Tag: BrooksJG

Harvard. Exams for Political Economy Courses and Ethics of Social Questions, 1890-1891

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-06-24

With the academic year 1890-91, a new instructor joined the Harvard political economy team, William Morse Cole who co-taught Political Economy 1 with Frank Taussig and Political Economy 8, History of Financial Legislation in the United States. Cole went on to have a successful career as professor of accounting at Harvard Business School.

The previous year’s exams have been transcribed and posted earlier:

Harvard. Final exams in political economy and ethics of social reform, 1889-1890

_________________________

1890-1891. Philosophy 14.

Enrollment

[Philosophy] 11. Professor F. G. Peabody. — The Ethics of Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question (Socialism, Communism, Arbitration, Cooperation, etc.), as questions of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 3 hours.

Total 103: 4 Graduates, 53 Senior, 28 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 11 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 57.

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-year examination (1890-91)

[Omit one question.]

The attitude of political economy toward the questions of social reform.
Consider the possible relations in which your own life may stand to the life of society, and their ethical significance.
Examine a special case of moral heroism and state what, in your opinion, was its motive.
What, according to Professor Sumner, are the duties toward others of “a free man in a free democracy”? Why? And with what result, in your opinion, to society?
Enumerate and illustrate some of the practical rules of good charity which issue from the philosophy of charity.
The relation of the labor question in France and England to the political history of those countries.
Compare the conditions of wealth and the possibilities of revolution in England and in this country.
Consider Carlyle’s doctrine of the “Captain of Industry” as a solution of the modern labor question.
What does Ruskin mean by: Roots of honor; veins of purple; non-competitive just exchange; ad valorem?
What is there in religion which encourages the Socialist and what is there which repels him, and what relation between socialism and religion is, in your judgment, likely to be the result?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Omit one question.]

“All wealth is due to labor; therefore to labor all wealth is due.” What, in your opinion, is the economic importance, and the justice, of this proposition?
Compare the views of the Socialist, the Individualist and the “Opportunist” as to the tendency toward State interference. What is your own view of the merits of this kind of legislation?
“Well may Prince Bismarck display leanings toward State Socialism.” Why does Mr. Spencer make this remark, and with what justice?
On what principle would a Professor be paid, under the Socialist programme?
Consider the commercial advantages and hindrances of an establishment like the Hebden Bridge Fustian Mill.
Compare the principle of profit-sharing formerly used in the American Fisheries with that represented by the firm of Billon et Isaac.
Describe the general features and the main intention of the Dawes Indian Bill; and the supplementary legislation now proposed.
What is meant by the “Philosophy of the Family,” and what is its relation to the modern Divorce Question?
If you should enter the retail liquor business in Boston, what legal restrictions would you find hampering the freedom of your trade?
Apply the doctrine of the “Social Organism” to the question of Temperance.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Papers Set for Final examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1891) in bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1890-91.

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1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 1. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig and Mr. [William Morse] Cole. —

First half-year: —

Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours

Second half-year: —

Division A (Theoretical): Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. 3 hours.

Division B (Descriptive): Lectures on Finance, Labor and Capital, Coöperation. — Hadley’s Railroad Transportation. — Laughlin’s Bimetallism. 3 hours.

Total 201:

A: 10 Seniors, 53 Juniors, 50 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 19 Others.
B: 12 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Student notes available at the Harvard Archives

Kennedy, Frank Lowell, Notes on lectures by Frank W. Taussig and William M. Cole on Political Economy 1, 1890-1891. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371.1

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-year examination.

[Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]

I.
[Omit two.]

“Whether men like it or not, the unproductive expenditure of individuals will pro tanto tend to impoverish the community, and only their productive expenditure will enrich it.”
“It would be a great error to regret the large proportion of the annual produce which in an opulent country goes to supply unproductive consumption.”
Can you reconcile these two statements of Mill’s?
“Hardly any two dealers in the same trade, even if their commodities are equally good and equally cheap, carry on their business at the same expense, or turn over their capital in the same time. That equal capitals give equal profits, as a general maxim of trade, would be as false as that equal age or size give equal bodily strength, or that equal reading or experience give equal knowledge.” Can you reconcile this statement of Mill’s with the doctrine of the tendency of profits to an equality?
How far is it true that a general rise or fall in wages would not affect values?
Suppose a country having a metallic currency to issue inconvertible paper to one-half the amount of the coin, and trace the effects on prices and on the circulating medium (1) in an isolated country, having no international trade; (2) in a country having international trade.
On the same supposition, trace the effects, in the country having international trade, on the foreign exchanges, on the course of international trade, and on the terms of international exchange.
“If consumers were to save and covert into capital more than a limited portion of their income, and were not to devote to unproductive consumption an amount of means bearing a certain ratio to the capital of the country, the extra accumulation would be merely so much waste, since there would be no market for the commodities which the capital so created would produce.” Is this true?

II.
[Answer all.]

“Capital is not the result of saving; it is not an accumulation. Its nature is that it should be consumed almost as fast as it is produced. … Saving or accumulation would necessarily defeat the end of its existence. How can materials or tools be saved?” Answer the question.
Explain why rent is not an element in the cost of production of the commodity which yields it.
Connect the law of the increase of labor with the law of production from land.
What is the effect of gratuitous education for a profession on the wages of those engaged in it?
Why does the durability of the precious metals give stability to their value?
What are the laws of value applicable to (1) iron ore, (2) watch-springs, (3) wool and mutton, (4) patented bicycles?
How does the rate of interest bear on the price of land and of securities?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Year-end examination (June 1891)
Division A.

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

Wherein is the effect of a change in the demand for commodities on the wages-fund different (1) if competition among laborers is effective? (2) if it is not effective?
On what grounds does Cairnes reach the same conclusions, as to the possible effects of Trades Unions on general wages, for England and for the United States?
Examine Cairnes’s reasoning as to the possibility of maintaining the accumulation of capital in a socialist community.
Why are the wages of women, according to Mill, lower than the wages of men? Accepting Mill’s explanation, what would Cairnes say as to the laws of value applicable to the exchange of the products of women’s labor with the products of men’s labor?
What is the error in saying that high wages make high prices?
“Gold may be cheap, and prices at the same time be low.” Explain.
Is it true that the benefit of foreign trade lies in its affording an outlet for the surplus produce of the community?
Suppose the people of the United States to borrow annually large sums from Europe; and suppose them also to have large interest payments to make on loans contracted in previous years; would you expect our foreign trade to show an excess of imports or of exports?
Mill says that an emission of inconvertible paper money, equal in amount to the specie previously circulating, will drive out the whole of the metallic money; “that is, if paper be issued of as low a denomination as the lowest coin; if not, as much will remain as convenience requires for the smaller payments.” What light is thrown on this statement by the experience of the United States in 1862?
Why did the circumstance that an exceptionally large part of the country’s business was done for cash in the period immediately after the civil war make the time favorable for a speedy contraction of the currency?
Is payment for capital sunk in the soil, rent, or profit?

Division B.

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]
[One question may be omitted.]

Why have pools and traffic agreements been more stable in England than in the United States?
Why does a railroad charge more per ton per mile on cotton goods than on coal?
“A government enterprise may be managed on any one of four principles: 1. as a tax; 2. for business profits; 3. to pay expenses; 4. for public service, without much regard to the question of expenses.” Explain, giving an example under each head.
Wherein is there a resemblance between the legislation of France as to railways and as to banking?
Arrange in proper order the following items of a bank account: Capital, 300; Loans, 1150; Bonds and Stocks, 50; Surplus, 85; Undivided Profits, 10; Cash, 110; Cash items, 90; Notes, 90; Real Estate, 25; Other Assets, 20; Deposits, 960.
Do you see any reason for believing this bank to be or not to be a national bank of the United States? To be a city or a country bank?
Suppose the national banks of the United States ceased to issue notes, their other operations remaining as now; how great would be the effect of the change on the circulating medium of the community? Compare the effect with that which would ensue in Germany if the note issue of the German banks were to cease.
Under the national bank act, how does the action of our banks, when their reserves are suddenly lowered, differ from that of the Bank of England in like case?
Wherein is the mode of dividing profits among members of the coöperative stores in England different from that of the coöperative building associations of the United States?
Wherein does bimetallism as now practiced in France differ from bimetallism as it was in France in 1850? Wherein does it differ from bimetallism as it is in the United States now?
Compare the legislation of Germany on coinage in 1873 with that of the United States in 1853.
Mill divides commodities into three classes, according to the laws of value applicable to them. In which class would you put silver bullion?
Describe carefully the act for the resumption of specie payments, stating when it was passed, when it went into effect, and how far it was successful in accomplishing the desired object.
Will a general rise in wages affect values? prices? profits?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 2. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig and Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. — History of Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from Leading Writers. — Socialism. 3 hours.

Total 23: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Previously Posted

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-history-of-economic-theory-final-exam-questions-taussig-1891-94/

Fun fact: W.E.B. Dubois was enrolled in Economics 2 in 1890/91 as a graduate student and was awarded a grade of A (one of six awarded to the twenty-two who received grades, as recorded in Taussig’s scrapbook).

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-year examination.

[Divide your time equally between the two parts of the paper.]
[Omit one question.]

It has been suggested that the real source from which wages are paid is not the product of the laborer, nor the capital of the employer, but the income of the consumer. What should you say?
To which of the following cases, if to any, is the reasoning of the wages fund theory applicable? (1) The farmer tilling his own land with his own capital; (2) the fisherman working for a share of the catch; (3) the independent artisan working on his own account with borrowed capital; (4) the employer who habitually sells his product before pay-day, and pays his laborers with the proceeds.
Wherein does President Walker’s view of the source from which wages are paid differ from George’s?
“The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talent in business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent.] If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to the consumers, through the diminished value of the article; he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher…. Wages and profits represent the universal elements in production, while rent may be taken to represent the differential and peculiar; any difference in favor of certain producers, or in favor of production in certain circumstances, being the source of a gain, which, though not called rent, unless paid periodically by one person to another, is governed by laws entirely the same with it.”—Mill, Political Economy, book iii., ch. v., §4.
What has President Walker added to this in his discussion of business profits?
“It is true that money does not beget money; but capital does manifestly beget capital. If a man borrows a thousand ducats and ties them up in a bag, he will not find any little ducats in the bag at the end of the year; but if he purchases with the ducats a flock of sheep, he will, with proper attention, have lambs enough at the end of the year to make a handsome interest on the loan, and make a handsome profit for himself. If the turns the ducats into corn, he will find it bringing forth, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold…Very seldom does a man borrow money to use it, as money, through the term of his loan. When he does so, as brokers for example sometimes do, he may to Antonio’s question, ‘Is your gold and silver rams and ewes?’ return Shylock’s answer, ‘I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast.’”
Discuss this explanation of interest. Whom do you suppose to be the writer of the extract?
“The natural history of the notion on which it [the wages-fund doctrine] rests, is not obscure. It grew out of the conditions which existed in England during and immediately subsequent to the Napoleonic wars. Two things were then noted. First, capital had become accumulated in the island to such an extent that employers found no (financial) difficulty in paying their laborers by the month, week, or day, instead of requiring them to await the fruition of their labor in the harvested or marketed product. Second, the wages were, in fact, generally so low that they furnished no more than a bare subsistence, while the employment offered was so restricted that an increase in the number of laborers had the effect to throw some out of employment or to reduce the wages for all. Out of these things the wages-fund theory was put together.”
Examine this account of the rise of the wages-fund doctrine.
Discuss the method of reasoning followed by Adam Smith, and illustrate by his treatment of two of the following topics: (1) the causes which bring about high wages; (2) the effects on domestic industry of restraints on importation; (3) the origin and effects of the division of labor.
Explain how Ricardo’s conception of wages bears on his conclusions as to the effects of taxes on wages, and as to the net income of society.
What can be said in justification of the views of the writers of the mercantile school?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

Second semester taught by John Graham Brooks.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

From Rousseau to the Fabians, what have been the chief historic changes in the Philosophy of Socialism?
In detail, state the differences between the Marx type of Socialism and that of the Fabians.
With reference to the “three rents” what are the most important objections to Socialism?
What reasons can you give to show that Socialism is likely to have much further development in our society?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 3. Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. — Social Questions. — Short theses. 1^st half-year. 3 hours.

Total 10: 1 Graduate, 7 Seniors, 1 Junior, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year examination

State the general objects of the German State Insurance, with reasons why it is likely, or not likely, to reach its objects.
State in detail the strong points and the weak points of Trades Unions.
What is the effect of Trades Unions upon their own wages, as distinguished from wages in general?
What advantages has Profit Sharing over the present forms of the wages system?
Are there reasons to believe that Profit Sharing will have much larger influence in the future?
With special reference to the work of the half year, what “social remedies” appear to you most promising?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 4. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar. — Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. —Lectures and written work. 3 hours.

Total 103: 29 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 25 Sophomores, 4 Freshmen, 17 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

Other course material available at the Harvard Archives

Topics and references in political economy IV [1891?]. Student’s copy belonging to C. King Morrison, ’91. with manuscript notes. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371

Larrabee, Ralph Clinton (A.B. 1893). Notes in Political Economy 4: lectures by Prof. Dunbar, 1890-1891. Harvard University Archives HUC 8890.371.4.48

Principle text for Political Economy 4

From the prefatory note to Benjamin Rand’s (ed.) Selections illustrating economic history since the Seven Years’ War (Cambridge, MA: Waterman and Amee, 1889):

These selections have been made for use as a text-book of required reading to accompany a course of lectures on economic history given at Harvard College.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year examination

Lay out your time carefully, reserving 15 minutes for review and correction.

A.
Give half of your time (say 80 minutes) to A, omitting one question.

Make a careful statement of the leading provisions of the English navigation and colonial system.
Adam Smith’s reasons for saying that the policy of Great Britain towards her colonies had, upon the whole, been less illiberal and oppressive than that of other countries towards theirs. [Rand, pp. 12-26.]
Contrast the effects of the French revolutionary period upon the holding and distribution of land, in France and Germany respectively.
Describe the current of opinion and the industrial conditions which made free trade inevitably the policy for England.
State the reasons for the logical and political importance of the corn laws in the English free trade movement.
The essential differences between the French and the Anglo-American methods of managing railway construction and ownership, and the effect and advantages of each.

B.
Give 80 minutes to B, omitting two questions.

The trade between the United States and the British West Indies, before our revolution, and after.
The inventions or improvements which made the development of the cotton States possible.
The condition of commerce and manufactures in the United States in the two periods, 1794-1808, and 1808-1815.
The successive enterprises for opening communication with the territory north of the Ohio, and their importance.
The English legislation respecting cotton goods in the last century and the reasons for it.
What was the effect of the Napoleonic wars upon the introduction of manufactures on the continent of Europe?
The comparative state of preparation of England, France, Germany, and the United States for undertaking the modern industries when the peace of 1815 came.
Give what account you can of the career and opinions of Turgot, with dates.
The contributions of Stein and Hardenberg respectively to the reform in the Prussian system of land-holding.
On what plan was the Zollverein organized?
What are the differences in industrial characteristics which make it natural for England and France to adopt different policies as to protection and free trade?

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

Lay out your time carefully, reserving 15 minutes for review and correction

A.
Give half of your time to A. omitting one question.

The establishment of the Zollverein is spoken of [Rand, page 138] as “the first step towards what is called the Germanization of the people” and to have “prepared the way for a political nationality.” Show how it had this effect.
Cairnes, in his discussion of the new gold, [Rand, page 197] shows that “a given addition to the metallic stock of Great Britain and the United States … will cause a greater expansion of the total circulation, and therefore will support a greater advance in general prices, that the same addition to the currency of … France … and that again, the effect in countries like France will be greater than in countries like India or China.” Why is this, and how much effect did this difference in sensitiveness produce in the years after 1850?
Cairnes lays down [Rand, page 209] that “every country is interested in raising as rapidly as possible the prices of its productions,–in other words, in the most rapid possible depreciation in the local value of its gold.” What are the grounds for this proposition?
The writer in Blackwood’s, [Rand, page 228] says that the most important point in the payment of the French indemnity is “How came it that £170,000,000 [4,250,000,000 francs] of bills could be got at all”? What is the explanation of this fact?
What are the reasons for looking upon Italy as a possible serious competitor in ocean navigation, and what are her great drawbacks in such competition?

What are the marked differences between the great change in the production and value of the precious metals in the sixteenth century, and that in the nineteenth?
Why was an additional supply of gold especially important to the world in the years 1850-60?
How does the mere saving of time in transportation, or in the transmission of intelligence, produce an effect upon commerce?
How far was the civil war the cause of the decline of American shipping after 1860?
What reasons made the breaking out of a financial crisis in the United States in 1873 easier than usual?
Why did the payment of the French indemnity disturb the financial quiet of other countries than France and Germany?
What are the great cases of resumption of specie payment in the years 1875-85, and how were they brought about respectively?
Why is the trade between countries so often “triangular,” and why is England so generally one of the parties concerned?
How does the modern theory of the utility of colonies differ from that of a century or two ago?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 6. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 2d half-year

Total 43: 1 Graduate, 28 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Answer all questions.]

Explain wherein France and the United States were in similar positions, as regards customs policy, in 1814-15; and state briefly the legislation to which these situations led in the two countries.
What was the argument, discussed in Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures, which rested on the supposed exceptions productiveness of agriculture? What was Hamilton’s answer? What is the sound view?
How did Gallatin propose in 1831 to fix customs duties without regard to their protective effect? Walker in 1845?
Was there any ground in 1832 for saying that the duties on imports were equivalent to duties on exports? Is there now?
How did the general fall in prices after 1819 affect the growth of manufactures in the United States?
“The climate, soil, and conditions generally in the Northwest, are very favorable to the cultivation of flax fibre as well as of the seed. After a short experience as to the primary manipulation and handling of the flax fibre, our farmers would produce flax which would compare favorably with the best varieties of the fibre. It seems strange that a practical people like ourselves should for years have been satisfied to cultivate seed for flax at a value of about $15 per acre, and at the same time allow 600 pounds of flax fibre per acre to rot on the ground, this fibre having a value, after being manipulated, of $186 per ton.”
Can you explain the anomaly?
Describe the process by which the duties on woollen cloths, as they stand in the act of 1890, were arrived at.
What ground is there for saying that the protective movement in the United States is part of a general reaction towards protection which has appeared in most civilized countries in recent years?
It has been said that the tariff act of 1789 began the protective policy of the United States; that the act of 1816 was the first giving serious protection; that the act of 1824 was the first strictly protective act. Which statement, if any, do you think true?
Which of the important tariff acts between 1835 and 1859 were passed quite without regard to financial considerations?
What does the continued importation of clothing wool indicate as to the effect of the duty on the domestic price? of pig iron? of silks?

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 7. Professor [Charles Franklin] Dunbar. — Public Finance and Taxation. — Cohn’s Finanzwissenschaft. 3 hours.

Total 7: 2 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

It is recommended that at least a third of the time be given to B.

Accepting the usual reasoning that a tax under some circumstances, by diminishing the income from property, diminishes its selling value, and so ceases to be felt by subsequent purchasers, should you say,—
1. That the French impôt foncier is a tax on present landholders?
2. That the English income-tax under Schedule A. is a tax on present landholders?
  The reason for the difference, if any exists.
What is your final conclusion as to the sale of bonds or annuities at a discount, — is it defensible or not, and on what grounds?
Explain the English method of using terminable annuities for the reduction of the public debt, as in 1867 and 1883, and discuss its advantages and drawbacks.
“The administrator of local finances is permitted to found a sinking-fund at the time of issuing bonds, a permission, it will be remembered, contrary to sound rules of national financiering.”
Does the distinction here made between local and national finances give solid ground for difference of treatment? Are the propositions as to the propriety of establishing sinking-funds in the two cases respectively tenable?
Say remarks that the French government, in providing for the indemnity, bought any kind of foreign bills of exchange, “prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pay que ce fût.” How did this purchase of a bill, say upon Russia, facilitate the payment of the indemnity any more than the purchase of a bill upon Marseilles would have done, seeing that in either case the government had to collect the proceeds in order to use them?

In 1872 Herr Bamberger, in his pamphlet die Fünf Milliarden, regretted that Germany had not been allowed more time to absorb the indemnity, so as to avoid the risk of over-stimulated enterprise, rise of prices, and speculation.
Discuss the probably effects, in Germany or elsewhere, (1) of longer time allowed to France; (2) of more cautious introduction of the wealth into Germany, effected
1. By longer deposit (say) in London,
2. By payment in securities, to be sold by Germany by degrees.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 8. Mr. [William Morse] Cole. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 1^st half-year.

Total 46: 1 Graduate, 29 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Mid-year examination

“That the public credit was much better during the Civil War than during the War of 1812 is proved by the fact that during the former war the bulk of the loans were sold at par, whereas during the latter the larger part were sold below par.”
Comment on this statement.
Under what authority does the Secretary of the Treasury purchase bonds in the market? Why does he not redeem them at par?
Explain: “Five-twenties”; “Seven-thirties”; and tell why they were made seven-thirties; “Deferred sixes,” “5% redemption fund.”
When were the first legal tenders under the present constitution authorized?
What have been the express legal exemptions of government obligations from taxation since the outbrake of the Civil War?
In what different capacities was each of the following men connected with the finances of the nation: Hugh McCulloch, Levi Woodbury, William Pitt Fessenden, John Tyler?

II.
(Omit two.)

1, 2. [Counts as two questions.] Compare the causes of the suspensions of 1814, 1837, and 1861.

3, 4. [Counts as two.] Mention the different systems which have been in vogue since 1789 for caring for public funds, and tell why each change was made.

1. It was said that the bill which finally became the act for resumption in 1875 really provided for nothing in particular, and therefore ought not to be put upon the statute book. Did the provisions of the bill warrant the remark? Did subsequent history justify the remark?
2. In what way were the French Spoliation Claims connected with the Second-Bank Struggle?
3. Hamilton wished to have a system of internal taxation in working order as a resource in case of emergency. Does history throw any light upon the wisdom or folly of such a policy?
4. What were the causes of Gallatin’s retirement from the Treasury?
5. What history would you cite as an argument upon a proposition to replace bonds exempt from all taxation by bonds taxed to a moderate extent, and to distribute the receipts from the tax among the States according to the federal ratio?
6. In a speech on the refunding bill it was said that the government made no threat, but merely promised certain privileges to those who presented bonds to be refunded at a lower rate. “No one proposes…the alternative adopted by our own Government under Hamilton’s plan of reducing the interest.”
  Is this implication regarding Hamilton’s funding justified by the facts?

11, 12. [Counts as two.] Mention as many as possible of the kinds of obligations which have been contracted by the government; i.e. character of obligation (bond or what), length of time to run, and rate of interest. Give one example under each kind,—giving period of issue, but not necessarily the exact date.

Source: Harvard University Archives. In Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. From bound volume Examination Papers, 1890-91.

_____________________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 9. Professor [Frank W.] Taussig. — Railway Transportation. —Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year

Total 20: 14 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1890-1891, p. 58.

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

[Answer all the questions, and arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.]

Can it be fairly said that the early experience of the States of the Union supplies strong arguments against State ownership of railways? Can it be fairly said of the experience of France since 1878?
State the salient events in the history of the federal land grants to railways.
How do you explain the rapidity with which the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were completed?
Wherein did the so-called Granger legislation on railway rates resemble the “natural” system advocated in Germany after 1871? Wherein did it differ from it?
Sketch the history and machinery of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association.
Explain the difference in the working of the Trunk Line Association before and after the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act.
What ground is there for saying that the prohibition of pooling in the Interstate Commerce Act is inconsistent with its prohibition of discrimination between individuals?
Suppose a railway to be built and used exclusively for coal traffic; would its rates be arranged on a plan essentially different from that in use with ordinary railways, having a varied traffic?
It has been said that the principle of tolls, or rates based on cost of service, makes it necessary that each item of business should pay its share of the fixed charges. Why, or why not?
Sketch the history of government management of railways in Italy.
“Property has reached an ideal perfection. It is felt and treated as the national lifeblood. The rights of property nothing but felony and treason can override. The house is a castle which the King cannot enter. The Bank is a strong box to which the King has no key. Whatever surly sweetness possession can give is tasted in England to the dregs. Vested rights are awful things, and absolute possession gives the smallest freeholder identity of interest with the duke.”—Emerson, English Traits.
Wherein does the trait here described make the railroad situation in England different from that in the United States?

Tags BrooksJG, ColeWM, Dunbar, Peabody, Taussig

Economic History Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exams in political economy and ethics of social reform, 1889-1890

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2021-05-09

The Harvard University Archives provide a fairly complete collection of final examinations for all Harvard courses. Slowly but surely Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is adding transcriptions of economics exam questions, sometimes for individual courses together with syllabi where available and sometimes as annual collections along with course enrollments. In this post we get one year closer to the turn of the twentieth century. Stay tuned or, better yet, subscribe to the blog below!

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1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.

Enrollment.

[Philosophy] 11. Prof. [Francis Greenwood] Peabody. The Ethics of Social Reform. — The modern social questions: Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as questions of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. — Students in this course made personal study of movements in charity and reform. They inspected hospitals, asylums, and industrial schools in the neighborhood, and the various labor organizations, cooperative and profit-sharing enterprises and movements of socialism, temperance, etc., within their reach. Four special reports were presented by each student, based so far as possible upon these special researches. Hours per week: 2 or 3.

Total 112: 1 Graduate, 53 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 9 Sophomores, 15 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 79.

1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Omit one question.

“This Course of study has a twofold purpose, — an immediate and practical purpose, and an indirect and philosophical purpose.” — Lecture I. Illustrate both of these intentions of the Course in the case of either Social Question thus far treated.
Compare the “Social Organism” of Hobbes or of Rousseau with the modern conception of society.
“Here is a tenant-farmer whose principles prompt him to vote in opposition to his landlord…May he then take a course which will eject him from his farm and so cause inability to feed his children?…No one can decide by which course the least wrong is likely to be done.” — Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 267.

“Thou love repine and reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply —
‘Tis man’s perdition to be safe
When for the truth he ought to die.’”

Emerson, Poems, p. 253. Sacrifice.

Define and compare the principles of conduct proposed in these two passages.

The doctrine of the “Forgotten Man,” — its meaning and its effect on charity and on the stability of the State. Interpret, under this principle of conduct, the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The history of the English Poor Law as illustrating the progress and the dangers of modern charity.
The Law of Marriage in the United States, — its two chief forms, its effect on divorce, and the changes proposed in the interest of Divorce Reform.
The Patriarchal Theory, — its definition, its evidence, and its place in the Philosophy of the Family.
Exogamy, — its meaning, its suppose causes, and its effect on the development of society.
The relation of the stable family type to —
1. The Philosophy of Individualism.
2. The Philosophy of Socialism.
Illustrate the dependence of the question of the home on the industrial and economic tendencies of the time.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

[Omit one question.]

State, briefly, any general results which you may have seemed to yourself to gain from this course of study.
The facts, so far as investigated, as to the distribution of wealth in England and in this country, and the lessons to be derived from these facts in either case.
The economic doctrine of Carlyle’s “Past and Present,” and its value in the modern “Social Question.”
Distinguish Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism in their relation to: —
1. The philosophy of Individualism
2. The present industrial order.
The tendency in modern legislation which encourages the Socialist. How far, in your opinion, is his inference from this tendency justifiable?
Distinguish the logical and the practical relationships of Socialism to: (a) Religion. (b) Co-operation.
The business principles which give a commercial advantage to an English co-operative store.
State the issue between Federalism and Individualism in Co-operation.
Describe the four prevailing methods of liquor legislation, their relation to each other, and the arguments which encourage each.
Illustrate the “correlation” of the temperance question with other social questions of the time.
How far does such a study of the Social Questions as we have pursued go to establish a theory of Ethics? Illustrate this philosophical contribution in the case of any one of the questions of this Course.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3. Bound Volume: Examination Papers, 1890-92. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1890), pp. 8-9.

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1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 1. Profs. [Frank William] Taussig and [Silas Marcus] Macvane, and Mr. [Edward Campbell] Mason. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Cairnes’s Leading Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Social Questions (Coöperation, Profit-Sharing, Trades-Unions, Socialism). Banking, and the financial legislation of the United States. Hours per week: 3.

Total 179: 2 Graduates, 29 Seniors, 65 Juniors, 60 Sophomores, 23 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Define wealth; define capital; and explain which of the following are wealth or capital: pig iron, gold bullion, water, woolen cloth, bank-notes.
Is there any inconsistency between the propositions (1) that capital is the result of saving, (2) that it is perpetually consumed, (3) that the amount of capital in civilized communities is steadily increasing?
On what grounds does Mill conclude that the increase of fixed capital at the expense of circulating is seldom injurious to the laborers? On what grounds does he conclude that, when government expenditures for wars are defrayed from loans, the laborers usually suffer no detriment?
Explain the proposition that even though all the land in cultivation paid rent, there would always be some agricultural capital paying no rent.
Trace the connections between the law of population and the law of rent.
What is the effect on values, if any, of (1) a rise of profits in a particular occupation, (2) a general rise in profits?
“The preceding are cases in which inequality of remuneration is necessary to produce equality of attractiveness, and are examples of the equalizing effect of competition. The following are cases of real inequality, and arise from a different principle.” Give examples of differences of wages illustrating each of these two sets of cases; and explain what is the principle from which the second set arise.
“Retail price, the price paid by the actual consumer, seems to feel very slowly and imperfectly the effect of competition; and when competition does exist, it often, instead of lowering prices, merely divides the gains of the high price among a greater number of dealers.” Explain.
What are the laws of value applying to (1) land, (2) raw cotton, (3) cotton cloth, (4) gold?
How does the legislation of the United States on National Banks provide for the safety of notes and of deposits?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.

How does Mill explain the fact that the wages of women are lower than the wages of men? Wherein is his explanation analogous to certain propositions on which Cairnes laid stress?
“Wages, then, depend mainly upon the proportion between population and capital. By population is here meant the number only of the laboring class, or rather of those who work for hire; and by capital, only circulating capital, and not even the whole of that, but the part which is expended in the direct purchase of labor.” — Mill.
What has Cairnes added to this statement of the wages-fund doctrine?
On what grounds does Cairnes conclude that trades unions cannot raise general wages?
Explain how it may happen that a thing can be sold cheapest by being produced in some other place that that at which it can be produced with the greatest amount of labor and abstinence.
What effect does the growth of a country have on the relative values of hides and beef? How far would improvements enabling beef to be transported for great distances affect Cairnes’s conclusions on this subject?
Mill lays it down that an emission of paper money beyond the quantity of specie previously in circulation will cause the disappearance of the whole of the metallic money; but observes that if paper be not issued of as low a denomination as the lowest coin, such coin will remain as convenience requires for the smaller payments. What light does experience of the United States during the Civil War throw on the main proposition, and on the qualification?
“No nation can continue to pay its foreign debts by the process of incurring new debts to meet a balance yearly accruing against it; yet this, in truth, is the nature of the financial operation by which of late years the United States has contrived to settle accounts with the rest of the world…These considerations lead me to the conclusion that the present condition [1873] of the external trade of the United States is essentially abnormal and temporary. If that country is to continue to discharge her liabilities to foreigners, the relation which at present obtains between exports and imports in her external trade must be inverted.”
State the reasoning by which Cairnes was led to this prediction; and explain how far it was verified by the events of the years after succeeding 1873. Point out the bearing of those events on the resumption of specie payments by the United States.
“Suppose that, under a double standard, gold rises in value relatively to silver, so that the quantity of gold in a sovereign is now worth more than the quantity of silver in twenty shillings. The consequence will be that, unless a sovereign can be sold for more than twenty shillings, all the sovereigns will be melted, since as bullion they will purchase a greater number of shillings than they exchange for as coin.” — Mill.
Explain (1) the conditions assumed in regard to international trade in this reasoning; (2) the mode in which, under the double standard, the metal whose value rises in fact goes out of circulation; (3) the reasons why the coinage of silver in the United States since 1878 has not driven gold out of the currency.
Are general high prices an advantage to a country?
What were Mill’s expectations as to the future of coöperative production? Cairnes’s? What does experience lead you to expect?

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1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 2. Prof. [Frank William] Taussig and Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. First half-year: Lectures on the History of Economic Theory. — Discussion of selections from Adam Smith and Ricardo. — Topics in distribution, with special reference to wages and managers’ returns. — Second half-year: Modern Socialism in France, Germany, and England. — An extended thesis from each student. Hours per week: 3. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 24: 7 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Sidgwick supposes that, in a country where the ratio of auxiliary to remuneratory capital is 5 to 1, 120 millions are saved and added to the existing capital, and asks, “in what proportion are we to suppose this to be divided?” Answer the question.
On the same supposition Cairnes’s answer is expected to be that the whole of the 120 millions would be added to the wages fund. “But then, unless the laborers became personally more efficient in consequence — which Cairnes does not assume — there would be no increase in the annual produce, and therefore the whole increase in the wages fund would be taken out of the profits within the year after the rise. Now, though I do not consider saving to depend so entirely on the prospect of profit as Mill and other economists, still I cannot doubt that a reduction in profits by an amount equivalent to the whole amount saved would very soon bring accumulation to a stop; hence the conclusion from Cairnes’s assumptions would seem to be that under no circumstances can capital increase to any considerable extent unless the number of laborers increases also.”
What would Cairnes say to this?
Explain what is Sidgwick’s conclusion as to the effect of profits on accumulation; and point out wherein his treatment of this topic differs from Cairnes’s and from Ricardo’s.
In what sense does George use the term “wages”? Ricardo? Mill? Cairnes?
Explain wherein Sidgwick’s general theory of distribution differs from Walker’s.
Compare the treatment of rent by the Physiocratic writers and by Adam Smith.
What was Adam Smith’s doctrine as to labor as a means of value? What was Ricardo’s criticism on that doctrine?
What did Adam Smith say to the argument that taxes on the necessaries of life raise the price of labor, and therefore give good ground for import duties on the commodities produced at home by the high-priced labor? What would Ricardo have said to the same argument?
How does Ricardo show that the application of labor and capital to worse soil brings a decline of profits not only in agriculture, but in all industries?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination papers in economics 1882-1935 of Professor F. W. Taussig (HUC 7882). Scrapbook.
Also included in Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

Political Economy 2.
[Year-end Examination, June 1890.]

Characterize French Socialism, chiefly with reference to St. Simon and Louis Blanc.
What general differences do you note between French and German Socialism?
Summarize Lasalle’s theory of history development.
State and criticize in detail Marx’s theory of surplus value. What follows as to Socialism, if this theory fails?
Is Schaeffle a Socialist? If so, why? If not, why not?
State the present attitude of English Socialism, with special reference to the Fabian Society. Note the most important changes from the Marx type.
In what definite ways would Socialism modify the system of private property?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Vol. Examination Papers, 1890-92. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1890), pp. 11-12. Previously posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 3. Prof. [Frank William] Taussig and Mr. [John Graham] Brooks. Investigation and Discussion of Practical Economic Questions. — Subjects for 1889-90: Profit-Sharing; the Silver Situation in the United States; Prices since 1850; the Regulation of Railways by the Interstate Commerce Act. — Lectures and discussion of theses. Hours per week: 2. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 19: 15 Seniors, 4 Juniors.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Define Profit-sharing, distinguishing it from Coöperation and from existing forms of the wages system.
What in your opinion are the four most successful experiments, with specific reasons for the choice?
State as definitely as possible the conditions under which Profit-sharing is most likely to succeed.
What are the advantages of immediate as against deferred participation?
How serious is the current objection that the laborer cannot or ought not to bear the losses incident to business?
What of the objection that secrecy is impossible?
What specific evidence is there that an extraordinary person is not permanently necessary to successful Profit-sharing?
State briefly the actual advantages and disadvantages of Profit-sharing as they have appeared in history.
What would be the probably effects of competition upon a larger application of Profit-sharing to our industrial system?
What is the best method of dividing the bonus? Add any criticism upon the actual division as seen in history.
Will self-interest alone insure successful Profit-sharing? If not, how can the difficulty be met without violating “business principles”?

Supplementary Questions.

What, if any, is the nature of the antagonism in Profit-sharing among capitalist, manager, and workman?
What of the objection that Profit-sharing is inconsistent with the nature of a legal contract?
Would a wider application of Profit-sharing modify any given theory (as that of Cairnes or Walker) as to the wage fund?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

In 1887 the Secretary of the Treasury suggested that the purchase by the government of silver for coinage into standard dollars should be subject only to one limitation: that whenever the silver dollars held by the Treasury, over and above those held against outstanding certificates, exceeded $5,000,000, the purchase and coinage should cease.
Explain (1) how the effects of this plan, in the years from 1887 to 1889, would have differed from those of the actual coinage and issue; (2) whether the silver currency so issued could, under any circumstances, be at a discount as compared with gold.
Give the same explanations in regard to a plan by which the government should purchase every month $4,500,000 worth of silver bullion and issue therefor certificates, redeemable, at the government’s option, in gold or silver coin; or, at the holder’s option, in silver bullion at its market value on the day of their presentation for redemption.
What are India Council Bills? How does their issue affect the price of silver?
Point out what bearing you think improvements in production have on the existence and effects of an appreciation of gold.
Explain the following terms, giving examples: (a) group rate; (b) differential; (c) relatively reasonable rates; (d) arbitraries, (e) commodity rate.
Is it unjust discrimination, under the Interstate Commerce Act, (1) to offer a discount to any consignee who receives more than a specified quantity of freight a year; (2) to give a lower rate to regular shippers than to occasional shippers; (3) to refuse to pay mileage for the use of cars furnished by a shipper of cattle, when mileage is paid for the use of cars furnished by a shipper of oil; (4) to charge more per mile on long hauls than on short hauls.
Comment on the following: “The value of service is generally regarded as the most important factor in fixing rates…The value of service to a shipper in a general sense is the ability to reach a market and make his commodity a subject of commerce. In this sense, the service is more valuable to a man who transports a thousand miles than to a man who transports a hundred miles, so that distance is an element in value of service. In a more definite and accurate sense, it consists in reaching a market at a profit, being in effect what the traffic will bear, to be remunerative to the producer or trader.”
Explain how the penalties for violating the Interstate Commerce Act can be enforced, and how they have been enforced.

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1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 4. Mr. [Adolph Caspar] Miller. Economic History of Europe and America since the Seven Years’ War. — Lectures and written work. Hours per week: 3.

Total 106: 25 Seniors, 27 Juniors, 35 Sophomores, 3 Freshmen, 16 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

* * * * * *

From the prefatory note to Benjamin Rand’s (ed.) Selections illustrating economic history since the Seven Years’ War (Cambridge, MA: Waterman and Amee, 1889):

These selections have been made for use as a text-book of required reading to accompany a course of lectures on economic history given at Harvard College.

* * * * * *

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

[Take all of A, and seven questions from B.]

A.

“It has often been imagined that the property of these great masses of land was almost entirely in the hands of the church, the monasteries, the nobility, and the financiers; and that before 1789 only large estates existed, while the class of small proprietors was created by the Revolution. Some consider this supposed change as the highest glory, and others as the greatest calamity of modern times; but all are agreed as to the fact. — Von Sybel, [Economic Causes of the French Revolution] in Selections, p. 52.
(a) What do you consider to be the fact?
(b) Granting the fact, how do you regard the change?
Speaking of the fall of wages in England during the French wars, Mr. Porter [The Finances of England, 1793-1815, Selections, p. 114] says: “Nor could it well be otherwise, since the demand for labor can only increase with the increase of the capital destined for the payment of wages.” Why was there no increase of the capital destined for the payment of wages when, according to J. S. Mill, “the wealth and resources of the country, instead of diminishing, gave every sign of rapid increase”?
Porter [Selections, p. 121] says: “There never could have existed any doubt of the fact that, whenever the necessity for borrowing should cease, the market value of the public funds would advance greatly…. The knowledge of this fact should have led the ministers, by whom successive additions were made to the public debt, to the adoption of a course which would have enabled them to turn this rise of prices to the advantage of the public, instead of its being, as it has proved, productive of loss.”
What was the course adopted and how was it productive of loss? Was this “loss” at all offset by any advantages?
Mention briefly the events associated in your mind with six of the following names: Sheffield; Slater; Coalbrookdale; Young; Dud Dudley; Coxe; Killingworth; Clarkson; “Rocket.”

B.

How was England commercially affected by the loss of her American colonies in 1783?
(a) Compare the French debt and taxation in 1789 with those of England at about the same date.
(b) Point out the significance of England’s debt in 1783 as compared with 1889.
(a) What method would you pursue in investigating the question as to the depreciation of bank notes during the Restriction?
(b) Tooke’s explanation of the high price of bullion during the Restriction. Wherein did it differ from the opinion of the Bullion Committee?
(c) How do you account for the high profits of the Bank of England during the Restriction?
(a) Describe the French assignats and point out wherein they differed from the territorial mandates.
(b) What was the tiers consolidé?
(a) In what particular ways were England and the United States peculiarly benefited by the introduction of steam navigation?
(b) What changes were introduced into the French railway system under Napoleon III.?
(a) Napoleon’s Continental System. Its effects upon England and France respectively.
(b) Point out the chief factors determining the commercial development of the United States from 1789 to 1816.
(a) General commercial and industrial nature of the period 1815 to 1830.
(b) Were the progressive changes of prices a cause or an effect of the disturbances of this period?
(c) How did the increase of pauperism affect the distribution of wealth in England during and following the Napoleonic wars?
(a) Why has the current of liberal commercial opinions been successful in influencing legislation in England, but ineffective in France?
(b) Describe the Merchants’ Petition, and point out its importance.
(a) Formation and constitution of the Zoll Verein.
(b) In what manner were the duties of the Zoll Verein levied?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

[Take all of A and eight questions from B.]

A.

Cairnes [From Cairnes’ Essays in Political Economy, “The New Gold”, in Selections, p. 211] says that “as a general conclusion we may say, that in proportion as in any country the local depreciation of gold is more or less rapid than the average rate elsewhere, the effect of the monetary disturbance will be for that country beneficial or injurious.”
1. By what process of reasoning does Mr. Cairnes reach this conclusion?
2. To what extent was it verified by the history of the new gold movement?
3. What would determine the rapidity of the local depreciation in any country?
The writer in Blackwood’s [“The French Indemnity: The Payment of the Five Milliards” in Selections, p. 250], speaking of the origin of the indemnity bills, quotes M. Say as being of the opinion “that scarcely any part of the indemnity bills was furnished by the current commercial trade of the country.” How were they furnished?
The same writer [Selections, p. 246] says that “the quantities of bills, of each kind, that were bought by the French Government as vehicles of transmission, in no way indicate the form in which the money was handed over to the German Treasury.” Why?
Wells [Recent Economic Changes, p. 218] says “the changes in recent years in the world’s economic condition have essentially changed the relative importance of the two functions which gold, as the leading monetary metal, discharges; namely, that of an instrumentality for facilitating exchanges and as a measure of value.” Describe some of the agencies and evidences of this change in the functions of gold, and point out what influence has thus been exerted upon the value of gold.

B.

Why was an additional supply of gold especially important, 1850-69?
What part did India play in the gold movement, 1851-67? How has her ability in this respect been modified?
To what extent can the decline of our tonnage be ascribed to the effects of the Civil War?
How do you account for the increase of the trading classes during the Civil War?
American wheat and its effect upon English agriculture. How were the results modified by the lord and tenant system?
German coinage and the crisis of 1873. To what extent did it contribute to the fall of prices after 1873?
How did the crisis of 1873 simplify the problem of specie resumption for the United States? Did it do the same for France?
Why did France recover so rapidly after the war of 1870-71?
The Suez Canal and Oriental trade.
Compare the period 1873-89 with the period 1815-30.

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1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 6. Prof. [Frank William] Taussig. History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. — Lectures on the History of Tariff Legislation. — Discussion of brief theses (two from each student). — Lectures on the Tariff History of France and England. Hours per week: 2 or 3. 2d half-year. *Consent of instructor required.

Total 29: 19 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

1889-90.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[End-Year]

What grounds are there for believing that the restrictive policy of Great Britain did or did not have a considerable effect on the industrial development of the American colonies?
What was the effect of the political situation in 1824 on the tariff act of that year? in 1842 on the act of 1842?
“The tariff of 1846 was passed by a party vote. It followed the strict constructionist theory in aiming at a list of duties sufficient only to provide revenue for the government, without regard to protection.”—Johnston’s American Politics.
Was the act passed by a party vote? Did it disregard protection? Did it succeed in fixing duties sufficient only to provide revenue?
What basis is there for the assertion that the gold premium, in the years after the civil war, increased the protection given by the import duties?
Under what circumstances was the tariff act of 1864 passed? How long did it remain in force?
Is there any analogy between the effects of the duties on cotton goods after 1816 and those on steel rails after 1870?
Wherein would there probably be differences in the effects of reciprocity treaties (1) with Canada, admitting coal free; (2) with Great Britain, admitting iron free; (3) with Brazil, admitting sugar free?
Apply Gallatin’s test as to the effect of duties on the price of the protected articles, to the present facts in regard to (1) clothing wool, (2) silks.
On what grounds is the removal of the duty on pig iron more or less desirable than that of the duty on sugar?
Is it a strong objection to ad valorem duties that they depend on foreign prices and that therefore the duties are fixed by foreigners? Is it a strong objection to specific duties that they operate unequally?

______________________

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Public Finance and Banking.

[Omitted in 1889-90]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 80.

______________________

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

Enrollment.

[Political Economy] 8. Mr. [Adolph Caspar] Miller. History of Financial Legislation in the United States. — Lectures and brief theses. Hours per week: 2 or 3. 1^st half-year.

Total 25: 13 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 81.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
[Mid-year examination]

[Take two questions from A, and eight from B.]

The questions under A are supposed to require half an hour each for careful treatment, and those under B fifteen minutes each.

A.

Commenting on those provisions of the Funding Act of August 4, 1790, by which the six-per-cent stock was made “subject to redemption by payments not exceeding in one year, on account of both principal and interest, the proportion of eight dollars upon each hundred, Professor Adams remarks: —
“In our previous study of annuities it was discovered that long-time annuities did not meet the requirements of good financiering, because they unnecessarily embarrassed the policy of debt payment. The same objection attaches to this plan of Mr. Hamilton. The record of subsequent treasury operations renders it reasonably certain that a simple six-per-cent bond, guaranteed to run for twenty years, would have proved satisfactory to public creditors, and have induced them to comply with the other conditions which the Government imposed. This would have brought the larger part of the six-per-cent bonds under the control of Congress in the years 1811 and 1813, and permitted either their redemption or their conversion into stock bearing a reduced rate of interest. But since the right of redemption except at a stated rate, had been signed away, it was found necessary to continue the higher rate of interest upon the common stock till 1818, and upon the ‘deferred stock’ until 1824. As the matter turned out, the war of 1812 would have rendered such an operation upon the common stock impossible, had it been permitted by the contract; but this does not excuse the Federalists for having adopted a bad theory of funding.”
Do you consider this a sound criticism of Hamilton’s plan of funding? By what means do you determine whether or not it met the “requirements of good financiering”?
“Our sinking fund, however, differed materially from that which was adopted in the early financial history of Great Britain, as it was not exclusively applied to the liquidation of a particular debt in existence. It was also unlike that of Mr. Pitt, as the amount of the capital appropriated was not fixed before 1802….Properly speaking, the essential character of a sinking fund was not to be found in the operations of that of the United States.” — Jonathan Elliot, Funding System of the United States and of Great Britain, p. 406, note.
Discuss the above with particular reference to the alleged difference of principle between Pitt’s sinking-fund policy and Hamilton’s. In this connection, also point out carefully what changes were introduced into the sinking-fund policy of the United States in 1802. Do those changes represent any real departure from the principle of Hamilton’s sinking-fund?
“The most generally received opinion is, that, by direct taxes in the Constitution, those are meant which are raised on the capital or revenue of the people….As that opinion is in itself rational,… it will not be improper to corroborate it by quoting the author from whom the idea seems to have been borrowed. Dr. Smith Wealth of Nations, book V. chap. 2) says, ‘The private revenue of individuals arises ultimately from three different sources: Rent, Profit, and Wages. Every tax must finally be paid from some one or other of those three different sorts of revenue, or from all of them indifferently.’ After having treated separately of those taxes which, it is intended, should fall upon some one or other of the different sorts of revenue, he continues, ‘The taxes which, it is intended, should fall indifferently upon every different species of revenue, are capitation taxes, and taxes upon consumable commodities.’ And, after having treated of capitation taxes, he finally says, ‘The impossibility of taxing the people, in proportion to their revenue, by any capitation, seems to have given occasion to the invention of taxes upon consumable commodities. The State, not knowing how to tax directly and proportionably the revenue of its subjects, endeavours to tax it indirectly.’ The remarkable coincidence of the clause of the Constitution, with this passage, in using the word ‘capitation’ as a generic expression, including the different species of direct taxes, — an acceptation of the word peculiar, it is believed, to Dr. Smith, — leaves little doubt that the framers of the one had the other in view at the time, and that they, as well as he, by direct taxes, meant those paid directly from, and falling immediately on, the revenue.” — Albert Gallatin, Sketch of the Finances, p. 12.
Discuss the above with particular reference to the source and meaning of the phrase “direct taxes” in the Constitution of the United States.

B.

“The Act provided, that, if the total amount subscribed by any state exceeded the sum specified therein, a similar percentage should be deducted from the claims of all subscribers. Four ninths of the stock issued by the government for this loan bore interest at six per cent, beginning with the year 1792; on third bore three per cent interest, beginning at the same time, and the balance, two ninths, bore six per cent interest after the year 1800. The latter kind of stock was to be redeemed whenever provision was made for that purpose. And, with respect to seven ninths of the stock, the government was at liberty to pay two per cent annually, if it desired; but no imperative obligation was created to pay it.” — A. S. Boles, Financial History of the United States, vol. II. p. 28.
Is this an accurate statement, so far as it goes, of the provisions of the Act of August 4, 1790, for assuming the State debts?
How is President Madison’s approval of the Bank Act of April 10, 1816, to be reconciled with his bank veto of January 30, 1815?
“During the winter of 1833-34 there was a stringent money market and commercial distress. The State banks were in no condition to take the public deposits. They were trying to strengthen themselves, and put themselves on the level of the Treasury requirements in the hope of getting a share of the deposits. It was they who operated a bank contraction during that winter…The administration, however, charged everything to Biddle and the bank.” — W. G. Sumner, Andrew Jackson, p. 316.
Where do you consider that the real responsibility for the pressure of 1833-34 rested?
What criticism would you make on the financial management of the war of 1812? Was it a fair test of the policy of relying upon public credit for defraying the extraordinary expenses of war?
What kind of currency did the government use and where did it keep its moneys, and under what authority of law, from 1811 to 1864?
How is the extension of accommodations by the Bank of the United States from 1830 to the middle of 1832 to be explained?
What were the terms of the one hundred and fifty million bank loan of 1861, and how was it financially important?
Point out the steps by which the legal-tender notes have become a fixed and permanent part of the currency.
What is the essence of the national bank system, so far as concerns note-circulation, and what bearing does this have upon the future of the system?
Is Mr. Chase entitled to take rank in American history as a great finance minister? State carefully and concisely the grounds of your opinion.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 2. Bound volume. Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1889-90.

______________________

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
Management and Ownership of Railways.

[Omitted in 1889-90]

Source: Harvard University. Annual Report of the President of Harvard College 1889-1890, p. 81.

Image Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard Square, 1885.

Tags BrooksJG, Macvane, Mason, MillerAC, Peabody, Taussig

Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Socialism exams. John Graham Brooks, 1890-1891

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2020-04-28

According to the annual Report of the President of Harvard College for 1889/90 and 1890/91, “Prof. Taussig and Mr. Brooks” were the instructors for the course Political Economy 2. This post is dedicated to the second term of the Political Economy 2 in those years that was devoted to economic theories of socialism and taught by John Graham Brooks. Four boxes of Brooks’ papers are to be found at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. Taussig’s exam scrapbook in the Harvard archives does not include exam questions for the second terms of 1890 and 1891 which is certainly consistent with Brooks being the instructor during the second term.

This post provides biographical information for John Graham Brooks followed by transcriptions of his two examinations.

Incidentally, W.E.B. Dubois was enrolled in Economics 2 in 1890/91 as a graduate student and was awarded a grade of A during the first term (one of six awarded to the twenty-two who received grades, as recorded in Taussig’s scrapbook).

_____________________

Harvard Career

John Graham Brooks (see S.T.B. 1875), Lectr. On Socialism 1885-1886; Instr. in Political Economy 1898-1891.

Source: Harvard University. Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates, 1636-1925, p. 45.

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Brief biography

John Graham Brooks attended the University of Michigan Law School for a short time, before changing his mind about being a lawyer. He then attended Oberlin College and Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1875. Brooks was then ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, preaching at a church in Massachusetts and speaking on the issues of the working poor. In 1882, Brooks resigned from his position as a minister and began studying history and economics at several German universities. He and his family then lived in London for a while, where Brooks lectured about the working class. He then returned to Massachusetts and preaching, while continuing to lecture about socialism and the lives of the working class. He also wrote articles for The Forum and The Nation. In 1891 he became an investigator of the conditions of workers for the U.S. Department of Labor, which led to him writing a book, The Social Unrest: Studies in Labor and Socialist Movements. Brooks wrote other books as well, in which he discussed class struggles. In 1904, he was the president of the American Social Science Association, and from 1899 to 1915 he was the first president of the National Consumers’ League.

Source: Brooks, John Graham (1846-1938) at the digital edition of the Jane Addams Papers Project.

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Boston Globe Obituary
February 9, 1938. Page 17.

JOHN G. BROOKS, 91,
ECONOMIST IS DEAD

Former Harvard Teacher,
Once Unitarian Cleric

John Graham Brooks, 91, labor champion, sociologist and political authority, died yesterday at his home at 8 Francis av., Cambridge.

During the early part of the century, he was extremely active as a friend of labor and a prolific lecturer throughout the country and in many universities on political and social economy.

He was born in Ackworth, N.H., and prepared for college in country schools. He was graduated from Oberlin College in 1872 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1875. He added to his education the following three years with courses at the Universities of Berlin, Jena and Freiburg.

Returning to this country, he entered the ministry as associate pastor with Dr. George Putnam at the Unitarian Church in Roxbury and later was for six years pastor of the Unitarian Church of Brockton. At the same time he conducted courses at Harvard on economic subjects.

Leaving the ministry in 1890. he devoted the major part of his time to investigations and lectures on political science and social economy. For several years he was lecturer for the extension departments of the Universities of Chicago and of California. He was for two years the expert of the United States Department of Labor, and compiled for that department, in 1893, an exhaustive report on workmen’s insurance in Germany, and since that time continued to lecture on economic and sociological subjects all over the United States, especially at the People’s Institute in New York. As an author his best-known works are “The Social Unrest,” “As Others See Us” and “An American Citizen [Life of William Henry Baldwin, Jr.].”

Prof. Brooks served as president on the American Social Science Association, and president of the National Consumers’ League and a member of the national committee on child labor. He was a member of the famous committee of 50, which, under the lead of Pres. Eliot of Harvard, made an investigation of the workings of the Gothenburg system of dealing with the liquor traffic.

In 1908 Prof. Brooks lectured with now Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis on the old age pension problems and at the time expressed some pessimism over the systems then in use.

In recent years, Mr. Brooks has been in retirement, little in public life.

He is survived by a wife, Mrs. Helen Lawrence Brooks; a son, Lawrence Brooks, and four grandchildren.

[Other books:

American Syndicalism: The I.W.W. New York: Macmillan, 1913.

Labor’s Challenge to the Social Order: Democracy its own Critic and Educator. New York: Macmillan, 1920.]

_____________________

Enrollment 1889-90

[Political Economy] 2. History of Economic Theory. First half-year: Lectures on the History of Economic Theory.—Discussion of selections from Adam Smith and Ricardo.—Topics in distribution, with special reference to wages and managers’ returns.—Second half-year: Modern Socialism in France, Germany, and England.—an extended thesis from each student. Prof. Taussig and Mr. Brooks.

Total 24: 7 Seniors, 12 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1889-90, p. 80.

_____________________

Political Economy 2.
Year-end Examination, June 1890.

Characterize French Socialism, chiefly with reference to St. Simon and Louis Blanc.
What general differences do you note between French and German Socialism?
Summarize Lasalle’s theory of history development.
State and criticize in detail Marx’s theory of surplus value. What follows as to Socialism, if this theory fails?
Is Schaeffle a Socialist? If so, why? If not, why not?
State the present attitude of English Socialism, with special reference to the Fabian Society. Note the most important changes from the Marx type.
In what definite ways would Socialism modify the system of private property?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 3, Vol. Examination Papers, 1890-92. Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, Political Economy, History, Roman Law, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College (June, 1890), pp. 11-12.

_____________________

Enrollment 1890-91

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor Taussig and Mr. Brooks. — History of Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from Leading Writers. — Socialism. 3 hours.

Total 23: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1890-91, p. 58.

_____________________

Political Economy 2.
Year-end Examination, June 1891.

From Rousseau to the Fabians, what have been the chief historic changes in the Philosophy of Socialism?
What was Lassalle’s conception of historic development?
In detail, state the differences between the Marx type of Socialism and that of the Fabians.
With reference to the “three rents” what are the most important objections to Socialism?
What reasons can you give to show that Socialism is likely to have much further development in our society?

Image Source: The Bookman vol. 27 (March-August, 1908), p. 119.

Tags BrooksJG, Taussig

AEA Bibliography

American Economic Association. Monographs: 1886-1896

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2020-04-15

Besides transcribing and curating archival content for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, I occasionally put together collections of links to books and other items of interest on pages or posts that constitute my “personal” virtual economics reference library. In this post you will find links to early monographs/papers published by the American Economic Association.

Links to the contents of the four volumes of AEA Economic Studies, 1896-1899 have also been posted.

A few other useful collections:

The virtual rare-book reading room (classic works of economics up to 1900)

The Twentieth Century Economics Library

Laughlin’s recommended teacher’s library of economics (1887)

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PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION. MONOGRAPHS.
1886-1896

_____________________

General Contents and Index to Volumes I-XI.
Source: Publications of the American Economic Association, Vol XI (1896). Price 25 cents.

VOLUME I

No. 1 (Mar. 1886). Report of the Organization of the American Economic Association. By Richard T. Ely, Ph.D., Secretary. Price 50 cents.

Nos. 2 and 3 (May-Jul. 1886). The Relation of the Modern Municipality to the Gas Supply. By Edmund J. James, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 4 (Sep. 1886). Co-öperation in a Western City. By Albert Shaw, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 5 (Nov. 1886). Co-öperation in New England. By Edward W. Bemis, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 6 (Jan. 1887). Relation of the State to Industrial Action. By Henry C. Adams, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME II

No. 1 (Mar. 1887). Three Phases of Co-öperation in the West. By Amos G. Warner, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 2 (May 1887). Historical Sketch of the Finances of Pennsylvania. By T. K. Worthington, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 3 (Jul. 1887). The Railway Question. By Edmund J. James, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 4 (Sep. 1887). The Early History of the English Woolen Industry. By William J. Ashley, M.A. Price 75 cents.

No. 5 (Nov. 1887). Two Chapters on the Mediaeval Guilds of England. By Edwin R. A. Seligman, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 6 (Jan. 1888). The Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi-Public Works. By H. C. Adams, George W. Knight, Davis R. Dewey, Charles Moore, Frank J. Goodnow and Arthur Yager. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME III

No. 1 (Mar. 1888). Three Papers Read at Meeting in Boston: “The Study of Statistics in Colleges,” by Carroll D. Wright; “The Sociological Character of Political Economy,” by Franklyn H. Giddings; “Some Considerations on the Legal-Tender Decisions,” by Edmund J. James. Price 75 cents.

No. 2 (May 1888). Capital and its Earnings. By John B. Clark, A.M. Price 75 cents.

No. 3 (Jul. 1888) consists of three parts: “Efforts of the Manual Laboring Class to Better Their Condition,” by Francis A. Walker; “Mine Labor in the Hocking Valley,” by Edward W. Bemis, Ph.D.; “Report of the Second Annual Meeting,” by Richard T. Ely, Secretary. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 4 and 5 (Sep.-Nov. 1888). Statistics and Economics. By Richmond Mayo-Smith, A.M. Price $1.00.

No. 6 (Jan. 1889). The Stability of Prices. By Simon N. Patten, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME IV

No. 1 (Mar. 1889). Contributions to the Wages Question: “The Theory of Wages,” by Stuart Wood, Ph.D.; “The Possibility of a Scientific Law of Wages,” by John B. Clark, A.M. Price 75 cents.

No. 2 (Apr. 1889). Socialism in England. By Sidney Webb, LL.B. Price 75 cents.

No. 3 (May. 1889). Road Legislation for the American State. By Jeremiah W. Jenks, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

No. 4 (Jul. 1889). Report of the Proceedings of Third Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, by Richard T. Ely, Secretary; with addresses by Dr. William Pepper and Francis A. Walker. Price 75 cents.

No. 5 (Sep. 1889). Three Papers Read at Third Annual Meeting: “Malthus and Ricardo,” by Simon N. Patten; “The Study of Statistics,” by Davis R. Dewey, and “Analysis in Political Economy,” by William W. Folwell. Price 75 cents.

No. 6 (Nov. 1889). An Honest Dollar. By E. Benjamin Andrews. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME V

No. 1 (Jan. 1890). The Industrial Transition in Japan. By Yeijiro Ono, Ph.D. Price $1.00.

No. 2 (Mar. 1890). Two Prize Essays on Child-Labor: I. “Child Labor,” by William F. Willoughby, Ph.D.; II. “Child Labor,” by Miss Clare de Graffenried. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 3 and 4 (May-Jul. 1890). Two Papers on the Canal Question. I. By Edmund J. James, Ph.D.; II. By Lewis M. Haupt, A.M., C.E. Price $1.00.

No. 5 (Sep. 1890). History of the New York Property Tax. By John Christopher Schwab, A.M. Ph.D. Price $1.00.

No. 6 (Nov. 1890). The Educational Value of Political Economy. By Simon N. Patten, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME VI

No. 1 and 2 (Jan.-Mar. 1891). Report of the Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association. Price $1.00.

No. 3 (May 1891). I. “Government Forestry Abroad,” by Gifford Pinchot; II. “The Present Condition of the Forests on the Public Lands,” by Edward A. Bowers; III. “Practicability of an American Forest Administration,” by B. E. Fernow. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 4 and 5 (Jul.-Sep. 1891). Municipal Ownership of Gas in the United States. By Edward W. Bemis, Ph.D. with appendix by W. S. Outerbridge, Jr. Price $1.00.

No. 6 (Nov. 1891). State Railroad Commissions and How They May be Made Effective. By Frederick C. Clark, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME VII

No. 1 (Jan. 1892). The Silver Situation in the United States. Ph.D. By Frank W. Taussig, LL.B., Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 2 and 3 (Mar.-May 1892). On the Shifting and Incidence of Taxation. By Edwin R.A. Seligman, Ph.D. Price $1.00.

Nos. 4 and 5 (Jul.-Sep. 1892). Sinking Funds. By Edward A. Ross, Ph.D. Price $1.00.

No. 6 (Nov. 1892). The Reciprocity Treaty with Canada of 1854. By Frederick E. Haynes, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

VOLUME VIII

No. 1 (Jan. 1893). Report of the Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 2 and 3 (Mar.-May 1893). The Housing of the Poor in American Cities. By Marcus T. Reynolds, Ph.B., M.A. Price $1.00.

Nos. 4 and 5 (Jul.-Sep. 1893). Public Assistance of the Poor in France. By Emily Greene Balch, A.B. Price $1.00.

No. 6 (Nov. 1893). The First Stages of the Tariff Policy of the United States. By William Hill, A.M. Price $1.00.

VOLUME IX

No. 1 (Supplement, Jan. 1894). Hand-Book and Report of the Sixth Annual Meeting. Price 50 cents.

Nos. 1 and 2 (Jan.-Mar. 1894). Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice. By Edwin R.A. Seligman, Ph.D. Price $1.00, cloth $1.50.

No. 3 (May. 1894). The Theory of Transportation. By Charles H. Cooley Price 75 cents.

No. 4 (Aug. 1894). Sir William Petty. A Study in English Economic Literature. By Wilson Lloyd Bevan, M.A., Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 5 and 6 (Oct.-Dec. 1894). Papers Read at the Seventh Annual Meeting: “The Modern Appeal to Legal Forces in Economic Life,” (President’s annual address) by John B. Clark, Ph.D.; “The Chicago Strike”, by Carroll D. Wright, LL.D.; “Irregularity of Employment,” by Davis R. Dewey, Ph.D.; “The Papal Encyclical Upon the Labor Question,” by John Graham Brooks; “Population and Capital,” by Arthur T. Hadley, M.A. Price $1.00.

VOLUME X

No. 3, Supplement, (Jan. 1895). Hand-Book and Report of the Seventh Annual Meeting. Price 50 cents.

Nos. 1,2 and 3 (Jan.-Mar.-May 1895). The Canadian Banking System, 1817-1890. By Roeliff Morton Breckenridge, Ph.D. Price $1.50; cloth $2.50.

No. 4 (Jul. 1895). Poor Laws of Massachusetts and New York. By John Cummings, Ph.D. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 5 and 6 (Sep.-Nov. 1895). Letters of Ricardo to McCulloch, 1816-1823. Edited, with introduction and annotations by Jacob H. Hollander, Ph.D. Price $1.25; cloth $2.00.

VOLUME XI

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 (Jan.-Mar.-May 1896). Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro. By Frederick L. Hoffman, F.S.S., Price $1.25; cloth $2.00.

No. 4 (Jul. 1896). Appreciation and Interest. By Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Price 75 cents.

Image Source: As of 1909 the former Presidents of the American Economic Association (S. N. Patten in the center, then clockwise from upper left are R. T. Ely, J. B. Clark, J. W. Jenks, F. W. Taussig.) in Reuben G. Thwaites “A Notable Gathering of Scholars,” The Independent, Vol. 68, January 6, 1910, pp. 7-14.

Tags AdamsHenry, Andrews, Ashley, Balch, Bemis, Bevan, Bowers, BreckenridgeRM, BrooksJG, ClarkFC, ClarkJB, Cooley, Cummings, Dewey, Ely, Fernow, FisherFM, Folwell, Giddings, Goodnow, Graffenried, Hadley, Haupt, HaynesFE, Hinshaw, HoffmanFL, Hollander, JamesEJ, Jenks, KnightGW, Mayo-Smith, Moore, Ono, Outerbridge, Patten, Pepper, Pinchot, ReynoldsM, Ross, Seligman, Taussig, WalkerFA, WarnerAmos, WebbS, William Hill, Willoughby, Woods, Worthington, Wright, Yager

Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. History of Economic Theory. Final exam questions, Taussig, 1891-94

Post author By Irwin Collier
Post date 2017-12-01

Examination questions spanning just over a half-century can be found in Frank Taussig’s personal scrapbook of cut-and-pasted semester examinations for his entire Harvard career. Until Schumpeter took over the core economic theory course from Taussig in 1935, Taussig’s course covering economic theory and its history was a part of every properly educated Harvard economist’s basic training. In the previous posting you will find Taussig’s exam questions for the academic years 1886/87 through 1889/90 along with enrollment data for this course. Today Economics in the Rear-view Mirror provides the analogous material from 1890/91 through 1893/94.

The second half of the course was devoted to socialism in 1889/90 and 1890/91 and taught by John Graham Brooks (Wikipedia article). Four boxes of his papers are to be found at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. A biographical note from the on-line guide to the Brooks’ papers:

“John Graham Brooks was born in Acworth, New Hampshire, on July 19, 1846; he attended Oberlin College from 1869 to 1871 and graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1875. While ordained and serving as a Unitarian minister in Roxbury, he took an interest in economic affairs, organizing classes for workingmen, later lecturing at Harvard on socialism, and for many years acting as investigator of strikes for the U.S. Department of Labor. In 1880 he married Mrs. Helen Washburn and from 1882 to 1885 traveled and studied in Europe, mainly in Germany. He was the first president of the National Consumers’ League, president of the American Social Science Association in 1904, and a lecturer for the League for Political Education for many years. He died on February 8, 1938.”

Taussig’s scrapbook does not include exam questions (if there were exams) for the second semesters for 1890 and 1891 when Brooks taught Socialism.

Incidentally, W.E.B. Dubois was enrolled in Economics 2 in 1890/91 as a graduate student and was awarded a grade of A (one of six awarded to the twenty-two who received grades, as recorded in Taussig’s scrapbook).

Also note that “Political Economy” is replaced by “Economics” as of 1892/93.

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1890-91

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor Taussig and Mr. Brooks. — History of Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from Leading Writers. — Socialism. 3 hours.

Total 23: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1890-91, p. 58.

_______________________

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year, 1891]

[Omit one question.]

It has been suggested that the real source from which wages are paid is not the product of the laborer, nor the capital of the employer, but the income of the consumer. What should you say?
To which of the following cases, if to any, is the reasoning of the wages fund theory applicable? (1) The farmer tilling his own land with his own capital; (2) the fisherman working for a share of the catch; (3) the independent artisan working on his own account with borrowed capital; (4) the employer who habitually sells his product before pay-day, and pays his laborers with the proceeds?
Wherein does President Walker’s view of the source from which wages are paid differ from George’s?
“The extra gains which any producer or dealer obtains through superior talent in business, or superior business arrangements, are very much of a similar kind [to rent.] If all his competitors had the same advantages, and used them, the benefit would be transferred to the consumers, through the diminished value of the article; he only retains it for himself because he is able to bring his commodity to market at a lower cost, while its value is determined by a higher… Wages and profits represent the universal elements in production, while rent may be taken to represent the differential and peculiar; any difference in favor of certain producers, or in favor of production in certain circumstances, being the source of a gain, which, though not called rent, unless paid periodically by one person to another, is governed by laws entirely the same with it.” — Mill, Political Economy, book iii., ch. v., §4.
What has President Walker added to this in his discussion of business profits?
“It is true that money does not beget money; but capital does manifestly beget capital. If a man borrows a thousand ducats and ties them up in a bag, he will not find any little ducats in the bag at the end of the year; but if he purchases with the ducats a flock of sheep, he will, with proper attention, have lambs enough at the end of the year to make a handsome interest on the loan, and make a handsome profit for himself. If he turns the ducats into corn, he will find it bringing forth, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold…. Very seldom does a man borrow money to use it, as money, through the term of his loan. When he does so, as brokers for example sometimes do, he may to Antonio’s question, ‘Is your gold and silver rams and ewes?’ return Shylock’s answer, ‘I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast.’”
Discuss this explanation of interest. Whom do you suppose to be the writer of the extract?
“The natural history of the notion on which it [the wages-fund doctrine] rests, is not obscure. It grew out of the conditions which existed in England during and immediately subsequent to the Napoleonic wars. Two things were then noted. First, capital had become accumulated in the island to such an extent that employers found no (financial) difficulty in paying their laborers by the month, week, or day, instead of requiring them to await the fruition of their labor in the harvested or marketed product. Second, the wages were, in fact generally so low that they furnished no more than a bare subsistence, while the employment offered was so restricted that an increase in the number of laborers had the effect to throw some out of employment or to reduce the wages for all. Out of these things the wages-fund theory was put together.”
Examine this account of the rise of the wages-fund doctrine.
Discuss the method of reasoning followed by Adam Smith, and illustrate by his treatment of two of the following topics: (1) the causes which bring about high wages; (2) the effects on domestic industry of restraints on importation; (3) the origin and effects of the division of labor.
Explain how Ricardo’s conception of wages bears on his conclusions as to the effects of taxes on wages, and as to the net income of society.
What can be said in justification of the views of the writers of the mercantile school?

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1891-92

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Political Economy] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 9 Graduates, 17 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1891-92, p. 54.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1892.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Are laborers paid out of the product of their own labor in cases where the employer sells the product before pay-day and pays the laborers out of the proceeds?
“Whether wages are advanced out of capital in whole, or in part, or not at all, it still remains true that it is the product to which the employer looks to ascertain the amount which he can afford to pay: the value of the product furnishes the measure of wages. . . .
It is the prospect of a profit in production which determines the employer to hire laborers; it is the anticipated value of the product which determines how much he can pay them.”
Is this consistent with the wages-fund theory?
Consider the following: —

“Given machinery, raw materials, and a year’s subsistence, does it make no difference with the annual product whether the laborers are Englishmen or East-Indians? Certainly if one quarter part of what has been adduced under the head of the efficiency of labor be valid, the difference in the product of industry arising out of differences in the industrial quality of distinct communities of laborers are so great as to prohibit us from making use of capital to determine the amount that can be expended in any year or series of years in the purchase of labor.”

How does President Walker prove the existence of a no-profits class of business men?
Wherein does President Walker’s theory of distribution differ from Professor Sidgwick’s?
What grounds are there for saying that Political Economy is distinctly a modern science?
“Let us suppose, for example, that in the greater part of employments the productive powers of labour had been improved to ten-fold, or that a day’s labour could produce ten times the quantity of work which it had done originally; but that in a particular employment they had been improved only to double, or that a day’s labour could produce only twice the quantity of work it had done before. In exchanging the produce of a day’s labour in the greater part of employments for that of a day’s labour in this particular one, ten times the original quantity of work in them would purchase only twice the original quantity in it. Any particular quantity in it, therefore, a pound weight, for example, would appear to be five times dearer than before. In reality, however, it would be twice as cheap.” — Wealth of Nations, Book I. ch. viii.
Explain what Adam Smith meant; and what Ricardo would have said as to this passage.
Explain Adam Smith’s conclusions as to the effect on wages, profits, and rent, of the progress of society; noting briefly the reasoning which lead to the conclusion in each case.
Examine the following criticisms on Malthus: —
1. that there is no such difference of law between the increase of man and of the organic beings which form his food, as is implied in the proposition that man increases in a geometrical, food in arithmetical ratio;
2. that the adaptation of numbers to the means available for their support is effected by the felt or anticipated pressure of circumstances and the fear of social degradation, within a tolerable degree of approximation to what is desirable.
Explain carefully Ricardo’s doctrine as to the effect of profits on value.

_______________________

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final. 1892.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions]

Does the example of a laborer hired by a farmer, and paid by him at the close of the season, after the crop has been harvested and disposed of, present a case of labor paid, not out of capital, but out of the product of current industry?
What do you conceive the relation of political economy to laissez faire to have been with Adam Smith? with Ricardo and his contemporaries? How would you state the relation yourself?
“Ricardo never fairly appreciated that his notion of the laborer’s ‘necessaries’ stood for something subject to wide variation in different stages of civilization. It is true that in one passage he says with emphasis that the necessaries, which determine the natural rate of wages, depend on habits which vary with time and place; but elsewhere he sets up a distinction between gross and net income, which is tenable only if we put the laborer’s necessaries side by side with other elements of cost of production. The distinction loses its practical harshness, when he admits that the laborer may at times receive, over and above natural wages, some part of the community’s net income; but its theoretic shortcomings then become the more obvious.” (Cohn, National-oekonomie.)
Explain Ricardo’s conception of natural wages and net income, here referred to; and examine the justice of this criticism.
“The average rate of profits is the real barometer, the true and infallible criterion of national prosperity. A high rate of profit is the effect of industry having become more productive, and it shows that the power of society to amass capital, and to add to its wealth and population, has been increased.” (M’Culloch’s Political Economy.) What led to the adoption of this test by M’Culloch? Should you accept it?
What were Ricardo’s views as to the effect of foreign trade on profits?
“In the actual period of production, on a wages system, the existing supplies for laborers are distributed to laborers in wages, while they, with the help of fixed capital, till the ground and work up the raw materials, transforming the old capital into a new product. . . . The product is divided at the end of the period of production into the replacement of capital (support of laborers, raw material, and wear of fixed capital), profits, and rent. . . . Hence it is clear that wages and profits are not parts of the same whole. Wages were in capital at the beginning of the period of production; profits are in product at its close.” (W. G. Sumner.)“We may suppose that share of the National Dividend which goes as rent to be set on one side; and then there remains what would be produced by labour and capital if they were all applied under conditions no more favourable than those under which they were applied at the margin of profitable employment; and a proposal was made by the present writer, in the Economics of Industry, that this should be called the Wages-and-Profits Fund, or the Earnings-and-Interest Fund. These terms were suggested in order to emphasize the opinion that the so-called Wages-Fund theory, however it might be purified from the vulgar errors which had grown around it, still erred in suggesting that earnings and interest, or wages and profits, do not stand in the same relation to the National Dividend.” (Marshall.)Which of these seems to you the sounder view?
Explain what is meant by Consumer’s Rent; and examine the effect on Consumer’s Rent and on the aggregate satisfaction of the community, of a tax on a community subject to the law of Diminishing Returns.
Explain the grounds which lead Professor Marshall to believe that the forces by which the wages of different grades of laborers are determined, work by a process similar to that by which the expenses of production determine the value of commodities.
Examine carefully Professor Marshall’s view of the part played by rent of natural ability in determining manager’s earnings.
Wherein is there similarity, wherein difference, in the positions of Carey and Bastiat in the history of economic theory?

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1892-93

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 38: 11 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomore, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1892-93, p. 67.

_______________________

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1893.]

State George’s doctrine as to the cause of interest, and give an opinion of its soundness.
“It may be said, we grant that wages are really paid out of the product of current industry, and that capital only affects wages as it first affects production, so that wages stand related to product in the first degree, and to capital in the second degree only; still, does not production bear a certain and necessary ratio of capital? and hence may not the measure of wages be derived from capital virtually, — though not, it is true, directly, — through its determination of product?” Consider whether so much would be granted by one holding to the wages-fund doctrine; and answer the questions.
“The employer [in the West and South] advances to the laborer such provisions and cash as are absolutely required from time to time; but the ‘settlement’ does not take place until the close of the season or the year, and the final payment is often deferred until the crop is not only harvested but sold.” Under such conditions is it true that wages are paid out of capital, or limited in amount by the quantity of previously accumulated capital?
What do you conceive President Walker’s opinion to be as to the effect on business profits of the possession of large means by the business man at the outset of his career?
Are there grounds for saying that in a socialist community the conception of capital would be different from that in communities as now organized?
Compare Adam Smith’s doctrine as to the relation of capital and wages with Ricardo’s.
Compare Adam smith’s conclusions with Ricardo’s as to the propriety of import duties levied to countervail internal taxes on necessaries consumed by laborers.
“No extension of foreign trade will immediately increase the amount of value in a country, though it will very powerfully contribute to increase the mass of commodities, and therefore the sum of enjoyments.” What does Ricardo mean?
“There is only one cause, and that will be temporary, in which the accumulation of capital with a low price of food may be attended with a fall in profits.” What is the case, and why did Ricardo think it would be temporary?

_______________________

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1893.]

[One question in each of the three groups may be omitted.]

I.

What is the meaning and importance of the proposition that demand for commodities is not demand for labor?
How far is Ricardo’s doctrine as to the connection between labor and value similar to Marx’s doctrine that value consists of the labor incorporated in commodities?
What is meant when it is said that the connection between value and expenses of production depends on the mobility of capital, while the connection between value and cost of production depends on the mobility of labor and capital?
“The ideal of justice in distribution, applicable both to individual producers and to the different factors in production (land, labor, capital), may be stated thus: each should have a share in net income proportionate to the contribution which, by labor or by the use of material means of production, he has made to the product.”
What should you say as to the feasibility of carrying out such a principle?

II.

Explain briefly what is meant by total utility, marginal utility, and consumer’s rent.“Subject to these corrections, then, we may regard the aggregate of the money measures of the total utility of wealth as a fair measure of the part of the happiness which is dependent on wealth.” Mention one or two corrections.
Give your opinion on the objection raised by Carey to the theory of rent, that the total rent paid for the use of land does not exceed interest at current rates on the total capital sunk in land.
How far is it an answer to the proposition that rent and business profits are analogous, when it is said that the losses of some business managers must be set off against the larger gains of others?
Explain Professor Marshall’s opinion as to the bearing on the relative wages of different laborers of
1. the “rent” of labor;
2. the standard of living among laborers;
3. the expenses of production of labor;

and point out the connection between his views on these subjects.

III.

Explain the distinctions (1) between private capital and social capital, (2) between historico-legal capital and national capital; and point out how far the two distinctions run on the same lines.
“In the present condition of industry, most sales are made by men who are producers and merchants by profession. . . . For them, the subjective use-values of their own wares is, for the most part, very nearly nil. . . . In sales by them, the limiting effect which, according to our theoretical formula, would be exerted by the valuation of the last seller, practically does not come into play.”
Explain what is meant, and consider the consequences as to the importance of the law that price is determined by the valuations of the marginal pairs.
“Our whole interest is centred in the question as to the position which the law (of cost of production), so well accredited by experience, takes in the systematic theory of price. Does it run counter to our law of marginal pairs or not? Our answer is that it does not. It is as little of a contradiction as we before found to exist between the proposition that the marginal utility determines the height of subjective value, and the other proposition that the costs determine it. “
In what way is the apparent contradiction removed in the two cases referred to by Böhm-Bawerk?
Explain the three grounds on which Böhm-Bawerk bases the superiority of present over future goods, and and give your opinion as to their relative importance and significance.

_______________________

Course Description and Enrollment
1893-94

For Graduates and Undergraduates:—

[Economics] 2. Professor Taussig. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Examination of selections from leading writers. 3 hours.

Total 43: 12 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University, Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

_______________________

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1894.]

[Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. Write with deliberation, but answer all the questions.]

“It is no doubt true that a portion of capital is always remuneratory and not auxiliary in its nature; that is, does not consist of instruments that make labour more efficient, but of finished products, destined for the consumption of labourers and others. This part of capital continually becomes real wages (as well as real profits, interest, and rent), being purchased by the labourer with the money wages he receives from time to time. But it does not seem to me therefore correct to regard the real wages as capital ‘advanced’ by the employer to the labourer. The transaction between the two is essentially a purchase, not a loan. The employer purchases the results of a week’s labour, which thereby becomes part of his capital, and may be conceived — if we omit for simplicity’s sake the medium of exchange — to give the labourer in return some of the finished products of his industry.”
Consider whether and how remuneratory capital continually becomes real interest and rent, as well as real wages; and give your opinion as to the closing analysis of the relation between employers and laborers.
Suppose (1) that profit-sharing were universally adopted; (2) that laborers habitually saved a very large part of their income, — and consider whether any modification must be made in the reasoning of those who would maintain a Wages-Fund doctrine.
It has been said that while the capital of the employing class is the immediate source from which wages are paid, the ultimate and important source is the income of the consumers who buy the goods made by the laborers for the capitalists. Consider this doctrine.
Compare critically the treatment by Walker, Sidgwick, and Ricardo, of the relation between the profits of the individual capitalist and the amount of capital owned by him.
State carefully Ricardo’s criticism of Adam Smith’s doctrine on labor as the measure of value.
Compare Adam Smith’s reasoning with Ricardo’s as to the manner in which the progress of society in wealth affects profits.
“We have seen that in the early stages of society both the landlord’s and the labourer’s share of the value of the produce of the earth would be but small; and that it would increase in proportion to the progress of wealth and the difficulty of procuring food. We have known, too, that although the value of the labourer’s portion will be increased by the high value of food, his real share will be diminished; while that of the landlord will not only be raised in value, but will also be increased in quantity.”
Explain the reasoning by which Ricardo reached the several conclusions here summarized, and give your opinion as to the soundness of the conclusions.

_______________________

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1894.]

“Perhaps the most striking conflict of the Wages-Fund-theory with facts, is found in the periodical influctions and depressions of trade. After a commercial crisis, when the shock is over and the necessary liquidation has taken place, we generally find that there is a period during which there is a glut of capital, and yet wages are low. The abundance of capital is shown by the low rate of interest and the difficulty of obtaining remunerative investments.” — Nicholson, Political Economy
How far is the theory in conflict with the facts here adduced?
How is the significance of the doctrine of consumer’s rent affected by the fact that the money incomes of different purchasers vary widely?
Explain Marshall’s doctrine as to the influence on wages of the standard of living among laborers; and consider how far it differs from Richard’s teaching as to the connection between wages and the price of food.
Explain Marshall’s doctrine of the quasi-rent of labor; compare it with his conclusions as to the rent of business ability; and point out how far he finds in either case something analogous to economic rent as defined by the classic writers.
“It is not true that the spinning of yarn in a factory, after allowance has been made for the wear-and-tear of the machinery, is the product of the labour of the operatives. It is the product of their labour (together with that of the employer and subordinate managers) and of the capital; and that capital itself is the product of labour and waiting; and therefore the spinning is the product of labour (of many kinds) and of waiting. If we admit that it is the product of labour alone, and not of labour and waiting, we can no doubt be compelled by inexorable logic to admit that there is no justification for interest, the reward of waiting.”
How far would you accept this reasoning?
“Barter, though earlier historically than buying and selling, is really a mere complex transaction, and the theory of it is rather curious than important.” — Marshall.
“The attribute of normal or usual value implies systematic and continuous production.” — Cairnes.
“Where commodities are made for sale, the sellers’ subjective valuations fall out altogether, and price is determined by the valuation of the last buyer.” — Böhm-Bawerk.
Explain these statements, separately or in connection with each other.
What does Böhm-Bawerk mean by the general subsistence market, or the total of advances for subsistence; and how far do the “advances” differ from the wages-fund of the classic economists?
Explain Böhm-Bawerk’s views as to the connection between the prolongation of the period of production, and the increase in the productiveness of labor; and consider how far his conclusions as to interest would need to be modified, if those views were changed.
Explain briefly, by definition or example, the sense in which Böhm-Bawerk uses the terms, —

social capital;
private capital;
subjective value;
marginal pairs;
technical superiority of present goods.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook).

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig. Harvard Album, 1900.

Tags BrooksJG, Taussig

1890-1891. Philosophy 14.

Enrollment

PHILOSOPHY 14. THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS. Mid-year examination (1890-91)

PHILOSOPHY 14. THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment.

Student notes available at the Harvard Archives

1890-91. POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Mid-year examination.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. Year-end examination (June 1891) Division A.

Division B.

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

Enrollment.

Previously Posted

1890-91. POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. Mid-year examination.

Second semester taught by John Graham Brooks.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

Enrollment.

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. Mid-year examination

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

Enrollment.

Other course material available at the Harvard Archives

Principle text for Political Economy 4

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. Mid-year examination

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

Enrollment.

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 6. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.

Enrollment.

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

Enrollment.

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 8. Mid-year examination

1890-91 POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.

Enrollment.

1890-91. POLITICAL ECONOMY 9. Year-end examination (June 1891)

1889-90 PHILOSOPHY 11. THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.

Enrollment.

1889-90 PHILOSOPHY 11. THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM [Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Omit one question.

1889-90 PHILOSOPHY 11. THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM [Year-end Examination. 1890.]

[Omit one question.]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

Enrollment.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. [Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 1. [Year-end Examination. 1890.]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions. One question may be omitted.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

Enrollment.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 2. [Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Political Economy 2. [Year-end Examination, June 1890.]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

Enrollment.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. [Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 3. [Year-end Examination. 1890.]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

Enrollment.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. [Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

[Take all of A, and seven questions from B.]

A.

B.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. [Year-end Examination. 1890.]

[Take all of A and eight questions from B.]

A.

B.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

Enrollment.

1889-90. POLITICAL ECONOMY 6 [End-Year]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 7. Public Finance and Banking.

[Omitted in 1889-90]

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

Enrollment.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 8. [Mid-year examination]

[Take two questions from A, and eight from B.]

The questions under A are supposed to require half an hour each for careful treatment, and those under B fifteen minutes each.

A.

B.

1889-90 POLITICAL ECONOMY 9. Management and Ownership of Railways.

[Omitted in 1889-90]

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-year examination (1890-91)

PHILOSOPHY 14.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Mid-year examination.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Year-end examination (June 1891)
Division A.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Mid-year examination.

POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
Mid-year examination

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Mid-year examination

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
Mid-year examination

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.

1890-91.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
Year-end examination (June 1891)

1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM.

1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
PHILOSOPHY 11.
THE ETHICS OF SOCIAL REFORM
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
One question may be omitted.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

Political Economy 2.
[Year-end Examination, June 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 4.
[Year-end Examination. 1890.]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6.

1889-90.
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6
[End-Year]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 7.
Public Finance and Banking.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 8.
[Mid-year examination]

1889-90
POLITICAL ECONOMY 9.
Management and Ownership of Railways.

Boston Globe Obituary
February 9, 1938. Page 17.

JOHN G. BROOKS, 91,
ECONOMIST IS DEAD

Former Harvard Teacher,
Once Unitarian Cleric

Political Economy 2.
Year-end Examination, June 1890.

Political Economy 2.
Year-end Examination, June 1891.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION. MONOGRAPHS.
1886-1896

General Contents and Index to Volumes I-XI.
Source: Publications of the American Economic Association, Vol XI (1896). Price 25 cents.

Course Description and Enrollment
1890-91

1890-91
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year, 1891]

Course Description and Enrollment
1891-92

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Mid-Year Examination. 1892.]

1891-92
POLITICAL ECONOMY 2.
[Final. 1892.]

Course Description and Enrollment
1892-93

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1893.]

1892-93
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1893.]

Course Description and Enrollment
1893-94

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Mid-Year. 1894.]

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final. 1894.]