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Harvard. Economy of Russia. Enrollment, Outline, Readings, Final Exam. Leontief, 1949

 

The course outline for Leontief’s The Economy of Russia course taught in the Spring term of 1949 is identical to that of the previous year’s version (only the Dobb book has been updated to a more recent edition). The value-added of this post is found in the course enrollment numbers, links to most readings, and the final exam questions.

Fun fact: Jacob Marschak was an editor of the Bienstock et al. book Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture assigned in Leontief’s course.

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Enrollment

[Economics] 112b (formerly Economics 12b). The Economy of Russia (Sp). Professor Leontief.

Total 44: 19 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1948-49, p. 76.

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Economics 112b
The Economy of Russia
Spring Term, 1949

  1. From the Emancipation to the Revolution
    1.  Agricultural development and reforms
    2.  First stages of industrialization

Reading assignments:

Bowden, Karpovich, and Usher, An Economic History of Europe since 1750, Ch. 29, pp. 598-615.
Hubbard, L. E., The Economics of Soviet Agriculture, Chs. 1-8, pp. 1-63.
Maynard, J., The Russian Peasant, Chs. 1, 2, pp. 13-62.

  1. War and Revolution
    1. War economy up to the October Revolution
    2. Agrarian revolution and the nationalization of industries

Reading assignments:

Maynard, Ch. 6, pp. 63-81.
Baykov, A., The Development of the Soviet Economic System, Chs. 1, 2, 3, pp. 1-48.

  1. War Communism
    1. Industrial collapse
    2. Agricultural contraction

Reading assignments:

Dobb, M. Russian [sic, “Soviet” is used in the later edition] Economic Development since the Revolution, Ch. 5, pp. 97-125.

  1. The New Economic Policy
    1. Private enterprise and the socialized sector
    2. Agricultural recovery
    3. Industrial reconstruction

Reading assignments:

Maynard, Ch. 10, pp. 148-182.
Baykov, Chs. 4-9, pp. 49-152.

  1. The Economics of High Pressure Industrialization
    1. Capital accumulation
    2. Structural change

Reading assignments:

Yugow, A., Russia’s Economic Front for War and Peace, Ch. 2, pp. 30-42, and Ch. 9, pp. 198-219.
Baykov, A., Ch. 10, pp. 153-158.
Dobb, M., Ch. 8, pp. 177-208.

  1. Socialist Agriculture
    1. The process of socialization (collectivization)
    2. The Kolkhoz
    3. The Sovkhoz and machine-tractor station
    4. Development of agricultural output and its allocation

Reading assignments:

Baykov, Ch. 13, pp. 189-311; Ch. 17, pp. 309-334.
Yugow, Ch. 3, pp. 43-81.
Maynard, Ch. 15, pp. 279-309.
Bienstock, Schwarz, and Yugow, Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, Chs. 10-17, pp. 127-179.

  1. Industrial Expansion
    1. The three Five-Year Plans
    2. Industrial organization
    3. Labor and unions

Reading assignments:

Yugow, Ch. 2, pp. 13-30; Chs. 7 and 8, pp. 149-197.
Bienstock…, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9.
Baykov, Ch. 11, pp. 159-187; Ch. 13, pp. 212-233; Ch. 16, pp. 277-308; and Ch. 18, pp. 335-363.
Bergson, A., The Structure of Soviet Wages, Chs. 1, 2, pp. 3-25; Chs. 11, 12, 13, and 14, pp. 159-210.
Report of the C.I.O. Delegation to the Soviet Union, 1947.
Dobb, M., Ch. 16, pp. 407-453.

  1. Functional Structure of the Economic System
    1. Prices, wages, taxes, and profits
    2. The governmental budget as an instrument of economic policy
    3. Methods of planning
    4. Principles of planning

Reading assignments:

Baykov, Ch. 15, pp. 251-276; Ch. 20, pp. 423-479.
Yugow, Ch. 4, pp. 82-95; Ch. 10, 11, pp. 219-243.
Bienstock…, Ch. 4, pp. 47-57; Ch. 6, pp. 66-90; Introduction, pp. xiii-xxxii.
Lange, Oscar, The Working Principles of Soviet Economy, American-Russian Institute.
Dobb, M., Chs. 13 and 14, pp. 313-348.

  1. War and Post-War
    1. Soviet war economy
    2. The new Five-Year Plan
    3. Soviet economy and world economy

Reading assignments:

Schwartz, Harry, Russia’s Postwar Economy
Gerschenkron, A., Economic Relations with the U.S.S.R.
Yugow, Ch. 5, pp. 96-122.
Dobb, M., Ch. 12, pp. 290-312.

General reading:

Gregory, J., and Shave, D. W., The U.S.S.R., A Geographical Survey, Part I, pp. 1-250.

Reading Period Assignments
May 8-May 27, 1949

Economics 112b: Read both N. Voznesnesky, The Economy of the U.S.S.R. during World War II, Public Affairs Press, 1948, and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1949, “Soviet Union since World War II,” read all articles on economic subjects contained in this issue.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics 1948-49 (1 of 2)”

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1948-49
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 112b
[Final Examination]

Please Write Legibly

Answer FOUR questions

  1. Describe the organization of Russia’s agriculture on the eve of 1861, outline the economic basis of the Reform, and indicate its principal economic consequences.
  2. Describe the New Economic Policy, discuss the reasons for its adoption and the causes of its liquidation.
  3. Compare the successive Five Year Plans and indicate the principal distinctive features of each one of them.
  4. Describe the structure of the Soviet price system and compare its role in the operation of the planned economy with the role of the competitive price mechanism in a capitalist economy.
  5. Analyze the use of economic incentives in the operation of Soviet industry and agriculture.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final examinations 1853-2001. Box 16. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1949.

Image Source: Drawn from the J. F. Horrabin poster “The Workers’ Country Must Be Built by Work”. Frontispiece for Maurice Dobb’s special trade union edition of Russian Economic Development since the Revolution. London: 1928.