Harvard. Undergraduate Public Finance Final Exam. H. H. Burbank, 1936

Sixty-five Harvard undergraduates were registered in the public finance course taught by department chair, Harold Hitchings Burbank, in the Spring semester of 1935-36. Again thanks to the Harvard archives of final examinations, I am able to pair the exam below to the course outline for public finance posted earlier. The 1907 Theodore Roosevelt quote in Q. 5 regarding the economic consequences of the taxation of large vs small fortunes (no expected impact on “thrift or industry” for the large fortunes) is interesting in light of current U.S. debate.

_____________________________

Final Examination
Public Finance
Professor Harold Hitchings Burbank

1935-36
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 5²

1. (One hour.) “Public Services require a provision both of goods and human services, and the mechanism by which these are transferred from private enterprise to the public service must in its essence be by a form of taxation…there are two methods by which this transfer of goods and services from private to public use can be obtained, the direct and indirect method, and it is curious that we have such a tendency to insist on the direct method, with its crudities, complications and inequities. It would be both simple and practical to abolish every tax in Great Britain, substituting therefor a simple sales tax on every description of article…such a policy would result in an economy of administration far in excess of anything conceivable within the limits of the existing financial system.” C. M. Grieve in Warning Democracy.
   Consider the merits and defects of the proposal as applied to either England or the United States or both. In what respects does it agree with, in what respects does it differ from your own conception of a sound tax system? Consider either central or local finances or both.
2. (One-half hour.) Discuss the merits and defects of the general property tax. If defects exist, what remedies would you recommend?
3. (One-half hour.) Consider the incidence of one or two of the following:
   1. the property tax as applied to rented houses,
   2. the property tax as applied to land,
   3. the tariff,
   4. a state tax on personal incomes,
   5. a retail sales tax such as that enacted in the City of New York,
   6. the corporate income tax.
4. (One-half hour.) “The essential function of the public finance is to operate as a governor, a stabilizing agent, in the business cycle. This means specifically the application of an adequate program of public works during a period of acute industrial distress.”
   Do you agree? What criteria can you suggest for the management of those governmental expenditures which are in the nature of capital outlays?
5. (One-half hour.) On one of the following:
   1. “A heavy progressive tax upon a very large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like tax would be on a small fortune…And as an incident to its function of revenue raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood.” Theodore Roosevelt in a Presidential Message in 1907.
      Consider this quotation in the light of your reading of the Colwyn Report.
   2. Discuss the effect of the World War upon the finances of our federal government.
   3. Write a critical review of an approved reading period assignment. (Other than Dewey’s Financial History, or the Colwyn Report.)

Final. [May or June] 1936.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers—Finals, 1936 (HUC 7000.28, 78 of 284).

Image Source: Harold Hitchings Burbank in Harvard Class Album 1934.