Categories
Bibliography Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Money And Banking. Readings and Exams. Williams and Hansen, 1947-48

 

The graduate course for Keynesian economics at Harvard in the 1940s was Principles of Money and Banking taught by Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams. Course materials for 1946-47 were transcribed and posted earlier [Fall term 1946; Spring term 1947; General course bibliography]. Almost all of the exam questions for 1947-48 are new. The Spring term of 1948 taught by John  Williams turns out to be unchanged from the previous year. The Fall term of 1947 taught by Alvin Hansen does show some minor rearrangements, and significant additions (e.g. Tobin on liquidity preference).

____________________________

Course Enrollment
1947-48

[Economics] 141a. Professors Williams and Hansen. — Principles of Money and Banking (F).

Total 81: 47 Graduates, 1 Senior, 20 Public Administration, 4 Business, 9 Radcliffe.

 

[Economics] 141b. Professors Williams and Hansen. — Principles of Money and Banking (Sp).

Total 70: 41 Graduates, 2 Juniors, 20 Public Administration, 2 Business, 5 Radcliffe.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1947-48, p. 91.

 

____________________________

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

 

Economics 141a — First Semester, 1947-8 (Professor Hansen)

  1. Central Banking: Current Problems and Policies
  2. Theory of Money, Liquidity-Preference, Interest and Prices

 

Economics 141b — Second Semester, 1947-8 (Professor Williams)

  1. International Monetary Equilibrium
  2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy

 

READING LIST FOR ECONOMICS 141a
Principles of Money and Banking
1947-1948

 

Note: Pre-requisite reading (for those who are deficient in undergraduate preparation in Money and Banking:

  1. Banking Studies, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, (1941).
  2. Southard, F. A., Foreign Exchange Practice and Policy, (McGraw-Hill, 1940).
  3. Any one standard textbook in Money and Banking, such as: Thomas, Our Modern Banking and Monetary System, (Prentice-Hall, 1942); or Reed, Money, Currency and Banking, (McGraw-Hill, 1942).

 

  1. Central Banking: Current Problems and Policies.
    1. Minimum Reading List:
      1. Books and Pamphlets:
        1. International Currency Experience (League of Nations, 1944), Chapters I-IV, pp. 7-112.
        2. World Economic Survey, 1942-44 (League of Nations, 1945), Chapter IV “Finance and Banking” (pp. 173-213).
        3. Ellis, H. S., (in Harris: Economic Reconstruction, McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapter 13, “Central and Commercial Banking in Postwar Finance” (pp. 237-252).
        4. Hansen, Alvin H., America’s Role in the World Economy (Norton, 1945), Chapter XVII, “Gold, Exports and Liquidity” (pp. 144-157).
        5. Harris, S. E., Inflation and the American Economy (McGraw-Hill, 1945), Chapter XXIV, “Money and Savings” (pp. 372-383).
        6. Hawtrey, R. G., The Art of Central Banking (Longmans, 1933) pp. 116-207.
        7. Keynes, J. M., Treatise on Money, Volume II, Chapters 25, 32, 33, (pp. 49-78; 225-278).
        8. Robertson, D. H., Essays in Monetary Theory (King, 1940), Chapter II, “Theories of Banking Policy” (pp. 39-59); Chapter XII, “British Monetary Policy” (pp. 154-167).
        9. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans (Knopf, second edition, 1945), Chapter 6, “The Banking Act of 1935” (pp. 112-129); Chapter 8, “The Crisis of the Gold Standard” (pp. 154-172); Chapter 9, “Monetary Stability and the Gold Standard” (pp. 172-190).
        10. Financing American Prosperity (Twentieth Century Fund, 1945):
          1. Ellis, H. S., “Monetary Controls and the Business of Banking” (pp. 140-153).
          2. Williams, John H., “Money and Banking” (pp. 381-5).
        11. Postwar Economic Studies, No. 3 (Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, 1945): Wallich, H. C., “Public Debt and Income Flow” (pp. 84-100).
        12. Hansen, Alvin H., Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters 20 and 22 (pp. 233-247; 261-288).
      2. Reports and Articles:
        1. Treasury Bulletin, April, 1946, “Federal War-time Financing and Growth of Liquid Assets”, pp. A11-20.
        2. Federal Reserve Bulletins:
          1. July, 1947, “Debt Retirement” (pp. 775-87); “Consumer Incomes and Liquid Assets” (pp. 788-802); “International Monetary and Financial Problems” (pp. 836-850).
          2. April, 1947, “Economic Survey of the United Kingdom” (pp. 367-391); “Annual Report of the Bank of Canada” (pp. 392-97); “Monetization of Public Debt by Banks” (pp. 402-04).
          3. “Estimated Liquid Assets of Individuals and Business”, November, 1946, pp. 1236-37; June, 1947, pp. 689-91.
        3. Annual Reports of Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System:
          1. Thirty-second Report (for the year 1945) pp. 1-15.
          2. Thirty-third Report (for the year 1946) pp. 1-49.
        4. Bopp, K. R., “Central Banking at the Crossroads”, Supplement, American Economic Review, March 1944 (pp. 260-77).
        5. Samuelson, Paul, “The Effect of Interest Rate Increases on the Banking System”, American Economic Review, March 1945.
        6. Seligman, H. L., “The Problem of Excessive Commercial Bank Earnings”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1946.
        7. Whittlesey, C. R., “Federal Reserve Policy in Transition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1946.
    2. Supplementary Reading List:
      1. Books
        1. Arndt, H. W., The Economic Lessons of the Nineteen Thirties, (Oxford, 1944).
        2. Coulborn, W, A. L., An Introduction to Money, (Longmans, 1938) Chapters 5, 13-14 (pp. 48-64, 209-241).
        3. Fisher, Irving, 100 Per Cent Money, (Adelphi, 1935; Third Edition City Printing Co., New Haven, 1945).
        4. Johnson, G. G., The Treasury and Monetary Policy, (Harvard 1939), Chapter I-V (pp. 3-160)
        5. Hawtrey, R. G., The Gold Standard in Theory and Practice (Longmans, Fourth Edition, 1939).
        6. Hawtrey, R. G., A Century of Bank Rate. (Longmans, 1938).
        7. Lewinski, J., Money, Credit and Prices, (King, 1929) Chapters IV-V (pp. 99-144).
        8. McCracken, Paul W., The Future of Northwest Bank Deposits, Federal Reserve Bank, Minneapolis, 1946.
        9. Mints, L. W., A History of Banking Theory (Chicago, 1945), Chapters VI and X (pp. 74-100; 178-197).
        10. Morgan, E. V., The Theory and Practice of Central Banking, (Macmillan, 1943).
        11. Niebyl, Karl H., Studies in the Classical Theories of Money, (Columbia, 1946).
        12. Sayers, R. S., Modern Banking, (Oxford, 1938), Chapters 4-5 (pp. 70-145).
        13. Viner, J. Studies in the Theory of International Trade, (Harper, 1937), Chapter V, “English Currency Controversies” (pp. 218-289).
        14. Wernette, P., Financing Full Employment, (Harvard, 1945), Chapter 3 (pp. 33-61).
        15. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission in Industry and Commerce, Cmd. 3897 (1931) pp. 2-45; 106-160.
      2. Articles
        1. Abbott, C. C. (Review articles on Financing Problems and Bank Liquidity), Review of Economic Statistics, February 1946 (pp. 48-51).
        2. Abbott, C. C., “Management of the Federal Debt”, Harvard Business Review, Autumn 1945.
        3. Goldenweiser, E. A., “Commercial Banking After the War”, Federal Reserve Bulletin, September 1944.
        4. Seltzer, Lawrence, “Is a Rise in Interest Rates Desirable or Inevitable?”, American Economic Review, December 1945.
        5. Treasury Bulletin, April 1946, “Federal War-time Financing and the Growth of Liquid Assets”.
        6. Keynes, J. M., “The Objective of International Price Stability”, Economic Journal, June-September 1943.
    3. General Reference Reading (see below).

 

  1. Theory of Money, Liquidity Preference, Interest and Prices.
    1. Minimum Reading List:
      1. Books:
        1. Fellner, William, Monetary Policies and Full Employment, Chapter 6, (pp. 174-209).
        2. Hansen, Alvin H.:
          1. Economic Policy and Full Employment, Chapters 12, 13, 18, 19 and 21, (pp. 145-160; 202-232; 248-260).
          2. Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, (Norton, 1941), Chapters 1-5; 11-15; (pp. 13-105; 225-338).
          3. Full Recovery or Stagnation, (Norton, 1938), Chapter 3 (pp. 59-87); Appendix, pp. 331-343.
        3. Hayek, F. A., Prices and Production, (Routledge, 1935), Chapters 1 and 4 (pp. 1-31; 105-128).
        4. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform, (Harcourt, 1924), pp. 81-95; 152-191.
        5. Keynes, J. M., A Treatise on Money, (Harcourt, 1930), Chapters 9-13 and 30 (Volume I, pp. 123-220; Volume II, pp. 148-208).
        6. Keynes, J. M., General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (Harcourt, 1936), pp. 3-45; 61-65; 74-221; 245-271; 292-332; 372-384.
        7. Klein, Lawrence, The Keynesian Revolution, Chapters 1-3, (pp. 1-90).
        8. Marget, Arthur W., The Theory of Prices, Volume I, (Prentice-Hall, 1938), Chapters 12 and 15 (pp. 302-343, 414-459, and large type sections).
        9. Marget, Arthur W., The Theory of Prices, Volume II, (Prentice-Hall, 1942), Chapter 3 (pp. 89-133, large type sections).
        10. Marshall, A., Money, Credit and Commerce, (Book I, Chapter XX, pp. 38-50.
        11. Robertson, D. H., Essays in Monetary Theory, (King, 1940), Chapters 1, 6, 11 (pp. 1-38; 92-7; 113-153).
        12. Schumpeter, J. A., Business Cycles, (McGraw-Hill, 1939), Volume II, Chapter 8, (pp. 449-482).
        13. Wicksell, K., Interest and Prices, (Macmillan, 1936), Introduction by Bertil Ohlin; also author’s Preface; Chapters 5, 7-8, 11 (pp. 38-50; 81-121; 165-177).
        14. Wicksell, K., Money: Lectures on Political Economy, Volume II, (Macmillan, 1935), Chapter IV (pp. 127-228).
        15. Wright, David McC., The Creation of Purchasing Power, (Harvard, 1939), Chapters 4-6 (pp. 60-121).
        16. Macmillan Report, Royal Commission on Finance and Industry, Cmd. 3897 (1931), Part I, Chapter 11 (pp. 92-105).
      2. Articles:
        1. Clark, Colin, “Public Finances and Changes in the Value of Money”, Economic Journal, December 1945.
        2. Hicks, J. R., “Mr. Keynes and the Classics: A Suggested Interpretation”, Econometrica, April 1937.
        3. Hawtrey, R. G. and Hicks, J. R., “Interest and Bank Rate”, The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, October 1939.
        4. Harrod, Hansen, Haberler, and Schumpeter, “Keynes’ Contribution to Economics”, Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1946.
        5. Keynes, J. M., “Relative Movement of Real Wages and Output”, Economic Journal, March 1939.
        6. Lange, O., “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume”, Economica, February 1938.
        7. Lerner, A. P., “Interest Theory: Supply and Demand for Loans or Supply and Demand for Cash”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1944.
        8. Mints, Hansen, Ellis, Lerner, Kalecki, “A Symposium on Fiscal and Monetary Policy”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        9. Modigliani, F., “Liquidity Preferences and the Theory of Interest and Money”, Econometrica, January 1944.
        10. Simons, H. C., “Debt Policy and Banking Policy”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        11. Tobin, James, “Liquidity Preference and Monetary Policy”, The Review of Economic Statistics, May 1947.
    2. Supplementary Reading List:
      1. Books:
        1. Adarkar, B. P., The Theory of Monetary Policy, (King, 1935), Chapter 1-8; 13-15 (pp. 3-52; 101-122).
        2. Chandler, L. V., An Introduction to Monetary Theory (Harper, 1940), pp. 1-205.
        3. Coulborn, W. A. L., An Introduction to Money, (Longmans, 1938), Chapters 6-8; 15-16 (pp. 65-116; 242-264).
        4. Haberler, G., Prosperity and Depression (1939) Chapters 8, 13 (pp. 168-254; 455-507).
        5. Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital, Chapters 12-13.
        6. Lindahl, Erik, Studies in the Theory of Money and Capital, (Allen and Unwin, 1939), Part II, Chapters 4-6, (pp. 199-268).
        7. Myrdal, Gunnar, Monetary Equilibrium, (Hodge, 1939), Chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-48).
        8. Polanyi, M. Full Employment and Free Trade, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1945), Chapters 1, 4, (pp. 1-66; 87-103).
        9. Robertson, D. H., Money (Harcourt, 1929) Chapters 2-4; 7-8.
        10. Sayers, R. S., Modern Banking. (Oxford, 1938), Chapter 6 (pp. 146-164).
        11. Thomas, Brindley, Monetary Policy and Crises, (Routledge, 1936), Chapters 3-4 (pp. 62-156).
      2. Articles:
        1. Lange, O., “Economic Controls After the War,” Political Science Quarterly, March 1945.
        2. Lerner, A. P., “Alternative Formulations of the Theory of Interest”, Economic Journal, June 1938.
        3. Lerner, A. P., “Ex Ante Analysis and Wage Theory”, Economica, November 1939.
        4. Lerner, A. P., “Some Swedish Stepping Stones in Economic Theory”, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, November 1940.
        5. Marschak, J., “Wicksell’s Two Interest Rates”, Social Research, November 1941.
        6. Simons, H. C., “On Debt Policy”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1945.
        7. Warburton, Clark, “The Volume of Money and the Price Level Between the World Wars”, Journal of Political Economy, June 1945.
        8. a. Warburton, Clark, “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Financing”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1945.
          b. Arndt, H. W., “The Monetary Theory of Deficit Financing; A Comment”, Review of Economic Statistics, May 1946.
        9. Bean and others, “Five Views on the Consumption Function”, Review of Economic Statistics, November, 1946.
    3. General Reference Reading (see below).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

____________________________

Mid-year Exam

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141a

Part A. Write on one question only.

  1. Write an essay on Federal war-time financing including a discussion of:
    1. The role played by (a) the Federal Reserve Banks, (b) the commercial banks.
    2. The impact on (a) the money supply, (b) the liquid assets, (c) member bank reserves, (d) currency in circulation, (e) the rate of interest.
  2. Discuss major problems currently confronting the Federal Reserve System including an appraisal of various proposals to deal with these problems.

Part B. Write on any three questions.

  1. Write an essay (historical and analytical) on the relation of the money supply to the national income. In this connection discuss: (a) the Quantity Theory (b) the Marshallian “k” and (c) the Keynesian liquidity preference functions.
  2. Using the diagrams and analysis of Hicks and Keynes, discuss the role of (a) the schedule of the marginal efficiency of capital (b) the consumption function (c) the liquidity preference function and (d) the quantity of money, as determinants of the rate of interest and of income.
  3. State precisely the conditions (in particular including the relevant functions and their interest-elasticities) under which Monetary Policy alone, or Fiscal Policy alone (without either being supplemented by the other) may be (a) fully effective, (b) wholly ineffective, in raising income.
  4. Write an essay on the “theory of prices” including a discussion of money, income, wage and cost functions; in particular make use of the Keynesian analysis contained in the General Theory, Book V. (Money, Wages, and Prices.)
  5. Write an essay on any one of the following:
    1. International Currency Experience (League of Nations).
    2. Hawtrey, The Art of Central Banking.
    3. Keynes: Treatise on Money.
    4. Robertson: Essays on Monetary Theory.
    5. Williams, Postwar Monetary Plans.
    6. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution.
    7. Wicksell: Interest and Prices.

Note: You will be expected to write on 4 questions (one from part A and three from Part B.

Final. January, 1948.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations 1853-2001. Box 15. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions…, Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, January, 1948.

____________________________

 SECOND SEMESTER
ECONOMICS 141b: PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

  1. International Monetary Equilibrium:
    1. Cassel, G., The Downfall of the Gold Standard (1936).
    2. Copland, Douglas, Australia in the World Crisis (1934).
    3. Ellis, H. S., Exchange Control in Central Europe (1941).
    4. Graham and Whittlesey, Golden Avalanche (1939).
    5. Hall, M. F., The Exchange Equalization Account (1935).
    6. Hahn, George, International Monetary Cooperation (1945).
    7. Hansen, Alvin, H., America’s Role in the World Economy (1945).
    8. Hardy, C. O., Is There Enough Gold (1936).
    9. Harris, S. E., Exchange Depreciation (1936).
    10. Harris, S.E., Economic Problems of Latin America (1944).
    11. Iverson, Carl, International Capital Movements (1936).
    12. Kindelberger, C. P., International Short-term Capital Movements (1937).
    13. League of Nations, Final Report on Gold (1932).
    14. League of Nations, Economic Fluctuations in the United States and the United Kingdom, 1918-22 (1942).
    15. Nurkse, R., International Currency Experience (1944).
    16. Warren and Pearson, (a) Gold and Prices (1935);
      (b) World Prices and the Building Industry (1937).
    17. Williams, John H., Postwar Monetary Plans (Second Edition, 1945)
  2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy:
    1. Beveridge, Sir William, Full Employment in a Free Society (1945).
    2. British White Paper on “Employment Policy” (1944).
    3. de Chazeau, Hart, and Others, Jobs and Markets (1946).
    4. Economics of Full Employment. Six Oxford Economists (1945).
    5. Fellner, W., Monetary Policies and Full Employment (1946).
    6. Financing American Prosperity, Twentieth Century Fund (1945).
    7. Groves, H. M., (a) Production, Jobs and Taxes (1944).
      (b) Postwar Taxation and Economic Progress (1946).
    8. Hansen, Alvin, H., Economic Policy and Full Employment (1946).
    9. Harris, S. E., Postwar Economic Problems (1943).
    10. Harris, S. E., Economic Reconstruction (1945).
    11. Hayes, H. Gordon, Spending, Saving and Employment (1945).
    12. League of Nations: Anti-Depression Policy (1945).
    13. Langum, John K., Postwar Banking Problems (1946).
    14. Postwar Economic Studies No. 3, Public Finance and Full Employment (1945).
    15. Postwar Economic Studies No. 8, Federal Reserve Policy (1946).
    16. Ruml and Sonne, Fiscal and Monetary Policy (1944).
    17. Terborgh, George, The Bogey of Economic Maturity (1945).
    18. Williams, John H. Postwar Monetary Plans (Second Edition, 1945), Chapters 4, 5.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

____________________________

Year-end Exam

1947-48
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 141b
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss one question in each part.

I

  1. Your own appraisal of Keynes’ “General Theory.”
  2. The role of money in Keynes’ “General Theory”.

II

  1. Postwar Federal reserve policy.
  2. The secondary (government security) reserve proposal.

III

  1. International monetary and trade adjustment in the postwar world.
  2. Harrod’s “Are These Hardships Necessary?”
  3. The franc devaluation.

 

Final. May, 1948.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations 1853-2001. Box 14. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions…, Economics, … , Military Science, Naval Science, May, 1947.

____________________________

 ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING
GENERAL REFERENCE READING
[13 pages!]

Has been transcribed and posted with the material for 1946-47.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1946-47 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: Alvin H. Hansen and John H. Williams in Harvard Class Album 1942.