We are used to seeing professors restricting their teaching to their research comfort zones. We see here that Wassily Leontief also taught courses from his broad interests. Here the syllabus and final exam for a course on the “Russian” [“Soviet” would have a better word choice] economy.
During the following Fall term Alexander Gerschenkron taught a graduate seminar (Economics 212b) on the subject which was attended by only three graduate students, but the reading list was much more extensive. Leontief offered this undergraduate course (Economics 112b) in the Spring of 1949.
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Course Enrollment
[Economics] 12b. Professor Leontief. — The Economy of Russia (F).
Total 35: 16 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 4 Radcliffe, 1 Other.
Source: Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-48, p. 89.
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Economics 12b
The Economy of Russia
Fall Term, 1947-48
I. 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.
II. 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.
III. War Communism
1. Industrial collapse
2. Agricultural contraction
Reading assignments:
Dobb, M. Russian Economic Development since the Revolution, Chs. 3, 4, pp. 66-128.
IV. 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.
V. 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.
VI. 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.
VII. 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.
VIII. 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.
IX. War and Post-War
1. Soviet war economy
2. The new Five-Year Plan
3. Soviet econmy 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.
Scott, John, Behind the Urals.
Source: Harvard University Archives , Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “The Economy of Russia—1949”.
also: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics 1947-48 (1 of 2)”
Reading Period
January 5-15, 1948
Undergraduate students:
E. Varga: Two Systems: Socialist Economy and Capitalist Economy, 1939
or
Manya Gordon: Workers before and after Lenin.
Graduate Students
Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume Eight, Part 8: Methods of Estimating Naitonal Income in Soviet Russia, Paul Studenski, from Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1946. or
Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1947 – Articles on Russia’s National Income.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 4, Folder “Economics 1947-48 (1 of 2)”
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1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 12b
Answer any FIVE of the following SIX questions:
- Describe and appraise the general economic significance of the methods of income payments and income allocation in Soviet agriculture.
- Describe the methods which the Soviet Government used (a) to secure and (b) to allocate funds for capital investment.
- Compare the role of the trade unions in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.
- Characterize the successive Five-Year Plans by their principal distinguishing features.
- Indicate the reasons and analyze the implications of the recent Soviet monetary reform.
- Describe the organization and discuss some of the principal problems of Soviet economic planning.
Final, January, 1948.
Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “Economics 12b”.
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March 30, 1948
W.W. Leontief
Make-Up Examination for Economics 12b—Final Exam
Answer FIVE Questions Including Questions 1 and 2
- Describe the nature and the function of the turnover tax.
- Describe and interpret the organization and the role of foreign trade in the Soviet Economy.
- Describe and appraise the general economic significance of the methods of income payments and income allocation in Soviet agriculture.
- Describe the methods which the Soviet Government used (a) to secure and (b) to allocate funds for capital investment.
- Compare the role of the trade unions in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.
- Characterize the successive Five-Year Plans by their principal distinguishing features.
Source: Harvard University Archives, Wassily Leontief Papers (HUG 4517.45), Course Material Box 2, Folder “Economics 12b”.
Image Source: Harvard Album 1949.