While on the whole I find these examination questions uninspired, I do wonder how one would have answered the last of the mid-year examination in economic history “Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?”
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1C. Elements of Economics.
Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. [George H.] Evans [Jr.], Thurs., Fri., Sat., 8.30, Maryland Hall 110; Section 2: Associate Professor [Broadus] Mitchell, Mon., Tues., Wed., 8.30, Gilman Hall 313; Section 3: Associate Professor [William O.] Weyforth, Mon., Tues., Wed., 11.30, Gilman Hall 314.
Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
Required of all students before graduation.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Evans
February 1, 1933
- Under what conditions do lower prices mean higher profits?
- How do overhead costs affect the nature of competition?
- A country innkeeper hires a man to cripple the automobiles of passers-by. Is this man a producer? Explain.
- If each of our states were a separate nation, would we have less specialization than we have today? Explain.
- “The marginal utility of a ton of coal to a householder is $7.20.”
- Explain just what is meant by this statement.
- Why is the marginal utility of coal different now from what it was during the war? Explain carefully.
- Trace the history of bimetallism in the United States. What classes would be benefited if bimetallism were adopted in the United States in the near future?
- “The price of each good is determined by the willingness of buyers to purchase the last unit of the supply that is sold.” Discuss.
- A manufacturer buys out all his competitors. Assuming demand to be unchanged, can he now sell the former aggregate output at an advanced price? Explain.
- From the following figures for three firms which constitute the only producers or possible producers in the field, construct the combined long run supply curve and also the combined average cost curve which would prevail in the long run
| Average Costs of Production for Each Firm | |||
| No. of Units | X | Y | Z |
| 1 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | 4.5 | 6 | 7.5 |
| 3 | 4.67 | 6 | 7.33 |
| 4 | 5 | 6.25 | 7.5 |
| 5 | 5.4 | 6.6 | 7.8 |
| 6 | 5.83 | 7 | 8.17 |
If the price in the market remains at $8 for a long period of time, how many articles will be supplied; what quantity will be produced by each firm? Suppose the price dropped to $7 and remained there.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 6, 1933
- Give a definition of Political Economy.
- What are the relative importances today of Production, Exchange, Distribution, and Consumption of wealth?
- Is the enterpriser gaining or losing in importance as an economic agent?
- Define capital and discuss the capitalistic method of production and exchange of wealth.
- Explain the marginal utility concept of value.
- Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition.
- Discuss (a) monopoly price; (b) class price.
- What would be your definition of money?
- What is the argument of the inflationists at the present time?
- Give the organization and functions of the Federal Reserve System.
- Tell what you know of Technocracy, with your comment upon it.
- What are the main indictments which the present depression brings against the capitalist economic system?
- What are some reasons for believing that there is a decided drift toward collectivism in the United States now?
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Weyforth
February 2, 1933
- Describe the more important changes that came about in the economic life of England as a result of the industrial revolution.
- How under a system of free enterprise is the overproduction of any article remedied? How is underproduction remedied?
“Free enterprise is a self-regulating device for producing maximum satisfaction with a minimum of sacrifice.” Explain and criticize this statement. - What is meant when it is said that modern industry is a capitalistic organization?
A municipality which owned a street railway might find it desirable to give service at less than cost. Why? Could a capitalistically controlled company do this? Explain. - “The use of machinery is limited by the extent of the market.” Why? In what sense is it equally true that the extending of markets has depended upon the development of the machine technique?
- Explain the nature of a corporation. How does it come into existence? Who owns it? How is it controlled and managed? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages?
- What functions do trade unions perform in our present economic system? Why did they not exist during the middle ages? What is meant by the “closed shop”? What justification is there for unions employing this device?
- In what way do commercial banks provide a medium of exchange? Why may it be said that banks create deposits? The national banking laws require that national banks maintain a certain reserve against deposits How does this limit the ability of banks to make loans?
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Mitchell
June 5, 1933
- Explain and discuss the underlying economic theory and the proposals of the Single tax. Tell something of the life of Henry George.
- State and discuss three theories of wages.
- Distinguish between “pure profits” and “wages of superintendence”. In what ways do pure profits arise?
- Explain the time discount theory of interest.
- “The business cycle is inherent in the capitalist economic system.” Discuss this statement.
- What are the main arguments for and against fiat money inflation?
- Explain the difficulties in combining economic planning with the price-and-profit system.
- What developments in American economic life appear to recommend socialism today?
- Enumerate and discuss the conditions under which trade and labor unions may raise the wages of their members without being injured by the boomerang of unemployment due to decreased demand for their products.
- Identify: Nassau Senior, John Stuart Mill, Charles Kingsley, Robert Owen, Friedrich Engels, Richard Arkwright, Charles Fourier, Samuel Gompers, David Ricardo, Mathew Carey.
- Discuss economic nationalism as applicable to the present day.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Evans
May 31, 1933
- What is meant by monetary inflation in the United States?
How is it to be effected; what are its advantages and disadvantages? - To raise revenue to pay the interest on a three billion dollar loan for the purpose of carrying out a public works program, it has been proposed that the federal government increase the income and gasoline taxes. A general manufacturer’s sales tax has apparently been rejected. Criticize the plan.
- The wages of federal employes were recently cut by approximately the same per cent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics index of the cost of living has fallen. What theory of wage determination was involved in this action? What theory of wages seems to you to explain wages most completely?
- What is meant by the incidents of ownership? Discuss them in connection with the various legal forms under which business units operate.
- If the prices of commodities rise in the near future, what will probably happen to rates of interest? Why? What is your prediction concerning the future of pure interest?
- Criticize some of the arguments for the tariff.
- Do the credit structure and the type of organization under which business units operate have anything to do with determining the recipient of profits?
- Is it necessary to give special assistance to the agriculturists in order to pull this country out of the depression? What characteristics of agriculture make it so difficult to do much for the farmers? What program should the government follow in its efforts?
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2C. Statistics. Dr. Evans.
Three hours weekly through the year. Th., Fri., Sat., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.
In the first half-year attention is directed to the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, and study is made of the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the application of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.
Prerequisite: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Mid-year Examination
February 3, 1933
- The average deposit per individual depositor in savings banks in the United States was $437.89 in 1913. By 1926 this figure had risen to $633.10 per depositor, indicating that savings bank depositors were noticeably more thrifty than at the earlier date. Is the conclusion a sound one?
- Upon the following data construct price indices of the simple geometric type for 1901 and 1902, using 1900 as the base.
| Commodity | 1900 Price |
1901 Price |
1902 Price |
| A | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| B | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| C | 1 | 1.5 | 2 |
In which year is the dispersion of the price relatives the larger? What is the significance of your observations upon the dispersions.
- A Japanese speaker argued recently that the apparently high birth rate of the Japanese in California was due to the fact that an unusually large proportion of the Japanese population was between the ages of 15 and 45, and that later this high birth rate would be reduced as the age distribution of the population became more normal. Discuss the validity of this argument.
- How would you verify the law of statistical regularity and the principle of inertia of large numbers?
- Without constructing what is technically called a ratio chart, plot the following figures so as to give the same effect as that produced by the ratio chart.
| 1900 | 2.4 |
| 1903 | 5.8 |
| 1904 | 7.3 |
How could your chart be converted into a ratio chart?
- Draw up in the rough a table with title, captions, stubs, etc., to provide for a complete cross-classification of the population of a city according to color, sex, marital status and age. (Note: emphasize the characteristics in the order named.)
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Final Examination
June 2, 1933
- Discuss the limitations upon the use of statistical method.
- Describe how and when the estimation of the value of one variable can be made from a known value of another variable by the use of the scatter diagram.
- How can the period of lag of one series in relation to another be determined.
- What is meant by “normal” business conditions and how may mathematical measurements of normal be made?
- In obtaining a seasonal index, can cyclical and erratic influences be largely eliminated? How? Describe two methods of eliminating the effects of seasonal variation from time-series data.
- Explain “mathematical methods of trend fitting are not fool-proof”. What are the various methods of determining a line of trend?
- What kinds of situations make necessary the use of index numbers? Give the methods of constructing index numbers.
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3B. Money and Banking.
Associate Professor Weyforth.
Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 9.30, Gilman Hall 311.
In this course an analysis of the functions of money, credit and banking in our modern economic life will be made. There will be a description of various types of monetary systems, of the forms of credit and of banking and financial institutions. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between money, bank credit and prices; to the effects of price fluctuations upon individuals and upon general business conditions; to the problems of stabilizing prices and controlling business fluctuations by means of a deliberately directed monetary and credit policy. The Federal Reserve System will be studied with special emphasis upon its problem of credit control. Some time will also be devoted to the relationship between the money market and the stock market, to the problem of brokers’ loans, and to the financial operations involved in our international trade.
Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Mid-year Examination
January 31, 1933
- Describe the functions performed by money and explain its importance in our present economic system.
- What is meant by “standard” money? Describe as many types of standard money as you can. Explain the difference between standard money and legal tender money. Illustrate the latter by examples from the United States currency.
- What factors were responsible for the rapid depreciation of German currency after the war? Why did prices rise more rapidly than the volume of currency? Can this be reconciled with the quantity theory of money? Explain.
- Explain the difference between fixed and circulating capital. What problems does this distinction create in regard to the financing of business enterprises? Explain fully.
- What is meant by the value of money? How do we measure changes in it? Explain the economic consequences of changes in the value of money.
- Distinguish between the functions of an investment banker and of a commercial bank. Explain how the commercial banks create deposits and show the limitations upon their powers in this respect.
- Describe the history of the monetary standard in the United States.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Final Examination
May 30, 1933
- Describe the more important types of loans and investments made by commercial banks. Describe the changes in the nature of their business since the war and the reasons for these changes.
- Explain the defects in our banking system prior to the establishment of the Federal reserve system and give a brief description of the steps toward reform.
- Explain the circumstances under which shipments of gold occur between two countries both of which are on a gold standard.
- Is there any limit to the extent to which the market rate of exchange may fluctuate between two countries when one or both of them does not provide for redemption of its currency in gold? Explain the operation of the factors involved.
- What is the importance of an elastic currency? What provision was made in the Federal Reserve Act for such a currency? What are the provisions of the laws passed during the present depression enlarging the note issues of national banks and Federal reserve banks?
- Explain the various methods which Federal reserve banks may employ to control credit and show how they operate.
- Explain and criticize the various principles that may be employed by Federal reserve banks as guides to their credit policy.
- What do you think of inflation as a means of promoting recovery from the depression?
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4B. Labor Problems. Professor [George E.] Barnett.
Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.
In the first part of this course the problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied, e.g., child labor, industrial accidents, unemployment. It includes a critical discussion of the ameliorative measures which have been adopted in the leading industrial countries. Special attention will be given to an analysis of the principles underlying the schemes of social insurance against sickness, old age, and unemployment, so generally put into effect in recent years in European countries. In the second part of the course the history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are considered. Particular attention will be given to the working of representative systems of collective bargaining and an analysis of the conditions under which these systems have attained their greatest strength. An appraisal of rival forms of wage fixation, such as individual bargaining governmental intervention and shop committees will conclude the course.
Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C and 12 B.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Mid-year Examination
January 30, 1933
- On what principles, should an economic man divide his income between expenditure and saving?
- On what principles, should he divide his expenditure among different objects of expenditure?
- How and why should he divide his savings between investment and insurance?
- Describe briefly the various causes of unemployment.
- Discuss the effects of shortening the hours of labor.
- Why are the risks of unemployment, old age, etc. a part of the labor problem?
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Final Examination
May 29, 1933
- Define “trade union” and distinguish trade unions from such associations as medical societies, bar associations.
- Describe the relations among the various units (local union, national unions, etc.) making up the structure of American trade unionism.
- Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions against employers.
- Discuss “picketing”.
- What is the object of trade unions to the injunction?
- What is “scientific management” and how has it influenced the employer in his attitude toward labor?
- Outline the chief lines of approach to the governmental adjustment of industrial disputes.
- Is the labor market a good market?
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12B. Economic History. Associate Professor Mitchell.
Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 1 p.m., Gilman Hall 314.
In the first part of this course a study is made of English economic history, the purpose being to show not only the industrial development of the English people as such but the way in which the economic motive has influenced the whole of social life. Particular attention is given to the characteristic forms of economic organization—the manorial system, the guild system, the entrance of capitalism and the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Special reference is made to those features of English economic history which have influence industrial life in the United States. The second part of the course is a survey of the economic history of our own country. Here the same effort is made, as in the case of England, to show the bearing of economic considerations on political evolution, especially in the direction of the growing importance of the Federal Government.
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 3, 1933
- What is meant by the economic interpretation of history?
- Describe the manor and the main steps in its disappearance.
- Contrast Wat Tyler and George Washington.
- How did the medieval city under the craft gilds differ from Baltimore today, economically, socially, and politically?
- What was Mercantilism? Are there tendencies toward a return to Mercantilism now? If so, is this movement wise or unwise, and why?
- What developments preceded the Industrial Revolution?
- Describe the Industrial Revolution.
- Make an argument that mankind would be better off had the inventors of the eighteenth century never lived.
- Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?
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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Final Examination
June 2, 1933
- State and discuss what you consider to have been the main tendencies in American economic life.
- Give an outline history of the tariff until the time of the Civil War.
- Sketch the history of banking in the United States from 1791 to 1863.
- “The essential cause of the Civil War was the difference in economic pursuits of North and South.” Explain this statement.
- Describe the causes of the panics of 1837 and 1873.
- In what respects have Hamilton’s policies been borne out by American economic and political development?
- What considerations have turned the American people from approval of Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of “trust busting” to Franklin Roosevelt’s policy of relaxing the anti-trust acts?
- Give the main developments in “internal improvements” to the present time.
- State briefly what you think you will recall from this course twenty-five years from now.
Sources:
Course announcements from The College of Arts and Sciences, 1932-33 (February, 1932). The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1932, No. 2, Whole Number 434, pp. 38-39.
Course examinations from Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6, Curricular materials. Box 2, Folder “Exams 1930-1935.”
Image Source: Photo of Gilman Hall from the 1924 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.