At Harvard around the turn of the twentieth century, international economics was taught as a sequence of two semester courses—one on the subject of trade and tariffs and one on payments and international financial flows, especially specie flows. This post provides enrollment data and final exam questions for the international payments course taught, respectively, by Charles Dunbar and later by Hugo Richard Meyer.
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Course enrollments
1893-94
[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.
Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-1894, p. 62.
[Not offered 1894-95; 1895-96]
1896-97
[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar and Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. Hf. 3 hours. 2d half-year.
Total 20: 9 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 3 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1896-1897, p. 66.
[Not offered 1897-1898; 1898-1899; 1899-1900]
1900-01
[Economics] 12a1 hf. Mr. Meyer.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.
Total 16: 2 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 1 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1900-1901, p. 64.
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1893-94
ECONOMICS 122.
- Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
- Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
- What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
- Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
- Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
- Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000. - Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
- State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
- Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
- Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.- What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
- What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
- What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?
* * * * * * *
- On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
- Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
- The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
- The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
- The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
- The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46.
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1900-01
ECONOMICS 12a1.
Mid-Year. 1901.
Observe strictly the order in which the questions are arranged.
- Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
- What temporary changes in the general level of prices in this country should you expect to see, as the result of a large permanent withdrawal of foreign capital? What ultimate change of prices should you expect?
- Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered), what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.), page 139.]
- The conditions which led to the flow of gold to the United States in the fiscal years 1880 and 1881?
- What economic conditions or events tended to make the year 1890 a turning point both in domestic and in international finance?
Alternative:
The reasons for the return flow from Europe of American securities in the years 1890-1900?
- What sort of wealth did France actually sacrifice in paying the indemnity? What was the process?
- Is Mr. Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall”?
- Why is it that certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments which have to be made in one direction?
Alternative:
Why has England become the natural clearing-house for the world?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, Mid-Years: 1900-1901 (HUC 7000.55).
Image source: Harvard Gate, ca. 1899. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540.