This post adds to the expanding collection of Harvard economics examinations. European economic geography was the subject of a year-long course co-taught in 1901-1902 by William Zebina Ripley and Hugo Richard Meyer.
_____________________________
Last minute staff replacements for 1901-1902
It will be recalled that the Harvard economics department was faced with enormous staffing problems for the 1901-1902 academic year. Frank Taussig was on sick-leave and Edward Cummings and William Ashley had left the department for other pastures.
Thomas Nixon Carver had to fill-in for Frank Taussig for the advanced theory course. He also took over Taussig’s methods course.
In this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds the transcriptions of exams for a course on European resources and organization that had been previously taught by William Ashley but was taught by William Z. Ripley and Hugo R. Meyer in 1901-1902.
Examinations for Professor William J. Ashley’s course in 1900-01 posted earlier.
Biographical information for Professor William Z. Ripley also posted earlier.
Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has also posted some life and career information for Hugo Richard Meyer.
_____________________________
ECONOMICS 17
Course Description
1901-1902
For Undergraduates and Graduates
[Economics] 17. The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 12. Professor Ashley.
This course will begin with a survey of the physical geography and of the distribution of population and wealth in Europe as a whole, in order to explain (1) the relative position at present of agriculture in its various forms on the one side and mining and manufacture on the other, and (2) the presence in their several localities of the chief industries. The great countries — Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy — will then be taken in order; and a statement will be made (1) of their natural resources, and (2) of the manner in which these are utilized. Under the latter head will be considered such topics as the following: the investment of capital, the forms of business organization, the means of transportation, the relations between private enterprise and governmental stimulus and control, and the character and supply of labor. Returning, then, to Europe as a whole, attention will be directed to the points at which the interests of the several countries appear to conflict, and to the attempts to remove or mitigate the antagonism by international agreements — as, for instance, in the matters of customs tariffs, bounties, and labor legislation. Finally, a survey will be made of the main lines of transportation for commodities between one country and another and between Europe and the rest of the world, and of the economic effects of recent changes in this regard.
Course 17 is open to those who have passed satisfactorily either in History 1 or in Economics 1.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science (June 21, 1901), University Publications, New Series, No. 16, p. 39.
_____________________________
Enrollment
1901-02
ECONOMICS 17
Economics 17. Professor Ripley and Mr. Meyer. — The Economic Organization and Resources of European Countries.
Total 24: 2 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.
_____________________________
ECONOMICS 17
Mid-year Examination
1901-1902
- English farming and German farming from 1879 to 1900: a study of the respective effects of the policy of free-trade in grains and meats and the policy of protection to agriculture.
Alternative:—
The arguments for and against the small farm and the peasant farm. Take your facts from the history of England; Belgium or France; and Germany. - The German customs duties on grains and meats, and Germany’s position in the “struggle for the export markets.”
Alternative:—
Give an account, descriptive and critical, of the beet-sugar policy of the countries of continental Europe from 1870 to 1900 - What facts and what kinds of statistics were used in the discussion of the failure of the Prussian (German) State Railways to contribute materially to the industrial development effected in Germany in the years 1880 to 1900?
- What kinds of statistics were used in discussing the mineral resources of England, Germany, France, and the United States?
- The birth-rate in France in the last twenty-five years.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Mid-Year Examination Papers, 1852-1943. Box 6, Bound volume, Mid-year Examination Papers, 1901-02. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (January 1902).
_____________________________
ECONOMICS 17
Year-end Examination
1901-1902
- State four economic reasons for the imperial federation movement in Great Britain.
- Analyze the principal characteristics of British foreign trade, comparing it with Germany.
- When and why did Germany change from a free trade to a protectionist country, and what had Prince Bismarck to do with the movement?
- How do the Agrarian demands in the present tariff discussion in Germany compare with those of a generation ago?
- Outline the present status of France, in respect of population, industry, and foreign trade.
- What are some of the international industrial combinations?
- What are the main features of the E. J. Smith type of industrial combinations in Great Britain?
- Compare Germany and Austro-Hungary in respect of the industrial combination movement.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6, Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1902-03. Sub-volume Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, … in Harvard College (June 1902).
Image Source: Political Map of Europe, ca. 1890 in Wikimedia Commons.