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Harvard. Exams for Economic Analysis and Public Policy. Smithies, 1949-1950

Arthur Smithies’ 1949-50 graduate course “Economic Analysis and Public Policy” was the subject of an earlier post. There I transcribed the course syllabus, provided enrollment figures, and added the Harvard Crimson’s 1981 obituary for him.

Several years after that post, I was able to copy the course examinations during a research visit to the Harvard University archives. Transcriptions of those exams are included below.

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1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 206
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC POLICY
[Mid-year Examination, January 1950]

(Three Hours)

Answer all questions.

  1. Characterize various types of economic organization according to the degree of central planning and control and the methods by which control is exercised.
  2. Discuss the wage-price question that seems to confront most private enterprise economies. Is a wage-price spiral inherent in a full employment economy? Could it be eliminated by allowing a sufficiently large pool of unemployment? Are compulsory and widespread wage and price controls consistent with democratic government?
  3. Compare the relative merits of a free price system and a controlled price system from the point of view of optimum allocation of resources and optimum rate of economic progress. What, if anything, is meant by these terms?
  4. Define the multiplier with numerical illustrations.
  5. From your reading of the Reports of the Council of Economic Advisers, what do you conclude about the type of stabilization policy they favor?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science, February 1950.

_________________________

1949-50
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 206
[Final Examination, June 1950]

  1. Discuss Schumpeter’s concept of the entrepreneur and innovation from the point of view of its value (a) in explaining capitalistic development in the past, (b) in explaining the present in the U.S.
  2. Discuss “functional finance” from the point of view of its feasibility and desirability as a guide to policy in the U.S. How do you think Marshall, Schumpeter, the Council of Economic Advisers, and the Anti-Trust Division would react to Lerner’s ideas?
  3. Is there a monopoly problem in the U.S.? If so, what ought to be done about it?
  4. The statement was made in class that the more we know about the operation of the economy the more difficult it becomes to operate it. How much nonsense and how much truth is there to this statement?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27. Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science, June 1950.

Image Source: Arthur Smithies, Harvard Album 1952.