General
Junior College Courses
Senior College and Graduate Courses
Seminars
Source: University of Chicago. Annual Register: July, 1899-July, 1900 with Announcements for 1900-1901. 1900.
[p. 165]
The Department of Political Economy
[University of Chicago]
COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.
Summer Quarter, 1900—Spring Quarter, 1901.
M=Minor course=a single course for six weeks. Mj=Major course=a single course for twelve weeks.
GENERAL.
The courses may be roughly classified into
Group I, Introductory: Courses 1,2,3,4.
Group II, Theoretical: Courses 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
Group III, Practical: Courses 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 47, 39, 40, 41.
Group IV, Seminars: Courses 50, 51, 42, 53, 54, 55.
Students are advised to begin the study of economics not later than the first year of their entrance into the Senior Colleges; and students of high standing, showing special aptitude for economic study, may properly take Course 1 in the last year of the Junior Colleges.
For admission to the courses of Groups II and III, a prerequisite is the satisfactory completion of Courses 1 and 2 or an equivalent. Those desiring only a general acquaintance with the subject are expected to take Course 2 during the second quarter. Course 1 is not open to students who do not intend to continue the work of 2.
After passing satisfactorily in Courses 1 and 2 the student will find a division of the courses into three general groups : Group II will be concerned chiefly with a study of economic principles, their historical development, and the various systems of economic thought; Group III, while making use of principles and economic reasoning, will be devoted mainly to the collection of facts, the weighing of evidence, and an examination of questions bearing on the immediate welfare of our people. For a proper grasp of the subject Courses 10, 11, and 13 are indispensable; and in the second year of his study of economics the student should supplement a course in Group II by a course in Group III. Group IV provides for the oversight of special investigations, particularly those undertaken by candidates for the higher degrees.
Ability to treat economic questions properly can be acquired only if the student, being possessed of some natural aptitude for the study, devotes sufficient time to it to enable him to assimilate the principles into his thinking, and to obtain certain habits of mind which are demanded for proficiency in this, as in any other important branch of study.
JUNIOR COLLEGE COURSES
- and 2. Principles of Political Economy.—Exposition of the laws of Political Economy in its present state.
5 hrs. a week. MJ. Summer Quarter; 8:30.
Dr. Hatfield.
2 Mjs. Autumn and Winter Quarters; 8:30 and 9:30
Professor Laughlin and
Asssistant Professor Hill.
Repeated in Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Assistant Professor Hill
Course 1 in the Autumn Quarter is open only to students who express to their deans a bona fide intention to elect 2 in the Winter Quarter.
Students should begin the study of Political Economy by taking Courses 1 and 2. Those desirous of laying the foundation for work in the advanced courses will take these two courses; those who, while giving their attention mainly to other departments, seek simply that general knowledge of economics demanded by a liberal education, and cannot devote more time to the study, will also take Courses 1 and 2. Courses 1 and 2 together are designed to give the students an acquaintance with the working principles of Political Economy.
The general drill in the principles cannot be completed in one quarter; and the department does not wish students to elect Course 1 who do not intend to continue the work in Course 2. Descriptive and practical subjects are introduced as the principles are discussed, and the field is only half-covered in Course 1. Those who do not take both 1 and 2 are not prepared to take any advanced courses.
Courses 1 and 2 form the two Majors required of all Junior College students in the College of Commerce and Administration.
- Economic and Social History.—Leading Events in the Economic History of Europe and America since the middle of the eighteenth century. Lectures and Reading.
Mi. Winter Quarter; 2:00
Professor Miller.
[p. 166] This course endeavors to present a comprehensive survey of the social, industrial, commercial and economic development of the Western world since the middle of the eighteenth century. After a preliminary study of the industrial revolution and the rise of the factory system, attention will be called to the economic and social effects of the American and French revolutions; the development of American commerce; to the introduction of steam transportation; to the adoption of free trade by England; to the new gold discoveries and their widespread effects; to the Civil War in the United States; to the French indemnity; to the crisis of 1873; and to the economic disturbances of the past twenty years. The course is conducted mainly by lectures, but a course of collateral reading will be prescribed upon which students will be expected to report from time to time.
No previous economic study is required of students entering this course, but it will be taken to best advantage by those who already have some knowledge of economic principles.
- Descriptive Economics.—Lectures and Reports.
Mj. Summer Quarter; 12:00
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00
Dr. Hatfield.
This is an elementary course requiring no previous study of Political Economy and describes the industrial structure of modern society. As it thus treats of the subject-matter with which economic theory deals, it may properly precede or supplement the course in Principles of Political Economy.
The purpose of the course is to familiarize the student with the actual forms in which economic activity of today manifests itself. The treatment will be concrete and practical rather than theoretical and will include the following subjects: Raw materials and their sources; the organization and methods of leading industries showing the effects of modern inventions; the development of markets; produce exchanges; trade routes; the distribution of commerce, etc.
In connection with this course the class will visit a number of the large industrial establishments situated in Chicago.
SENIOR COLLEGE AND GRADUATE COURSES.
- History of Political Economy.—History of the Development of Economic Theories, embracing those of the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats, followed by a critical study of Adam Smith and his English and Continental Successors.—Lectures, Reading, and Reports.
Mj. Autumn Quarter, 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
This course treats of the theoretic development of Political Economy as a systematic body of doctrine; of the formation of economic conceptions and principles, policies, and systems. The subject will be treated so as to show the continuity and systematic character of Political Economy as the intelligent and scientific explanation of economic facts. Both the internal and the external aspects of the history of Political Economy will be studied, that is, the history of topics and doctrines and that of schools and leading writers. At the same time, any body of economic doctrine will always be explained and tested as the interpretation of a certain sphere of economic fact; and the student will thus be constantly drilled in economic analysis and in the sifting of economic proof, with the aim of making his hold on economic facts and problems at once exact and comprehensive. The questions that arise as to the interpretation of great writers and their systems will also form matter of discussion and study. Attention will be given, first, to what is significant for Political Economy in the early efforts of the moderns to solve economic problems. The commercial theories of the Mercantile System, the Physiocratic School, Adam Smith and his immediate predecessors, the English writers from Adam Smith to J. S. Mill, and the European and American writers of the nineteenth century will be studied. From the multiplicity of writers, selections will be made of those who have had great influence, or who have made marked contributions to Political Economy.
The student will be expected to read prescribed portions of the great authors bearing on cardinal principles, and to trace the relationship of the teaching of one author to that of another and of all authors in a scientific whole. It is hoped that in this way he will learn to see the consistency and relations of economic theories and to use the science as a whole, and not as a mere mass of arbitrary formula: or dicta. A special feature of the work will be a thorough study of Adam Smith and of Ricardo.
- Scope and Method of Political Economy.—Origin and Development of the Historical School.—Lectures and Reports.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 11:00
Assistant Professor Veblen.
This course attempts to define the province, postulates, and character of Political Economy; to determine [p. 167] its method and to examine the nature of economic truth. The methods of proof and the processes of reasoning involved in the analysis of economic phenomena and the investigation of economic problems, and the position of Political Economy in the circle of the Moral Sciences—its relation to Ethics, Political Science. and Sociology—will be studied. In view of the controversies which have arisen on these fundamental topics, a critical estimate will be made of the views of leading writers on Methodology, such as Mill, Cairnes, Schmoller, Wagner, Menger, Sax, Keynes, and others. Seeing that the controversy about method arose in connection with the contentions of members of the Historical School of Political Economy in Germany, the opinions and writings of prominent representatives of that school will be studied.
Students will be required to prepare critical studies on books or subjects selected by the instructor.
- Economic Theory.—Critical Discussion of Theories of Value. Lectures and Reports.
Mj. Summer Quarter; 9:30.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 2:00.
Professor Miller.
An opportunity will be given to students who, having completed Courses 1 and 2, should have a further study of theory, both as a means of general training and as a prerequisite for advanced courses in constructive work in the field of theory. Those who are especially interested in questions of value. socialism and the like, should take advantage of this course to strengthen their powers of reasoning on economic theory. Especial attention will be given to the discussion of value and such other controverted parts of economic theory as are not taken up in Course 13.
- Unsettled Problems of Economic Theory.—Questions of Exchange and Distribution. Critical examination of selections from leading writers.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.
Little use will be made of text-books or lectures in this course, it being intended to take up certain topics in economic theory and to follow out their treatment by various writers. The more abstruse questions of exchange and distribution will be considered. No student, therefore, can undertake the work of this course with profit who has not already become familiar with the fundamental principles. The course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily in Courses 1 and 2, or who can clearly show that they have had an equivalent training.
The subjects to be considered in 1900-1901 will be as follows: The wages-fund and other theories of wages, the interest problem, managers’ profits and allied topics. The discussion will be based upon selected passages of important writers. The study of wages, for example, will include reading from Adam Smith, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Longe, Thornton, Cairnes, F. A. Walker, Marshall, George, Böhm-Bawerk and others. Students will also be expected to discuss recent important contributions to these subjects in current books or journals; and they will be practiced in the exposition of special points before their fellow students.
- Social Economics. Attempts to Improve the Economic Condition of Workingmen.—Lectures and Reading, Practical Investigations and Reports.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8:30.
Dr. Hatfield.
The main purposes of the course are: (1) to discover the economic value of the various efforts that have been made and are being made to improve the condition of the workingmen, to learn why some succeed and others fail; and (2) to familiarize the students with the methods of such of these undertakings as have demonstrated their right to live, so that. if called upon, the students may themselves be able to take the lead in organizing similar undertakings.
In addition to the three great classes of cooperative effort in which workingmen take part, typified respectively by the trade union, the coöperative store and the profit-sharing business, and including also such enterprises as associations of producers. building and loan associations, labor exchanges, fraternal insurance, etc., the course will embrace the consideration of the various miscellaneous efforts for the improvement of the laboring classes, such as the activities of the social settlement, the penny provident bank, manual training and industrial education.
As Chicago and its vicinity afford abundant material for the kinds of study called for by this course, each student will be expected to investigate and report on some particular undertaking.
- Practical Economics. Relation of the State to Industrial Organization and Action—Detailed investigation of industrial combinations or [p. 168] trusts as a leading type in the existing industrial organization. Lectures, Reading and Reports.
Mj. Summer Quarter; 11:00.
Professor Miller.
The province of government in regard to industrial operations will be given especial attention; and there will be a treatment of such topics as immigration, factory legislation, insurance of the laboring classes by the state, and the relation of government to monopolies and corporations.
- Socialism.—History of Socialistic Theories. Recent Socialistic Developments. Critical Review of Theoretical Writers, Programmes and Criticisms.—Lectures, Reading, and Reports.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 4:00
Assistant Professor Veblen.
The course is in part historical and descriptive, in part theoretical and critical. It comprises a review of the development of socialistic theory from the early years of the nineteenth century, and of modern socialistic movements down to the present. The theoretical writings of Marx, Rodbertus, and Lassalle will be taken up in detail; as also the criticisms offered by such writers as Schaeffle, Adler, and Spencer. Some attention will also be given to living popular writers, such as Gronlund, Bellamy, Bebel, Kautsky, and others. Practical work will be done with the platforms and programmes of socialistic organizations.
Attention will then be given to the alleged socialistic trend of development, to the economic factors in operation, and to the ethical aspect of the economic questions involved.
Students will be expected to make written reports and critical studies from time to time, in addition to selected reading. Those who have not carefully examined questions of value and distribution will be at a disadvantage in this course.
- Economic Factors in Civilization. — A general study of some phases of present Industrial Conditions.—Lectures and Reports.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
The course is intended to present a structural account of the modern economic system by the study of its roots in the past. To this end it undertakes a survey of the cultural development as affected by economic motives and exigencies. The work will be largely one of research, in which the instructor will constantly direct the reading of the student.
Salient points in the history of mankind will be examined with the purpose of detecting the operation of economic causes and showing how these causes have acted to shape the growth of civilization and produce the existing industrial situation. With this in view, such phenomena as the Teutonic invasion of Europe, the Feudal system, the rise of commerce, the organization of trade and industry, the history of the condition of laborers, processes of production, and changes in consumption, will be treated.
- Finance.—Public Expenditures. Theories and Methods of Taxation. Public Debts. Financial Administration.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 3:00.
Professor Miller.
In this course it is intended to make a comprehensive survey of the whole field of public finance. The course is primarily planned to meet the wants of those students who do not propose to extend their studies in finance beyond one course. It is, at the same time, intended to form an introduction to the seminary work in finance.
The treatment is both theoretical and practical, and the method of presentation historical as well as systematic. A brief review will be made of the growth and present state of the public expenditures of leading modern nations and the methods used for defraying them. Taxation, holding the place of first importance among the resources of the modern state, will be the principal subject of the course. A critical estimate of the theories of leading writers will be made with a view to discovering a tenable basis of taxation. Principles are discussed, the various kinds of taxes examined, and their complementary functions in a system of taxes determined; and the practical success which has attended the methods employed in different countries will be investigated. This part of the course will be, therefore, very largely a comparative study of the tax systems of the principal modern states. In this connection special attention will be given to the problems of state and local taxation in America. All questions will be discussed from the twofold standpoint of justice and expediency.
The remaining parts of the course treat of the organization and methods of financial administration, the formal control of public expenditures by means of the budget, the growth of public debts and their economic and social effects. The various problems involved in the management of public debts, such as methods of borrowing, conversion and reduction will [p. 169] be considered; and the methods practiced in our own and other countries will be described.
- 26. Oral Debates. — Selected Economic Topics. Briefs. Debates-Criticism.
3 hrs. a week; Mon., 3:00.
2Ms. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Assistant Professors Hill
and Lovett.
The object of the course is to afford practice in the oral presentation of arguments. The work consists of the preparation of briefs, the delivery of fifteen-minute speeches as principal disputant, and the delivery of five-minute speeches. Each student will appear as principal three times in the quarter. Course 26 is designed to be taken in connection with English 9, but may be elected separately by permission of the instructors.
- 28. Argumentation.—To be taken in connection with English 9.
3 hrs. a week; Wed.,3:00.
2Ms. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Assistant Professor Lovett.
- Railway Transportation. —History and Development of Railways. Theories of Rates. Combination. Investments. Speculative Management. State Ownership or Control. —Lectures, Reports, Discussions. and Reading.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Hill.
The economic, financial and social influences arising from the growth of modern railway transportation, especially as concerns the United States, will be discussed. An account of the means of transportation developed in Europe and America during the early part of this century; the experiments of the states in constructing and operating canals and railways; national, state and municipal aid to private companies; the rapid and irregular extension of the United States railway system in recent years, with some attention to railway building in other countries, will form the historical part of the work. A discussion of various theories of rates; competition, combination, discrimination, investments, speculation, abuse of fiduciary powers; state legislation and commissions, and the Inter-State Commerce Act, with decisions under it; and the various relations of the state, the public, the investors, the managers and the employés, will form the most important part of the Work. This course gives a general view of the subject. Students who wish to continue the work by investigating special problems will have an opportunity to do so under Courses 31, 32, 51 and 52.
- Comparative Railway Legislation. — Lectures, Reading, and Reports.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Hill.
It is the aim of this course to give the student, who has already passed satisfactorily in Course 30, a study of the development and present nature of the railway systems of Great Britain. France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Brazil, and Australia. From this comparative examination it will be learned what light the experience of other countries will throw upon our own railway problems.
Open only to those students who have taken Course 30.
- Technique of Trade and Commerce.—Weights and measures; customs regulations; exchange and price quotations; commercial documents; foreign and domestic exchange; arbitrage; accounts; investment securities ; insurance, etc.
Mj. Spring Quarter.
Dr. Hatfield.
An attempt to familiarize the student with the actual forms and methods used in modern exchange. Especial attention will be given to the interpretation of railway and other corporation accounts, and to the use and construction of exchange and conversion tables, cambists, bond values, annuity tables, etc.
- Industrial Development of the United States. Reading, Reports, and Lectures.
Mj. Winter Quarter.
Assistant Professor Hill.
A study is made of the distribution of population among the important industries at different periods of our development, and a comparison is made of the wages and profits secured by the different groups. The effects of changing from extractive industries to manufactures are traced, and an attempt is made to test by our experience the view that manufactures are introduced in a new country only as extractive industries become less profitable. The influence of legislation in shaping the industrial development of the nation is sought. The forces which determine the location and prosperity of industries are studied, with [p. 170] special attention to transportation facilities, and the effect upon our exports and imports of the changes in our industries will be dwelt upon.
- Problems of American Agriculture.—Movements of Prices. Foreign Competition. Changing Conditions of Agriculture. Land Tenure—Lectures, Reading, and Reports.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 4:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.
Special attention will be given to the extension and changes of the cultivated area of the United States; the methods of farming; the influence of railways and population, and of cheapened transportation ; the fall in values of Eastern farm-lands; movements of prices of agricultural products; European markets; competition of other countries; intensive farming; diminishing returns; farm mortgages; and the comparison of American with European systems of culture. Reports will be prepared by students on topics assigned.
- Financial History of the United States.—Rapid Survey of the Financial Experiences of the Colonies and the Confederation. Detailed Study of the Course of American Legislation on Currency, Debts. and Banking since 1789.—Lectures and Reports.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 3:00.
Professor Miller.
Without excluding the history of taxation, this course concerns itself chiefly with the history of our national legislation on currency, loans and banking. The study will be based upon a careful examination at first hand of the leading provisions of the Acts of Congress and other materials important in our financial history. These will be reviewed from the political as well as from the financial standpoints, it being one of the objects of the course to develop the relation between finance and politics in our history. Special attention will be given to Hamilton’s system of finance and the changes introduced by Gallatin, to the financial policy of the War of 1812, to the establishment of the Second United States Bank and the struggles over its re-charter, to the crisis of 1837-1839 and the establishment of the independent Treasury, to the financial problems and management of the Civil War; to the establishment of the national banking system, the refunding and reduction of the debt and the resumption of specie payments.
- Money and Practical Economics. — Training in the Theoretical and Historical Investigation of Important Questions of the Day.—Lectures and Theses.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.
Preliminary training for investigation is combined in this course with the acquisition of desirable statistical information on practical questions of the day. The student is instructed in the bibliography of the subject, taught how to collect his data, and expected to weigh carefully the evidence on both sides of a mooted question. The short theses form a connected series and give practice in written exposition as well as in the graphic representation of statistics. Mere compilation is objected to, and the student is urged to reach his conclusions independently and solely on the facts before him. Fresh and independent judgments are encouraged. The work of writing theses is so adjusted that it corresponds to the work of other courses counting for the same number of hours. The instructor criticises the theses before the class, and members of the class are called upon to lecture on the subjects of their theses and to answer questions from their fellow-students.
The subjects taken up will be chosen from the following: money, prices, bimetallism, note-issues, shipping, and commercial crises.
- Banking.—Comparison of Modern Systems. Study of Principles—Lectures, Reports, and Discussion.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Hill.
A comparison of the banking systems of the United States, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries will be made, with special attention to the manner in which each meets the problems of currency (coin, note, and deposit), reserves, discount, and exchange. The relations of the banks to the public, their influence on speculation, their management in financial crises, special dangers, and most efficient safe-guards will be discussed. Relative advantages and different fields of action for national banks, state banks, deposit and trust companies, and savings banks will be noted. A few lectures will be given on the history of banking.
Each student will present a thesis upon some subject connected with the course.
- Statistics
M. Winter Quarter.
Mr. Worthington C. Ford.
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the use of statistics as an instrument of investi-[p. 171] gation and exposition in social, political, and economic science; to qualify them to judge of the value of results obtained by statistical methods ; and to enable them to use such methods themselves intelligently and with some degree of skill.
Together with the necessity for uniformity of method in systematic statistics and comparability of data, graphical methods and cartography, attention will be drawn to the technique of statistics. Demonstrations with actual statistical material being the most satisfactory method of statistical instruction, particular stress will be laid on this feature of the course. The course, therefore, will be practical and not historical or descriptive.
- Commercial Statistics.
M. Winter Quarter.
Mr. Worthington C. Ford.
A statistical treatment of modern commercial questions. Contributions of a more advanced character than in Course 40 will be made to recent problems arising from the commercial development of the United States.
THE SEMINARS.
Under this head are placed the arrangements for Fellows, graduates, and suitably prepared persons, who wish to carry on special researches under the guidance of the instructors. Candidates for the higher degrees will find in the seminar 8. means of regularly obtaining criticism and suggestion. It is hoped that each member of the seminar will steadily produce from time to time finished work suitable for publication. Emphasis will be placed on accurate and detailed work upon obscure or untouched points.
Students may carry on an independent study upon some special subject, making regular reports to the instructor; or several students may be grouped for the study of a series of connected subjects. But, in general, the work of the student engaged in investigations will receive direct personal supervision from the instructor, appointments being made with individual students.
- Seminar in Finance.
Mj. Winter Quarter.
Professor Miller.
The Seminar is organized for such students as wish to undertake work of the investigative order in finance. Each student will be expected to present to the seminar a carefully prepared thesis embodying the results of independent research on some topic relating to the particular subject chosen by the members of the seminar‘ for joint investigation. Stated meetings will be held, at which questions will be proposed for discussion and lectures given by the instructor on the common work of the seminar. Separate meetings will also be arranged for with the individual members of the seminar, and the work of each student personally supervised.
Two seminars will be organized, each extending over two quarters, students being grouped according to the subject selected. For the year 1900-1901 the two following subjects are proposed :
- Special Problems in Taxation: Comparative study of systems of local taxation.
- Financial Administration: Comparative study of the budgetary systems of different countries.
- and 52. Seminar in Railways.
2Mjs. Winter and Spring Quarters.
Assistant Professor Hill.
- 54. and 55. Economic Seminar
3Mjs. Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters.
Professor Laughlin.
Provision is here made for special investigation, either by groups of students or by individuals, on selected topics. Constructive work on theory, or studies on practical questions, will be guided by the instructor. Candidates for the higher degrees will receive personal attention.