Harvard. Final exam for distribution theory. Carver, 1905-1906

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was hired by Harvard based on his work in economic theory. As it turned out theory would only constitute a minor share of his portfolio of courses at Harvard. Here we have the exam for a theoretical course offered in 1905-06 dedicated to the functional distribution of income. This is the second time Thomas Nixon Carver taught this one-semester course at Harvard. (Exam from its initial run in 1904-05).

The course content is undoubtedly captured in Carver’s 1904 book The Distribution of Wealth which was reprinted several times during his lifetime.

__________________________

Course Enrollment
Distribution of Wealth
1905-06

Economics 14a ¹hf. Professor Carver. — The Distribution of Wealth.

Total 46: 7 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 14a
Distribution of Wealth
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

1. Why does the value of a consumable commodity fall when its supply increases, — other things remaining the same?
2. Ditto of a productive factor?
3. What limits or checks the supply of labor?
4. Ditto of land?
5. Ditto of capital?
6. Fill out the blank columns in the [following] table.

Total Crop, Marginal Product of Labor, Total Wages, and Rent (All in Bushels) from Four Farms of Different Productivity when cultivated by Varying Numbers of Laborers, Capital being left out of account.

Farm A
	Total crop			Marginal product					Total wages			Total rent		Rent per acre
1	500
2	900
3	1200
4	1400
5	1500
Farm B
		Total crop				Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent		Rent per acre
1		400
2		700
3		900
4		1000
5
Farm C
			Total crop		Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent			Rent per acre
1			300
2			500
3			600
4
5
Farm D
			Total crop		Marginal product		Total wages			Total rent			Rent per acre
1			200
2			300
3
4
5

7. In what proportion could six laborers be most advantageously distributed among these farms? Ten laborers? Fourteen laborers?
8. When there are six laborers employed, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group of farms and laborers be reduced by the removal of one laborer, assuming the laborers all to be of the same efficiency? Ditto when there are ten laborers?
9. When there are fourteen laborers employed on these farms, how much, in bushels, would the product of the whole group be increased by the opening up of a new farm of the same grade as farm A, and the transfer to it of four of the laborers?
10. Compare Clark’s theory of business profits with Walker’s.
11. State Hollander’s position on the question. Does rent enter into price?
12. Compare Clark’s definition of capital with Taussig’s.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1905-06.

Image Source: Portrait of Thomas Nixon Carver from the Harvard Class Album 1913. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.