent the two semesters of 1803-1804 at Gottingen.

In consequence of his betrothal to a lady of Mecklenburg, he left Jeverland, and in 1810, he purchased his Tellow estate in Mecklenburg, where he remained, pursuing his favorite studies agriculture and political economy until his death, September 22, 1850.

Von Thünen’s chief work is “Der Isolirte Staat.” [The Isolated State] The scope of the first part of this work, well indicated by its title: “Untersuchungen über den Einfluss, den die Getreidepreise, der Reichthum des Bodens und die Abgaben auf den Ackerbau ausüben,” [Investigations on the Impact of Grain Prices, Land Fertility and Levies on Agriculture] is more concisely pointed out by the statement of Rodbertus that it teaches “the law of the relative worth of each system of husbandry.” This part of the work first published in 1826, was translated into the French by Laverrière in 1851.

The second part of Der Isolirte Staat, which is by far the more important, is entitled “Der naturgemässe Arbeitslohn und dessen Verhältniss zum Zinsfuss und zur Landrente.” [The Natural Wage and it Relation to the Rate of Interest and Land Rent] It was published for the first time in 1850, and was translated into the French in 1857 by Mathieu Wolkoff under the title: “Le Salaire Naturel.”

This work, i. e. Der naturgemässe Arbeitslohn, like every other great work in economics, was the outgrowth of the spirit of the age in which it was written. The great labor agitations which originated in France about the time of the French Revolution did not reach Germany with all their force until shortly before the Revolution of 1848. Von Thünen was among the first to take up the discussion. He profoundly feared a dangerous conflict between the middle class and the proletariat, and went to work to avert, if possible, what he believed to be an impending calamity. After almost twenty-five years of labor, he completed his work, arriving at what he supposed to be a solution of the question.

The primary object of his work is to ascertain the natural wage. As, however, in complex modern society so many forces operate to obscure the proposed problem, von Thünen makes an ideal state the groundwork of his investigation. This state, isolated from the rest of the world by means of a wilderness capable of cultivation, is a plain of uniform fertility. Its only city, in which are concentrated all of its non-agricultural industries, is located at its centre. Neither railroads nor navigable waters are found in this ideal state. Its population is constant, and individual differences in the character of the laborers are not considered.

With these conditions placed upon the isolated state, von Thünen obtains by means of very complex mathematical reasoning the formula for the natural wage, viz.: \sqrt{ap}, where a represents the means of subsistence of the laborer, and p the product of his labor when he uses a definite amount of capital. Since a:\sqrt{ap}::\sqrt{ap}:p, he expresses the result of his work as follows: “The natural wage is the mean proportional between the means of subsistence of the laborer, and the product of his labor.” Von Thünen thought so much of this formula that he directed that it should be placed upon his tombstone.

A criticism of the formula cannot be given here, but the result to which it led must be noted. In the formula, \sqrt{ap}, the means of subsistence, is supposed to be constant for all men. Therefore as p, the product, increases, the natural wage must increase, since the natural wage is equal to \sqrt{ap}. In other words, according to von Thünen, the natural wage demands that as the product increases, the wage must increase also. Convinced of the correctness of his work, he followed up his belief by instituting in 1847 a system of profit-sharing on his Tellow estate. This was the first instance that was made known of agricultural profit-sharing in Germany.

One peculiar feature of the system founded by von Thünen was that the share of the laborer was not paid him in cash, but was credited to his account. On the sum credited to each laborer, von Thünen allowed 4 1/6 per cent. interest, which was paid out in cash at Christmas. When the laborer was sixty years of age, he was permitted to draw the capital sum. If, however, he died before attaining that age, the sum went to his widow.

Although the heirs of von Thünen had full power to abolish the system which he established, they continued it with no important change. In a letter dated November 22, 1881, Herr A. von Thünen, the grandson of the economist, wrote Mr. Sedley Taylor the following: “The results of the participatory arrangement here are very gratifying.”

Von Thünen’s work was a masterly attempt to solve the great social question of his day, and in view of the fact that it was published before the works of Rodbertus, Marx, and Lassalle, it may reasonably be asked, “Why has von Thünen received so little attention?” The answer is found in the extremely abstract mathematical character of his work. Pythagoras himself could not have attached more importance to mathematics. Von Thünen confesses that in his work he is unable to make progress unless he has a mathematically secure foundation.

However, those who undismayed by the multiplicity of figures and formulas have studied the book would doubtless join Prof. Roscher in saying: “Sollte unsere Wissenschaft jemals sinken, so gehören die Werke von Thünen’s zu denjenigen, an denen sie die Möglichkeit hat, sich wieder aufzurichten.” [“Should our science ever be lost, von Thünen’s contributions would be among those works that would allow us to reconstitute it once again.”]

 

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Vol. XII, No. 105 (May 1893), pp. 88-89.

Image: Close-up of Thünen’s grave taken by Irwin Collier in June 2008.

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Columbia Exam Questions Syllabus Uncategorized

Columbia. Junior Year Political Economy. Mayo-Smith, 1880

Yesterday while trawling through the Hathitrust digital library, I came across a collection published in 1882, Examination Papers Used During the Years 1877-1882 in Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Amherst and Williams Colleges. (The link takes you to the download page at archive.org)

Hoping for some political economic gold, I paged through the collection that appeared mostly focused on entrance examinations for Latin, Greek, mathematics etc., but eventually I stumbled upon a single examination in political economy for a junior year course (1880) at Columbia College.

The last question of that exam explicitly quotes from the course textbook so I went over to Google Books and searched the phrase “to secure a delusive benefit to individuals”. Sure enough, I could identify the textbook in question as the Manual of Political Economy for Schools and Colleges (3rd ed. 1876) by James Edwin Thorold Rogers. 

Now drunk on Google Books power, I text-searched Rogers’ Manual to locate the pages for answers to all the questions on the 1880 exam. You will find the corresponding page numbers in square brackets following the questions transcribed below…You’re welcome.

The course was taught by Richmond Mayo-Smith as seen in the Columbia College Handbook of Information 1880. I have included descriptive information about the junior and senior classes in history and political economy found there.

________________________________

[From the Columbia College Handbook of Information 1880]

SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE.

PROFESSORS

John W. Burgess, A. M.,
Constitutional and International History and Law		 Richmond M. Smith, A.M.,
Political Economy and Social Science (Adjunct).
Archibald Alexander, A.M., Ph.D.,
Philosophy (Adjunct).

OTHER OFFICERS

E. Munroe Smith, LL.B., J.U.D:,
Lecturer on the Roman Law		 Clifford R. Bateman, LL.B.,
Lecturer on Administrative Law.

[…]

HISTORY, POLITICAL SCIENCE, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW.

SOPHOMORE CLASS.

1ST TERM. —German History.
2D TERM.—French History.

JUNIOR CLASS.

1ST TERM—English History.
2D TERM—Political Economy.

SENIOR CLASS.

1ST TERM—Constitutional History of the United States.
2D TERM—Constitutional Law of the United States.
ELECTIVE BOTH TERMS—Political Economy

 

History.—During Sophomore and the first half of Junior year the course in history occupies two hours per week. Some text-book is used, usually those of Freeman’s Historical course for German and French history, and Green’s Short History of the English People for English history.

The instruction to the Senior Class occupies also two hours per week throughout the year, and embraces the following subjects :

I. Character and Constitution of the Colonial Governments in North America; their relation to the English Crown and Parliament; and their history to the Declaration of Independence;

II. Character and Constitution of the Continental Congress as a Revolutionary Government; its relation to the State governments and to the people of the States as a central government ; and the history of its supersedure by the Confederate form.

III. Character and Constitution of the Confederacy as a central authority ; its relation to State governments and to the individual; the historical consequence of its defects and weaknesses, and its final supersedure by the Federal form.

IV. History of the Formation and Adoption of the Federal Constitution; nature and powers of the government which it established; its relation to the State governments and the individual citizen.

V. Interpretation of the Provisions of the Federal Constitution.

VI. History of the Development of the Federal Constitution from its adoption to the present time.

The text and reference books used in connection with this course are: Hildreth, History of the United States; Bancroft, History of the United States; Curtis, History of the Constitution; The Federalist; Story, Constitutional Law; Pomeroy, Constitutional Law; Von Holst, Constitution and Democracy in the United States; Benton, Thirty Years’ View; Jennings, Eighty Years of Republican Government in the United States; Fisher, Trial of the Constitution; Decisions of the United States Supreme Court upon all constitutional questions.

 

Political Economy—There are two courses in Political Economy. During the second term of Junior year it is required from all students of that class. A systematic outline of the science is given, generally with the use of a text-book, either Fawcett’s or Rogers’s Manual of Political Economy.

[Fawcett, Henry. Manual of Political Economy. 1st ed., 1863; 2nd ed., 1865; 3rd ed., 1869; 4th ed., revised and enlarged 1874; 5th ed., revised and enlarged 1876; 6th ed., 1883;  7th ed., 1888;  8th ed., 1907.

Rogers, James Edwin Thorold. A Manual of Political Economy for Schools and Colleges. First Edition, 1868; Second edition, revised, 1869; Third edition revised, 1876.]

Political Economy may be elected by the students of the Senior Class, two hours per week throughout the year. Instruction is given by lectures on the following topics:

Systems of Land Tenure, past and present, in different countries, and their economic and social effects; Science of Finance, including a consideration of Money, Paper Money, Banking, and Taxation; Financial History and present situation of England, Germany, France, and the United States. All these topics are treated historically as well as critically; and with reference to the economic development in the History of Civilization.

Three or four theses on topics assigned by the professor are required from students of this class, To furnish these students with facilities for such work, besides the books in the college library, a special library of works in the department of Political Economy has been purchased and is for the exclusive use of the students of this class.

 

Source: Columbia College. Handbook of Information as to the Course of Instruction, etc., etc. New York: 1880, pp. x, 41-43.

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[Examination Questions in Political Economy 1880]

COLUMBIA COLLEGE
POLITICAL ECONOMY

JUNIOR CLASS, 1880.

[Page references to Rogers’ Manual of Political Economy, 3rd ed. 1876]

  1. Give a history of the English Poor Laws. [p. 121 ff.]
  2. What do you mean by Co-operation? What are the supposed advantages to the laborer? Explain the system of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers [pp. 135-137] and of the Schultze-Delitsch Credit-Banks [p. 106-109].
  3. What determines the rate of wages of labor, and what effect does the customary food of laborers have on their wages? [p. 65]
  4. Explain the following sentence: “It will be clear that the machinery of a Trade’s Union cannot increase wages by depressing the profits of capital.” [p. 90]
  5. Explain and illustrate the following: “Banks of issue find it possible to circulate a far larger amount of paper than the gold on which the paper is based.” What effect does the abstraction of gold have in such a case? [pp. 43 ff.]
  6. What is meant by an income tax; on what part of the income should it be levied and why? [pp. 278-281]
  7. Explain the origin of the Irish cottier system of land tenure, its evils and the proposed remedy. [pp. 175 ff.]
  8. Explain the following sentences from the text book:
    “It (Protection) inflicts actual suffering or inconvenience on the public in order to secure a delusive benefit to individuals.” “It will be clear also that the Protection cannot stimulate general industry.” “In fact, whenever it (the state) protects particular kinds of labor it diminishes capital.” “Every country enjoys a natural protection to its manufactures.” [pp. 234-235]

 

Source: Harry Thurston Peck (ed.), Examination Papers Used During the Years 1877-1882 in Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Amherst and Williams Colleges. New York: Gilliss Brothers, 1882, p. 57-58.

Image Source:  University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D.  Boston: R. Herdon Company.  Vol. 2, 1899, pp. 582.

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Correcting the last posting: the year is 1912

For the subscribers to Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. Misprints happen, e.g. last posting (now corrected). The nice thing about the blog is that it allows me to correct mistakes, just a warning that what you get in your email is not necessarily the final, corrected, revised, augmented version. It is worth checking back if a particular posting is important enough to you to want to use.

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INET Young Scholar Online Seminars

2016 Program Online Seminar in History of Economic Thought and Philosophy of Economic

The INET Young Scholar Online Seminar in History of Economic Thought and Philosophy of Economics is a monthly webinar held by the YSI History of Economic Thought Working Group. Each session is thematic and consists of presentations by two to three young scholars, followed by discussions by senior scholars and general discussion.

Wicksellian Monetary Theory and Contemporary Economics January 28,  11:00 – 1:00

The webinar will contain two young scholar presentations by Isabel Rodríguez Peña and Dirk Ehnts. Hans-Michael Trautwein and Marc Lavoie will discuss the papers followed by a general discussion.

 

Ethics and Morality in Early-20th Century Economic Thought, February 17, 10:00 – 13:00

The second webinar of the YSI History of Economic Thought Working Group will contain young scholar presentations by Danielle Guizzo, Erwin Dekker and Matias Petersen. Discussants are David Andrews, Harald Hagemann and David Colander.