Today’s posting is a transcription of the “special examination” questions in market organization and control given at Harvard in May 1939.
Concentrators in Economics will have to pass in the spring their Junior year a general examination on the department of Economics, and in the spring of their Senior year an examination correlating Economics with either History or Government (this correlating exam may be abolished by 1942), and a third one on the student’s special field, which is chosen from a list of eleven, including economic theory, economic history, money and banking, industry, public utilities, public finance, labor problems, international economics, policies and agriculture.
Courses in allied fields, including Philosophy, Mathematics, History, Government, and Sociology, are suggested by the department for each of the special fields. In addition, Geography 1 is recommended in connection with international policies or agriculture.
[Source: Harvard Crimson, May 31, 1938]
A printed copy of questions for twelve A.B. examinations in economics at Harvard for the academic year 1938-39 can be found in the Lloyd A. Metzler papers at Duke’s Economists’ Papers Project.
- One Departmental Examination from the Department of Economics.
- Five Division Special Examinations.
Economic Theory,
Economic History Since 1750,
Money and Finance,
Market Organization and Control,
Labor Economics and Social Reform.
- One of the Six Correlation Examinations given to Honors Candidates. (May 12, 1939; 3 hours)
Economic History of Western Europe since 1750,
American Economic History,
History of Political and Economic Thought,
Public Administration and Finance,
Government Regulation of Industry,
Mathematical Economic Theory.
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DIVISION OF HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMICS
DIVISION SPECIAL EXAMINATION
Market Organization and Control
(Three hours)
PART I
(About one hour)
- Write an essay on one of the following topics:
- public control of stock markets,
- significance of NRA for future public policy,
- the Federal Trade Commission—an appraisal,
- two-price plans for farm products,
- farm tenancy,
- cooperative marketing in agriculture,
- public planning for electricity in Great Britain and in the United States,
- the question of relief for the railroads,
- the concept of “natural monopoly”,
- the holding company in industry and in public utilities,
- rural electrification,
- legislative and administrative standards for government price control.
PART II
(About one hour)
Answer two questions. Candidates for honors must answer one starred question
- (*) What problems do you think especially need study in a “monopoly investigation”?
- (*) “With a basing point system competition in such crude matters as price and quality has been put aside, and all that seems to remain is a gentlemanly emulation in the art of making friends and influencing people.”
- Discuss the relations of vertical combination to efficiency and to monopoly.
- “Pure competition is not the path to economic progress in an industrial age.”
- (*) “Selection of a short-run agricultural program should depend on long-run objectives. If the eventual aim is to reduce farm capacity some type of domestic allotment scheme is appropriate for short-run policy; if the purpose is to maintain present capacity unchanged for two or three decades, then export subsidy is indicated for the short run.”
- (*) In the case where farm products are purchased by a few large buyers can the prices paid be kept permanently below the level that they would approximate if there were many small buyers? Explain.
- Would you agree with the view that the important public problems concerning agriculture are those of land use and conservation rather than those of prices, costs, and incomes?
- “the fact that during the twenties the farmers did not move on into some non-agricultural pursuit shows that the incomes that they received were sufficient to keep them on the farms. Hence there was no real overcapacity in agriculture.”
- (*) The elimination of excessive profits from utility operations is, in itself, no proof of successful rate regulation.”
- (*) What do you think should be the objectives of regulation of securities and financial practices of operating utility companies? What principles of financial regulation seem best fitted to achieve these aims?
- Discuss some of the important economic problems in the field of communications.
- “If the utility has a thousand transactions a day and its charge on each is but a reasonable compensation for the benefit received by the party dealing with it, such charges do not become unreasonable because the aggregate of the profits is large.”
PART III
(About one hour)
Answer two questions.
- “The manufacturers who reduce output to maintain high prices nevertheless understand that the soundest principles of economics have been violated when farmers are assisted by government to plough under cotton and slaughter little pigs. These same farmers, however, will in the same breath denounce the railroads and utilities for not expanding production by reducing rates.”
- “Sizes of firms have nothing to do with the degree of price flexibility in a market. That depends fundamentally on conditions of demand and of costs.”
- How may prices of farm products and location of agricultural production be affected by freight rates?
- “Where a large proportion of the costs are fixed, competition is likely to be a poor regulator of industry. It seems highly probable that some industries escaped a situation somewhat analogous to that of farming because of monopolistic elements in competition.”
- Do you agree with the view that price discrimination is desirable in public utilities but undesirable in other industries? Explain.
- “A reduction in corporate taxes would be the most effective antitrust measure to get lower prices.”
- Do you think that total employment and total consumption of goods and services in the country as a whole can be influenced appreciably by (a) the policies of public utility managements and of regulatory commissions, or (b) the policies of farmers and of the Secretary of Agriculture?
- “The organization and mechanism of the socialist economy is almost identical with that of monopolistic corporate capitalism. It is the results which would differ.”
- “In the future the policies of labor unions will have more influence on industrial prices than the policies of business executives.”
May 10, 1939.
Source: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Lloyd A. Metzler Papers, Box 7; [Harvard University], Division of History, Government and Economics, Division Examinations for the Degree of A.B., 1938-39.