The field of monetary economics used to be called “Money and Banking” where money in earlier times was understood to mean currency used for payment as opposed to the checkable deposits held in commercial banks. Abram Piatt Andrew was to money as Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague was to banking in theHarvard economics department at the start of the 20th century. I don’t know why the courses 8a for money and 8b for banking were offered in the reverse order (8b in the fall term, 8a in the spring term). If I ever find out why that was the sequence in 1904-05, I’ll update this post.
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Related, previous posts
- Andrew, Sprague, and Meyer’s money, banking, and international payment exams from 1901-02.
- Andrew’s (linked) reading list for money from 1901-02.
- Andrew’s Money exam from 1902-03.
- Andrew’s Money exam from 1903-04.
Abram Piatt Andrew’s home and private life was the subject of an earlier post.
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Course Enrollment
1904-1905
Economics 8a 2hf. Asst. Professor Andrew. — Money. A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times.
Total 68: 5 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 22 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 4 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 75.
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Course Description
1904-05
[Economics] 8a 2hf. Money. — A general survey of currency legislation, experience, and theory in recent times. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Asst. Professor Andrew.
In this course the aim will be to show how the existing monetary systems of the principal countries have come to be, and to analyze the more important currency problems. The course will begin with a brief history of the precious metals, which will be connected, in so far as possible, with the history of prices and the development of monetary theory. The history of coinage legislation in England and Europe and the United States will be traced, and will lead to an extended consideration of the various aspects of the bimetallic controversy. At convenient points, the experiences of various countries with paper money will be reviewed, and the influence of such issues upon wages, prices, and trade examined. Attention will also be given to the non-monetary means of payment and the questions of monetary theory arising from their use. Among other subjects treated will be the several methods of measuring exchange value, various aspects of the labor and commodity standards, the explanation of price movements, the relations between prices and the rate of interest, and the reasons for the divergence in the value of money in different countries.
Systematic reading will be expected and will be tested by monthly examinations.
Course 8a is open to those who have taken Course 1.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 42.
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ECONOMICS 8a
Year-end Examination, 1904-05
Omit one question.
- “The cost of production of money being given, the quantity will depend upon the rapidity of circulation.” How far is this true? and why?
- Suppose the single gold standard universally adopted. How then would the universal authorization of free silver coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1 affect (a) the circulating medium, (b) the standard of value?
Consider both the immediate and the eventual results. - What conclusions of general significance are to be drawn from the history of the Latin monetary union?
- State briefly the circumstances which led to the issue and the withdrawal of the American trade dollar.
- What influences in brief caused the cessation of free silver coinage in
(a) England?
(b) the United States?
(c) Germany? - Suppose the market ratio between gold and silver were to decline to 22 to 1, what would be the effect upon the currency of
(a) Great Britain.
(b) British India.
(c) The United States.
(d) The Philippines. - Do falling prices “necessarily enhance the burden of all debts and fixed charges”?
Illustrate by the experience of the United States during the period from 1873 to 1896, pointing out possible differences between agricultural and mercantile debts. - Explain the respective merits of the labor standard, and the commodity standard, and show their exemplification in the history of the precious metals between 1873 and 1896.
- What conditions favorable to bimetallism existed ten years ago which do not exist today?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 28.
Image Source: 1911 portrait of Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. by Anders Born at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Wikimedia Commons.