Over 500 students enrolled in the introductory course “Outlines of Economics” offered at Harvard in 1902-03. Frank Taussig continued his sick-leave through the academic year 1902-03 which is why his name was listed in the (ex ante) course description from June 1902 but not included in the departmental staffing report to the president (ex post) for 1902-03.
Artifacts for the same course offered during the academic year 1901-1902 have been posted earlier. It is worth noting that of the three required texts listed below, Hadley’s Economics replaced Walker’s Political Economy (Advanced Course) that had been assigned for the previous year.
Fun Fact: Gilbert Holland Montague, one of the teaching assistants, left economics to become an anti-trust lawyer who quite apparently had the means to collect over 15,000 books and 20,000 pamphlets during his lifetime. He even owned a 14th century copy of the Magna Carta.
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Course Description, 1902-03
Economics 1
Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second or third year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economies 1.
[…]
Primarily for Undergraduates
- Outlines of Economics. — Lectures on Social Questions and Monetary Legislation. , Th., Sat., at 11. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig, Drs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and [Charles Whitney] Mixter, and Messrs. [Gilbert Holland] Montague and [Vanderveer] Custis.
Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, and international trade. The relations of labor and capital, the present organization of industry, and the recent currency legislation of the United States, will be treated in outline.
Course 1 will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, of Hadley’s Economics, and of Dunbar’s Theory and History of Banking will be read; and these books must be procured by all members of the course.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science [Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics], 1902-03. Published in The University Publications, New Series, no. 55. June 14, 1902.
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Course Enrollment, 1902-03
Economics 1
Primarily for Undergraduates:—
Economics 1. Drs. [Abram Piatt] Andrew, [Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and [Charles Whitney] Mixter, and Messrs. [Charles] Beardsley [Jr.], [Vanderveer] Custis, and [Gilbert Holland] Montague. — Outlines of Economics.
Total 514: 2 Gr., 25 Se., 108 Ju., 270 So., 39 Fr., 70 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, 1902-03, p. 67.
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Mid-year Examination 1903
Economics 1
Omit one question
- The population of the United States has increased from 23 millions in 1850 to about 80 millions in 1902 (not including the population of the islands acquired from Spain), and yet the “standard of living” has not fallen. Can you reconcile this with the Malthusian theory?
- “Economic rent and net profits are like the producers’ and consumers’ surplus described at the beginning of the chapter in being differential gains. . . .”
Explain these terms and discuss Hadley’s comparison of profits and rent. - How in your opinion does the use of labor-saving machinery in agriculture affect the value of agricultural produce, and the rent of agricultural land?
- What would you suppose to be the effect of immigration upon the production of wealth, upon wages, and upon the value of land in the United States?
- A recent Secretary of the Navy, in defending large naval appropriations, wrote as follows: “It is a taking thing to say that $100,000,000 could be better spent for education or charity; and yet, on the other hand, $100,000,000 spent in the employment of labor is the very best use to which it can be put. There is no charity in the interest of the popular welfare or of education so valuable as the employment of labor.”
Discuss the economic argument implied in this statement. - Should a railroad be compelled to charge the same rate per ton-mile for all goods of equal bulk? Why? or why not?
- Suppose that one piano manufacturer buys out all of the other piano manufacturers in the country, can he now sell the former aggregate output of all the factories at an advanced price? Give reasons for your answer.
- Explain by the theory of the value of money why prices are high in times of speculation and low when a period of depression sets in.
- Could a paper currency depreciate in value, if a government pledged the public lands for its redemption? Give reasons.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year Examinations 1852-1943. Box 6. Papers (in the bound volume Examination Papers Mid-years 1902-1903).
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Year-end Examination 1903
Economics 1
Omit one question from each group.
I
- What is meant by
unearned increment,
marginal utility,
double standard,
rapidity of circulation?
- Explain the relation of the law of diminishing returns to rent.
- It wages are determined by the productivity of labor, how would you explain the circumstance that labor organizations which impose restrictions upon individual output, have been accompanied by a rise of wages?
- What considerations are likely to determine the prices of trust-made commodities?
II
- In what ways would the repeal of our tariff duties affect our export trade?
- Former Speaker Reed, in an article on Protection, said: “Any system which enables our people to do our own work is a system which can give the best results. . . . The whole nation gets the benefit of it?”
Discuss this statement. - Give the principal reasons for and against the adoption of the policy of the single tax.
- How is the community served by the produce exchanges? by the stock exchanges?
III
- (a) What kinds of money are susceptible of increase under existing legislation in the United States? In what way?
(b) In what way do clearing house loan certificates add to the circulating medium?
Under what circumstances may they be issued? - Suppose the deposits of the national banks to increase one hundred million dollars, would the position of the banks be rendered stronger thereby?
- Are the national banks of the United States unfairly granted the privilege of earning a double profit in respect to their circulation?
- In his last annual report, the Secretary of the Treasury writes: “I think a far better course for the present at least would be to provide an elastic currency available in every banking community and sufficient for the needs of that locality. This, I think, can be accomplished . . . . by several methods.”
Explain some of these methods.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, History of Religions, Philosophy, Education, Fine Arts, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College, June 1903 (in the bound volume Examination Papers 1902-1903).
Image Sources: Abram Piatt Andrew (1920) from Wikimedia Commons. O.M.W. Sprague from Harvard Class Album 1920, p. 25.