Harvard. Examinations for introductory economics. Taussig, Ashley, both Cummings, 1895-96.

 

This post follows up on the previous one that focused on the economic history module taught in Harvard’s introductory economics sequence by W. J. Ashley during the spring term of 1896. For the sake of convenience I have put together transcriptions of all the exams I was able to find for the jointly taught course “Outlines of Economics” (1895-96). The first exam below, the mid-year examination (final exam for the fall term of 1895), is most likely to be the work of Frank Taussig, with questions for the special topic modules covered in the second semester coming from Ashley, Edward Cummings and John Cummings (Chicago economics Ph.D., 1894).

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Edward Cummings, and Dr. John Cummings. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy.—Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation.

Total 338: 3 Graduates, 35 Seniors, 91 Juniors, 161 Sophomores, 8 Freshmen, 40 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1895-96, p. 63.

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1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[Mid-Year Examination]

1. Is all wealth produced by labor?
2. Compare the distinction between fixed and circulating capital with the distinction between auxiliary and remuneratory capital; and state why one or the other distinction is the more satisfactory.
3. Are differences in profits from employment to employment similar in kind to differences in wages from occupation to occupation?
4. In what way are differences of wages affected by the absence of effective competition between laborers? By its presence?
5. What are the grounds for saying that rent is a return differing in kind from interest?
6. Trace the effects of an issue of inconvertible paper money, less in quantity than the specie previously in use, on (1) the circulation of specie, (2) the foreign exchanges, (3) the relations of debtor to creditor.
7. State Mill’s reasoning as to the mode in which, under a double standard, one metal is driven from circulation; and explain how the actual process differs from that analyzed by Mill.
8. What are the grounds for saying that the gain of international trade does not come from the sale of surplus produce beyond the domestic demand?
9. In what manner is the price of landed property affected by an increased quantity of money? by a rise in the rate of interest?
10. Wherein does monopoly value present a case different from that of the usual operation of the laws of value?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations,  1852-1943(HUC 7000.55). Box 3, Examination Papers Mid-years, 1895-96.

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1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[W.J.A., Hour Examination. March 13, 1896]

Please write on three questions only.

1. Mill remarks in his Autobiography that the distinction between the laws of the production and those of the distribution of wealth was the most important contribution he made to Political Economy. Explain this.
2. What does Jones mean by the division of Rents into Peasant and Farmer’s Rents?
3. Give a brief account of the stages of industrial development.
4. Draw a parallel between the town policy of the 15^thcentury and the national policy of the 18^th.
5. Was Frederick the Great justified in his attempt to introduce the silk manufacture into Prussia?

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1895-96.
ECONOMICS 1.
[Final Examination]

[Answer ten questions. Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Group I.
[At least one.]

1. Explain the meaning of two of the following terms, — margin of cultivation; wages of superintendence; rapidity of circulation (as to money).
2. Do profits constitute a return different from interest?
3. Explain what is meant by the law, or equation, of demand and supply; and in what manner it applies to commodities susceptible of indefinite multiplication without increase of cost.
4. In what manner does a country gain from the division of labor in its domestic trade? In what manner from international trade?

Group II.
[At least one.]

5. Does it fall within the province of the economist to discuss the institution of private property?
6. Show the connection between the industrial development of the present century, and the discussion among economists as to the functions of the entrepreneur.
7. Consider in what manner prices, or rents, [choose one] are differently determined according as they are under the influence of custom or of competition.
8. “The idea that economic life has ever been a progress mainly dependent on individual action is mistaken with regard to all stages of civilization, and in some respects it is more mistaken the farther we go back.” Explain and criticize.

Group III.
[At least one.]

9. If cooperation were universally adopted, what would be left of the wages system?
10. Is there anything in what you learned as to the laws governing wages, which the action of the English trade-unions in regard to wages has disregarded?
11. Has the course of events justified Mill’s expectations in regard to the development of profit-sharing and of cooperation? Explain why, or why not.
12. Describe the trade and benefit features of the English trade-unions.

Group IV.
[At least three.]

13. Is the present position of the Treasury of the United States in any respect essentially similar to that of the Issue Department of the Bank of England? In any respect essentially dissimilar?
14. What is the test of over-issue, as to inconvertible paper money? What light does the experience of the United States and of France throw on the probability of over-issue?
15. Arrange in their proper order the following items in a bank account:—

Capital	100,000	Bonds and Stocks	75,000
Specie	150,000	Surplus	50,000
Notes	100,000	Other Assets	50,000
Loans	400,000	Other Liabilities	60,000
Expenses	25,000	Undivided Profits	40,000
Deposits	350,000

Could this bank be a national bank of the United States? If such a bank, how would the account stand?

1. 16. Compare the policy of the Bank of England in times of financial crisis with the policy of the Associated Banks of New York; and give an opinion as to which is the more effective in allaying panic.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives.  Examination papers in economics, 1882-1935 [of] Prof F.W. Taussig (HUC 7882), p. 53.

Image Source:  Gore Hall (Library). Souvenir Guide Book of Harvard College and its Historical Vicinity, Cambridge, Massachusetts: F. A. Olsson, 1895.