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

 

 

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

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Course Announcement

A. General Courses

Economics 201. Economic Theory

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

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

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Course Description
and Outline

                           Harvard Economic Project Research
André Danière
September 12, 1963

Economics 201
Description of the course

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

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

First semester

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

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

Selected readings in chronological order from Turgot to Tinbergen.

    1. Modern Theory of Production

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

2) Time in the production function.

3) Definition of an “industry” production function.

    1. The Transformation Function; General Equilibrium in Production

1) Static assumptions

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

2) Dynamic models with capital accumulation

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

    1. Modern Theory of Consumption

1) Household Consumption and Income

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

2) Characteristics of Collective Consumption.

    1. Social Welfare

1) Efficiency criteria — Pricing as a tool.

2) Social vs. individual welfare

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

3) Pricing in Public utilities

4) Social investment criteria

5) [Special problems of growth in underdeveloped economies]

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

1) Industry behavior in the purely competitive model

2) Industry behavior under monopolistic competition

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

3) The determinants of competitive behavior.

    1. Welfare implications of alternative forms of competition

1) Welfare analysis

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

2) [Social control and regulation of market behavior]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ECONOMICS 201
Second Semester (summarized)

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

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

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

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

3) “Compulsive” target planning

4) Regional planning

  1. Distribution

1) Theory of rent

2) Theory of wages

3) Theory of interest

4) Theory of profits.

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

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