Tag: Berg

 

Today’s post provides material from a regional economics course on economic development in “tropical Africa” by the newly minted Harvard Ph.D., Elliot Joseph Berg, from the Spring term of the 1960-61 academic year. Biographical and career information is provided, followed by the transcription of the course syllabus and final examination.

According to a story about African Studies in the Harvard Crimson (“Harvard Expands Africa Studies with Courses in History, Anthropology”, October 3, 1961), 

“Last year [1960-61] the University offered its first two courses on Africa–one in Government, the other in Economics.”

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Elliot Joseph Berg’s best known publication:

Report of the African Strategy Review Group coordinated by Elliot Berg. Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Agenda for Action. The World Bank, 1981.

Finding aid to Elliot Berg Papers on African Development. (MSS 308 large) Michigan State University Libraries.

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Life and Career

Elliot Joseph Berg
(b. 20 May 1927 in New York City;
d. 21 November 2002 in Alexandria, VA).

Education:

B.A., New York University, 1949
M.A., Columbia University, 1955
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1960.

Teaching Fellow, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University 1959-1964.

Project Director, Harvard Advisory Group, Liberia, 1964-1966.

Awarded Grand Commander Order Star of Africa by the Government of Liberia, 1965.

Professor of Economics, Director of the Center Economic Development, University of Michigan, 1966-1983

1982-1991: President, Elliot Berg Associates. Alexandria, VI.

Adjunct Professor, Universite de l’Auvergne, Clermont, France, 1982-2000

Vice President, Development Alternatives Incorporated, Bethesda, MD, 1990-1995.

Source:   Prabook webpage for Elliot Joseph Berg.

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Course Enrollment

[Economics] 118. The Economy of Tropical Africa. Dr. E.J. Berg. Half course. (S)

Total 37: 3 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 2 Radcliffe, 3 Other Graduates.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1960-1961, p. 76.

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Syllabus and Readings

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Outline
Economics 118
THE ECONOMIES OF TROPICAL AFRICA

 

1. The Pattern of Development
   1. The Pre-Colonial Background
   2. Peoples and Cultures: The Colonial Ideology
   3. The expansion of the Money Economy: Measures of Rates of Growth
   4. Types of Economic Growth: The Mining and Settler Economies and the Peasant-Producer Economies
   5. Development of a Labor Force
   6. The Role of the Non-African: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation
2. Structural Characteristics of African Economies
   1. Population Patterns
   2. The Extent of the Money Economy and the Concept of Dualism
   3. African National Accounts
   4. Export-Orientation and the Terms of Trade
   5. Goods Markets and Price Determination
   6. Labor Markets and Wage Determination
3. Problems of Economic Policy and the Strategy of Development
   1. The Expansion of Agricultural Output
   2. Internal Trade Policies and Marketing Boards
   3. Transportation and Development
   4. The High-Level Manpower Problem and the Economics of Education
   5. Wage and Labor Policy
   6. Monetary Policy
   7. Tax Policy and Problems of Public Finance
   8. Accelerated Industrialization
   9. Development Planning
   10. The Role of the State: The Socialist Solution in Africa
4. The Economics of Independence
   1. Economic Viability, Economic Development and the Size of States
   2. Uneven Growth and the Economic of Federalism
   3. External Economic Assistance
   4. Africa and the European Common Market
   5. Problems of African Economic Integration
   6. The Economic Prospects for Africa

*   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

*Indicates substitutable readings

1. The Pattern of Development

*Pim, Sir Alan, The Financial and Economic History of the African Tropical Territories. (Oxford, 1940).

*Knowles, L., The Economic Development of the Overseas Empire, (London, 1924), Vol. I, pp. 113-301; 485-508.

Stamp, L.D., Africa—A Study in Tropical Development (New York, 1953) Ch. 2.

Kimble, G. H. T., Tropical Africa (New York, 1960), Ch. 1.

Hancock, W. K., Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs, Vol. II, Problems of Economic Policy, 1918-1939, Part 2 (London, 1942).

Buell, R. L., The Native Problem in Africa (New York, 1928), Ch. 21, 29, 82, 83, 87, 89.

Myint, H., “The Classical Theory of International Trade and the Underdeveloped Countries,” Economic Journal, June 1958, pp. 317-337.

Singer, H., “The Distribution of Gains Between Investing and Borrowing Countries,” American Economic Review, May 1950, Papers and Proceedings, pp. 473-485.

United Nations, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Enlargement of the Exchange Economy in Tropical Africa (New York, 1954).

Hailey, Lord, An African Survey (London, 1957), pp. 1263-1306.

Bauer, P. T., Economic Analysis and Policy in Underdeveloped Countries, Ch. 2.

2. Structural Characteristics of African Economics
   1. General

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Review of Economic Conditions in Africa. Supplement to World Economic Report, 1949-50 (New York, 1951). Ch. 1.

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Scope and Structure of Money Economies in Tropical Africa. (New York, 1955).

1. 2. The Dual Economy and the Supply of Effort

United Nations, Department of Economic Affairs, Enlargement of the Exchange Economy in Tropical Africa.

B. Higgins, Economic Development (New York, 1959), Ch. 12, pp. 274-293.

A. I. Richards, Land, Labour and Diet in Northern Rhodesia (OUP, 1939), pp. 201-227.

P. T. Bauer and B. Yamey, The Economics of Underdeveloped Countries (Cambridge, 1957), Ch. VII.

W. O Jones, “Economic Man in Africa,” Food Research Institute Studies (Stanford), Vol. I, #2, May 1960, pp. 107-134.

1. 3. Population Patterns

G. T. Kimble, Tropical Africa, Vol. I, Ch. 3, pp. 81-124.

A. Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development (New Haven, 1958) pp. 176-182.

East Africa Royal Commission (1953-1955) Report (London, H.M.S.O., 1956. Cmd 9475), Ch. 3, pp. 30-40; Appendix VII, pp. 462-473.

1. 4. National Income

D. Seers, “The Role of National Income Estimates in the Statistical Policy of an Underdeveloped Area,” in Review of Economic Studies, Vol. XX (1952-3), pp..159-68.

A. R. Prest, The Investigation of National Income in British Tropical Dependencies. University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Commonwealth Papers, No. IV., (London, 1957).

Phyllis Deane, Colonial Social Accounting (Cambridge, 1953) pp. 223-229.

1. 5. Export-Orientation and the Terms of Trade

Singer, “The Distribution of Gains…(article cited in Part I.)

Higgins, Economic Development, Ch. 15 (omit pp. 374-382).

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, Ch. 3.

G. Haberler, International Trade and Economic Development (Cairo, 1959), pp. 1-24.

1. 6. Consumer Goods Markets, Price Determination and the Mechanics of Inflation

Gold Coast, Ministry of Finance, A Survey of Some Economic Matters (Accra, 1952), pp. 12-17.

D. Seers and C. R. Ross, Report on Financial and Physical Problems of Development in the Gold Coast(Accra, 1952), pp. 1-72.

P. T. Bauer, West African Trade (Cambridge, 1954), pp. 7-64; 104-144; 156-171; 379-392.

F. Bezy, Problemes Structurels de l’Economie Congolaise (Louvain, 1957), pp. 86-94.

East Africa Royal Commission Report, pp. 64-76.

M. Perham, (ed.), Mining, Commerce & Finance in Nigeria, (London, 1948), pp. 195-202; 218-224 (“Balance of Payments and the Three Sectional Price Levels”).

F. C. Wright, African Consumers in Nyasaland and Tanganyika. An Enquiry into the Distribution and Consumption of Commodities Among Africans Carried Out in 1952-1953. Colonial Research Studies #17 (London, 1955).

W. V. Berelsford, Copperbelt Markets. A Social and Economic Study (Lusaka, 1947), pp. 7-12; 21-41.

M. Capet, Les Economies de l’AOF (Paris, 1958), pp. [no pages given]

1. 7. Labor Markets, The Migrant Labor System and Wage Determination

International Labour Office, African Labour Survey (Geneva, 1959), pp. 106-120; 127-169; 259-294.

Bezy, Problemes Structurels de l’Economie Congolaise, pp. 101-197.

Sheila Van der Horst, Native Labour in South Africa (London, 1942) pp. [no pages given]

E. A. Royal Commission Report, pp. 146-172.

E. Berg, “French West Africa,” in W. Galenson, ed., Labor and Economic Development (New York, 1959), pp. 193-204.

J. C. Mitchell, “The Causes of Labour Migration,” in Bulletin of the Inter-African Labour Institute, Jan. 1959, pp. 12-45.

W. Elkan, “Migrant Labor in Africa: An Economist’s Approach,” in American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, Vol. XLIX, #2, (May 1959), pp. 188-197.

B. Gussman, “Industrial Efficiency and the Urban African: A Study of Conditions in Southern Rhodesia,” in Africa, Vol. XXIII, #2 (April 1953), pp. 135-144.

W. Watson, Tribal Cohesion in a Money Economy: A Study of the Mambwe People of Northern Rhodesia(Manchester, 1958), Ch. 3-5.

3. & IV. The Strategy of Development and the Economics of Independence
   1. The Expansion of Agriculture

Food and Agricultural Organization, The State of Food and Agriculture, 1958 (Rome, 1959), Part III, pp. 90-162.

S. H. Frankel, “The Kongwa Experiment: Lessons of the East African Groundnut Scheme,” in The Economic Impact on Under-Developed Societies, (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), pp. 141-153.

K.D.S. Baldwin, The Niger Agricultural Project (Oxford, 1957) pp. 1-7, 81-125; 172-197.

Kimble, Tropical Africa, Vol. I, Ch. 5, pp. 163-193.

E. Africa Royal Commission Report, Part V.

1. 2. Marketing Boards

P. T. Bauer, West African Trade, pp. 263-343.

1. 3. Wage and Labor Policy

International Labour Office, African Labour Survey (Geneva, 1958), pp. 259-294.

Inter-African Labour Institute, Commission for Technical Co-operation in Africa South of the Sahara, The Human Factors of Productivity in Africa: A Preliminary Survey, pp. 1-55; 103-106.

Federation of Nigeria, Report of the Fact-Finding Committee on the Minimum Wage Question, (Lagos, 1955), mimeo’d, pp. 10-25.

E. A. Royal Commission Report, pp. 146-162.

E. Berg, “French West Africa,” in W. Galenson (ed.), Labor and Economic Development, pp. 223-241.

1. 4. High Level Manpower and the Economics of Education

Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria. Investment in education; The Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria. (The Ashby Report.) (Lagos, 1960).

1. 5. Industrialization

United Nations, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, pp. 134-140.

W. A. Lewis, Report on Industrialization and the Gold Coast (Accra, 1952).

1. 6. Development Plans and Finance

W.A. Lewis, “On Assessing a Development Plan.”

United Nations, Economic Survey of Africa Since 1950, pp. 135-47.

“The Finance of Development in Tropical Africa,” in United Africa Company, Statistical and Economic Review, #20 (September 1957), and #21 (March 1958).

1. 7. Integration and the Economics of Federalism

E. Berg, “The Economic Basis of Political Choice in French West Africa,” in American Political Science Review, Vol. LIV, #2 (June, 1960), pp. 391-405.

East Africa, Report of the Fiscal Commission (The Raisman Report).

C. Legum, A New Deal in Central Africa. (“The Economic Argument”).

[No additional reading assignment was given for the Reading Period]

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. Box 7, Folder “Economics 1960-61, (1 of 2)”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Department of Economics

Economics 118
FINAL EXAMINATION
May 29, 1961

Dr. Elliot Berg

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer both questions in Part I, and any three questions in Part II. Organize your answers and write clearly.

Part I. Answer both Questions

1. (45 minutes). An African economist recently made the following statement:
   “The pattern of economic development imposed by the European powers in Africa has been a disaster for Africa. What benefits have we drawn from the European presence? Our people have been exploited, our raw materials drained, our economies tied to specialized products which face a dismal future on world markets. The economic benefits of the colonial experience have accrued to the metropolitan countries.”
   Do you agree? Discuss.
2. (45 minutes). You are an eminent economist, deputized by a committee of African governments to make recommendations regarding the re-grouping of existing African states into the most “rational” conceivable economic units. If economic considerations alone were decisive, how would you re-draw the African map?
   In your answer you may focus on any one region (i.e., West Africa, East Africa, etc.) or you may discuss the problem more generally. Make clear the theoretical considerations, on which you base your recommendations—e.g., if you think larger states are more conducive to economic growth than smaller ones, give the analysis supporting your position.

 

Part II. Answer any three questions

(30 minutes)

3. “In the development planning of most African countries, agricultural expansion should receive first attention, for agriculture is the essential springboard on which all economic growth depends.”
   Do you agree? Discuss, giving some attention to the problems of agricultural development, and to alternative methods of agricultural development in Africa.

(30 minutes)

4. Some economics argue that because of the migrant labor system in Africa wage levels for unskilled African labor are higher than they would otherwise be. On the other hand, Adam Smith wrote, in The Wealth of Nations: “When a person derives his subsistence from one employment, which does not occupy the greater part of his time, in the intervals of leisure he is often willing to work for another for less wages than would otherwise suit the nature of the employment.”
   Are these arguments incompatible? Analyze the effects of labor migration on the level of wages of unskilled African labor.

 

(30 minutes)

5. Discuss the major problems of national income accounting in African countries.

 

(30 minutes)

6. African economies are commonly described as “fragile.” In what sense, and to what extent, is this an accurate description? Do you believe that African economies are more susceptible to domestic inflation than are advanced industrial economies?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Bound volume: Social Sciences, Final Examinations. June, 1961. (HUC 7000.28, vol. 134). Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, … , Economics, … , Naval Science, Air Science.

Image Source:  Screen shot of Elliot Berg, President of Elliot Berg Associates, Inc. from C-SPAN, International Conference on Privatization hosted by the Sequoia Institute(February 17, 1986).