Harvard. Public finance and taxation. Enrollments and final exams. Bullock, 1906-1907

As can be seen below, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has put together a considerable time-series of public finance exams for Harvard at the start of the 20th century.

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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced]

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From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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INTRODUCTION TO
PUBLIC FINANCE

Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 16a ¹hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — Introduction to Public Finance

Total 15: 4 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 16a
INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC FINANCE

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

1. What classes of public expenditure increased most rapidly during the nineteenth century and what classes showed the least tendency to increase?
2. Describe the policy pursued by the United States in regard to its public lands.
3. What are the chief abuses of the fee system in the United States?
4. Discuss the financial aspects of national ownership of railroads.
5. Compare the administration of the British post office with the administration of the post office in the United States.
6. Write an account of American State debts in the nineteenth century?
7. Compare the history of the British debt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the history of the French debt at the same period.
8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of sinking funds?
9. What are the essential characteristics of a good budget system?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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THE THEORY AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Course Enrollment
1906-07 

Economics 16b ²hf. Asst. Professor Bullock. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation

Total 22: 3 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 16b
THE THEORY AND METHODS OF TAXATION

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

Omit one question.

1. What are the criteria by which you would test the justice of any system of taxation?
2. What are the chief difficulties encountered by American commonwealths in constructing their tax systems?
3. Describe the French system of direct taxation.
4. Compare the French system of direct taxation with that employed in Prussia.
5. What points of difference have you observed between the British and the French systems of taxation?
6. What lessons has European practice for the student of American taxation?
7. Outline a system of corporation taxes which you would consider satisfactory for such a state as Massachusetts.
8. Write a history of income taxation in the United States.
9. Upon what class or classes of persons does the American system of state and local taxation fall with the greatest weight?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), p. 39.

Image Source: The Tax Collector by Marinus van Reymerswaele (1542). Wikiart, Visual Art Encyclopedia.