In 1931-32 thirty-one year old Gottfried Haberler taught as a visiting lecturer at Harvard. Later he was to return to Harvard where he was appointed to a professorship in 1936. He was a member of the Harvard faculty until his move to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. in 1971.
This post provides three items from his 1931-32 course “Problems in Economic Theory”.
(1) Enrollment data. From the annual presidential report we see that only six students (half of whom were Radcliffe women) were registered for the course.
(2) Assignments for both semesters’ reading periods. Note that Frank Knight accounts for a good half of that required reading.
(3) The final examination questions for the first semester.
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Course Enrollment
[Economics] 15. Dr. Haberler.—Problems in Economic Theory.
Total 6: 3 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-32. Page 72.
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Reading Period
Jan 4-20, 1932
Economics 15
Knight, F.H.: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Chs. III, IV.
Wicksteed, P.H.: Common Sense of Political Economy, Pt. I, Chs. II, VI, XI; P. II, Ch. On Rent.
Knight, F.H.: A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of The General Theory of Price, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 36, No. 3, June, 1928.
Suggestions for further reading:
Böhm-Bawerk, E.V.: Positive Theorie des Kapitals, 3rd or 4th edition (not translated), Exkurs VII, “Zurechnung”.
Mayer, Hans: Artikel “Bedürfnis”, “Produktion”, “Zurechnung” in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 4. Auflage.
Reading Period
May 9-June 1, 1932
Economics 15
Benham: “Economic Welfare”, in the Economica, June 1930.
Pigou: Economics of Welfare, Part I, Chs. 1,2,3,4,5; Part II, Ch. VIII, Secs. 1 and 2, Ch. X.
Knight: “Some Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost”,Quarterly Journal of Economics for August 1924.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder: “Economics, 1931-32”
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1931-32
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Economics 15
[Mid-year Examination]
Students may use any books or notes they wish.
Answer SIX of these questions.
- The problem of imputation and its relation to the theory of marginal productivity.
- Is it true that, if every factor is remunerated according to its marginal productivity, the whole product is exhausted? Under what conditions?
- Discuss the major differences between the (a) Marshallian, (b) Austrian, and (c) Walrasian theory of value and price.
- Discuss the mutual relation of utility, value and price and especially the proposition that there is a conformity of subjective value and the market price. Is it not circular reasoning to say that marginal utility determines the market prices because marginal utility itself depends partly, at last, on the price?
- Discuss the proposition that orthodox economics is individualistic and overlooks the fact that every individual is the product of social forces.
- What is the meaning of the “law of variation” of the factors of production? How or under what assumptions is it possible to derive from it a universal law of diminishing returns?
- What is the function of the concept of “want” or “need” in pure economic theory? State your opinion as to whether it can or should be eliminated and how it could be done.
- What do you think of Institutionalism and its criticism of orthodox economic theory?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 12. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1931-32.
Image Source: Link to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek record.