Say what you will, Bullock’s courses in public finance attempted to span centuries of fiscal history and had a strong international comparative scope.
Charles Jesse Bullock also provides us a nice illustration of the ephemeral nature of academic rank and distinction. In the long-run…
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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard
1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]
1903-04. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States
1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]
1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]
1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.
1905-06 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock
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Course Enrollment
Economics 16
1905-06
Economics 16. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).
Total 7: 5 Graduates, 2 Seniors.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 16
PUBLIC FINANCE
Mid-year Examination, 1905-06
- What were the chief causes of the increase of public expenditure during the nineteenth century?
- Can any prediction be made concerning the probable future of any classes of public expenditures?
- What has been the history of revenues from domains in European states since the close of the Middle Ages?
- What can you say concerning the revenue now derived from domains and industries in Prussia and in England?
- How do Seligman and Adams classify public revenues? What are Bastable’s criticisms against Seligman’s classification?
- What are the arguments commonly advanced for and against alienation of domains?
- With what different definitions of taxes are you familiar? What do you consider a correct definition?
- Discuss the comparative merits or demerits of proportional and progressive taxation.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.
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ECONOMICS 16
Year-end Examination, 1905-06
[Note: question 6 missing in printed exam]
- What is your opinion of the causes and results of the increase of public expenditures in the nineteenth century?
- What is your opinion of the merits of the arguments for and against municipal ownership of lighting and traction enterprises in the United States?
- Compare the French system of national taxation with the British.
- Write an account of the present financial system of the Kingdom of Prussia, considering particularly the following topics: expenditures, domain and industries, taxation, and indebtedness.
- What is the present status of corporation taxes in the American commonwealths?
- What, in your opinion, would constitute a satisfactory tax system for the State of Massachusetts?
- Discuss the incidence of taxes falling upon: (a) wages, (b) rent, (c) interest.
- Compare the British budgetary system with that of the United States.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 41.
Image Source: John Harvard statue, ca. 1904. U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.