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Harvard. Semester exams for advanced economic theory. Fellner, 1950-1951

 

William Fellner from the University of California was called in to fill for Wassily Leontief’s graduate course in Advanced Economic Theory during the academic year 1950-51 at Harvard. Leontief had been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.  Fellner also taught a  history of economics for undergraduates during his year at Harvard.

The outline and reading list for Fellner’s advanced economic theory course have been previously posted.

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Course Announcement

Economics 202 (formerly Economics 102a and 102b). Advanced Economic Theory

Full course. Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 11. Professor Fellner (University of California).

Economics 201 or an equivalent training is a prerequisite for this course. Other properly qualified students must obtain permission to register from the instructor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Courses of Instruction, Box 6, Final Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1950-51, p. 83.

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Mid-year Examination, June 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

Answer THREE of the following four questions:

  1. On usual definitions of rationality, the following is true of some types of market: Price and output can be derived from technological functions and utility functions or indifference maps (for a given distribution of income), without allowance for additional determinants such as “bargaining power” or “relative strength.” However, there exist important market structures of which this is not true. Do you agree with these propositions? Discuss them, appraising also the significance of the rationality assumptions for the proportion contained in the first sentence.
  2. According to equilibrium analysis for specific industries, monopoly output is (almost always smaller than competitive output. Discuss some of the difficulties standing in the way of applying this proposition directly to the socially significant questions of the “restrictive effects” of deviations from pure competition in the real world.
  3. Theories of market structures are concerned with groups of firms that may perhaps be loosely called industries. However, these do not coincide with industries in the conventional sense. Discuss.
  4. By what purpose are economists led in their attempt to “go behind” the demand curves of individuals and to derive these from underlying concepts (e.g. indifference maps)? How satisfactory are the results? Illustrate your views with reference to some specific aspect of the theory in question. Do you feel that economics would be poorer, in essential respects, if it regarded the demand functions of individuals as ultimate (“given”) data?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 17, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, Government, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science, January 1951 (in bound volume Final Exams—Social Sciences, Jan. 1951).

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Final Examination, June 1951

1950-51
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 202

Discuss questions 1; 2 or 3; and 4.

  1. [Three parts]
    1. Describe how income and employment are determined in the Keynesian system.
    2. Discuss the effect of changes in the wage unit on the equilibrium level of income, introducing alternative assumptions concerning the elasticity of the liquidity preference function and that of the marginal efficiency function.
    3. How would the Keynesian analysis be affected by the assumption that consumption is a function of the supply of money as well as of the rate of income?
  2. Do you consider Irving Fisher’s income concept superior in some respects to those usually employed? If so, in what respects? How do you explain the fact that it is not used more frequently?
  3. If, along given production functions, the supply of one factor is increased in relation to the other, would you expect the relative share of the increasing factor to fall? Do you believe that in such circumstances innovations in general, and induced innovations in particular, are likely to influence the result?
  4. [Four parts]
    1. Explain the significance of time-preference and of the productivity of capital for the determination of “the” interest-rate.
    2. What is implied in the “classical” assumption that monetary factors do not influence the rate of interest in the long run?
    3. How can the monetary factors be worked into the theory if the assumption described in the preceding paragraph is not made (or if the analysis is concerned with the short run)?
    4. Do you suggest drawing a distinction between the “risk premia” included in interest-rates (other than the pure or net rate) on the one hand, and profit on the other? Along what lines could this distinction be drawn?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 27, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, Government, Economics, …, Air Sciences, Naval Science, June 1951 (in bound volume Final Exams—Social Sciences, Jan. 1951).

Image Source: AEA portrait of William Fellner, Number 71 of a series of photographs of past presidents of the Association, in American Economic Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (1970).