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Exam Questions Harvard Industrial Organization

Harvard. Final exam and enrollment. Economics of Corporations. Ripley and Daggett, 1907-1908

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, / Whose progeny here are presented by Pughe. / She petted and pampered and coddled the brats, / And guarded her brood from the bad Democrats

Below you will find the final exam from the second half of William Z. Ripley’s sequence on organized labor and organized capital offered at Harvard in 1907-08. Economics 9b, Economics of Corporations, was devoted to the economics of corporations.

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Other Corporations/Industrial Organization Related Posts
for William Z. Ripley

Problems of Labor and Industrial Organization, 1902-1903.

Economics of Corporations, 1903-1904.

Economics of Corporations, 1904-05 (with Vanderveer Custis)

Economics of Corporations, 1906-07 (with Stuart Daggett]

Economics of Corporations, 1914-1915.

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Course Enrollment
1907-08

Economics 9b 2hf. Professor [William Zebina] Ripley, assisted by Dr. [Stuart] Daggett. — Economics of Corporations.

Total 115: 8 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 58 Juniors, 26 Sophomores, 3 Freshman, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1907-1908, p. 67.

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Course Readings

Cases for the course are most certainly found in Trusts, Pools and Corporations (1905), edited with an introduction by William Z. Ripley. From the series of Volumes Selections and Documents in Economics, edited by William Z. Ripley published by Ginn and Company, Boston.

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ECONOMICS 9b
Year-end Examination, 1907-08

  1. What are the three distinct aspects of the problem of price fixing under monopoly in the United States? Which is the most serious, and why?
  2. What did the “Tobacco Trust” do in England to gain control of the market? Describe the episode in detail.
  3. Was the Supreme Court decision in Hopkins v. United States favorable to the government or not? What was the point raised?
  4. State, in not over ten words in each case, the significant feature of the history of the following industrial combinations, viz:—
    1. The International Mercantile Marine Co.
    2. The Royal Baking Powder Co.
    3. The American Malting Co.
    4. The American Ice Co.
    5. The Asphalt Co. of America.
  5. A certain commodity is native in origin, heavy, low grade, cheap, a necessity of life; another is native in origin but not abundant enough for the domestic demand, readily transported, of high grade when finished, selling at a high price, and half a luxury. Which of the two could the more easily be “monopolized” by an industrial combination? If any important factor, in determining this likelihood, has been omitted in the above description, add it.
  6. How are corporations taxed in Massachusetts? What changes were made in the law of 1903, and with what effect?
  7. In the determination of net profits before declaration of dividends, what factors have to be considered? State briefly a case or two.
  8. State what seem to you basic propositions concerning the relation of the tariff to industrial combination; with illustrations if possible.
  9. What is the most important economy incident to production under monopoly of the market, as distinct from mere large-scale production.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 34-35.

Image Source: This illustration shows an old woman labeled “Monopoly Tariff” sitting next to an old shoe labeled “Special Privilege”, around which a number of children are playing; they all represent a “Trust” and are labeled “Tool, Steel, Copper, Lumber, Sugar, Rubber, Beef, Coal, Tobacco, Clothing, Watch, Leather, Paper, [and] Linen”. The centerfold from Puck (March 25, 1908) was by John S. Pughe. Image from the Library of Congress digital image collection.