According to my reckoning, I have now matched final examinations that I have recently copied at the Harvard archives to as many previously posted course syllabi/outlines/reading assignments as I could to date. Of course the pairings of exams to course outlines are not complete, but quite a few are and more will be coming in the future!
An outline with a list of items to be read for an intermediate/advanced undergraduate economic theory of distribution course jointly taught by Gottfried Haberler and Wassily Leontief has already been posted earlier. Below I have transcribed the final examination questions for Haberler and Leontief’s second term course from 1941-42.
_____________________________
Final Examination
Theory of Production and Distribution of National Income
Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief
1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 1b
Answer ONE question in EACH of the four following groups:
(a) 1, 2, or 3
(b) 4 or 5
(c) 6 or 7
(d) 8 or 9
- Compare the theory of time wages with that of piece wages.
- Describe the circumstances in which the introduction of a minimum wage law can increase the demand for labor.
- Compare the Keynesian theory of wages with that of the “orthodox” economists and indicate the implications of the difference existing between the two for the general theory of employment.
- How does an entrepreneur determine the amount of capital which can be most profitably invested in a single plant?
- Compare the expected future change in the price level with the prevailing rate of interest in its effect upon the amount of the present individual savings.
- Discuss the difference between the marginal social and marginal private product from the point of view of the efficient organization of production.
- “An economic system can be unjust but efficient, it can also be just but inefficient.” Discuss.
- Analyze Professor Schumpeter’s theory of “zero interest” in a static economy.
- “A negative circumstance such as uncertain cannot possibly explain the existence of profit which is a positive return.” Discuss
Final, 1942.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Final Examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28, Box 6 of 284). Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, June, 1942.
Image Source: Gottfried Haberler (left) and Wassily Leontief (right) from Harvard Class Album 1942.