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Amherst Chicago Economists

Chicago. Economics Ph.D. alumnus, George Rogers Taylor. 1929

The economics Ph.D. alumnus featured in today’s post was awarded his doctorate in 1929 by the University of Chicago. George Rogers Taylor had a long and distinguished career at Amherst College as a leading U.S. economic historian. He was the author of  the history of economics at Amherst College from 1832 to 1932 transcribed for the previous post.

Taylor was an early pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of American Studies.

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George Rogers Taylor
Life and Career

1895. Born June 15 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

1914. Graduates from Wayland Academy at Beaver Dam.

Fun Fact: The school was named after Francis Wayland (1796-1865), Baptist minister, economist, and president of Brown University.

1916. Graduates from Oshkosh Normal School. “He earned his way through college by waiting on tables, mowing lawns and tending furnaces. He credits the late Prof. F. R. Clow for his life-long interest in economics, Prof. M. H. Small for getting him a job as a steward in a boarding club where he received his meals and Prof. J. O. Frank, whose furnace he tended.” Source: The Oshkosh Northwestern, May 10, 1971, p. 3.

1916-17. Principal of an Blair School with ca. five teachers at Waukesha, Wisconsin. He taught seventh grade and half of the sixth grade.

The original school was established in 1847, rebuilt at new locations in 1889 and 1966 and finally closed in June 2019. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (June 4, 2019).

1917-19. Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, aviation operations. Assigned to wireless telephony.

1919. Summer. Worked at the post office at Beaver Dam.

1919-20. Taught eighth grade for one year at Wayland Academy.

1921. Ph.B., University of Chicago. Attended two summer school sessions plus an academic year to complete degree requirements in one year. College credit was given for some of his Navy service.

Taylor had received a four year scholarship which covered his tuition for his Chicago training. There was a long-time close connection between the Wayland Academy and Chicago. The main prize at Wayland Academy’s commencement was a four year scholarship to Chicago.

1921-22. Taught at University of Iowa. Taylor was asked by Frank Knight to go there as an instructor for a year.

Taught public speaking for part of spring term at a Hammond, Indiana high school at some point during graduate school.

1923. Taught economics at Earlham College for a semester.

1924. August 23 marries Mary Leanah Henderson in Mooresville, Indiana. He met her when she was a senior at Earlham College.

1923-24. Instructor, University of Chicago.

1924. Joins the faculty of Amherst College at the rank of instructor, coming along with Professor Paul Douglas.

1927. Promotion to assistant professor, Amherst College.

1929. Ph.D. University of Chicago.

1929. Promotion to associate professor, Amherst College.

1929-30. First semester visiting professorship at Mount Holyoke.

1930. Visiting professor at Smith College.

1930-31. Research for the International Committee on Price History.

1930. “Prices in the Mississippi Valley Preceding the War of 1812,” Journal of Economic and Business History, Vol. III, pp. 148-163.

1931. Agrarian discontent in the Mississippi valley preceding the war of 1812,” (subject of the doctoral dissertation) Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 39, No. 4 (August 1931), pp. 471-505.

1932. “Wholesale Commodity Prices at Charleston, S.C.,” Journal of Economic and Business History, (two parts). Vol. IV (February and August).

1932. Arrived August 3 at the port of New York aboard the S.S. Europa that sailed from Southampton.

1934-35. Second semester. Visiting professor of economics at Mount Holyoke.

1937. (with Louis Morton Hacker and Rudolf Modley). The United States: A Graphic History. New York: Modern Age Books, Inc.

1938. Senior agricultural economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1939. (with Edward Albertus and Lawrence Z. Waugh). Internal Barriers to Trade in Farm Products. Department of Commerce. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

1939. M.A. (hon.) Amherst College.

1939. Promotion to professor of economics, Amherst College.

1940. Spring semester. Visiting professor, Mount Holyoke College.

1940.State Laws which Limit Competition in Agricultural Products,” Journal of Farm Economics Vol. 22, No. 1 (February).

1941-46. Office of Price Administration and War Production Board.

1943. Adviser on price and control and rationing to the Republic of Paraguay.

1948-68. General editor of the Amherst College’s American studies program book series “Problems in American Civilization” (D.C. Heath Co.). This was a part of Amherst’s “New Curriculum” introduced in 1947. Amherst was a pioneer of the field of American Studies.

1949. Jackson versus Biddle; the struggle over the second Bank of the United States. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company.

1950. Hamilton and the National Debt. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company.

1951. The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860. Vol. IV of The Economic History of the United States.Rinehart and Co.

1952. Visiting Professor, Columbia University.

1953. The Great Tariff Debate, 1820 to 1830. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company.

1955-60. Editor of Journal of Economic History.

1956. The Turner Thesis concerning the Role of the frontier in American History. Rev. ed. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company.

1956. (with co-author Irene Neu). The American railroad network, 1861-1890. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

1956-58. President of the American Studies Association.

1959-62. Chairman of the Council on Research in Economic History.

1959. (with Ethel Hoover) Statement at Hearings before the Joint Economic Committee: Employment, Growth and Price Levels, 86th Congress, 1st Session, April 9, 1959.

1960. “Railroad Investment before the Civil War: Comment,” Trends in the American Economy in the Nineteenth Century, National Bureau of Economic Research, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. XXIV.

1961. Summer. Visiting professor at the University of Hawaii.

1962-64. President of the Economic History Association.

1963. The War of 1812: Past Justifications and Present Interpretations. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company.

1963. Visiting Professor, Tokyo University.

1964. Presidential address before the Economic History Association annual meeting “American Economic Growth before 1840: An Exploratory Essay,” Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXIV (December, 1964), 427-444.

1965. Retires from Amherst College.

1964. March 12. Public lecture at the University of Delaware published in “The National Economy Before and After the Civil War,” in David T. Gilchrist and David Lewis eds., Economic Change in the Civil War Era (Greenville, Delaware, 1965).

1966. “The Beginnings of Mass Transportation in Urban America, Part I,” The Smithsonian Journal of History. Part I (Summer); Part II (Autumn).

1965-70. Senior resident scholar at the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library (Wilmington, Delaware). Taught graduate seminars in economic history at the University of Delaware.

1967. “American Urban Growth Preceding the Railway Age,”Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXVII (September).

1969. Introduction to the reprint of Introduction and Early Development of the American Cotton Textile Industry to 1860 (1863) by Samuel Batchelder. New York: Harper & Row.

1969. American Economic History before 1860 (Goldentree Bibliographies in American History, ed. Arthur S. Link) compiled by George Rogers Taylor. New York: Appleton Century Croft.

1983. Died April 11 in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Sources:

Obituary, Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts), April 12, 1983, p. 4.

Scheiber, Harry N., and Stephen Salsbury. “Reflections on George Rogers Taylor’s ‘The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860’: A Twenty-Five Year Retrospect.” The Business History Review, vol. 51, no. 1, 1977, pp. 79–89.

May 19, 1978 interview of George Rogers Taylor from the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections, Oral History Project.

Hugh G. J. Aitken’s memorial note in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 626-629.

Image Source: Amherst College, The Olio 1930, p. 45.

Categories
Chicago Economics Programs

Chicago. Program of Political Economy. Thick course descriptions. 1904-1905

Broschures that advertise economics departments are often useful summaries of the “order of battle” for their educational and research missions. The Chicago Department of Political Economy was about a dozen years in business when this programme, transcribed below, was published. The course descriptions are somewhat thicker than are typically found in full university catalogs that must share space for the many divisions and schools that constitute the larger institution. 

Incidentally, the copy of the printed programme that was transcribed for this post was found in an archival box of material dealing with graduate studies in the Division of History, Government, and Economics at Harvard University. Then as now, prudence demands keeping an eye on your competition. 

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Related Posts on the Early Years
of the Department of Political Economy
of the University of Chicago

First detailed announcement of Political Economy program at the University of Chicago, 1892.

General Regulations for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, 1903.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Department of Political Economy, 1916.

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CONSPECTUS OF COURSES,
1904-1905.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.

All courses are Mj [major] unless otherwise indicated.

SUMMER AUTUMN WINTER SPRING
1 Principles of Political
  Economy
(Hill) 9:00
1 Principles of Political Economy
a (Hill) 8:30
b (Davenport) 12:00
1 Principles of Political Economy
(Hill) 12:00
2 Principles of Political Economy Con’d
a (Hill) 8:30
b (Davenport) 12:00
2 Principles of Political Economy Con’d
(Davenport) 12:00
3 Economic and Social History
(Morris) 2:00
3 Economic and Social History
(Morris) 12:00
4 History of Commerce
(Morris) 12:00
5B Commercial Geography for Teachers
(Goode) 1:30
5 Commercial Geography
(Mr. —) 8:30
8 Mathematical Problems of Insurance
(Epsteen)
6 Modern Industries
(Mr. —) 11:00
7 Insurance
(Davenport) 8:30
[9 Law of Insurance]
(Bigelow)
10 Accounting
(Mr. — ) 11:00
11 Special Problems of Accounting
(Several Experts)
12 Modern Business Methods
(Clow) 8:00
12 Modern Business Methods
(Mr. —) 9:30
20 History of Political Economy
(Veblen) 11:00
21 Scope and Method
(Veblen) 11:00
22 Finance
(Davenport) 8:30
24 Financial History of the United States
(Cummings) 8:00
24 Financial History of the United States
(Cummings) 2:00
23 Tariff Reciprocity and Shipping
(Cummings) 9:30
26 American Agriculture
(Hill) 10:30
26 American Agriculture
(Hill) 10:30
25 Economic Factors in Civilization
(Veblen) 11:00
27 Colonial Economics
(Morris) 9:30
40 Value
(Davenport) 8:30
41 Labor and Capital
(Laughlin) 12:00
44 Socialism
(Veblen) 9:30
46 Trade Unions
(Cummings)
9:30
45 Industrial Combinations (Veblen) 9:30 43 Economics of Workingmen
(Cummings) 9:30
46 Trades Unions
(Cummings) 12:00
50 Money
(Laughlin) 12:00
51 Banking
(Mr. —) 8:30
50 Money
(Laughlin) 12:00
[52 Advertising]

53 Practical Banking
(Mr. — ) 8:30

60 Railways
(Hill) 2:00
61 Railway Rates
(Meyer) 2:00
62 Government Ownership (I)
(Meyer) 2:00
63 Government Ownership (II)
(Meyer) 2:00
64 American Competition
(Meyer) 3:00
70 Statistics
(Cummings) 8:30
71 Statistics of Wages
(Cummings) 12:00
80 Seminar
(Laughlin)
81 Seminar
(Laughlin)
[82 Seminar
(Laughlin)]

______________________________

THE DEPARTMENT
OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

OFFICERS OF INSTRUCTION.

JAMES LAURENCE LAUGHLIN, Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Department of Political Economy.

THORSTEIN B. VEBLEN, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

WILLIAM HILL, A.M., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

JOHN CUMMINGS, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

HENRY RAND HATFIELD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

HERBERT JOSEPH DAVENPORT, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

HUGO RICHARD MEYER, A.B., Assistant Professor of Political Economy.

ROBERT MORRIS, A.B, LL.B., Instructor in Political Economy.

F. R. CLOW, Professor of Political Economy, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. (Summer Quarter, 1904).

FELLOWS.
1904-1905.

EDITH ABBOTT, A.B
EARL DEAN HOWARD, Ph.B.
WILLIAM JETT LAUCK, A.B.

INTRODUCTORY.

The work of the department is intended to provide, by symmetrically arranged courses of instruction, a complete training in the various branches of economics, beginning with elementary work and passing by degrees to the higher work of investigation. A chief aim of the instruction will be to teach methods of work, to foster a judicial spirit, and to cultivate an attitude of scholarly independence. (1) The student may pass, in the various courses of instruction, over the whole field of economics. (2) When fitted, he will be urged to pursue some special investigation. (3) For the encouragement of research and the training of properly qualified teachers of economics, Fellowships in Political Economy have been founded. (4) To provide a means of communication between investigators and the public, a review, entitled the Journal of Political Economy, has been established, to be edited by the officers of instruction in the department; while (5) larger single productions will appear in a series of bound volumes to be known as Economic Studies of the University of Chicago. [For links see below]

FELLOWSHIPS.

The Fellowships here offered by the Department of Political Economy are independent of those offered by the allied departments of History, Political Science, or Sociology.

Appointments will be made only on the basis of marked ability in economic studies and of capacity for investigation of a high character. It is a distinct advantage to candidates to have been one year in residence at the University. Candidates for these Fellowships should send to the President of the University a record of their previous work and distinctions, degrees and past courses of study, with copies of their written or printed work in economics. Applications should be sent in not later than March 1 of each year Appointments will be made during the first week of April.

Fellows are forbidden to give private tuition, and may be called upon for assistance in the work of teaching in the University or for other work; but in no case will they be expected or permitted to devote more than one sixth of their time to such service.

In addition, one Graduate Scholarship, yielding a sum sufficient to cover the annual tuition fees, is awarded to the best student in economics just graduated from the Senior Colleges; and a similar Scholarship is given to the student graduating from the Junior Colleges who passes the best examination at a special test.

CANDIDACY FOR HIGHER DEGREES.

Graduate courses are provided for training and research in subjects such as wages, money, agriculture, socialism, industrial combinations, statistics, demography, finance, and the like. Specialization may be carried on in many parts of the field, under special direction in the Seminar, whereby each student receives a personal appointment for one hour a week. The work is so adjusted as to form an organized scheme leading by regular stages to productive results suitable for publication.

Candidates for the degree of A.M. will not be permitted to offer elementary courses in Political Economy as part of the work during the year’s residence. The work of students taking Political Economy as a secondary subject for the degree of A.M., should include (1) the general principles of economics (as contained in Courses 1 and 2, or an equivalent); (2) the history of Political Economy; and (3) the scope and method of Political Economy.

The work of candidates for the degree of Ph.D., taking Political Economy as a secondary subject, should include, in addition to the above requirements for the degree of A.M., on (1) Public Finance, and (2) on some descriptive subject as, e.g., Money, or Tariff, or Railways, etc.; and the examination will be more searching than that for the degree of A.M.

In all cases candidates should consult early with the heads of the departments within which their Major and Minor subjects are taken.

Before being admitted to candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in case Political Economy is chosen as the principal subject, the student must furnish satisfactory evidence to the head of the department that he has been well prepared in the following courses (or their equivalents at other institutions): History of Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (History 11); Europe in the Nineteenth Century (History 12); Later Constitutional Period of the United States; the Civil War and the Reconstruction (History 18); Comparative National Government (Political Science 11); Federal Constitutional Law of the United States (Political Science 21); Elements of International Law (Political Science 41); and Introduction to Sociology (Sociology 72).

PUBLICATIONS

As a means of communication between investigators and the public, the University issues quarterly the Journal of Political Economy, the first number of which appeared in December of 1892. Contributions to its pages will be welcomed from writers outside as well as inside the University the aim being not only to give investigators a place of record for their researches, but also to further in every possible way the interests of economic study throughout the country. The Journal will aim to lay more stress than existing journals upon articles dealing with practical economic questions. The editors will welcome articles from writers of all shades of economic opinion, reserving only the privilege of deciding as to merit and timeliness.

Longer investigations, translations of important books needed for American students, reprints of scarce works, and collections of materials will appear in bound volumes in a series of Economic Studies of the University of Chicago, of which the following have already been issued:

No. I. The Science of Finance, by Gustav Cohn. Translated by Dr. T. B. Veblen, 1895, 8vo, pp. xi+800. Price, $3.50.

No. II. History of the Union Pacific Railway, by Henry Kirke White, 1895, 8vo, pp. 132. Price, $1.50.

No. III. The Indian Silver Currency, by Karl Ellstaetter. Translated by J. Laurence Laughlin, 1896, 8vo, pp. 116. Price, $1.25.

No. IV. State Aid to Railways in Missouri, by John Wilson Million, 1897, 8vo, pp. 264. Price, $1.75.

No. V. History of the Latin Monetary Union, by Henry Parker Willis, 1901, 8vo, pp. ix + 332. Price $2.00.

No. VI. The History of the Greenbacks, with Special Reference to the Economic Consequences of Their Issue, by Wesley Clair Mitchell, 1903, 8vo, pp. xiv + 500. Price, $4.00, net.

No. VII. Legal Tender: A Study in English and American Monetary History, by Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, 1903, 8vo, pp. xvii + 180. Price, $1.50, net.

LIBRARY FACILITIES.

In the suite of class-rooms occupied by the department will be found the Economic Library. Its selection has been made with great care, in order to furnish not only the books needed for the work of instruction in the various courses, but especially collections of materials for the study of economic problems. The University Library contains an unusually complete set of United States Documents, beginning with the First Congress. It is believed that ample provision has thus been made for the work of serious research. The work of the students will necessarily be largely carried on in the Economic Library where will also be found the past as well as the current numbers of all the European and American economic journals.

The combined library facilities of Chicago are exceptional. The Public Library, maintained by a large city tax, the Newberry Library, and the Crerar Library, with a fund of several millions of dollars, which has provided books on Political Economy, will enable the student to obtain material needed in the prosecution of detailed investigation.

SPECIAL ADVANTAGES.

For the convenience of those who wish to know the branches of economics in which especial advantages are offered by the department, attention is called to the new facilities afforded for specialization in several directions:

RAILWAYS.

Apart from the fundamental training in the general economic field, a new and exceptional series of advanced courses in the economic side of railways has been provided. It is believed that no such extended and useful courses have ever been offered before on this subject. Beginning with the usual general course on railway transportation, four new courses are presented for advanced students.

LABOR AND CAPITAL.

In view of the pressing importance of questions touching upon the rewards of labor and capital, an exceptional arrangement of courses dealing both with the underlying principles and the practical movements of the day have been prepared upon new and extended lines.

MONEY.

Opportunities for specialization in the field of money and banking have been offered in the past, but new courses have been organized in order to permit a more thorough study in these subjects, both theoretical and practical, than has ever been possible before.

LABORATORY FOR STATISTICAL RESEARCH WORK.

The University has equipped a laboratory for statistical research work in which students are given training in the collection and tabulation of statistical data, as well as in the scientific construction of charts, and diagrams. The object of the work is to familiarize students with practical methods employed in government bureaus, municipal, state, and federal, in the United States and in other countries, and in private agencies of sociological and economic investigation. Men are trained to enter the service of such bureaus or agencies of social betterment as statisticians, capable of undertaking any work requiring expert statistical service. The Departments of Political Economy and of Sociology co-operate in the direction of statistical investigations.

COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.
Summer Quarter, 1904—Spring Quarter, 1905.

M=Minor course a single course for six weeks.
Mj=Major course=a single course for twelve weeks

GENERAL.

The courses are classified as follows:

Group 1, Introductory and Commercial: Courses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Group II, Advanced Business Courses: Courses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Group III, General Economic Field: Courses 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29-30, 31-32.

Group IV, Labor and Capital: Courses 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47.

Group V, Money and Banking: Courses 50, 51, 52, 53, 54.

Group VI, Railways: Courses 60, 61, 62, 63, 64.

Group VII, Statistics: Courses 70, 71, 72.

Group VIII, Seminars: Courses 80, 81, 82.

Students are advised to begin the study of economics not later than the first year of their entrance into the Senior Colleges; and students of high standing, showing special aptitude for economic study, may properly take the Courses of Group I in the last year of the Junior Colleges.

For admission to the courses of Groups II and III, a prerequisite is the satisfactory completion of Courses 1 and 2 in the department, or an equivalent. Course 1 is not open to students who do not intend to continue the work of Course 2.

JUNIOR COLLEGE COURSES.
Group I. — Introductory and Commercial. 

1 and 2. Principles of Political Economy. — Exposition of the laws of modern Political Economy.

Course 1.

Mj. Summer Quarter; 8:00. Assistant Professor Hill.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 2 sections, 8:30 and 12:00. Assistant Professors Hill and Davenport.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00. Assistant Professor Hill.

Course 2.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 2 sections: 8:30 and 12:00. Assistant Professors Hill and Davenport.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00. Assistant Professor Davenport.

Courses 1 and 2 together are designed to give the students an acquaintance with the working principles of modern Political Economy. The general drill in the principles cannot be completed in one quarter; and the department does not wish students to elect Course 1 who do not intend to continue the work in Course 2. Descriptive and practical subjects are introduced as the principles are discussed, and the field is only half covered in Course 1. Those who do not take both 1 and 2 are not prepared to take any advanced courses.

  1. Economic and Social History. — It is thought that the course may be of advantage to students of Political Science and History by giving them a view of the economic side of the social and political life of the past one hundred and fifty years. Special attention is devoted to the study of the economic effects of the Colonial System; the American and French Revolutions; the “industrial revolution;” the effects of invention and the new transportation upon the movement and grouping of population; the discoveries of the precious metals in North America, South America, Africa, and Australia; slavery, the Civil War, the new South, and the redistribution of industries in the United States; the progress of Great Britain since the repeal of the Corn Laws; and the recent development of German industry.

Mj. Autumn 2:00 and Spring Quarters; 12:00.
Mr. Morris.

Course 3 is required of all students in the College of Commerce and Administration.

  1. History of Commerce. — A brief general survey of ancient medieval and modern commerce. Consideration of the articles of commerce, the market places, the trade routes, methods of transportation, and the causes which promoted and retarded the growth of commerce in the principal commercial nations.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00. Mr. Morris.

  1. Commercial Geography. — A study of the various countries and their chief products; the effect of soil, climate, and geographical situation in determining national industries and international trade, commercial routes, seaports; the location of commercial and industrial centers; exports and imports; the character, importance, and chief sources of the principal articles of foreign trade.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———

Required of all students in the
College of Commerce and Administration.

  1. Modern Industries. — This elementary course, requiring no previous study of economics, examines the present organization of some of the leading industries. Study is made of the internal business organization, the processes of manufacture, the effect of inventions, etc. Emphasis will be placed on the manufactures of the United States.
    The class will visit a number of large industrial establishments in and near Chicago.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 11:00.
Mr. ———

SENIOR COLLEGES AND GRADUATE COURSES.
Group II. — Advanced Business Courses.
  1. Insurance. — This course will aim to cover those aspects of insurance important to the practical business man, and to serve at the same time as a descriptive and theoretical treatment adapted to the needs of students intending to specialize in the actuarial and legal aspect of the subject. The history and theory of insurance, the bearing of these on the different insurance relations of modern business, including accident, health, burial, suretyship, credit forms, and the like will be examined. Especial emphasis will, however, be given: (1) to Life Insurance, the various forms of organization, assessment, fraternal, stock, and mutual; the theory of rates, mortality, expense, reserve, and interest aspects; the different combinations of investment and mortality contracts, loan and surrender values, dividends, distribution periods; (2) to Fire Insurance, the various forms of business organization, the terms and conditions of the insurance contract, the different forms of hazard, and the competition and combination of rates therefor; the theory of reserves and co-insurance, and the problem of the valued policy laws; (3) the general principle of public supervision with regard to the different forms of insurance, and the wider question of public ownership.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.

  1. The Mathematics of Insurance. — This course presupposes some acquaintance with the descriptive aspect of insurance. The course is devoted particularly to the mathematical principles of Life Insurance. The necessary elements of the theory are selected from the theories of probability, finite differences, and interpolation. Applications are made in particular to the following problems: The examination of the different mortality tables and the basing of mortality rates thereon; the loading of expenses and reserves and the variations of premiums, as affected by the prospective earnings of investments: the computation of total reserves; the fixation of loan and surrender values of paid-up insurance, whether by life or term extension; the computation of present and deferred annuities as affected by considerations of age, life, term, endowment, joint-life, and annuity policies.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Mr. Epsteen.

Prerequisite: Trigonometry and College Algebra
(Mathematical Courses 1, 2 or 1, 5 or 4, 5).
See Mathematics 9.

  1. Law of Insurance. — Insurable interest in various kinds of insurance and when it must exist; beneficiaries; the amounts recoverable and valued policies; representations; warranties; waiver and powers of agents; interpretation of phrases in policies; assignment of insurance.

Mj. Spring Quarter.
Assistant Professor Bigelow.

Text book: Wambaugh, Cases on Insurance.

  1. Accounting. — The interpretation of accounts viewed with regard to the needs of the business manager rather than those of the accountant: the formation and meaning of the balance sheet; the profit and loss statement and its relation to the balance sheet; the capital accounts, surplus, reserve, sinking funds; reserve funds, their use and misuse; depreciation accounts; other accounts appearing on credit side; assets; methods of valuation; confusing of assets and expenses; capital expenditures and operating expenses; capital assets, cash, and other reserves.

Prerequisite: The Course in Bookkeeping offered by the Department of Mathematics.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 11:00.
Mr. ———.

  1. Special Problems in Accounting.
    1. Bank accounting.
    2. The duties of an auditor; methods of procedure; practice; problems frequently met.
    3. Appraisal and Depreciation.
    4. Railway Accounting. A consideration of the principal features. Determination of the four main divisions of expense. The relation between capital expenditures and profit and loss.
    5. The Public Accountant. Legal regulations; duties and methods; constructive work in devising system of accounting to fit special needs. Practice in comparison of various systems. The advantages of various devices, loose-leaf and card systems; voucher system; cost keeping.

Mj. Spring Quarter.
Conducted by experts from Chicago institutions.

  1. Modern Business Methods. Corporation Finance. — Speculation, investment, exchange. The course aims to make clear to the student the meaning of the commercial and financial columns of current journals and to examine the economic significance of the business transactions thus reported. Attention is given among other things to the reports of the money market, the business on stock and produce exchanges, market quotations, the various forms of investment securities, and foreign exchange.

Summer Quarter; 11:30.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Professor Clow.

Group III — General Economic Field.
  1. History of Political Economy. — Lectures, Reading, and Reports. This course treats of the development of Political Economy as a systematic body of doctrine; of the formation of economic conceptions and principles, policies, and systems. The subject will be so treated as to show the continuity and systematic character of Political Economy as an intelligent explanation of economic facts. Both the history of topics and doctrines and that of schools and leading writers will be studied. Attention will be given to the commercial theories of the Mercantile System, the Physiocratic School, Adam Smith and his immediate predecessors, the English writers from Adam Smith to J. S. Mill, and the European and American writers of the nineteenth century. Selection will be made of those who have had great influence, and who have made marked contributions to Political Economy. The student will be expected to read prescribed portions of the great authors bearing on cardinal principles. It is hoped that in this way he will learn to see the consistency and relations of economic theories and to use the science as a whole, and not as a mere mass of arbitrary formulæ or dicta. A special feature of the work will be a thorough study of Adam Smith and of Ricardo.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.

  1. Scope and Method of Political Economy. — The course treats of the premises on which the analysis of economic problems proceeds, the range of problems usually taken up for investigation by economists, the methods of procedure adopted in their solution, the character of the solutions sought or arrived at, the relations of Political Economy to the other Moral Sciences, as well as to the influence of the political, social, and industrial situation in determining the scope and aim of economic investigation. Special attention is given to writers on method, as Mill, Cairnes, Keynes, Roscher, Schmoller, Menger.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.

  1. Finance. — In this course it is intended to make a comprehensive survey of the whole field of public finance. The treatment is both theoretical and practical, and the method of presentation historical as well as systematic. Most emphasis is placed upon the study of taxation, although public expenditures, public debts, and financial administration are carefully studied.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.

  1. Tariffs, Reciprocity, and Shipping. — The course of legislation and the development of our commercial policy is followed, and an effort made to indicate the influence of our protective tariffs upon the development of our domestic industries, upon the growth and character of our international trade, and incidentally upon the occurrence of industrial crises and the continuance of industrial prosperity at different periods in our history. Foreign trade policies and schemes for imperial tariff federation are taken up, and especial attention given to the negotiation of reciprocity treaties, as well as to recent attempts which have been made through federal legislation granting subsidies to build up American shipping.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

  1. Financial History of the United States. — In this course the financial history of the United States is followed from the organization of our national system in 1789 to the close of the Spanish war. The following topics may be mentioned as indicating the scope of the course; the funding and management of the Revolutionary and other war debts; the First and Second United States Banks; the Independent Treasury; the present national banking system; Civil War financiering with especial reference to bond and note issues, and resort to legal tender currency; the demonetization of silver and issue of silver certificates; inflation of the currency and the gold reserve; the currency act of 1900. This study of the course of legislation upon currency, debts, and banking in the United States is based upon first-hand examination of sources, and students are expected to do original research work.

Summer Quarter; 8:00.
Mj. Autumn Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

  1. Economic Factors in Civilization. — The course is intended to present a genetic account of the modern economic system by a study of its beginnings and the phases of development through which the present situation has been reached. To this end it undertakes a survey of the growth of culture as affected by economic motives and conditions. With this in view, such phenomena as the Teutonic invasion of Europe, the Feudal system, the rise of commerce, the organization of trade and industry, the history of the condition of laborers, processes of production, and changes in consumption, will be treated.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 11:00.
Assistant Professor Veblen.

  1. Problems of American Agriculture. — Special attention will be given to the extension and changes of the cultivated area of the United States; the methods of farming; the influence of railways and population, and of cheapened transportation; the fall in value of Eastern farm lands; movements of prices of agricultural products; European markets; competition of other countries; intensive farming; diminishing returns; farm mortgages; and the comparison of American with European systems of culture.

Summer Quarter; 10:30.
Mj. Winter Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Hill.

  1. Colonial Economics. — The economics of colonial administration, including some account of commercialism, past and present, and of modern trade theories of imperial federation, trade relations, financial policies, and economic development and dependence of colonies.
    A brief historical account of American and foreign experience serves as introduction to a fuller consideration of economic problems involved in modern colonial administration. In the light of this experience study is undertaken of some economic problems which have arisen in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Mr. Morris.

29, 30. Oral Debates. — Selected Economic Topics. Briefs. Debates. Criticism.

2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters; Mon., 3:00-6:00.
Assistant Professor Hill, Mr. Chandler, and Mr. Gorsuch.

31, 32. Argumentation. — To be taken in connection with English 9.

2 hrs. a week.
2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters; Wed., 3:00.
2M. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Mr. Chandler.

Group IV. — Labor and Capital.
  1. Theory of Value. — After a brief preliminary survey of the discussions prior to Adam Smith, the cost of production-theory as developed at the hands of Ricardo, McCulloch, James Mill, Senior, J. S. Mill, and Cairnes is taken up for detailed study. Then the utility theory of value, as presented by Jevons and Austrian economists, is examined. Finally, the attempts made by such writers as Marshall, Dietzel, Pantaleoni, Clark, Patten, McFarlane, Hobson, etc., to frame a more satisfactory theory of value by combining the analysis of cost and of marginal utility, are reviewed.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8: 30.
Assistant Professor Davenport.

  1. Labor and Capital. — Unsettled problems of distribution. The more abstruse questions of distribution will be considered. No student, therefore, can undertake the work of this course with profit who has not already become familiar with the fundamental principles. The course is open only to those who have passed satisfactorily Course 2, or who can clearly show that they have had an equivalent training. The subjects to be considered will be as follows: The wages-fund and other theories of wages, the interest problem, managers’ profits, and allied topics. The discussion will be based upon selected passages of important writers. The study of wages, for example, will include reading from Adam Smith, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, Longe, Thornton, Cairnes, F. A. Walker, Marshall, George, Böhm-Bawerk, Hobson, J. B. Clark, and others. Students will also be expected to discuss recent important contributions to these subjects in current books or journals.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. Economics of Workingmen. — Continuing the study of distribution (Course 41), examination is here undertaken of social movements for improving the condition of labor, to determine how far they are consistent with economic teaching, and likely in fact to facilitate or to retard economic betterment of workingmen. Efforts to increase earnings through modification of the wages system itself, resort to legislation, and the purposes and practices of labor organization are discussed, and the effect upon labor efficiency, earning capacity and steadiness of employment, of modern industrial systems; workingmen’s insurance; co-operation; profit-sharing; competition of women and children; industrial education; social-settlement work; consumers’ leagues. Interest centers about practical efforts for economic amelioration of employment conditions in “sweated” and in other industries. These studies are supplemented by statistical data on the condition of labor in different countries.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

Note. — Although open in certain cases to students of Sociology and others who have had the equivalent of the economic Courses 1 and 2, this course can be taken to best advantage by those only who have already had Course 41.

  1. Socialism — A history of the growth of socialistic sentiment and opinion as shown in the socialistic movements of the nineteenth century, and the position occupied by socialistic organizations of the present time. The course is in part historical and descriptive, in part theoretical and critical. The programmes and platforms of various socialistic organizations are examined and compared, and the theories of leading socialists are taken up in detail. Marx is given the chief share of attention, but other theoretical writers, such as Rodbertus, Kautsky, Bernstein, are also reviewed. The factors which at the present time further or hinder the spread of socialism, and what are its chances of being carried through or of producing a serious effect upon the institutions of modern countries, are considered.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Veblen.

  1. Organization of Business Enterprise—Trusts. — A discussion of the growth of the conditions which have made large business coalitions possible, the motives which have led to their formation, the conditions requisite to their successful operation, the character and extent of the advantages to be derived from them, the drawbacks and dangers which may be involved in their further growth, the chances of governmental guidance or limitation of their formation and of the exercise of their power, the feasible policy and methods that may be pursued in dealing with the trusts. The work of the course is in large part investigation of special subjects, with lectures and assigned reading.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 9:30.
Assistant Professor Veblen.

  1. Trades Unions and the Labor Movement — An historical and comparative study of the trades union movement in the United States and in foreign countries. Negotiation and maintenance of wage-compacts; methods of arbitration, conciliation and adjustment; trades union insurance and provision for the unemployed; incorporation and employés’ liability; the precipitation and conduct of strikes; and in general all concrete issues involved in the organization of labor for collective bargaining with employers, with especial reference to the working programs of the more important trades unions at the present time.

Summer Quarter; 9:00.
Mj. Spring Quarter; 12:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

  1. The Industrial Revolution and Labor Legislation. — The social consequences to the wage-earner of the development of the factory system of industry and of industrial development, more particularly during the last half of the 19th century, are taken up historically and descriptively. The social status of the modern wage-earner is contrasted with that of the handicraftsman working under more primitive conditions, and especial attention is given to the development of the modern wages system of remuneration, the historical modification of the labor contract in its legal aspects, and, finally, to the course of labor legislation which has in different countries accompanied industrial reorganization and development.

Mj.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

[Not to be given in 1904-5.]

Group V — Money and Banking.
  1. Money and Practical Economics.— An examination is first made of the principles of money, whether metallic or paper; then either the subject of metallic or paper money is taken up and studied historically, chiefly in connection with the experience of the United States, as a means of putting the principles into practice. Preliminary training for investigation is combined in this course, with the acquisition of desirable statistical information on practical questions of the day. The student is instructed in the bibliography of the subject, taught how to collect his data, and expected to weigh carefully the evidence on both sides of a mooted question. The work of writing theses is so adjusted that it corresponds to the work of other courses counting for the same number of hours.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 12:00.
Professor Laughlin.

  1. The Theory and History of Banking. — A study is made of the banking systems of leading nations; the relations of the banks to the public; their influence on speculation; and the relative advantages of national banks, state banks, trust companies, and savings banks.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———.

  1. Advanced Course in Money. — After having been drilled in the general principles of money (Course 50) the student is given an opportunity to examine the more difficult problems of money and credit.

Mj. Spring Quarter.
Professor Laughlin.

[Not given in 1904-5.1

  1. Practical Banking. — The internal organization and administration of a bank; the granting of loans; the valuation of an account; bank records; arithmetic of bank operations; mechanical and other time-saving devices.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 8:30.
Mr. ———.

  1. Commercial Crises. — A practical study of the operations of credit in the experiences of this and other countries during the periods of crises.

Mj. Spring Quarter.
Mr. ———.

[Not given in 1901-5.]

Group VI — Railways.
  1. Railway Transportation. — The economic, financial, and social influences arising from the growth of modern railway transportation, especially as concerns the United States, will be discussed. An account of the means of transportation developed in Europe and America during the early part of this century; the experiments of the states in constructing and operating canals and railways; national, state, and municipal aid to private companies; the rapid and irregular extension of the United States railway system; the failures of 1893; the reorganizations and consolidations since that time, with some attention to railway building in other countries, will form the historical part of the work. A discussion of competition, combination, discrimination, investments, speculation, abuse of fiduciary powers; state legislation and commissions, and the Inter-State Commerce Act, with decisions under it; and the various relations of the state, the public, the investors, the managers and the employés, will form the most important part of the work. This course gives a general view of the subject. Students who wish to continue the work by investigating special problems will have an opportunity to do so under Courses 61 and 62.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 2:00
Assistant Professor Hill.

  1. The Regulation of Railway Rates. — The efforts of the railways of the United States to regulate railway rates through pools, will be compared with the efforts of the several states, and of the federal government, to regulate rates through legislation and through commissions. Typical decisions of pools, of state commissions, and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, will be studied for the purpose of ascertaining: (a) whether the decisions of the commissions are founded on a body of principles that may be said to have the character of a science, or, whether they express merely the judgment of administrative officers on questions of fact to which no body of scientific principles can be made to apply; (b) whether the past experience warrants the faith that the public regulation of railway rates will leave the railways sufficiently unhampered to develop trade and industry; (c) whether regulation by public authority promises to achieve more substantial justice than regulation by pools. The experience of Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia with the public regulation of railway rates — exercised either by legislation or by public ownership — will be studied with reference to the effect of such regulation upon the elasticity of railway rates, and upon the ability of the railways to develop trade and industry. In this connection will be studied the part played respectively by the railways and by the waterways in the development of Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. The study will show why the countries in question are obliged to have recourse to the waterways for services that, in the United States, are rendered by the railways.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 2:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.

  1. Industrial Activities of the State in Europe. — This course reviews the efforts made in Great Britain to secure to the public a share in the profits to be made in those so-called public service industries that use the streets: water, gas, electric light, street-railways, and hydraulic power, or compressed air, power transmission. These efforts consist of the imposition of severe restrictions upon franchises, with the alternative of municipal ownership. The experience of Great Britain will be compared with that of the United States, under: (a) the practice of practically no restrictions upon the industries in question; (b) the Massachusetts practice of regulation by legislation which is enforced and supplemented by state commissions. As for Continental Europe, the course will cover the experience of Prussia, France, and Russia, in attempting to make the railway and public works budgets fit into the state budget. In this connection the inelasticity of state activity in Europe will be compared with the elasticity of private activity in the United States.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 3:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.

  1. The Industrial Activities of the State in Australasia. — This course will cover the Australasian experience of the last forty years under a wide extension of the functions of the state. Although Australasia is a comparatively small country, the experience in question is more significant than might appear at first sight, for it is the experience of a homogeneous, English-speaking people. The course will cover the management of the state-railways; the administration of the public finances; the civil service; and the legislative regulation of the conditions of labor, such as the fixing of minimum wages, and the establishment of compulsory arbitration. Incidentally comparisons will be made with certain conditions and practices in Great Britain and France, for the purpose of showing how the extension of the functions of the state has made the politics of Australasia resemble, in many vital respects, the politics of France, rather than those of Great Britain.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 2:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.

  1. American Competition in Europe since 1873. — This course is a study in economics and politics; it purposes to put before the student information equipping him for the critical consideration of the merits of the question: Laissez faire vs. state intervention. To that end it institutes a series of comparisons between the United States and Europe, especially in the fields of agricultural practice and railway transportation. The course begins with the consideration of the nature of the competition to which the opening of new sources of supply of food products exposed Western Europe, the nature of the adjustments demanded by the situation, and the adjustments actually achieved, under free-trade in Great Britain, and under protection on the Continent. The course then proceeds to contrast the comparative failure to develop the agricultural resources of Eastern Europe (the Danubian Provinces and Russia) and Siberia with the rapid development of the agricultural resources of the interior regions of the United States. In this connection will be studied the comparative efficiency of the railway systems of Europe and the United States, with especial reference to the effect of the public regulation of railway rates, either through state-ownership, or through legislative and administrative intervention. Incidental to the main investigation an array of facts will be presented bearing upon questions of economic theory: the growth of population and the raising of the standard of living; some of the principal factors that have determined the present scale of real wages in the several European countries; some instances of the working of natural selection; and the relative merits of large farms and small farms, or of extensive cultivation and intensive cultivation.

Mj. Spring Quarter; 3:00.
Assistant Professor Meyer.

Group VII — Statistics.
  1. Training Course in Statistics. — The object of this course is to train students in the practical use of statistical methods of investigation. Stress is laid upon work done by students themselves in collecting, tabulating, interpreting, and presenting statistics of different orders. Members of the class are also required to make close critical examinations of various publications of statistical nature with a view to determining the accuracy of data and the legitimacy of inferences drawn. Students engaged in any special work of investigation are encouraged to deal mainly with data relevant to their subjects. To others special topics are assigned. It is hoped that the course may prove useful to all students whose work, in whatever department it may lie, whether in history, sociology, or in other fields of study, is susceptible of statistical treatment.
    Courses 70 and 72 will be given in alternate years.

Mj. Autumn Quarter; 8:30.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

  1. Statistics of Wages in the Nineteenth Century. — In this course effort is made to determine what has been the actual movement of wages during the nineteenth century. An examination is undertaken of the more important statistical investigations of wage movements which have been made from time to time by economists, government bureaus, or other agencies, in specific industries; the object being to determine the extent to which the wage-earner has in general participated in the benefits of industrial progress and of the increased economic efficiency of labor and capital. The course is intended to be informational and descriptive in character, as well as to give training in the collection and tabulation of statistical data.

Mj. Winter Quarter; 12:00.
Assistant Professor Cummings.

  1. Demography. — Statistical methods are illustrated by studies in population data, comprising the construction of actuarial tables; determination of the economic value of populations; economic aspects of the data of criminality and pauperism; growth and migration of population in the United States as “labor force,” including statistics of the negro race. The development of official statistics of population, and the demographic work of government bureaus is taken up historically and critically. The object of the course is to give students training in handling population data as a basis of sociological and economic speculation, and to point out the bearing of such data and their importance in the historical development of economic theories.

Assistant Professor Cummings.

[Not to be given in 1904-5.]

Group VIII — The Seminars.

80, 81. Economic Seminar.

2Mj. Autumn and Winter Quarters.
Professor Laughlin.

Source: University of Chicago. Programme of the Departments of Political Economy, Political Science, History, Sociology and Anthropology, 1904-1905. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1904. Transcription from a copy found in the Harvard University Archives, Division of History, Government, and Economics. Ph.D. exams and records of candidates, study plans, lists, etc. pre-1911-1942. Box 2, Unlabeled Folder.

Image Source: Technology Reading Room 2, Crerar Library (Marshall Field Annex). From the University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-01949, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. List of Ph.D. recipients in History and Political Science, 1873-1901

Before there was a department of political economy or economics at Harvard there was a Division of History and Political Science that continued on to become the Division of History, Government and Economics. Earlier student records for graduate students of economics as well as for the other departments were kept at this divisional and not departmental level. Altogether a total of 45 Ph.D. degrees were awarded at Harvard going up through 1901, not quite a third to men who were or became economists or economic historians.

The following list includes the activity of the Ph.D. alumni, presumably as of 1900-01.

____________________

DIVISION OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
RECIPIENTS OF THE DEGREE OF PH.D., 1873-1901.

(* deceased)

Field. Date.
1. Charles Leavitt Beals Whitney* History. 1873.
2. Stuart Wood Pol. Sci. 1875.
3. James Laurence Laughlin
(Prof. Chicago)
History. 1876.
4. Henry Cabot Lodge
(Former Instr. Harv., now Senator)
History. 1876.
5. Ernest Young*
(Late Prof. Harvard)
History. 1876.
6. Freeman Snow*
(Late Instr. Harvard)
History. 1877.
7. Franklin Bartlett History. 1878.
8. Melville Madison Bigelow
(Prof. Boston Univ.)
History. 1878.
9. Edward Channing
(Prof. Harvard)
History. 1880.
10. Denman Waldo Ross
(Lecturer, Harvard)
History. 1880.
11. Samuel Eppes Turner*
(once Instr. Philips Exeter)
History. 1880.
12. Frank William Taussig
(Prof. Harvard)
Pol. Sci. 1883.
13. Andrew Fiske
(Lawyer)
History. 1886.
14. Charles William Colby
(Prof. McGill)
History. 1890.
15. Edson Leone Whitney
(Prof. Bezonia)
History. 1890.
16. Herman Vanderburg Ames
(Prof. Pennsylvania)
History. 1891.
17. Fred Emory Haynes
(Charity Work)
History. 1891.
18. Evarts Boutell Greene
(Prof. Illinois)
History. 1893.
19. Charles Luke Wells
(Recent Prof. Minnesota)
History. 1893.
20. Willian Edward Burghardt DuBois
(Prof. Atlanta)
Pol. Sci. 1895.
21. Kendric Charles Babcock
(Prof. California)
History. 1896.
22. Howard Hamblett Cook
(Statistician)
Pol. Sci. 1896.
23. Theodore Clarke Smith
(Prof. Ohio State Univer.)
Pol. Sci. 1896.
24. Guy Stevens Callender
(Prof. Bowdoin)
Pol. Sci. 1897.
25. Clyde Augustus Duniway
(Prof. Leland Stanford Univ.)
Pol. Sci. 1897.
26. Gaillard Thomas Lapsley
(Instr. Univ. Cali.)
History. 1897.
27. Charles Whitney Mixter
(Instr. Harvard)
Pol. Sci. 1897.
28. Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague
(Instr. Harvard)
Pol. Sci. 1897.
29. George Ole Virtue
(Prof. Wisconsin Normal)
Pol. Sci. 1897.
30. Samuel Bannister Harding
(Prof. Indiana)
History. 1898.
31. James Sullivan, Jr.
(Instr. N.Y. [DeWitt Clinton] High School)
History. 1898.
32. Arthur Mayer Wolfson
(Instr. N.Y. [DeWitt Clinton] High School)
History. 1898.
33. Frederick Redman Clow
(Prof. Minnesota Normal)
Pol. Sci. 1899.
34. Arthur Lyons Cross
(Instr. Michigan)
History. 1899.
35. Louis Clinton Hatch. History. 1899.
36. Norman Maclaren Trenholme
(Instr. Pa. State College)
History. 1899.
37. Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr.
(Instr. Harvard)
Pol. Sci. 1900.
38. Sidney Bradshaw Fay
(Instr. Harvard)
History. 1900.
39. Carl Russell Fish
(Instr. Wisconsin)
History. 1900.
40. William Bennett Munro
(Instr. McGill)
Pol. Sci. 1900.
41. Subharama Swaminadhan Pol. Sci. 1900.
42. Don Carlos Barrett
(Prof. Haverford)
Pol. Sci. 1901.
43. Herbert Camp Marshall Pol. Sci. 1901.
44. Jonas Viles History. 1901.
45. Arthur Herbert Wilde
(Prof. Northeastern)
History. 1901.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Division of History, Government & Economics. PhD. Material. Box 1, Folder “PhD degrees conferred, 1873-1901 (Folder 1 of 2).”

Image Source: Harvard Square, ca. 1901-07. History Cambridge webpage “Postcard Series I: Harvard Square”.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Mid-year and Year-End Final Exams in Economics and Social Ethics, 1894-1895

 

 

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds yet another annual collection of final examination questions for the economics courses offered at Harvard together with the questions from Professor Peabody’s “Ethics of the Social Questions” that covered issues such as poverty, labor relations, and socialism (as opposed to doctrines of individualism). In 1894-95 Frank Taussig was on sabbatical leave in Italy which accounts for his whereabouts that academic year.  Today I learned that “doctrine” was understood as a synonym for “theory” during the gay nineties, see Economics 2 (Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time) below.

Exams for one course taught were not included in the published collection of exams. It was Edward Cummings course Economics 14 (Philosophy and Political Economy.—Utopian Literature from Plato’s Republic to the present time). Exams for Economics 14 given in other years have been transcribed and posted.

__________________

1894-95.
PHILOSOPHY 5.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[PHILOSOPHY] 5. Professor [Francis G.] Peabody. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, the Family, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 2 hours.

Total 84: 1 Graduate, 40 Seniors, 15 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 25 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 59.

 

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

[Omit one question.]

  1. The Ethical Idealism of Plato, of Aristotle, and of Kant, compared with the modern doctrine of duty.
  2. Professor Sumner’s doctrine of the Social Fulcrum vs. the philosophy of scientific charity.
  3. Indicate, very briefly, the place in the History of Philanthropy of:

Frédéric Le Play,
Dorothea Dix,
Pastor von Bodelschwingh,
Charles L. Brace,
Samuel G. Howe.

  1. The Elberfeld System — its organization, officials, relation tomunicipal government, and practical working.
  2. The Liverpool System of Collection.
  3. Mr. Charles Booth’s eight classes of East London,— their definition, dimensions, traits, and proportion. (Labor and Life of the People, I. pp. 37-62.) Mr. Booth’s view of the children of Class E (p. 160).
  4. Compare Mr. Booth’s method and results in East London with his method and results in all London.
  5. Compare the principle as to direct relief of the London Charity Organization Society with that of the Boston Associated Charities. (Loch, Charity Organization, pp. 59, 82.) Which is the sounder principle? Why?
  6. The Belgian Labor Colonies,— their scope and method of classification. Compare their aims with those of the colonies of Holland and Germany.
  7. The Christian doctrine of the Social Order — its principles and its peril.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

  1. Explain the theory of ethics which makes the basis of this course of study; and the way in which this theory is practically illustrated by phases of the modern labor question.
  2. In what respect do the social ideals of Carlyle and Ruskin seem identical, and in what respect do they appear to be inconsistent with each other?
  3. The authorship and the significance of the following phrases:

“There is no wealth but Life…. A strange political economy; the only one, nevertheless, that ever was or can be.”

“I am for permanence in all things. Blessed is he that continueth where he is.”

“The gospel of dilettantism.”

“Roots of honour.”

“Ricardo is the parent of Socialism.”

“The value of a thing is independent of opinion and of quantity.”

“The reformation was the work of a monk; the revolution must be the work of a philosopher.”

“The people are the Rock on which the Church of the future must be built.”

  1. The practical programme proposed by Scientific Socialism; the chief advantages claimed for it by its adherents; and the criticisms on it which appear to you most serious. Utilize here your reading of Naquet and The Social Horizon.
  2. Socialism and Religion. The apparent grounds for sympathy and the practical reasons for antagonism. The teachings concerning socialism in the Encyclical of 1891.
  3. The philosophy of history which encourages the Socialist, and the “Opportunist’s” view of this “Law” of social evolution.
  4. The growth of Trades Unionism in Great Britain, and its contribution to moral education.
  5. Federalism and Individualism in English Coöperation. The issue involved, and the advantages of each scheme of expansion.
  6. Compare the characteristics of the forms of Liquor Legislation in force in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania. (Fanshawe, XI, XII.) How are licenses granted under the Brooks Law? What is the function of probation-officers in Massachusetts?
  7. How far do physiological considerations go to determine one’s duty as to drink?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 6-7.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 1.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 1. Professor [William] Ashley, Asst. Professor [Edward] Cummings, Dr. [John] Cummings, and Mr. [Frederick Redman] Clow. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.

Total 277: 2 Graduates, 39 Seniors, 18 Juniors, 159 Sophomores, 9 Freshmen, 50 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

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

  1. “All members of the community are not laborers, but all are consumers, and consume either unproductively or productively.” Explain and illustrate by examples. Suppose everybody resolved to consume “productively” only, what would be the result?
  2. “The distinction, then, between capital and not-capital, does not lie in the kind of commodities, but in the mind of the capitalist — in his will to employ them for one purpose rather than another.” Discuss this statement, using the following illustrations:—

Bread.
A knitting machine.
A steam engine.
A carriage.

  1. Where does true economic rent appear in the following cases:—

(a) The cultivation of a farm by its owner.
(b) The rental of a farm under a long lease by a tenant who has made permanent improvements on the land.

  1. What is the effect on values of a general fall of profits? Of a general fall of wages?
  2. What is the effect on rents of (1) an improvement in the methods of agriculture, (2) an improvement in transportation?
  3. “The price of land, mines, and all other fixed sources of income, depends on the rate of interest.” Explain.
  4. According to Mill, “Every addition to capital gives to labor either additional employment, or additional remuneration.” Why? What is the effect of an increase of labor-saving machinery on employment and on remuneration? Illustrate carefully.
  5. “Money cannot in itself perform any part of the office of capital, since it can afford no assistance to production.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Is money capital? Is credit money? Is credit capital?
  6. What does Mill mean by “stationary state”? And what changes would bring about a progressive state?
  7. What would be the effect on prices of (1) adding to a gold and silver currency a small issue of inconvertible paper money, (2) the discovery of very rich gold fields?
  8. What do you understand by the Domestic system? By Competition? By Labor?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

ECONOMICS 1.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

(Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the question. Omit three of the even numbers: answer all others.)

  1. “We must suppose the entire savings of the community to be annually invested in really productive employment within the country itself; and no new channels opened by industrial inventions, or by more extensive substitution of the best known processes for inferior ones.” How would profits be affected supposing population (a) to remain stationary; (b) to increase in proportion to the increase in capital?
  2. The operations, therefore, of speculative dealers, are useful to the public whenever profitable to themselves; and although they are sometimes injurious to the public, by heightening the fluctuations which their more usual office is to alleviate, yet, whenever this happens the speculators are the greatest losers. Explain Mill’s reasoning.
  3. Mill says of the stationary state, “I am inclined to believe that it would be, on the whole, a very considerable improvement on our present condition.” Why? Explain carefully.
  4. Is there a necessary hostility of interests between consumers organized in co-operative associations and producers organized in trade unions?
  5. Describe the different results obtained in co-operation by distributing profits in the form of dividend (a) on capital, (b) on labor (in proportion to wages), (c) on purchases. Illustrate by the experience of co-operation in France and England.
  6. How do you distinguish between what Mill calls the necessary and the optional functions of government?
  7. “We have had an example of a tax on exports, that is, on foreigners, falling in part on ourselves. We shall therefore not be surprised if we find a tax on imports, that is, on ourselves, partly falling on foreigners.” Explain carefully each case, tracing the possible effects upon prices and international trade of taxes (a) upon exports; (b) upon imports.
  8. “Equality of taxation, therefore, as a maxim of polities, means equality of sacrifice.” Apply this maxim to a tax on incomes.
  9. Suppose a tax of a fixed sum per bushel to be laid upon corn; what would be the effect (a) upon prices; (b) upon population; (c) upon profits; (d) upon rents?
    How would the results differ if instead of a fixed sum per bushel the tax were…

(i) …a fixed proportion of the produce;
(ii) …proportioned to the rent of the land;
(iii) …a fixed sum of so much per cultivated acre? Explain carefully each case.

  1. Describe the kinds of currency used in the United States, indicating briefly the conditions of issue in each case.
  2. Explain the causes and effects of (a) combined reserves, (b) a suspension of the Bank Charter Act in England.
  3. What are the provisions of the law in regard to the issue of bank notes at the present day in England? In Germany?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 33-34.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 2.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 2. Professors Ashley and [Silus Marcus] Macvane. — Economic Theory from Adam Smith to the present time. — Selections from Adam Smith and Ricardo. — Modern Writers. — Lectures. 3 hours.

Total 34: 9 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 2.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

N.B.—Not more than seven questions must be attempted.

  1. “The study which lately in England has been called Political Economy is, in reality, nothing more than the investigation of some accidental phenomena of modern commercial operations, nor has it been true in its investigation even of these. It has no connection whatever with political economy, as understood and treated of by the great thinkers of past ages; and as long as its unscholarly and undefined statements are allowed to pass under the same name, every word written on the subject by those thinkers—and chiefly the words of Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, and Bacon—must be nearly useless to mankind” (Ruskin, Munera Pulveris). Consider some or all of these assertions.
  2. Give a brief account of the Physiocrat doctrine, and state to what extent it was “corrected” by Adam Smith.
  3. Explain the origin and content of Adam Smith’s conception of “Nature.”
  4. “A diamond has scarcely any value in use.” Consider this statement in its relation to the discussion since Adam Smith’s time of the doctrine of Value.
  5. How does the doctrine of Rent expounded by Adam Smith agree with, and differ from, that of Ricardo?
  6. Compare Adam Smith’s “natural rate of wages” with Ricardo’s “natural price of labour.”
  7. “Population tends to outstrip the means of subsistence.” Distinguish the various meanings assignable to this phrase, and indicate which was meant by Malthus.
  8. What does Adam Smith understand by “Capital”? Compare his conception with that of John Stuart Mill.
  9. Present a critical estimate—based upon your own study—of one of the following:

1. Ingram, History of Political Economy.
2. Price, Political Economy in England.
3. Cossa, Introduction to the Study of Political Economy.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

ECONOMICS 2.
Year-end Examination, 1895

Answer at least four, but not more than six, of the following questions:

  1. What is the economic source of Interest? Examine the proposition that “interest is the price paid for the use of capital.”
  2. State briefly your conclusions as to the law of general wages.
  3. Apply the Austrian theory of wages to the following case:
    Number of laborers 1,000,000; total subsistence fund $600,000,000; scale of increase of productiveness of labor as the “productive period” is lengthened from one year to seven years: $350, $450, $530, $580, $620, $650, and $670.
  4. How, in your opinion, are the profits of employers determined? What is your conclusion as to the function, in distribution, of the so-called “no profits employers.”
  5. Discuss the following passages:
    “This National Dividend is at once the aggregate Net product of, and the sole source of payment for, all the agents of production within the country: it is divided up into Earnings of labour, Interest of capital, and lastly the Producer’s Surplus, or Rent, of land and of other differential advantages for production. It constitutes the whole of them and the whole of it is distributed among them.”
    “The proposal to put rent aside while we are considering how earnings and interest are determined, has been found to suggest that rent is determined first and then takes part in determining earnings and interest; and this is, of course, the opposite of what really occurs.”
  6. It has been said that Mill expresses his meaning badly when he said that demand for commodities is not a demand for labor. Does the proposition seem to you to need revision!
  7. Does increase of saving tend to make the supply of goods outrun the demand for goods?
  8. Examine the doctrine that the exchange value of commodities is determined by marginal utility.
  9. Past and present relations between gold and silver.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” p. 35.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 3.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 3. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 2 hours.

Total 52: 10 Graduates, 30 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

Answer the questions in the order in which they stand. Omit three questions.

  1. State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
  2. “But now let us drop the alleged parallelism between individual organizations and social organizations. I have used the analogies elaborated but as a scaffolding to help in building up a coherent body of sociological inductions. Let us take away the scaffolding: the inductions will stand by themselves.” What are these inductions?
  3. “The family relinquishes one provisional and temporary function after another; its only purpose being to fill gaps in social offices, it made way for independent institutions … as soon as these institutions arose.” Explain and illustrate. How far would Spencer assent to this doctrine?
  4. “Most anthropologists who have written on prehistoric customs believe, indeed, that man lived originally in a state of promiscuity or ‘communal marriage’; but we have found this hypothesis is essentially unscientific.” Discuss the evidence.
  5. “The status of children, in common with that of women, rises in proportion as the compulsory coöperation characterizing militant societies, becomes qualified by the voluntary coöperation characterising industrial societies.” Why? Trace the rise, and illustrate.
  6. “These three distinct states of mind, all of which, in point of fact, are admitted to exist together at the present time, and perhaps to have always done so to a greater or less extent, Comte declares to have undergone a regular progressive movement in the history of society. There have been three successive epochs, during which these philosophic principles, each in its turn, preponderated over both the others and controlled the current of human events.” Explain.
  7. “So that as law differentiates from personal commands, and as morality differentiates from religious injunctions, so politeness differentiates from ceremonial observance. To which I may add, so does rational usage differentiate from fashion.” Explain and illustrate.
  8. How does Spencer account for the diverse types of political organization; and what influences determine the order in which they arise? Illustrate.
  9. “From the Evolution-standpoint we are thus enabled to discern the relative beneficence of institutions which, considered absolutely, are not beneficent; and are taught to approve as temporary that which, as permanent, we abhor.” Explain and illustrate. Does our idea of progress then include all social changes?
  10. “In all ways, then, we are shown that with this relative decrease of militancy and relative increase of industrialism, there has been a change from a social order in which individuals exist for the State, to a social order in which the State exists for individuals?” Explain and illustrate.
  11. According to Spencer, what are likely to be the future forms of political organization and action in societies that are favorably circumstanced for carrying social evolution to its highest stage?
  12. “At bottom this is a physical explanation, and Spencerian sociology in general, whether formulated by Mr. Spencer or by other writers under the influence of his thought, is essentially a physical philosophy of society, notwithstanding its liberal use of biological and psychological data.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

ECONOMICS 3.
Year-end Examination

[Answer the questions in the order in which they stand. Omit one question.]

  1. State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
  2. What has been the function of religion in social evolution? (Compare Spencer and Kidd.) Do you find reasons for thinking society will become more religious?
  3. “The only conclusion to which we are brought by this prolonged examination of authorities is that community of land has not yet been historically proved.” Discuss the evidence.
  4. “And as of old, Society and State tend to coincide, political questions to become identical with social questions.” Discuss the historical changes and tendencies in question. Distinguish carefully between Society, the State, the Government, the Nation.
  5. “It is becoming clear that, when people speak of natural rights of liberty, property, etc., they really mean, not rights which once existed and have been lost, but rights which they believe ought to exist, and which would be produced by a condition of society and an ordering of the State such as they think desirable.” Explain. How far do changes in the theory and practice of penal legislation substantiate this view?
  6. “The gulf between the state of society towards which it is the tendency of the process of evolution now in progress to carry us, and socialism, is wide and deep.”
    “The Individualism of the past is buried, and the immediate future is unmistakably with a progressive Socialism, the full extent of which no man can get see.” Discuss carefully the facts and theories upon which these opposing views are based.
  7. “The philanthropic and experimental forms of socialism, which played a conspicuous rôle before 1848, perished then in the wreck of the Revolution, and have never risen to life again.” What were the characteristics of these earlier forms; and what was their relation to the movements which preceded them and followed them?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 35-36.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 5.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 52. Mr. George Ole Virtue. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 21: 2 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 1 Sophomores, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 5.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

  1. Sketch the railroad history of France.
  2. “The [Reilly] bill now before Congress proposes to extend the debt for another fifty years and a grand opportunity will thus be let slip for trying, under the most favorable circumstances, an experiment whose possibilities no man can measure.”
  3. What legislation can you suggest for improving the relations between the different classes of owners of railway capital? For the protection of the interests of investors in railway capital generally?
  4. State briefly the significance in railway history of the following cases: Munn v. Illinois; Wabash, etc. Ry. Co. v. Illinois; Ames v. U. P. Ry. Co.; Budd v. New York; In re Louisville & Nashville; The Denaby Main Colliery Case.
  5. Choose one:

(a) The bearing upon the making of rates, of the “cost of service”; “value of service”; “charging what the traffic will bear”; “joint cost.”
(b) “Group rates,” “equal mileage rates,” “the blanket rate,” “the postage rate,” “Wagen-raum tarif,” “differentials.”
(c) A “reasonable rates.”

  1. Recount the experience which has led the Interstate Commerce Commission to recomment an amendment to the Act to Regulate Commerce: (a) Construing the meaning of “the word ‘line’ when used in the act to be a physical line and not a business arrangement”; (b) relieving “shippers and individuals not connected with railway employment from liability to fine and imprisonment under Section 10,” with certain exceptions.
  2. What would be the probable effect of giving the Commission power to prescribe minimum as well as maximum rates? Would it obviate the necessity now claimed for pooling?
  3. “When the first bill to regulate commerce was passed the great and powerful wedge of State socialism, so far as government control of railroads is concerned, was driven one-quarter of its length into the timber of conservative government. … The pending bill, [the pooling which passed the House at the last session is referred to] the moment it becomes a law, will drive the wedge three-quarters of its length into the timber.”
    Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with each of the above statements.
  4. What conclusions on the question of public management can you draw from the experience of the states in the internal improvement movement?
  5. Why is it peculiarly true in railway business that “competition must end in combination”?
  6. The success of the State Railroad Commissions and suggestions for increasing their efficiency.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 36-37.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 71.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 71. Professor [Charles F.] Dunbar. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to local taxation in the United States. 3 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 28: 6 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 71.
Mid-year Examination. 1895.

  1. What is the “Benefit Theory” of taxation? What is the “Faculty Theory”? Define “Faculty” as used in this expression.
  2. What are the leading points of difference between the English, Prussian and American income tax systems?
  3. What reasons are there for having income tax levied by national authority rather than local? To what extent, if at all, do these reasons apply also to a general property tax?
  4. In levying a general property tax, should the debts of the taxpayer be deducted from the property held by him?
  5. By what reasoning is it maintained that,—
    “When the local real estate tax is levied according to rental value and assessed in the first instance on the occupier, as is the case in England, the main burden of the tax will rest ultimately on the occupier, not the owner of the premises.”
    Will the same reasoning apply to the income tax on rent, assessed under Schedule A., and collected from the occupier?
  6. What are the leading points of difference between the German method of taxing distilled liquors and the method practised in England and the United States?
  7. The theories of Canard, Thiers and Stein are,—
    “That every tax is shifted on everybody — that every consumer will again shift the tax on a third party, and that this third party who is again a consumer will shift it to someone else — and so ad infinitum. And since everyone is a consumer, everyone will bear a portion of the taxes that everybody else pays.”
    Professor Seligman’s comment is that “the error of this doctrine lies in the failure to distinguish between productive and unproductive consumption.” Is this answer complete? If not, wherein does it fail?
  8. In a statement of the circumstances under which a tax may or may not be capitalized, it is said,—
    “The principle would not apply to special taxes on property or profits if the capital value of this class of commodities should for any other reason fluctuate in price. For example, if a special tax were levied on government securities it might nevertheless happen that if some reason confidence in government bonds, as over against general securities, might decrease to such an extent as to counterbalance the decreased returns from the investment. In such a case there would be no capitalization of the tax.”
    What criticism have you to make on this reasoning?
  9. Can the theory of progressive taxation be satisfied by a gradually decreasing rate of progression [“degressively progressive taxation”]. or does it require a rate which shall cut off all income or accumulation above a certain level?
  10. What practical difficulties does the taxation of real estate offer in shaping a system of progressive taxation?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 37-38.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 72.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 72. Professor Dunbar. — Financial Administration and Public Debts. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 28: 7 Graduates, 11 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 72.
Year-end Examination

[Spend an hour on A, and the remainder of the time on B.]

A.

  1. Give an account of the management of the English debt in the decade 1880-90.
  2. Do “sound rules of finance” demand that the principal of the debt or the rate of interest shall be determined by the government? that securities shall never be issued below par? that a government shall not buy in its securities at a premium?

B.

  1. How far, if at all, is the government justified in pledging itself to any fixed policy of debt payment?
    How may the policy of conversation conflict with the policy of debt payment?
  2. Give an account of the United States refunding operations in the decade 1865-75.
  3. Discuss the respective powers of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Great Britain, the minister of finance in France.
    In each case where does the responsibility for the financial policy of the government rest?
  4. Give an account of the creation of Pit’s sinking fund and of the successive modifications made in the sinking fund provisions down to 1803.
  5. Discuss the various methods of placing government securities in the market, and the conditions of contract which make one form of security more attractive to buyers than another.
  6. The United States 4 per cent. 30-year bonds are quoted at about 123¼; how is the present worth of these securities determined?
    What determines the present worth of a terminable annuity? of a perpetual annuity? of a life annuity?
  7. Discuss the manner of making up the estimates of public income and expenditure in Great Britain and in France; the manner of providing for any deficits which may occur in any department during the year; the manner of providing for carrying on the government where the enactment of the budget is delayed until after the beginning of the year; and the disposal of balances unexpended at the end of the year.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” p. 39.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 8.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 81. Professor Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours.

Total 52: 5 Graduates, 22 Seniors, 22 Juniors, 3 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 8.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

  1. Hamilton is sometimes said to have favored the policy of perpetual debt, and Gallatin, on the other hand, to have established the policy of debt-payment. How far are these statements confirmed by the measures of Hamilton and Gallatin respectively?
  2. How far should you say that Hamilton was justified in his expectation (stated in the Report on Public Credit), (1) That the public debt, if properly funded, would answer most of the purposes of money, and (2) that it would increase the amount of capital for use in trade and lower the interest of money?
  3. When were the several classes of obligations in which the revolutionary debt was funded finally paid off?
  4. Was it fortunate or unfortunate that Congress did not adopt Madison’s policy as to a United States Bank in January, 1815? Why?
  5. Give a list, with dates, of the cases in which bills for establishing a United States Bank have been vetoed.
  6. Give as complete a chronology as you can of the events connected with the Bank, from President Jackson’s first attack upon it down to its final failure.
  7. The removal of the deposits is sometimes spoken of as a fatal blow to the United States Bank. What do you gather from your reading as to its importance as regards the business position or credit of the Bank?
  8. What was the Specie Circular of 1836, and what serious financial results did it produce?
  9. What led to the adoption of the National Bank system in 1863?
  10. How would it have eased the financial difficulty in 1861, if the Secretary of the Treasury had made more free use of his authority, under the act of August 5, for suspending some of the provisions of the Independent Treasury act?
  11. The earlier legal-tender acts provided for funding the notes, at the pleasure of the holder, in United States bonds. When and why was this privilege of funding withdrawn? What would probably have been the effect if it had been retained until the close of the war?
  12. What were the steps by which the legal tender issues came to be treated as the practically permanent element in our paper currency and to be fixed in amount?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 9.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 79: 3 Graduates, 34 Seniors, 31 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 9.
Mid-Year Examination, 1895.

(Arrange your answers, in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries.)

  1. State accurately the reading you have done in this course to date.
  2. “The interests of the working classes are identical in all lands governed by capitalist methods of production. The extension of the world’s commerce and production for the world’s markets, make the position of the workman in any one country daily more dependent upon that of the workmen in other countries.” Why? Explain how in the history of trade unions this community of interest among workmen, not only of the same trade and the same country but of different trades and different countries, has actually manifested itself. Illustrate.
  3. Precisely what answer to the “lump of labor” theory is to be drawn from that version of the wage-fund doctrine adopted by Mill, by Walker, by yourself?
  4. How far has the theory and the practice of coöperation offered a complete remedy for the evils of the existing industrial organization? and at precisely what points has the theory and the practice broken down? Illustrate carefully.
  5. “The struggle of the working classes against capitalist exploitation must of necessity be a political struggle.” How far does the history of trade unions and of coöperation show a tendency in this direction? Illustrate carefully.
  6. “But above all things, observe that all types of piece wage, whether single or progressive, and whether individual or collective, possess this most marked superiority over Profit-sharing.” … “At the same time, it is right to remark that there are many cases, in which the method of Profit-sharing surpasses in important respects any form of the ordinary wage-system.” Explain carefully the grounds of the alleged inferiority and superiority in each case.
  7. “Before, therefore, the trade union can realize its policy of ‘collective bargaining,’ it must solve the two-fold problem – how to bind its own constituents, and how to obtain the recognition of employers.” By what methods have trade unions endeavored to solve this problem? Illustrate.
  8. Trace the successive stages of the so-called “industrial revolution” during the last hundred and fifty years.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

ECONOMICS 9.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

[Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by statistical and descriptive matter showing the relative condition of working people in the United States and in other countries.]

I.

State accurately the reading you have done in this course since the mid-year examinations.

II.

Devote three hours to a careful discussion of the merits and defects of the German system of compulsory insurance, under the following general heads:

  1. An accurate account of the origin, scope, organization, administration of the system in Germany, — stating approximately the numbers insured, the cost of insurance to all parties concerned, the benefits provided, the methods of collection, distribution, etc.;
  2. Difficulties, opposition, and criticisms thus far encountered;
  3. Progress of similar movements towards compulsory insurance in other countries;
  4. Facts bearing upon the adequacy of existing provisions for sickness, accident, old age in England and the United States;
  5. A biographical sketch showing at what age and in what respects the State already interferes to prescribe conditions of employment, education, etc., for operatives reared from childhood to old age in the factory system of Massachusetts: showing also the additional interference which would be involved in the adoption of the German system of compulsory insurance;
  6. Conclusion.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” p. 40.

__________________

1894-95.
ECONOMICS 10.

Course Title, Staffing, and Enrollment

[ECONOMICS] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. 2 hours.

Total 61: 9 Graduates, 20 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895, p. 62.

 

ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-Year Examination. 1895.

I. To be first attempted by all.

Translate, and comment on, the following passages:

  1. Quomodo vocatur mansio; quis tenuit eam T. R. E.; quis mod tenet; quot hidae; quot carrucae in dominio; quot hominum; quot villani; quot cotarii; quot servi; quot liberi homines; quot sochemanni.
  2. De virgis operantur ii diebus in ebdomada.
  3. Rex. . . destinavit per regnum quos ad id prudentiores.. . . cognoverat, qui circumeuntes et oculata fide fundos singulos perlustrantes, habita aestimatione victualium quae de hiis solvebantur, redegerunt in summam denariorum.
  4. Interiors plerique frumenta non serunt, sed lacte et carne vivunt, pellibusque sunt vestiti.
  5. Ideo rogamus, sacratissime imperator, subvenias. . . . ademptum sit jus etiam procuratoribus, nedum conductori, adversus colonos ampliandi partes agrarias.
  6. Arva per annos mutant et superest ager.
  7. Ego Eddi episcopus terram quae dicitur Lantocal tres cassatos Heglisco abbati libenter largior.
  8. Rex misit in singulos comitatus quod messores et alii operarii non plus caperent quam capere solebant.
  9. Noveritis nos concessisse omnibus tenentibus nostris . . . . quod omnia praedicta terrae et tenementa de cetero sint libera, et liberae conditionis.

II. Write on two only of the following subjects.

  1. The reasons for believing in the survival in Britain of the Roman agrarian organisation.
  2. A comparison, from the economic point of view, of the open-field system with modern methods of farming.
  3. The condition of the tillers of the soil in England in A.D. 1381 as compared with A.D. 1066.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3. Bound volume Examination Papers, Mid-Year 1894-95.

 

ECONOMICS 10.
Year-end Examination. 1895.

I.
[To be first attempted by all.]

TRANSLATE, and comment on, the following passages:—

  1. In Kateringes sunt x. hidae ad geldum Regis. Et de istis
  2. hidis tenent xl. villani xl. virgas terrae. … Et omnes isti homines operantur iiibus diebus in ebdomada.
  3. Agriculturae non student; majorque pars eorum victus in lacte caseo carne consistit; neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios; sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum qui una coierunt, quantum et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt atque anno post alio transire cogunt.
  4. Nul ne deit rien acheter a revendre en la vile meyme, fors yl serra Gildeyn.
  5. Cives Londoniae debent xl marcas pro Gilda Telaria delenda; ita ut de cetero non suscitetur.
  6. Johannes Hore mortuus est, qui tenuit de domino dimidiam acram terrae cujus heriettum unus vitulus precii iiii d. Et Johanna soror dicti Johannis est proximus heres, quae venit et gersummavit dictam terram tenendam sibi et suis in villenagio ad voluntatem per servicia et consuetudines.

II.
[Write on four only of the following subjects.]

  1. “I contend that from 1563 to 1824, a conspiracy, concocted by the law and carried out by parties interested in its success, was entered into, to cheat the English workman of his wages, to tie him to the soil, to deprive him of hope, and to degrade him into irremediable poverty.” Consider this.
  2. Discuss the question whether the statute of 5 Eliz. c. 4, displays any distinct economic policy.
  3. Explain the causes, nature and consequences of the change in commercial routes in the sixteenth century.
  4. What is meant by a national economy, as contrasted with a town economy? Illustrate from European conditions in the 15th and 16th centuries.
  5. What has been the economic gain to England from immigration?
  6. Mention briefly those respects in which the economic development of England has resembled that of Western Europe, and those respects in which it has been peculiar.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 4. Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. “Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics Fine Arts, Architecture, and Music in Harvard College, June, 1895,” pp. 40-41.

 

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Semester exams for all economics and one social ethics course, 1893-1894

 

With this post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror adds yet another annual slice of final examinations from Harvard. Over twenty pages of exam questions (with course enrollment figures) for the 1893-94 academic year have been transcribed and are now available to the internet community of historians of economics.  For other years visitors can simply scan or search the chronological catalogue of artifacts. Alternatively using Google search constrained to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, “harvard economics exams site:irwincollier.com“, will get you links to plenty of Harvard examination postings through the years.

______________________

Enrollment for Philosophy 5.
The Ethics of the Social Questions.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Philosophy] 5. Professor Peabody. — The Ethics of the Social Questions. — The questions of Charity, Divorce, the Indians, Temperance, and the various phases of the Labor Question, as problems of practical Ethics. — Lectures, essays, and practical observations. 2 hours.

Total 118: 6 Gr., 56 Se., 23 Ju., 2 So., 12 Others, 19 Divinity.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 58.

1893-94.
PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Mid-Year Examination.

  1. “Political Economy ought to combine with the old question: ‘Will it pay?’ another and higher query: ‘Is it right?’” (C. D. Wright, Political Economy and the Labor Question, p. 17.) The place and value of this view of Political Economy.
  2. Spencer’s formula for conduct, explained and criticized (Data of Ethics, p. 14.)
  3. The Socialist’s view of Charity and the argument which sustains it. Mr. Spencer’s view of Charity and his practical advice. (Principles of Ethics, II. p. 376, ff.)
  4. What does Mr. Charles Booth regard as the “crux” of the Social Problem in East London? (Labour and Life of the People, I. pp. 596 and 162.) Why? The practical remedy proposed by him.
  5. The causes of poverty in East London, as analyzed by Mr. Booth, (I. 147); in their order of importance and the proportion of cases involved.
  6. The Labor Colonies of Germany compared with those of Holland, in method and intention. How far, and under what principle, is such an enterprise applicable to the condition of this country?
  7. Liberalitas” and “Caritas,” — the aim, the service, and the peril of each.
  8. The historical development and the practical rules of the English Poor-Law System.
  9. The Relation of Charity Organization in England to Poor-Law Relief. (Loch, p. 37, ff.); and the objections to Charity Organization. (Loch, p. 97, ff.)
  10. The growth of Charity Organization in the United States, its present extent and its two types (Report, pp. 1-8.) Which type is represented by the London Charity Organization Society? (Loch p. 54.) Which is the sounder principle for this country? Why? Which is the more generally accepted principle? (Appendix of Report, p. 34.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94

PHILOSOPHY 5.
THE ETHICS OF THE SOCIAL QUESTIONS.
Final Examination

[Omit one question.]

  1. The authorship and the historical importance of the following phrases:—
    “The value of a thing is independent of opinion and of quantity. To be valuable is to avail towards life.”
    “All commodities are only masses of congealed labor-time.”
    “The high road to a stable sufficiency and comfort among the people is through the medium of their character.”
    “Cash-payment never was or could, except for a few years, be the union-bond of man to man.”
    “Aristocracy of talent.”
    “It is easier to determine what a man ought to have for his work, than what his necessities will compel him to take for it.”
    “Ill-th.”
  2. Compare Carlyle and Ruskin in their attitudes toward the growth of democracy and in their doctrine of social progress.
  3. Compare the view of the “Social Horizon” with that of Naquet as to the effect of collectivism on enterprise and invention. (Social Horizon, pp. 112-151; Naquet, pp. 92-126.)
  4. The Anarchist’s criticism of the Socialist, the Socialist’s criticism of the Anarchist, and the Communist as he is criticised by both.
  5. Is thrift a virtue? Who doubts it? Why?
    Is competition an evil? Who doubts it? Why?
  6. Christian Socialism and its difficulties. The logical and the practical relation of Socialism to Religion.
  7. In the four ideals which are possible to Socialism and Individualism, “the normal relation would be that of cross-correspondence.” (Bosanquet. The Civilization of Christendom, p. 136.) Explain and comment on this statement.
  8. Enumerate and classify the arguments presented in the Course on the ethical aspects of Socialism, with your judgment of the weight of these suggestions.
  9. Compare the plan of profit-sharing in the Paris and Orleans Railway (Sedley Taylor, pp. 77-86) with that adopted by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
  10. How far are we carried in the argument for abstinence from intoxicating drink by considerations drawn from the “risks of life.” Why?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, p. 7.

______________________

Economics 1.
Outlines of Economics.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Cummings and Mr. Clow. — Outlines of Economics. — Mill’s Principles of Political Economy. — Lectures on Economic Development, Distribution, Social Questions, and Financial Legislation. 3 hours.

Total 340: 1 Gr., 35 Se., 111 Ju., 136 So., 7 Fr., 50 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Mid-Year Examination.

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

  1. “Let us consider whether, and in what cases, the property of those who live on the interest of what they possess, without being personally engaged in production, can be regarded as capital.” Illustrate by example.
  2. “Capital, though saved, and the result of saving, is nevertheless consumed. The word saving does not imply that what is saved is not consumed, nor even necessarily that its consumption is deferred.” Explain. Who is the consumer? and is the consumption usually deferred?
  3. Are wages likely to be low or high in different occupations because of (1) attractiveness, (2) unpleasantness, of the work? Why?
  4. “This equalizing process, commonly described as the transfer of capital from one employment to another, is not necessarily the slow, onerous, and almost impracticable process which it is often represented to be.” What is the equalizing process? and why is it or is it not slow and onerous?
  5. “Even if there were never any land taken into cultivation for which rent was not paid, it would be true, nevertheless, that there is always some agricultural capital which pays no rent.” Explain, and give the reasons for the statement.
  6. What are the laws of value applicable to: silver bullion, cotton-cloth, raw hides, wheat-bread, telephones?
  7. Explain what is meant by a fall in the value of money; an appreciation of gold; a depreciation of inconvertible paper; a stable standard of value.
  8. Wherein does the play of demand and supply, in determining the value of money, differ from its operation in determining the value of commodities in general? Wherein does cost of production determine the value of money and of commodities differently?
  9. What is the effect of general high wages on prices? on values? on profits? Why?
  10. “So far as rents, profits, wages, prices. are determined by competition, laws may be assigned for them. Assume competition to be their exclusive regulator, and principles of broad generality and scientific precision may be laid down, according to which they will be regulated.” Trace the historical origin of the conditions here assumed.
  11. What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 1.
Final Examination.

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

I.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]

  1. Explain the connection between the law of diminishing returns the pressure of population on subsistence; the tendency of profits to a minimum.
  2. What is the nature of the remuneration received by the holder of a government bond; the holder of a railway bond; the landlord of a building let for business purposes; the landlord of land let for agricultural purposes; a manufacturer carrying on business with borrowed capital; the holder of a patent receiving a royalty for its use?
  3. How does cost of production influence tire value of (1) silver bullion, (2) oats, (3) coffee, (4) bicycles?
  4. What seems to you to be the value of economic history in relation to the study of economic theory?

II.
[One question in this group may be omitted.]

  1. In 1851, very rich deposits of gold were found in Australia. What would you expect the result to be in Australia on wages, prices, imports and exports?
  2. Is the gain from international trade to be found in the import or in the exports? Why and how?
  3. It is said that when the quantity of money is increased, prices rise precisely in proportion to the increase. What exceptions or qualifications would you make to this statement?
  4. Is the exportation of specie from a country disadvantageous?

III.
[Answer all in this group.]

  1. What sorts of advantages, in regard to wages, do Trade-unions and Coöperative Societies offer to workingmen?
  2. “Deposits are currency.” What is meant?
  3. What is the most important objection to the use of inconvertible paper money? What illustrations of its force do you find in the experience of the United States since 1860?
  4. Compare the policy followed in times of panic by the Bank of England, the Reichsbank of Germany, and the National Banks of the United States.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 34-35.

______________________

Economics 2.
Economic Theory from Adam Smith
to the Present Time.
1893-94.

Enrollment

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 Examination.

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

  1. “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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. State carefully Ricardo’s criticism of Adam Smith’s doctrine on labor as the measure of value.
  6. Compare Adam Smith’s reasoning with Ricardo’s as to the manner in which the progress of society in wealth affects profits.
  7. “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.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Prof. F. W. Taussig, Examination Papers in Economics 1882-1935 (Scrapbook). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94
ECONOMICS 2.
[Final Examination.]

  1. “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?
  2. How is the significance of the doctrine of consumer’s rent affected by the fact that the money incomes of different purchasers vary widely?
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. “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?
  6. “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.
  7. 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?
  8. 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.
  9. 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). Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 35-36.

___________________________

Economics 3.
Principles of Sociology.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 3. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Principles of Sociology. — Development of the Modern State, and of its Social Functions. 3 hours.

Total 47: 17 Gr., 19 Se., 5 Ju., 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

 

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Mid-Year Examination

(Arrange your answers in the order of your questions. Omit two.)

  1. “In fact, the conception of society as an organism seems to admit of more easy application to just those very views about the State which Mr. Spencer most dislikes: and, though the conception or organism has its value in helping political thinking out of the confusions of individualism, if it be taken as a final key to all mysteries, it leads to new confusions of its own, for which it would be absurd to blame Mr. Spencer.” Explain and criticise.
  2. How does Spencer account for the diverse types of political organization; and what influences determine the order in which they arise? Illustrate.
  3. What evidence of political evolution is there in the sequence of the various forms of political organization in Greek, Roman, and Medieval society? Trace the steps.
  4. According to Burke, “Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Explain. How does this differ from earlier conceptions of the social contract? From the conception of society as an organism?
  5. Upon what grounds does Spencer base his preference for the industrial rather than the militant type of society?
  6. According to Jevons, “the first step must be to rid our minds of the idea that there are any such things in social matters as abstract rights, absolute principles, indefeasible laws, inalterable rules, or anything whatever of an eternal and inflexible nature.” According to another view, “the state presupposes rights and the rights of individuals.” What is your own opinion? Why? Are there “Natural Rights”? Illustrate.
  7. “The State is after all the least of the powers that govern us.” How far is this true at different stages of social development?
  8. What is involved in the conception of Sovereignty? In whom is it rested? On what does it rest? For example, England and the United States.
  9. What is the bearing of Comte’s maxim, “Voir pour prevour,” upon the doctrine of social evolution?
  10. “The environment in our problem must, therefore, not only include psychical as well as physical factors, but the former are immeasurably the more important factors, and as civilization advances their relative importance steadily increases.”
  11. What do you mean by State Interference? By Individual liberty?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 3.
Final Examination

[Questions are in all cases to be discussed with direct reference to facts and theories presented in this course. Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. Take either the first question or six others.]

  1. Devote three hours to a discussion of “Social Evolution”;— expounding Mr. Kidd’s views, discussing his opinions and conclusions in the light of facts and theories presented in this course, and stating carefully your own reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
  2. What, according to Mr. Kidd, are the necessary “Conditions of Human Progress”? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
  3. What are the points of resemblance and of difference between the “Scientific Socialism” of today and earlier forms of so-called socialistic propaganda which have appeared within this century?
  4. “Step by step the community has absorbed them, wholly or partially, and the area of private exploitation has been lessened. Parallel with this progressive nationalization or municipalization of industry, there has gone on, outside, the elimination of the purely personal element in business management.” Indicate briefly the character, extent and probable significance of “nationalization and municipalization” in the United States and in European Countries.
  5. What inferences may and what may not safely be drawn from American experience in municipal ownership or control of gas, of water, and of electric light plants? Discuss carefully the extent and character of the evidence.
  6. “According to them, the tribe or horde is the primary social unit of the human race, and the family only a secondary unit, developed in later times. Indeed, this assumption has been treated by many writers, not as a more or less probable hypothesis, but as a demonstrated truth. Yet the idea that a man’s children belong to the tribe, has no foundation in fact.” Indicate briefly the present state of this controversy. What significance do you attach to it?
  7. “The central fact with which we are confronted in our progressive societies is, therefore, that the interests of the social organism and those of the individuals comprising it at any time are actually antagonistic; they can never be reconciled, they are inherently and essentially irreconcilable.” State carefully the arguments for and against this position.
  8. “True Socialism of the German type must be recognized to be, ultimately, as individualistic and as anti-social as individualism in its advanced forms.” By what line of reasoning is this conclusion reached? State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 36-37.

___________________________

Economics 5 (First Semester).
Railway Transportation.
1893-994.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 51. Professor Taussig. — Railway Transportation. — Lectures and written work. 3 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 39: 3 Gr., 24 Se., 9 Ju., 1 So., 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 5.
Final [Mid-Year] Examination.

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

  1. State what important general lessons are to be learned from the early experiments of Pennsylvania and Michigan in constructing and managing transportation routes.
  2. Why the change in the attitude of the public towards the Pacific railways after 1870? And what were some consequences of the change?
  3. What was the effect of the land-grant system on the welfare of the community, and on railway profits?
  4. “These conditions [leading to financial losses] may fairly enough be described as the Interstate Commerce Commission describes them, — parallel railroad construction and wars of rates. But when the Commission goes on to say that they cannot with any justice be claimed to have resulted from the act or from its administration, they make an unwarranted assertion.” What were the conditions here referred to (give dates)? And was the assertion unwarranted?
  5. Consider the probable results of the repeal of the section of the Interstate Commerce act which prohibits pooling.
  6. “High rates on some articles are not to be regarded as a tax which could be removed if low rates on others were abandoned.” Why not?
  7. “The enormous fixed capital and the consequent impossibility of retiring from the enterprise if it becomes unprofitable; the greater or less degree of monopoly; the wide gulf between railway managers and investors, sometimes leading to consequences of its own,” consider in what manner and extent these circumstances have affected railway rates in the United States.
  8. What do you believe to be the significance and importance of the following figures (for the United States in 1891):
Revenue per passenger mile 2.142 cents
Average cost of carrying a passenger one mile 1.910 cents
Revenue per ton mile 0.895 cents
Average cost of carrying a ton one mile 0.583 cents
Revenue per freight train mile $1.63
Average cost of running a freight train one mile $1.06
  1. Compare the course of railway policy in France, Prussia, and Italy, in 1880-85.
  2. Compare the principles which underlie the natural (car-space) system of freight rates and the zone system of passenger rates.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 37-38.

___________________________

Economics 6 (Second Semester)
History of Tariff Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 62. Professor Taussig. — History of Tariff Legislation in the United States. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 97: 11 Gr., 33 Se., 36 Ju., 2 So., 1 Fr., 14 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 6.
Final Examination

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

  1. Is it to be inferred from Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures that if he were now living, he would not be an advocate of protection?
  2. What grounds are there for saying that the act of 1789 was a protective measure?
  3. State the important provisions of the act of 1816, and consider whether it differs in any essentials from the act of 1824.
  4. Was Clay right in affirming, or Webster in denying, that the protective system of 1824 was “American”?
  5. How would you ascertain what were the duties, in 1840, on (1) woollen goods, (2) cotton goods, (3) silk goods, (4) bar iron?
  6. Suppose the present specific duties on woollen manufactures to be removed; the ad valorem duties to remain unchanged; wool to be admitted free; and consider how far there would ensue a change in the effective protection given on finer woollen cloths, on cheaper woollen cloths, and on carpets.
  7. Mention briefly what were the duties on tea and coffee in the successive stages of tariff legislation from 1789 to 1890; noting the significance of the changes made from time to time.
  8. Why do the effects, in recent times, of the duties on flax and hemp, and on glassware, “reduce themselves in the last analysis to illustrations of the doctrine of comparative costs”?
  9. Wherein is there resemblance, wherein difference, between the general course of tariff history in the United States after the civil war, and in France after the Napoleonic wars?
  10. What would be the probable effects of the removal of the present duties on cotton goods?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 38-39

___________________________

Economics 8 (First Semester)
History of Financial Legislation
in the United States.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 81. Professor Dunbar. — History of Financial Legislation in the United States. 2 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 63: 9 Gr., 26 Se., 23 Ju., 1 So., 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 8.
Mid-Year Examination.

Instead of answering the starred questions in this paper you may substitute, if you prefer, an essay on the subject marked A, printed at the close.

  1. *“It is sometimes said that Mr. Hamilton believed in a perpetual debt, and when one notices the form into which he threw the obligations of the United States, the only escape from this conclusion is to say that he was ignorant of the true meaning of the contracts which he created.” — [H. C. ADAMs, Public Debts, p. 161.]
    How far is the above remark confirmed by the provisions as to the payment of the debt funded by the Act of 1790?
  2. How far should you say that Gallatin, although an anti-Federalist, finally adopted Federalist measures or methods in financial matters?
  3. Give a general statement of the agreement between the banks and the Treasury for the resumption of specie payment in 1817, and show the way in which it was intended to operate.
  4. Inasmuch as Jackson’s general prepossessions were unfavorable to all banks, how are we to explain his resort to the plan of depositing Government funds in State banks after the removal of the deposits in 1833?
  5. *How serious a blow did Jackson really strike when he removed the deposits from the United States bank in 1833?
  6. What expedients were suggested for supplying the needs of the government in 1861-62 without resorting to the issue of legal-tender notes?
  7. *The “Gold Bill” of June 17, 1864, and its fate.
  8. What was the process by which the bonds issued during the war were refunded under the act of 1870 and when did the refunding take place?
  9. What signs of change in the policy of Congress as to the resumption of specie payments are to be found in the legislation between 1865 and 1876?
  10. State the provisions of the Resumption Act of 1875 as to the redemption of legal-tender notes, and show whether the act did or did not provide for the possible eventual disappearance of all the notes. What has made the amount of outstanding legal-tender notes stationary at $346,681,016?
  11. *A recent writer, discussing the question of a paper currency issued by government, says:—
    “In the United States there were twenty issues of treasury notes before the late war. Those issues were receivable in the revenues the government, and were always preferred to gold.”
    What criticism is to be made on this statement?
  12. *Describe the different kinds of paper currency now in use in the United States, stating as to each the cases in which it can be tendered for private debt, and those which it. can he received or paid out by the government.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
A.

The change which has taken place since 1846 in the conditions affecting the Independent Treasury, and the justification of Secretary Carlisle’s statement, in the Finance Report for 1893, that “the laws have imposed upon the Treasury Department all the duties and responsibilities of a bank of issue, and to a certain extent the functions of bank of deposit.”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

___________________________

Economics 9.
The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries.
1893-94.

 Enrollment.

[Economics] 9. Asst. Professor Cummings. — The Social and Economic Condition of Workingmen in the United States and in other countries. 3 hours.

Total 43: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 5 Other.

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

Mid-year Examination.
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Omit two questions.)

  1. “It becomes my duty, therefore, in undertaking to interpret the social movement of our own times, to disclose, first, those changes in industrial methods by which harmony in industries has been disturbed, and then to trace the influence of such changes into the structure of society.” State carefully what these changes have been; and trace their influence.
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 33]
  2. Discuss the effect upon wages of machinery, — (a) as a substitute for labor (b) as auxiliary to labor; (c) as affecting division of labor; (d) as concentrating labor and capital; (e) as affecting the nobility[sic, “mobility”] of labor and capital.
  3. “In my opinion, combination among workingmen is a necessary step in the re-crystallization of industrial rights and duties.” State fully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion. What forms of combination do you include?
    [Henry C. Adams. “An Interpretation of the Social Movements of our Time”, International Journal of Ethics, Vol II, October, 1891), p. 45]
  4. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America….” In what respects stronger? Why? Contrast briefly the history and present tendencies of the trade-union movement in the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy.
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. XIII. §18, p. 404]
  5. “Trade-unions have been stronger in England than on the Continent, and in America; and wages have been higher in England than on the Continent, but lower than in America.” “Again, those occupations in which wages have risen most in England happen to be those in which there are no unions.” How far do such facts impeach the effectiveness of trade-unions as a means of raising wages and improving the condition of workingmen? What do you conceive to be the economic limits and the proper sphere of trade-union action?
    [Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry: being the First Volume of Elements of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1892), Book VI, Ch. §18, pp. 404-405.]
  6. “We saw at the beginning that in comparatively recent years the difficulties of keeping up a purely offensive and defensive organization had brought many of the unions back nearer their old allies, the friendly societies, and emphasized the friendly benefits in proportion as the expenditure for trade disputes seemed less important.” Explain carefully this earlier and later relation of trade-unions and Friendly Societies in England.
    [Edward Cummings, The English Trades-Unions, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. III (July, 1889), p. 432.]
  7. “This spirit of independent self-help has its advantages and its disadvantages. We have already had occasion to remark how slow in these Friendly Societies has been the progress of reform, and we must repeat that up to the present day it still exhibits defects.” Explain and illustrate the progress of the reform and the nature of existing defects. Does English self-help experience suggest the desirability or undesirability of imitating German methods of compulsory insurance?
  8. “Countless[sic, “Doubtless” in original] boards of arbitration and conciliation, the establishment of certain rules of procedure, agreements covering definite periods of time, may aid somewhat in averting causes of dispute or in adjusting disputes as they arise; but if we have these alone to look to, strife will be the rule rather than the exception.” Explain the various methods adopted and the results obtained. What have you to say of “compulsory arbitration?”
    [Francis A. Walker. “What Shall We Tell the Working Classes?” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 2, 1887.  Reprinted in Discussions in Economics and Statistics, edited by Davis R. Dewey. Vol. II315-316.]
  9. “The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, that what is desirable is not so much to put a stop to sub-contracting as to put a stop to ‘sweating,’ whether the man who treats the workman in the oppressive manner which the word ‘sweating’ denotes be a sub-contractor, a piece-master, or a contractor.” Indicate briefly some of the principal forms of industrial remuneration, — giving the special merits and defects of each.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 140.]
  10. “Now that I am on piece-work, I am making about double what I used to make when on day-work. I know I am doing wrong. I am taking away the work of another man.” State and criticize the theory involved in this view of production.
    [David F. Schloss. Methods of Industrial Remuneration (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), p. 43-44.]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Year-End Examination
ECONOMICS 9.
1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order in which the questions stand. So far as possible illustrate your discussions by a comparison of the experience of different countries. Take the first three questions and four others.)

  1. “As soon, however, as the factory system was established, the inequality of women and children in their struggle with employers attracted the attention of even the most careless observers; and, attention once drawn to this circumstance, it was not long before the inequality of adult men was also brought into prominence.” How far is this true (a) of England, (b) of the United States? Trace briefly the legislative consequences for children and for adults in the two countries.
    [Arnold Toynbee. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century in England (The Humboldt Library of Popular Science Literature, Vol. 13. New York: Humboldt Publishing Co.), p. 17.]
  2. “It will be necessary, in the first place, to distinguish clearly between the failure of Industrial Coöperation and the failure of the coöperative method—a method, as we have seen, adopted, even partially, by only a very small fraction of Industrial Coöperation.” Explain carefully, discussing especially the evidence furnished by France and England.
  3. “These four concerns—the Maison Leclaire, the Godin Foundry, the Coöperative Paper Works of Angoulême and the Bon Marché—are virtually coöperative; certainly they secure to the employers and stockholders the substantial benefits of purely coöperative productive enterprises, while they are still, logically, profit-sharing establishments.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Indicate briefly the characteristic features of each enterprise.
  4. “What inferences are we to draw from the foregoing statistics? Unmistakably this, that the higher daily wages in America do not mean a correspondingly enhanced labor cost to the manufacturer. But why so?” Discuss the character of available evidence in regard to the United States, Great Britain and the continent of Europe.
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 41-2.]
  5. “The juxtaposition of figures portraying the social-economic status of workmen of different nationalities in the country of their birth and the land of their adoption furnishes lessons of even higher interest. From this we are able to learn the social effect of economic betterment.” Explain. How do the facts in question affect your attitude toward recent changes in the character and volume of our immigration?
    [E. R. L. Gould. The Social Condition of Labor (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, January 1893), pp. 35-6.]
  6. “The Senate Finance Committee issued some time ago a comparative exhibit of prices and wages for fifty-two years, from which the conclusion is generally drawn that the condition of the wage earner is better to-day than it was thirty or forty years ago. A conclusion of this kind reveals the weakness of even the best statistics. No one can doubt that the work of the Finance Committee is work of high excellence, but for comparing the economic condition of workers it is of little value.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? Indicate briefly the character of the evidence.
  7. What are the principle organizations which may be said to represent the “Labor Movement” in the United States at the present time? How far are they helpful and how far hostile to one another?
  8. “In a preceding chapter I have said that as a moral force and as a system the factory system of industry is superior to the domestic system, which it supplanted.” State your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.
    [Carroll D. Wright. Factory Legislation from Vol. II, Tenth Census of the United States, reprinted inFirst Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York (Albany, 1887), p. 41.]
  9. Contrast the English and the German policy in regard to Government Workingmen’s Insurance.
  10. “Gladly turning to more constructive work, I next consider some industrial changes and reforms which would tend to correct the present bias towards individualism.” What are they?
  11. Give an imaginary family budget for American, English and German operatives in one of the following industries, — coal, iron, steel, cotton, wool, glass, indicating roughly characteristic differences in such items as throw most light on the social condition of labor.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 4, Volume: Examination Papers, 1893-95. pp. 39-41. Transcribed and posted earlier at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

______________________

Economics 10.
The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times.
1893-94.

[Economics] 10. Professor Ashley. — The Elements of Economic History from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. 3 hours.

Total 51: 6 Gr., 17 Se., 20 Ju., 4 So., 1 Fr., 3 Others.

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

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Mid-Year Examination.

 

  1. A modern writer has insisted upon the difference between the point of view of economic history and the point of view of constitutional history. Consider this in relation to the growth of mediaeval towns.
  2. Distinguish briefly between the various processes known as “Enclosure,” and explain their relation to the open-field husbandry.
  3. What light does the history of the English woollen industry throw upon the question as to the relation between the gild and the domestic workshop?
  4. “Only one who is unacquainted with social conditions under Henry VIll. and Edward VI. can maintain that the Reformation was not responsible for English pauperism.” Discuss this.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 10.
Final Examination.

[Candidates are requested to answer only six questions, of which the first should be one.]

  1. Translate and comment upon:
    1. Omnes isti sochemanni habent viii carrucas, et arant iii vicibus per annum. Et quisquis eorum metit in Augusto de blado domini dimidiam acram et ii vicibus in Augusto precationem.
    2. Sciatis me concessisse … civibus meis in Oxenforde omnes libertates et consuetudines et leges et quietantias quas habuerunt tempore regis Henrici avi mei, nominatim gildam suam mercatoriam cum omnibus libertatibus et consuetudinibus in terris et in silvis pasturis et aliis pertinentiis, ita quod aliquis qui non sit de gildhalls aliquam mercaturam non faciet in civitate vel suburbiis.
  2. Give some account of the changes in trade-routes during the sixteenth century.
  3. Describe the organization of industry in the middle of the reign of Elizabeth.
  4. Compare the Enclosures of the eighteenth century with those of the sixteenth.
  5. What was the condition of the mercantile marine of New England in the eighteenth century? What connection was there between this condition and the Navigation Acts?
  6. Institute a comparison between the reforms of Stein and Hardenberg and recent agrarian legislation in Ireland, or any other country with which you are familiar.
  7. What light is cast upon the teaching of (1) Adam Smith, (2) Malthus, (3) Ricardo, by contemporary economic conditions.
  8. Estimate the importance of Arthur Young in the economic history of England.
  9. What seem to you the most characteristic features of the economic development of the United States during the present century as contrasted with England.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 42-43.

___________________________

Economics 12 (First Semester).
Banking and the History
of the leading Banking Systems
1893-94.

 Enrollment.

[Economics] 121. Professor Dunbar. — Banking and the History of the leading Banking Systems. 3 hours. 1st half-year.

Total 50: 10 Gr., 24 Se., 15 Ju., 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94.
ECONOMICS 12[1].
Mid-Year Examination

  1. Which system of banks appears to present the greatest advantages, — (a) one with a powerful central bank as in England and Germany: (b) an aristocracy of strong banks as in Scotland; or (c) a democracy of banks as in this country?
  2. In any period of financial pressure, would the Bank of England he under any obligation, legal or moral, to act for the relief of the public, if such action involved risk or loss to its stockholders? What would be the source of such obligation, if any exists?
  3. The German bank act requires every bank to hold cash, (a) for all notes issued by it above its limit of uncovered issue: (b) and amounting to at least one third of all the notes issued Why is it that notes of other banks can be reckoned as cash in one of these cases, but not in the other?
  4. What is to be said as to the proposition frequently maintained. that “note issue is in reality a function of the State as much as coinage, and should not be delegated to corporations or to private hands?”
  5. If we hold that all note issues need to be kept under national control, in order to secure uniformity of value, what ground is there for denying that all deposit banking needs the same control for the same reason?
  6. Supposing the securities required for deposit under the national banking system to be abundant and fairly attractive as investments, — would that system afford an elastic currency?
  7. To the plan of securing notes by a safety fund (as practiced formerly in New York and now in Canada), it has been objected that it would be unjust to require well-managed banks to pay for losses incurred by weak or imprudent ones, and that a premium would be offered for bad management. How much weight is there in this objection?
  8. To the plan of making the notes of a bank a first lien on its assets it has been objected,—
    “It deprives the bank of the fund which is the basis of its credit in asking for deposits Without the deposit the banks cannot do a profitable business. It is difficult to believe that, the capital being subjected to a first lien for the amount of the notes, and there being always the possibility of an over-issue of such notes, the credit of the bank in its discount and deposit business would not be impaired. is calling upon the capital to do a double work when it is already loaded with the single task of inspiring confidence in the people who have to make deposits.”
    What is the answer to this objection?
  9. Discuss the following extract from the Commercial and Financial Chronicle of May 14th, 1892:—
    “Every prerogative and attribute even of our bank notes, and still more of our silver certificates, tends to draw them away from the interior, even when the issuer is resident in a Southern or Western State, and lodge them in an Eastern city. [The semi legal-tender quality of the national bank circulation and its redemption at the Treasury help to make its movements unnatural, artificial, and impart to it a roaming character helping to force it away from the issuer, away from the country districts where it is needed, and consequently to induce its accumulation when out of active commercial employment in the great financial centres, and while there to foster and become more or less fixed in speculative ventures — that is unresponsive to commercial influences when needed for commercial work?”

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94.

___________________________

Economics 12 (Second Semester).
International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 122. Professor Dunbar.—International Payments and the Flow of the Precious Metals. 3 hours. 2d half-year.

Total 38: 12 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 62.

1893-94
ECONOMICS 122.
Final Examination.

  1. Mr. Goschen says that while a gold currency existed on both sides of the Atlantic the actual par of exchange between New York and London was about 109. What is the explanation of this method of stating the point of equilibrium?
  2. Is Clare justified in making the general statement that “the gold-points mark the highest level to which an exchange may rise, and the lowest to which it may fall?”
  3. What effect would the current rate of interest (as e.g. in a tight money market, either in the drawing or in the accepting country,) have on the rates for sixty-day bills as compared with cash bills?
  4. Clare makes the remark that “as the rate of exchange between two countries…must be fixed by the one who draws and negotiates the bill, it follows that the exchanges between England and most other countries are controlled from the other side, and that we in London have scarcely part or say in the matter.” Is the rate then a matter of indifference to those in London?
  5. Why is it that in certain trades bills are drawn chiefly, or even exclusively, in one direction, as e.g. by New York on London and not vice versa; and how is this practice made to answer the purpose of settling payments, which have to be made in one direction as well as the other?
  6. Mr. Goschen says that the primary cause which makes England the great banking centre of the world is “the stupendous and never-ceasing exports of England, which have for their effect that every country I the world, being in constant receipt of English manufactures, is under the necessity of making remittances to pay for them, either in bullion, in produce, or in bills.”
    Compare this statement with the fact that for ten years past the imports of merchandise into England have averaged about £400,000,000 annually, and the exports from England have averaged a little under £300,000,000.
  7. Suppose the exportation of specie from the United States to be prohibited (or, as has sometimes been suggested, to be slightly hindered,) what would be the effect on rates of exchange, and on prices of goods, either domestic or foreign? Would the country be a loser or not? [See Ricardo (McCulloch’s ed.) p. 139.]
  8. State Mr. Cairnes’s general doctrine as to the movement of prices which determines the normal flow of new supplies of gold from one country to another in the process of distribution over the commercial world.
  9. Cairnes argues that, as the effect of the cheapening of gold, “each country will endure a loss;” but that in particular cases “the primary loss may…be compensated, or even converted into a positive gain.” State and discuss the reasoning on which this proposition rests.
  10. Say, in his Report on the Indemnity, says:—
    La France a, en réalité, (1) fait passer à l’étranger le plus de capitaux possible, en prenant tous les changes qu’elle pouvait acquérir sur quelque pays que ce fût, et (2) a ensuite dirigé sur l’Allemagne tout ce qu’elle avait approvisionné ailleurs.

    1. What reason was there why France should prefer the course described in (1) rather than a direct transfer to Germany?
    2. What movements of trade or capital, of any sort, made the course described in (1) possible or easy?
    3. What movements of the same nature made (2) possible, or enable Germany to absorb the capital thus turned towards her?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

  1. On either of the following topics, give an orderly and concise statement, as complete as you can make it in thirty minutes:—
    1. Sidgwick’s criticisms on Mill’s doctrine of international trade and their validity.
    2. The supply and distribution of the new gold from the United States and Australia, 1858-70.
    3. The action of the new gold in the banking countries.
    4. The absorption of new gold by the currency of France and the foreign trade of that country.
    5. The reasons for the varying ability of India to absorb silver?

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Final examinations, 1853-2001. Box 2, Papers set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 44-46. Transcribed and posted earlier in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

____________________

1893-94
Enrollment for Economics 13.
The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 13. Professor Ashley. – The Development of Land Tenures and of Agrarian Conditions in Europe. 1 hour.

Total 2: 1 Graduate, 1 Senior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

Note: No printed final examination in the collection of Harvard semester examinations.

____________________

Economics 14.
Ideal Social Reconstructions
from Plato to the Present.
1893-94.

Enrollment.

[Economics] 14. Asst. Professor Cummings. — Ideal Social Reconstructions, from Plato’s Republic to the present time. 1 hour.

Total 22: 7 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-94, p. 61.

ECONOMICS 14.
Mid-year examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. Omit one.)

  1. What is a Utopia? and what significance do you attached to the recurrence of such literature at certain historical ethics?
  2. “For judging of the importance of any thinker in the history of Economics, no matter is more important to us than the view he takes of the laboring population.” Judge Plato, More and Bacon by this standard.
  3. “Moreover, it is hardly too much to say that Plato never got to the point of having a theory of the State at all.” In the Republic “man is treated as a micropolis, and the city is the citizen writ large.” Explain and criticize.
  4. “In More’s Utopia we have a revival of the Platonic Republic with additions which make the scheme entirely modern.… The economical element in the social body receives for the first time its proper rank as of the highest moment for public welfare.” Explain. To what extent have the ideals of Utopia been realized?
  5. “Then we may say that democracy, like oligarchy, is destroyed by its insatiable craving for the object which defines to be supremely good?” What, according to the Republic are the peculiar merits and defects of the several forms of political organization? and how are these forms related in point of origin and sequence?
  6. “Sir Thomas More has been called the father of Modern Communism.” How does he compare in this respect with Plato? How far do you trace the influence of historical conditions in each case?
  7. “But in your case, it is we that have begotten you for the State as well as for yourselves, to be like leaders and kings of the hive,– better and more perfectly trained than the rest, and more capable of playing a part in both modes of life.” Criticise the method and purpose of the educational system of the Republic. How far does Plato’s argument as to the duty of public service apply to the educated man to-day?
  8. “The religious ferment produced by the Reformation movement had begun to show signs of abatement, when another movement closely connected with it made its appearance almost at the same time in England and Italy, namely, the rise of a new philosophy.” How was this new philosophy embodied in the social ideals of Bacon and of Campanella? and what is the distinguishing characteristic of it?
  9. What essential contrast between pagan and Christian ideals have you found in schemes for social regeneration?
  10. Is there any recognition of “Social Evolution” in the Utopian philosophies thus far considered?
  11. What in a word, do you regard as the chief defect of the social reconstruction suggested in turn by Plato, Lycurgus, More, Bacon and Campanella? To what main problems suggested by them have we still to seek an answer?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 3, Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Year, 1893-94. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

ECONOMICS 14.
Final examination, 1893-94.

(Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.)

  1. [“]The essential unity and continuity of the vital process which has been in progress in our civilization from the beginning is almost lost sight of. Many of the writers on social subjects at the present day are like the old school of geologists: they seem to think that progress has consisted of a series of cataclysms.” How far is this criticism true? Is the characteristic in question more or less conspicuous in earlier writers?
  2. “At the outset underneath all socialist ideals yawns the problem of population…. Under the Utopias of Socialism, one of two things must happen. Either this increase must be restricted or not. If it be not restricted, and selection is allowed to continue, then the whole foundations of such a fabric as Mr. Bellamy has constructed are bodily removed.” State carefully your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. In which of the schemes for social reconstruction, ancient or modern, do you find any adequate recognition of the part which selection plays in progress?
  3. “If it is possible for the community to provide the capital for production without thereby doing injury to either the principle of perfect individual freedom or to that of justice, if interest can be dispensed with without introducing communistic control in its stead, then there no longer stands any positive obstacle in the way of the free social order.” Discuss the provisions by which Hertzka hopes to guaranteed this “perfect individual freedom.” Contrast him with Bellamy in this respect.
  4. “I perceive that capitalism stops the growth of wealth, not – as Marx has it – by stimulating ‘production for the market,’ but by preventing the consumption of the surplus produce; and that interest, though not unjust, will nevertheless in a condition of economic justice becomes superfluous and objectless.” Explain Hertzka’s reasoning and criticise the economic theory involved.”
  5. What is the gist of “News from Nowhere”?
  6. The condition which the social mind has reached may be tentatively described as one of realization, more or less unconscious, that religion has a definite function to perform in society, and that it is a factor of some kind in the social evolution which is in progress.” How far have you found a recognition of this factor in theories of social reconstruction?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. (HUC 7000.28). Box 2, Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894.

Also: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination papers, 1853-2001. Box 2, Volume: Papers Set for Final Examinations in Philosophy, History, Government and Law, Economics, Fine Arts, and Music in Harvard College, June 1894, pp. 46-47. Previously transcribed and posted in Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

 

Source: Left-to-right: Dunbar, Taussig, Ashley. From University and their Sons. History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. Editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain, LL.D. Vol II (1899), pp. 159 [Dunbar], 595 [Ashley].   Vol. III (1899), p. 99 [Taussig]

Categories
Bibliography Teaching Undergraduate Wisconsin

AEA Publications. Bibliography from article “Economics as a School Study”. Clow, 1899

 

This post provides (i) information on the life and career of Harvard’s tenth Ph.D. in economics, Frederick Redman Clow and (ii) the useful bibliography to his AEA publication, “Economics as a School Subject”. 

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Frederick Redman Clow
(From his Oshkosh obituary)

Born Nov. 29, 1864 in Lysle, Minnesota.

High school in Austin, Minnesota.

Classical A.B. from Carleton college in 1889

1889-1890. Editor of the Weekly Independent at Northfield, Minnesota.

A.B. from Harvard university in 1891.

1892-93. Editor of Clow’s Political Circular and the Literary Northwest.

A.M. from Harvard in 1892.

Ph.D. from Harvard in 1899.

Instructor of economics at Harvard 1893-1895.

Oshkosh Normal 1895 through 1930.

Married Minnie Baldwin at Northfield Minnesota in 1895.

Daughters: Lucia Baldwin Clow (b. 1896) and Bertha Cochrane Clow (b. 1902). Son Nathan Clow (b. ca. 1904)

Summer 1904. Taught economics at the University of Chicago.

Summer 1912. Taught sociology at the university of Michigan.

1927 Quiver (Oshkosh Normal Yearbook) dedicated to Frederick Clow.

Died July 6, 1930. Following nine months’ illness.

Memberships.

National Society for the Study of Educational Sociology
American Economics Association
Philosophical Club
Pi Gamma Mu (National social science honor society)
Phi Beta Kappa (national honorary scholastic fraternity)
Phi Beta Sigma (educational fraternity)

Books:

Introduction to the Study of Commerce (Silver, Burdett and company, 1901).

A Syllabus for an Elementary Course in Economics3rd ed. (Castle-Pierce Printing Company, 1908).

Principles of Educational Sociology (Macmillan, 1920)

Book manuscripts completed before death (unpublished?) according to his obituary:

The School and Its Institutional Background

Personology: The Great Synthesis.

 

SourceThe Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) July 7, 1930 pp. 1,4.

______________________

From Annual President’s Report of Harvard College

1890-1891

Appointed Proctor, June 23, 1891.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1890-1891. Page 206

 

1892-1893.

Appointed Instructor in Political Economy, June 27, 1893.

Appointed Proctor, June 27, 1893.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1892-1893. Pages 228-9.

 

1893-1894.

Listed among teachers for Economics 1. Professors Taussig and Ashley, Asst. Professor Cummings and Mr. Clow.

Appointed Instructor in Political Economy, May 28, 1894.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1893-1894. Page 61; Ibid., 1893-1894. Page 232.

 

1894-95.

Listed among teachers for Economics 1. Professor Ashley, Asst. Professor Cummings, Dr. Cummings, and Mr. Clow.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1894-1895. Page 62.

 

1898-1899.

Awarded Ph.D., Political Science.  (Political Economy) in 1899

Frederick Redman Clow.

Public Finance.—A.B. (Carleton Coll., Minn.) 1889, A.B. 1891, A.M. (Carleton Coll., Minn.) 1892, A.M. 1892.—Res.Gr. Stud., 1891-92 and 1893-95.

Teacher of history and Economics, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1898-1899. Page 144.

______________________

Bibliography from Clow’s “Economics as a School Study” (1899)

PREFACE.

The following sources have contributed most of the information given in this paper or used in its preparation:

  1. The books and articles named in the bibliography, especially the Report of the Committee of Ten, and the writings of Professors J. Laurence Laughlin, Richard T. Ely, Edmund J. James, and Simon N. Patten. Much use has been made of an article by Dr. Frank H. Dixon, now of Dartmouth College.
  2. My own experience as a teacher of economics — for two years as instructor in charge of two sections of the beginning class in economics in a university, and for three years in a normal school.
  3. Data in manuscript. In the spring of 1897 I sent out a circular letter of inquiry to over two hundred educational institutions, and to a few university professors. The institutions included medium-sized colleges, public normal schools, and high schools in the larger cities, all so selected as to represent the various sections of the country. To the scores of people who so kindly responded to my inquiries, I am deeply indebted. Dr. Dixon generously allowed me to use a similar mass of material collected by him from schools which prepare students for the University of Michigan, and granted permission to use the data to controvert his own conclusions.

I have tried to include in the bibliography all books and articles relating to economics as a school study, or to methods of teaching economics, and also all text-books now offered by publishers. With a few exceptions, the bibliography is restricted to works published in the United States.

My chief aim has been to promote the further investigation of the place of economics in the school curriculum and of the methods to be employed in teaching it. Therefore much space has been given to the statement of the views of others, even when they conflict with each other and with my own. As far as possible these views are presented in the original words, although the result has been to introduce an excessive number of quotations.

F. R. CLOW.

State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis.,
May, 1898.

[…]

APPENDIX B.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.

(The date after a title is the author’s date. All books are 12mo. unless otherwise indicated. Prices marked with an asterisk (*) are net; from others discounts will be given to schools or for introduction.)

BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON TEACHING ECONOMICS.

American Economic Association. Economic Studies, Vol. III, No. I, supplement, 50¢. Discussions: The relation of the teaching of economic history to the teaching of political economy, pp. 88-101; methods of teaching economics, pp. 105-111.

Ashley, W. J., of Harvard. On the Study of Economic History, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, VII: 115-136. States the position of the Historical School of Economists.

Barnard’s American Journal of Education, X: 105-115, from the British Almanac for 1860. Describes the work in economics in the school founded by William Ellis at Birbeck, England.

Bullock, C. J. Political Economy in the Secondary School, in Education, XI: 539-47. Excellent discussion of methods.

Clow, F. R. Elementary Economics in Schools and Colleges, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, XII: 73-75. Statistics of schools, teachers, and text-books.

Committee of Ten. Report of the Committee on Secondary School Studies, including the report of the Conference on History, Civil Government and Political Economy, pp. 29, 181-3. Government printing office, Washington, for the United States Bureau of Education. Also by the American Book Co., 25¢. See Appendix A.

Commons, J. R. Political Economy and Sociology in the High School, in The Inland Educator, December, 1895. Favors observational study.

Cossa, Luigi. Introduction to the Study of Political Economy. Macmillan. 1893. pp. 587. $2.60. Treats well the value of economic knowledge and the relation of economics to other studies.

Dixon, F. H., of Dartmouth College. The Teaching of Economics in the Secondary Schools, in the third Year-Book of the National Herbartian Society, pp. 128-137; also in the School Review for January, 1898. Favors substituting economic history for economics in the secondary schools.

Ely, Richard T., of University of Wisconsin. On Methods of Teaching Political Economy, pp. 61-72, in Methods of Teaching and Studying History, edited by G. Stanley Hall. 2d ed., 1885. Heath: Boston. Contains useful practical hints.

________ Political Economy in the High School, in School Education, March, 1895. Treats educational value and methods.

Fulcomer, Daniel. Instruction in Sociology in Institutions of Learning, in report of Commissioner of Education, 1894-5, Vol. II, pp. 1211-1221. A collection of opinions and statistics.

James, Edmund J., of Chicago University. The Education of Business Men: a View of the Organization and Courses of Study in the Commercial High Schools of Europe. The University of Chicago Press, 1898. 8vo. pp. xxi, 232. 50¢. Also in Report of Commissioner of Education, 1895-6, Vol. I, pp. 721-831. A detailed account.

________ Place of the Political and Social Sciences in Modern Education, in Annals, Vol. X, No. 3; also Publications, No. 216. American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia. 1897. pp. 30. 25¢. A strong article; urges greater prominence for the social sciences, including economics, in all grades of our educational system.

Jostad, B. M. How and What May We Teach of Political Economy in Grades below the High School? Wisconsin Journal of Education, XXIX, 12-14. Suggests several topics.

Keynes, J. N., of Cambridge, England. The Scope and Method of Political Economy. Macmillan. 1890. pp. xiv, 359. $2.25. Though not treating directly of methods of teaching, it gives the best discussion of the nature of economic science that exists in English.

Dunbar, C. F., of Harvard. The Academic Study of Political Economy, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, V: 397-416. Its place in colleges and universities.

Laughlin, J. L., of Chicago University. Teaching of Economics, in Atlantic Monthly, LXXVII: 682-688. Urges teaching of economics in secondary schools. Trenchant criticism of methods.

________ The Study of Political Economy. American Book Co. 1885. 16mo. pp. 153. $1.00. Designed for students and teachers. The best book of the kind. Contains brief bibliography, including French and German works.

Macvane, S. M., of Harvard. The Economists and the Public, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, IX: 132-150. Favors making the study concrete and working from actual facts.

Newcomb, Simon. The Problem of Economic Education, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, VII: 375-399. Discusses the low popular estimate of economic science and shows the value of studying economic theory.

Patten, Simon N., of University of Pennsylvania. Economics in Elementary Schools, in Publications, No. 136. American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia. 1894. 8vo. pp. 29. 25¢. A philosophical discussion of the ethical value of economic study. Substantially the same ideas are given in a paper by Professor Patten in Addresses and Proceedings of the National Educational Association for 1892, pp. 415-421.

________ The Educational Value of Political Economy, in Publications of the American Economic Association. 8vo. pp. 36. 75¢. Confined to mental discipline; profound and original.

Sherwood, Sidney, of Johns Hopkins University. The Philosophical Basis of Economics, in Annals, Vol. X, No. 2; also Publications, No. 209. American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia. 1897. 8vo. pp. 35. 35¢. Claims for economics the position of master-science in the group which includes ethics, aesthetics, politics, and sociology.

Taussig, F. W., of Harvard University. The Problem of Secondary Education as regards Training for Citizenship, in Educational Review, XVII: 431-439. Favors teaching economics and explains the poor results so far obtained.

Taylor, W. G. L., of the University of Nebraska. Write Your Own Political Economy, in The Northwestern Monthly, Lincoln, Neb. September, 1898. Each student is to develop economic theory in a series of essays.

Thurston, H. W. The Teaching of Economics in Secondary Schools, in School Review, IV: 604-616. Favors the laboratory method.

Thwing, C. F., President of Western Reserve University. The Teaching of Political Economy in Secondary Schools, in Addresses and Proceedings of the National Educational Association, 1895, pp. 370-374. Shows how the subject can be made intelligible to the young.

 

TEXT-BOOKS.

Andrews, E. B. Institutes of Economics. 1889. Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston, pp. xii, 227. $1.30. New arrangement. Contains references to works in foreign languages. Excessively condensed.

Bowen, F. American Political Economy. 1870. Scribner. 8vo. pp. ix, 495. Formerly a popular text-book for colleges. Protectionist.

Bullock, C. J., of Cornell University. Introduction to the Study of Economics. Silver, Burdett & Co. 1897. pp.511. $1.28. Contains much descriptive matter, bibliography, and references. An excellent all-around text-book.

Cannan, E. Elementary Political Economy. Macmillan. 16mo. 25¢.

Champlin, J. T. Lessons in Political Economy. 1868. American Book Co. pp. 219. 90¢. Gives much attention to the financial question of thirty years ago.

Davenport, H. J. Outlines of Elementary Economics. Macmillan. 1897. pp. xiv, 280. 80¢. Contains excellent pedagogical helps. No descriptive matter is given, and the work is strictly theoretical. New arrangement. The same author has written Outlines of Economic Theory. 1896. $2.00.*

Devine, E. T. Economics. Macmillan. 1898. pp.404. $1.00. Designed as an introduction to the study of social problems.

Ely, R. T., of the University of Wisconsin. Outlines of Economics. 1893. Flood & Vincent, Meadville, Pa., Chautauqua edition, pp. xi, 347, $1.00. Hunt & Eaton, now Eaton & Main, Boston, college edition, 1893, pp. xii, 432, $1.25. Extensively used. Contains questions and references to other authorities. The college edition contains a list of topics for special work and a bibliography.

Fawcett, Mrs. Political Economy for Beginners. Macmillan. 2nd edition, 1872. 18mo. pp. xii, 216. 90¢. An English work for secondary schools. With questions and problems.

Gregory, J. M. New Political Economy. 1882. American Book Co. pp. 394. $1.20. By an experienced teacher. Numerous suggestive diagrams and tables.

Jevons, W. S. Political Economy (Primer). American Book Co. 35¢.

Laughlin, J L. The Elements of Political Economy. 1887. American Book Co. pp. xxiv, 363. $1.20. Contains pedagogical questions at end of each chapter, charts and other descriptive matter, and the same bibliography as the Study of Political Economy. Part II treats of practical questions of the day.

Laveleye, Emil de. The Elements of Political Economy. 1888. Putnams. pp. xxxvii, 288. $1.50. By the eminent French economist. With introduction and supplementary chapter by Professor Taussig.

Macvane, S. M., of Harvard University. The Working Principles of Political Economy. Maynard, Merrill & Co. 1889. pp. x, 392 $1.00. Intended for high schools, “with a constant eye on actual affairs.”

Mason and Lalor. The Primer of Political Economy. 1875. McClurg, Chicago, pp. 67. 60¢. Definitions and propositions to be memorized.

Newcomb, Simon. Principles of Political Economy. Harper. 1885. pp. xvi, 548. $2.50. Purely theoretical; contains pedagogical questions. Some portions are unsurpassed for clearness.

Perry, A. L., of Williams College. Principles of Political Economy. Scribner. 1898. pp. 600. $2.00. New arrangement. Nearly thirty years ago the same author wrote Elements of Political Economy and Introduction to Political Economy, which are still in use as text-books.

Seligman, E. R. A., of Columbia. Elements of Political Economy; with Special Reference to American Conditions. In preparation. Longmans, Green & Co.

Steele, G. M. Rudimentary Economics. 1891. Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, now Sibley & Ducker. pp. xvi, 213. 80¢. Based on Carey. Suitable for high schools. Simple enough to use as a reader.

Symes, J. E., of England. Political Economy. Longmans, Green, & Co. pp. 204. 90¢.* With problems for solution and hints for supplementary reading.

Thompson, R. E. Political Economy. 1895. Ginn. pp. 108. 55¢. Intended for secondary schools. Protectionist.

Thurston, H. W. A Beginner’s Book in Economics and Industrial History. In preparation. Scott, Foresman & Co. Part I, a laboratory study of existing economic structure. Part II, economic history of England and the United States. Part III, theory. Based on the author’s experience in a high school. Discusses methods of teaching and contains much pedagogical matter; also bibliography.

Walker, F. A. Political Economy. Holt. Briefer course, 1884, pp. 415, $1.20.* Advanced course, 3rd ed., 1887, pp. 537, $2.00.* First Lessons in Political Economy. pp. x, 323. $1.00. Contain the author’s peculiar view of distribution. Were the most popular text-books in existence for a decade.

 

Source: Frederick Redman Clow, A.M. Economics as a School Study. Economic Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3 (June, 1899), pp. 242-246

Image Source: Faculty portrait of Frederick R. Clow in Quiver, Yearbook of Oshkosh Normal School 1906, p. 16.

 

Categories
AEA

American Economic Association. Economic Studies, 1896-1899

 

A few posts ago I put together a list of links to the contents of eleven volumes of monographs published by the American Economic Association from 1886 through 1896.

Those eleven published volumes were briefly followed (1896-1899) by two series of AEA publications, viz.: the bi-monthly Economic Studies, and an extremely short “new series” of larger monographs that would be printed at irregular intervals. In 1900 the American Economic Association reverted to the policy of issuing its monographs, called the “third series” of the publications, at quarterly intervals.

This post provides links to the 1896-1899 intermezzo of AEA publications.

______________________

American Economic Association
ECONOMIC STUDIES.

Price of the Economic Studies $2.50 per volume in paper, $3.00 in cloth. The set of four volumes, in cloth, $10.00.

VOLUME I, 1896
[prices in paper]

No. 1 (Apr., Supplement) Eighth Annual Meeting: Hand-Book and Report. Pp. 178. Price 50 cents.

No. 1 (Apr.). The Theory of Economic Progress, by John B. Clark, Ph.D.; The Relation of Changes in the Volume of the Currency to Prosperity, by Francis A. Walker, LL.D. Pp. 46. Price 50 cents.

No. 2 (Jun.). The Adjustment of Wages to Efficiency. Three papers: Gain Sharing, by Henry R. Towne; The Premium Plan of Paying for Labor, by F.A. Halsey; A Piece-Rate System, by F.W. Taylor. Pp. 83 Price 50 cents.

No. 3 (Aug.). The Populist Movement. By Frank L. McVey, Ph.D. Pp. 81 Price 50 cents.

No. 4 (Oct.). The Present Monetary Situation. An address by Dr. W. Lexis, University of Göttingen translated by Professor John Cummings. Pp. 72. Price 75 cents.

Nos. 5-6 (Dec.). The Street Railway Problem in Cleveland. By W.R. Hopkins. Pp. 94. Price 50 cents.

 

VOLUME II, 1897

No. 1 (Feb., Supplement). Ninth Annual Meeting: Hand-Book and Report. Pp. 162. Price 50 cents.

No. 1 (Feb.). Economics and Jurisprudence. By Henry C. Adams, Ph.D. Pp. 48. Price 50 cents.

No. 2 (Apr.). The Saloon Question in Chicago. By John E. George, Ph.B. Pp. 62. Price 50 cents.

No. 3 (Jun.). The General Property Tax in California. By Carl C. Plehn, Ph.D. Pp. 88. Price 50 cents.

No. 4 (Aug.). Area and Population of U. S. at Eleventh Census. By Walter F. Willcox, Ph.D. Pp. 60. Price 50 cents.

No. 5 (Oct.). A Discourse Concerning the Currencies of the British Plantations in America, etc. By William Douglass. Edited by Charles J. Bullock, Ph.D. Pp. 228. Price 50 cents.

No. 6 (Dec.). Density and Distribution of Population in U.S. at Eleventh Census. By Walter F. Wilcox, Ph.D. Pp. 79.Price 50 cents.

 

VOLUME III, 1898

No. 1 (Feb., Supplement). Tenth Annual Meeting: Hand-Book and Report. Pp. 136. Price 50 cents.

No. 1 (Feb.). Government by Injunction. By William H. Dunbar, A.M., LL.B. Pp. 44. Price 50 cents.

No. 2 (Apr.). Economic Aspects of Railroad Receiverships. By Henry H. Swain, Ph.D. Pp. 118. Price 50 cents.

No. 3 (Jun.). The Ohio Tax Inquisitor Law. By T. N. Carver, Ph.D. Pp. 50. Price 50 cents.

No. 4 (Aug.). The American Federation of Labor. By Morton A. Aldrich, Ph.D. Pp. 54. Price 50 cents.

No. 5 (Oct.). Housing of the Working People in Yonkers. By Ernest Ludlow Bogart, Ph.D. Pp. 82. Price 50 cents.

No. 6 (Dec.). The State Purchase of Railways in Switzerland. By Horace Micheli; translated by John Cummings, Ph.D. Pp. 72. Price 50 cents.

 

VOLUME IV, 1899

No. 1 (Feb.). I. Economics and Politics. By Arthur T. Hadley, A.M.; II. Report on Currency Reform. By F. M. Taylor, F.W. Taussig, J.W. Jenks, Sidney Sherwood, David Kinley; III. Report on the Twelfth Census. By Richmond Mayo-Smith, Walter F. Willcox, Carroll D. Wright, Roland P. Falkner, Davis R. Dewey. Pp.70. Price 50 cents.

No. 2 (Apr.). Eleventh Annual Meeting: Hand-Book and Report. Pp. 126. Price 50 cents.

No. 2 (Apr.). Personal Competition: Its Place in the Social Order and Effect upon Individuals; with some Consideration upon Success. By Charles H. Cooley, Ph.D. Pp. 104. Price 50 cents.

No. 3 (Jun.). Economics as a School Study. By Frederick R. Clow, A.M. Pp. 72. Price 50 cents.

Nos. 4-5 (Aug.-Oct.). The English Income Tax, with Special Reference to Administration and Method of Assessment. By Joseph A. Hill, Ph.D. Pp. 162. Price $1.00.

No. 6. (Dec.) The Effects of Recent Changes in Monetary Standards upon the Distribution of Wealth. By Francis Shanor Kinder, A.M. Pp.91. Price 50 cents.

______________________

NEW SERIES

No. 1 (Dec., 1897). The Cotton Industry. By M. B. Hammond. Pp. 382. (In cloth $2.00.) Price $1.50.

No. 2 (Mar., 1899). Scope and Method of the Twelfth Census. Critical discussion by over twenty statistical experts. Pp. 625. (In cloth $2.50.) Price $2.00.