Professor Arthur Stone Dewing (1880-1971) and Dr. Redvers Opie taught the course Economics of Corporations at Harvard that was given in the second semester of the academic year 1928/29. In an earlier posting I transcribed a student review of the course that was published in the Harvard Crimson (December 11, 1929).
Dewing was born (April 16, 1880) and died (January 19, 1971) in Boston. His academic degrees were awarded by Harvard (A.B., 1902; A.M., 1903; Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1905). Dissertation title: “Negation and Intuition in the Philosophy of Schelling.” He also studied at the University of Munich. Dewing taught philosophy from 1902 to 1913 and in economics and finance from 1911 to 1933. He was one of the founders of the Harvard Business School. For a memorial see Cornelius Vermeil, “Arthur Stone Dewing”, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 83, 1971, pp. 165-167.
Incidentally Arthur S. Dewing was a distinguished numismatist, his collection of nearly three thousand ancient Greek coins was considered “one of the most outstanding in the hands of a private collector in the world.” Here a fascinating article about the theft and recovery of much the Dewing collection.
Redvers Opie (1900-1984) was a Harvard economics Ph.D., best known as the translator of Joseph Schumpeter’s The Theory of Economic Development (1934). From the “Company Info” page of Ecanal (Economic Analysis for Company Planning in Mexico) with information added by me regarding the dates of Opie’s academic degrees:
Ecanal was founded in 1976 by the British economist, Dr Redvers Opie, who was educated at Durham University [B. Com., 1919]. He taught at Oxford University and became the Bursar of Magdalen College. Later on he received a PhD from and taught at Harvard University [A.M. in 1927. Ph.D. in 1928. Thesis: “John Stuart Mill: a Reexamination”]. On the recommendation of John Maynard Keynes, he became the UK Treasury representative in Washington DC, and later on one of the five members of the UK delegation to the Bretton Woods Conference, which gave birth to the IMF and the World Bank. He started Ecanal upon becoming a naturalized Mexican as the source of critical analysis of the economy and government policy useful for business.
Cf. the 1933-34 Additional Readings for General Examination Corporations for Harvard.
Note: In the Course Announcements for 1928-29 (second edition), p. 122, Dr. C. E. Persons was originally scheduled to teach this course.
The information for this course comes from the course notes taken by later University of Chicago and Columbia University economist, Albert Gailord Hart. Hart’s handwriting defies encryption though I am proud to say that all but two or three words in what follows has been successfully deciphered. The course reading assignments are followed by the final examination questions.
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Economics 4b
Assignments
Buy Jones—Trust Problem
[Jones, Eliot. The Trust Problem in the Unites States. New York: Macmillan, 1929. For the 1921 edition]
Choose one[:]
Pollock & Maitland—Law – Vol. I 586-518
[Pollock, Sir Frederick and Frederic William Maitland. The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, 2nd ed. Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press, 1923.]
[Illegible name, “Bold—-“?] 1st ed 362-376 [;] 3rd ed 469-490
J. P. Davis Corp. 1, 7 (2 & 8 optional)
[Davis, John P. Corporations; A Study of the Origin and Development of Great Business Combinations and of their Relation to the Authority of the State. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905. Volume I, probably Chapter I (Introduction, pp. 1-12) and Chapter II (The Nature of Corporations, pp.13-34) intended; Volume II, probably Chapter VII (Legal View of Corporations, pp. 209-247) and Chapter VIII (Modern Corporations, pp. 248-280) intended]
Baldwin Mod Pol Inst
[Baldwin, Simeon Eben. Modern Political Institutions. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1898]
Buy one[:]
Dewing A. S. Cor. Finance (simplified) omit 8, 17-19, 21
[Dewing, Arthur Stone. Corporation Finance. New York: Ronald Press, 1922]
Lyon, Hastings—[Cor. Finance] (specialized) omit I 6,8, II 4
[Lyon, Hastings, Corporation Finance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916
Part I: Capitalization. Part II: Distributing Securities, Reorganization.]
Hour exam in mid-March, another early April
Jones 1-5, 9, 11-2, 14-6
Watkins Indust Combin & Pub. Pol. 11 (R 223-47)
Not held for cases except big ones.
[Watkins, Myron Webster. Industrial Combinations and Public Policy: A Study of Combination, Competition and the Common Welfare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927.
Jones 17-18
Take one.
1 Indust Conf Bd “Trade Associations”
[National Industrial Conference Board, Trade Associations; Their Economic Significance and Legal Status, 1925. Reviewed in Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 35, No. 3, June, 1927. pp. 428-30.]
2 [Indust. Conf. Bd.] “Public Reg. of Competitive Practices”
[(Myron W. Watkins), National Industrial Conference Board, Public Regulation of Competitive Practices, 1925. Revised and enlarged edition, 1929. Third edition, 1940.]
3 [Illegible word] the Law plus Watkins
4 Kirsch—“Trade Ass’ns.
[Kirsch, Benjamin S. Trade Associations: The Legal Aspects. New York: Central Book Co., 1928. Review in Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 38, No. 2 (April, 1930), pp. 238-240.]
Ad lit. A. Smith V, ch. I, Pt III, article I, 211-245.
Geneva Economic Conference of 1927. Publications on Cartels.
[Paul de Rousiers, Cartels, Trusts, and Their Development; D. H. MacGregor, International Cartels. Geneva, 1927]
Source: Albert Gailord Hart Papers. Box 60, Folder “R Opie 1929 Monopoly etc”.
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1928-29
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 4b
PART I
(About one hour)
Write an essay on one of the following topics:
(a) Public Policy and Business Standards.
(b) Trade Association Activities and the Competitive System.
(c) The Rule of Reason.
(d) Government Control of Combination and Consolidation To-day.
PART II
Answer not more than FOUR questions.
- What significance has a study of “laws of return” for an understanding of the problems connected with industrial combinations?
- “Certainly the implication of the Webb Act is that enforced competition is too weak, too inefficient to meet monopolistic combination. The question may be fairly asked, what does this admission entail in regard to our domestic trust policy?” Defend, refute or modify.
- Does the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission reflect any changes in the relation of Government to industry? What have been the most important activities of the Commission since its inception?
- What are the chief causes and purposes of corporate reorganization? Describe the usual procedure adopted, paying particular attention to the methods of protecting the interests of the various parties involved.
- “The trust dissolutions have not resulted in a spectacular and instant rescue of the consumer from the evils of monopoly, but that was hardly to have been expected.”
Do you agree?
What has been accomplished by trust dissolutions? - “The stockholder has a right to receive the earnings of the corporation as dividends; and the existence of a large surplus simply shows that the stockholder has been deprived of his rightful income.” Does this indicate an intelligent understanding of corporate surplus?
Final. 1929.
Source: Albert Gailord Hart Papers. Box 60, Folder “Exams: CHI Qualifyin[?]”.
Image Source: (Dewing, left) Harvard Album 1925; (Opie, right) Harvard Album 1932.