This seminar reading list and reports was probably typed by Wolfgang Stolper himself and given to a (the?) departmental secretary for preparing 25 mimeographed copies to distribute. While this typed seminar outline has no date, at least judging from the last item to be reported on, William Beveridge’s Full Employment in a Free Society, the outline probably dates from the 1944-45 academic year.
The course description remained the same throughout Stolper’s years at Swarthmore.
Paul Samuelson was an honors examiner in 1943.
Richard Musgrave also served as an external examiner in 1946.
______________________
Course Description
(taught by Stolper 1941-42 through 1946-47, 1948-49)
The following seminars prepare for examinations for a degree with Honors:
[…]
- Economic Theory. Mr Stolper. Each semester.
An advanced analysis of the processes by which the prices of goods and services and the incomes of the factors of production are determined under various market condition. A study of theories of the business cycle. Directed reading and discussion, supplemented by reports on the theoretical problems raised by factual studies.
Source: Swarthmore College Catalogue, 1941-42 p. 62.
______________________
Stolper
Economics Theory Seminar
25 copies
(1) First Week
Assigned:
Joan Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Bk. I
E.H. Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1,2
Ricardo, Principles, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Introd. und Pt. I, Sec 1
Suggested:
J.St. Mill, Principles, Bk. III, except Ch. 5
J. Cassels, A Re-interpretation of Ricardo on Value, QJE, Vol. 49, p. 518
Topic:
Review of the Tools of Analysis
(2) Second Week
Assigned:
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Pt. I, pp. 29-100. You may omit: p. 31 small print; p. 60-63 small print; p. 79, 2d last para- p. 81 top; p. 93-95, small print and diagram
J. Viner, Cost Curves and Supply curves
Marshall, Principles, Bk. V, Chs. 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 15
Topic:
Pure Competition. The Classical Statement of Value Theory
(3) Third Week
Assigned:
Marshall, op.cit. Bk. V., Chs. 12, 14
Chamberlin, op.cit., Chs. 3-6
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Pt. I, secs. 1, 2,4; Pt. II complete
Suggested:
Triffin, op.cit. Pt. I, Secs. 3, 5, note
Topic:
Monopolistic Competition
Report:
TNEC Monograph 21, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, by Clair Wilcox
(4) Fourth Week
Assigned:
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. III, secs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7
Suggested:
Triffin, Monopoly in Particular Equilibrium…,Econometrica. Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 121
J. Robinson, What is Pure Competition? QJE Vol. 49, p. 104
F.Y. Edgeworth, Pure Theory of Monopoly
Cournot, Mathematical Theory of Wealth
Topic:
Criticisms of Monopolistic Competition
Reports:
(a) The Problem of Excess Capacity(See Bibliography in Chamberlin, op.cit.)
(b) Price Discrimination between Markets
G. Haberler, International Trade, Ch. on Dumping
J. Robinson, op.cit., Ch. XV
For illustrative facts refer to the following:
TNEC Monog. 41, Price Discrimination in Steel
TNEC Monog. 42, The Basing Point Problem
(c) Price Policy
TNEC Monog. 1, Price Behavior and Business Policy
Hall and Hitch, Oxford Economic Papers No. 2, pp. 12-45
Clive Saxton, The Economics of Price Determination
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy
(d) F.P. Bishop, The Economics of Advertising
(5) Fifth Week
Assigned:
Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 1, 2, 11
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 1. You may omit: pp. 127-129, small print. Don’t worry about the mathematics on pp. 127-131, 139-40
Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, Ch. XIII (old edition, Ch. XI)
J. Cassels, The Law of Variable Proportions, Explorations in Economics, pp. 223-228
Chamberlin, op.cit. Ch. VIII (also in Explorations, …., pp. 237-250)
Triffin, Pt. III, Sec. 2
Schumpeter, The Instability of Capitalism, Economic Journal, Vol 38 (1928)
Suggested:
Articles by Machlup, Hart, Smithies, and remainder of article of Cassels, in Explorations in Economics
G. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories
(6) Sixth Week
Assigned:
Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 3, 4, 5 Bk. IV, Ch. 4, 5
Ricardo, Ch. 5
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Complete
Suggested:
A. C. Pigou, Theory of Unemployment
J.T.Dunlop, Wage Determination under Trade Unions
Topic:
Wage Theory and Wage Problems
Reports:
(a) Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, particularly, Chs. V-IX
(b) National Resources Planning Board, Problems of a Changing Population, pp. 1-138
Reddaway, Economics of a Declining Population
Malthus, Principles,
Myrdal, Population
Hansen, Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 366-85
(c) P. Douglas, Theory of Wages
National Income of the US, Chs. 1-4
(d) TNEC Monog. 22, Technology in our Economy
TNEC Hearing on Technological Progress, selections
Consult for further readings
(e) J.T. Dunlop, op, cit., Chs. I-VI, IX, X
(f) TNEC Monog. 5, Industrial Wage Rates, Labor Costs and Price Policies
(7) Seventh Week
Assigned:
Ricardo, Ch. 2, 3
Mill, Bk. III, Ch. 5
Marshall, Bk. V, Ch. 10, 11, Bk. VI, Chs. o,10
Chamberlin, op.cit. Appendix D
Report:
H.W. Singer, Index of Urban Land Rents, Econometrica, Vol IX,
(8) Eighth Week
Assigned:
Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chs. 2, 3, 4
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. V, omitting B
Marshall, Bk, VI, Chs. 7, 8
R.A.Gordon, Explorations in Economics, pp. 306-317
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Pt. II, sec. 3
Reports:
(a) Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property
TNEC Monograph 29, The Distribution of Ownership in the 200 largest non-financial Corporations
(b) W.L.Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power
Topic:
Profits. General Summary of Value and Distribution
(9) Ninth Week
Assigned:
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 2; Pt. III. You may omit: Sec D, pp. 172-184; pp. 203-5, small print; p. 216, 2d para—p. 217, 1stpara
Marshall, Bk, VI, Ch. 6
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. V, I
Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14
Higgins and Musgrave, Deficit Financing—The Case Examined, Public Policy Yearbook II, pp. 136-207
O. Lange, The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, No. 8
Suggested:
J.M. Keynes, General Theory
Readings…., Pt. II
Topic:
Interest Theory
Reports:
(a) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, Bks. I-III
(b) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Bks. IV to end
(c) F.A.Lutz, The Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. 55,
(10) Tenth Week
Assigned:
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1939 ed. or later, Chs. 8, 9, 13
Hicks, Value and Capital, Ch. 24
Hicks, Social Framework, Chs. XI-XVI, Appendices E and F
and either
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. 4
Kuznets, Review of Schumpeter, AER
or
Mitchell, Business Cycles, Ch. III
Suggested:
Readings…., Pt. I
Topic:
Measurement and Separation of Cycles
Reports:
(a) Burns, Production Trends in the US since 1870
(b) Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Chs. 6, 7
Kondratieff, Readings…, pp. 20-42
(c) Schumpeter, Cycles, Vol. II, Chs. 14, 15
(d) The Cob Web Theorem
(11) Eleventh Week
Assigned:
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 6
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
P.A.Samuelson, Readings…. pp. 261-289
Suggested:
Readings, Pt. III, IV, V.
Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business Cycle Theories, Econometrica, Vol. 10, pp. 129 ff
Reports:
(a) A.H.Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, particularly Pts. I, III, IV
P.A.Samuelson, A Synthesis of the Principle of Acceleration and the Multiplier, JPE, 1939
_______________, Fiscal Policy and Income Determination QJE, August 1942
(b) Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 4, 6, 7
Hansen, Business Cycle Theory
Readings, …., Pts. IV, V
(c) Wm. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society
Topic:
Business Cycles, Theory and Theories
Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economist Papers’ Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Folder “S miscellaneous (2 of 3) Swarthmore Theory outline”.
Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).