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Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Ten-Year Projects and Outlook for Department. 1968-1978

The following ten-year plan (1968-1978) proposal for the department of political economy of Johns Hopkins was most likely drafted by senior members of the department, though the precise author(s) is not clear from the document itself. The bottom line of this plan is a request to be allowed to expand the deparment’s faculty and graduate student body by by half and by two-thirds, respectively. Otherwise the department feared  the loss of its national reputation due to having a reduced scope and scale.

The plan is at least as interesting for its obiter dicta regarding e.g., air-conditioning, computer terminals, secretarial staff, etc. 

_______________________

TEN-YEAR PROJECTS AND OUTLOOK FOR
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
[Draft, 1967]

I. Introduction and Summary

The Department of Political Economy, like the rest of the University, has concentrated on small numbers and high quality in its research and instructional programs. It is our intention to continue that tradition.
During the early postwar period, this Department produced as large a group of outstanding young economists as almost any university in the country. Its small faculty included several of the country’s most eminent economists. Between 1958 and 1961 the Department was plagued with resignations of senior faculty. At the same time resources available at other universities were growing rapidly. As a result the Department lost its former status as a major producer of research and scholars. Since 1961, the Department has steadily been rebuilt and is again able to attract its share of outstanding faculty and graduate students. But the Department still suffers to some extent from the factors responsible for its earlier troubles: its small size and limited resource base.
The Department now consists of 11 faculty and 45 resident Ph.D. candidates.
The program outlined in subsequent sections is designed to strengthen the Department by increasing Its size and financial base, while still permitting it to reap the advantages of its relatively small size.
During the next decade, the Department should grow to about 18 faculty members, or about 50%. Its Ph.D. candidates should grow to about 75, or by about two-thirds. Such growth is essential to add stability to the research and instructional programs, and to permit us to cover the growing number of specialties in the subject.
Growth will be expensive. Faculty salaries and graduate fellowships will continue to rise. And no university can retain excellence, let alone improve its position, without substantial budgetary increases. Within a decade, the Department’s budget for salaries and fellowships should almost triple.

II. Immediate Needs and Plans

A. In 1967-68, the Department has ten full-time faculty members, one joint appointment with Operations Research, and one faculty member whose major appointment is in the School of Public Health. (A second joint appointment with Public Health was made in Spring 1967, but the appointee will be in Pakistan for two years.) We have two vacancies. One is a professorship, and results from the Department’s having been permitted to replace Professor Evans prior to his retirement. We have appointed a visiting Professor to this post for 1968-69. The other vacant post is an Assistant Professorship, created in the spring of 1967.
The Department’s full-time faculty ought to expand to about 18 during the next decade. Three purposes would be served by such an expansion. First, it would provide the Department with more depth in the central specialties of economic theory and quantitative methods, so that a resignation or leave of absence would not disrupt the instructional program. Second, it would permit us to make appointments in important specialties not adequately covered by existing faculty. The inevitable increase in specialization through time makes gradual expansion necessary. Third, it would enable us to discharge our obligations to the instructional programs in international relations more adequately.
The Department is now actively seeking funds for the establishment of a Center for International Economic Studies within the Department. This Center would provide a focus for graduate instruction and research in the areas of international trade and economic development. The Center would provide a major substantive focus for the Department in addition to its present focus on economic theory and quantitative methods. In addition, it would help to fill a pressing social need, since the development of poor countries is perhaps the most pressing social problem of our time. Finally, it would permit us to exploit the unique advantages of the University’s proximity to Washington.
Although we are now strong in international economics, we are weak in economic development. Hence, a specialist in economic development is our most pressing need in terms of our proposed Center, our own graduate program, and our participation in the international relations programs. Our next highest priority is in the area of industrial organization, in which we now offer only one course in alternate years. Other fields in which we need additional strength are economic growth, public finance, private finance, econometrics, managerial economics, and Soviet-type economics.
Our needs are not equally urgent in all these areas. And not every specialty requires a separate appointment. Individual scholars often have interests in two or more specialties. Finally, the importance of particular specialties, and the interests of individual faculty members change gradually through time.

B. The most important research facilities for the Economics Department are the library and computational facilities. In both cases, the special needs of the Department will make it increasingly important in the coming decade to supplement the facilities available to the University as a whole.
For many years the Department has felt the need for a workroom where copies of major journals and reference books could be kept. In an important sense, the technical journals and data sources play the role in economics that the laboratory plays in an experimental. science. The movement of the library from Gilman Hall has imposed a major burden on faculty in the Department. In addition, faculty and graduate students in economics are now sufficiently numerous that duplicate copies of major journals are essential. We have made a small beginning toward meeting our library needs by establishing a workroom in our new quarters. A very limited number of journals is being purchased from research funds. In the coming years it will be important to expand the number of journals in our workroom, and to add major reference and data volumes. If a new social science building is constructed, or if the Department is able to expand its quarters as a result of the construction of a humanities building, a departmental library should be a major planning item.
The Department now has 6 desk calculators for use by faculty and students. Most are old and should be replaced with more modern machines within a few years. In the next decade we should at least double the number of calculators available. Some of our faculty now make frequent use of one or more of the real time-saving consoles located around the University. Within a short time, it will be important for the Department to have one or more such consoles in or near the Department area.
The Department now has two full-time and one half-time secretary. The half-time secretary is financed from research funds. Within a year or two she will need to be full time. Within a decade we will probably need five full-time secretaries. We need one additional electric typewriter this fall, and at least three modern tape recorders. During the coming years wo will need several additional typewriters and recorders, and other minor items of office equipment.

C. In the spring of 1967, we substantially revised both our undergraduate and graduate curricula. At the undergraduate level, the major change was to permit most courses to be taken after only two semesters economic theory rather than three as was previously required. This opened up, several courses in the Department to international relations majors and others outside the economics major. At the graduate level, the major change was to provide a more concentrated and integrated program in economic theory for first-year Ph.D. candidates.
During the last few years, the number of undergraduate registrations in economics courses has grown much more rapidly than the undergraduate student body. This is shown in the following table of selected registrations.

1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67
18.1 241 339 351 358
18.2 50 85 121 107
18.3 50 79 94 108
18.301-302 51 56 52 74
Total 392 559 618 647

This has necessitated our giving some courses each semester which were previously given in alternate semesters. Presumably, future growth in undergraduate registrations will more nearly approximate the growth in the student body. During the next few years our major need at the undergraduate level is to add a few specialized courses that will be available to students with a limited background in economics. Planned economics and urban economics are examples of such courses.
Our Ph.D. program is now too small. We do not have enough students to justify graduate courses in specialties which should be covered in a high quality graduate program, and we do not have enough faculty to offer the courses. We thus need to expand the graduate enrollment and the faculty simultaneously in order to be able to fill gaps in our graduate program in areas such as economic development, fiscal policy and industrial organization.

D. This Department is far smaller than any other major graduate department in economics. The next smallest, Princeton, is approximately the size that our projections indicate we will be in 10 years. Others are much larger.
We do not aspire to match the size and growth of most of the departments with which we compete for faculty and graduate students. We are firmly convinced of the advantages of smallness. But until very recently our size was almost below that required for viability. And we see clear advantages in some further growth, which would still retain the benefits of our relatively small size.

III. In this section I will discuss the undergraduate and graduate instructional programs, and faculty research activities in that order.

Undergraduates can either concentrate or major in economics. Although there is some tendency for better students to major rather than concentrate, some very able students choose the less intensive program. A stronger tendency is for those whose goal is a Ph.D. program in economics to major, and for others to concentrate.
An average senior class contains about 15 concentrators in economics. Some of these graduates take jobs, but many go to graduate school in business, law and economics.
An average senior class contains about 10 majors in economics. Although a few majors take jobs upon graduation, most attend graduate school in economics or business. And the program is designed with this group in mind. In recent years, our majors have undertaken successful graduate study at Chicago, Stanford, M.I.T., Johns Hopkins and other leading institutions. The Department’s requirements of a major include four semesters of economic theory, economic history, a year of statistics, a year of mathematics, a senior essay, and work on one or more advanced fields. We feel that our majors are as well prepared for graduate study as those at any university in the country.
For many years, the goal of our Ph.D. program has been to provide thorough training in economic theory, quantitative methods, and a small number of substantive fields to a small group of high quality students, most of whom intend to enter teaching and research posts. In the years 1950-1966, 63 people received the Ph.D. for work in this Department. This comes to 3.7 per year, but there is a slight upward trend, and we have given about five per year in recent years. Among them are some of the leading academic economists of the postwar generation. Our graduates hold posts at Yale, Chicago, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and other leading United States universities. They also hold major academic posts in the U.K., Israel, Japan and Australia.
In the early postwar period, Johns Hopkins had among its Ph.D. candidates more than its share of the best students who studied economics. This resulted from the high quality of the faculty, the small and personal nature of the Ph.D. program, and the ability of the Department to offer fellowships that were larger than those offered by competing institutions. In the late 1950’s, this situation changed, partly because of the loss of most of the Department’s senior faculty. Since 1981, the Department has been substantially rebuilt; and is again among the leading economics departments in this country. We have greatly improved the quality of the student body, and are now getting about our share of the best graduate students, but we have not regained our former edge. To do so is the goal of the plans outlined in other sections of this report.
In the Political Economy Department, as elsewhere in the University, most faculty research is basic rather than applied. Within that framework, however, a wide spectrum of subjects and techniques is encompassed. Some of the research is purely theoretical, employing mathematical and logical tools to improve our understanding of economic phenomenon. Most of the research, however, is quantitative, employing not only economic theory but also statistical methods and data.

IV. Relationship to the Hopkins community

A. At the undergraduate level, the enrollment in economics courses has grown rapidly in recent years. Nearly every undergraduate now takes at least one economics course. And for several years we have had more than a hundred students per year in each of our second and third courses in economic theory. About 50 students per year enroll in our course in current economic problems. In 1967-68, the Department will offer 11 semester courses at the 0-99 level, and 13 semester courses at the 300-level, all of them open to undergraduates who are not economics majors.
At the graduate level our Ph.D. candidates frequently take courses in the Departments of Mathematics, Statistics, and Operations Research. Less frequently they take courses in the Departments of Political Science, History, Geography, and Social Relations. Frequently, 300- and 600-level courses in economics are taken by Ph.D. candidates in Operations Research, Environmental Sciences, Statistics, and Geography. Less frequently, they are taken by students in History, Social Relations and Political Science. Sometimes, students from SAIS take our courses in international economics and economic development.
In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in the exchange of graduate students between this Department and others for course work. We expect this trend to continue and feel that it should be encouraged.

B. The Center for International Studies will be established within the Department of Political Economy. However, many problems within the Center’s purview require interdisciplinary study, and we hope to use the Center as a vehicle for joint teaching and research programs. SAIS is the most natural partner for such ventures, but we hope to explore possibilities with Homewood departments also.

C. The Department takes an active part in the A.B.-M.A. and Ph.D. programs in international relations. We give year courses in international economics and economic development mainly for students in these programs. In our curriculum revision last spring, we reduced the prerequisites for these courses to make them more accessible to international relations specialists. We are generally pleased with our success in staffing the economics part of the international relations program. However, we feel a need for a major appointment in economic development before we can be fully satisfied with our contribution.
The Political Economy Department has one joint appointment with the Operations Research Department. In addition, wo have two faculty members in the Department whose major appointments are in the School of Public Health. The Department has no fixed policy regarding joint appointments. Those that wo have are successful because of special circumstances in which such an arrangement is in the interests of all parties. We expect that such circumstances will arise again. But we think it unwise to plan for certain numbers or kinds of joint appointments.

V. Instructional Program

A. The following table summarizes the Department’s instructional program in 1967-68:

Course Number No. of Courses Hours Per Week Credit Hours No. of Courses Hours Per Week Credit Hours No. of Courses Hours Per Week Credit Hours
0 – 99 5 14 14 6 17 17 11 31 31
300-399 7 15 22 ½ 6 13 19 ½ 13 23 42
600-699 11 23 — 12 24 — 23 47 —
Total 23 52 — 24 54 — 47 106 —

Each full-time faculty member except the chairman teaches two courses per semester. The chairman teaches three courses per year. All faculty attend the weekly Department seminar. Most faculty members will attend our dissertation seminar several times a year.
All courses numbered 0-99 are open to all qualified undergraduates, whether they are economics majors or not. All 300-399 numbered courses are open to qualified undergraduates and to graduate students from other departments. A few are not normally taken by Ph.D. candidates in economics. 600-699 numbered courses are open to graduate students in this and other departments.
It is difficult to predict future growth of undergraduate enrollment since, as stated above, we expect it to grow about as fast as the undergraduate student body, which we do not control. However, even in the absence of substantial growth in enrollments, there are several courses that should be added either at the 0-99 or the 300-399 level. These include comparative economic systems, corporation finance, public finance, and economic growth. Some other courses, now given only in alternate years, should be given every year. These include industrial organization, economics of education, and urban economics. Substantial growth in enrollments would require that we offer additional sections of some courses and that we offer some courses every semester rather than once a year.
At the graduate level, our intake of students has been between 10 and 15 for several years, resulting in a body of about 35 students in residence. We have now embarked on a conscious program of increasing the size of our graduate program; in 1967-68, 18 students entered and our student body is 45. Our intake should increase gradually over the coming decade to about 25, with a resulting student body of about 75. Seventy-five is the present graduate enrollment of the next smallest of major graduate programs in economics in other universities. Others are considerably larger. We feel that this growth is necessary to enable us to offer the range of courses now required for proper coverage of our subject matter.
Unless a major expansion of the international relations program is undertaken, we should not have to devote more faculty resources to it, once we have made the appointment we are now seeking in economic development.
Expansion of the faculty from 11 to 18 would permit the addition of 28 semester courses in the Department. The exact nature and level of the courses to added will depend on the interests of faculty members recruited, the interests of undergraduate and graduate students, and developments in the subject matter. However, we expect to continue the policy of devoting roughly half the Department’s teaching resources to courses numbered 0-99 and 300-399, and the other half to 600-level courses.

B. The Department completely reorganized both its undergraduate and graduate curricula in the spring of 1967. This reorganization permitted us to identify clearly the gaps in our program referred to in Section II. We feel that our only pressing curriculum need is now to fill these gaps. Major curriculum reform becomes necessary periodically in a developing discipline, but we have no plans for further reform.

VI. Resources Outside the University

The Department has no formal relationship with organizations outside the University. The Department does, however, benefit from proximity to Washington in several ways. First, proximity to Washington is an attraction to some actual and prospective faculty members. They may obtain data, attend meetings and seminars, and occasionally undertake paid consulting at U.S. Government agencies, international organizations, or private research Institutions. Second, Washington is an attractive source of summer jobs for our graduate students, and a few of our graduates take permanent posts there.

VII. Space requirements

In the spring of 1967 the Department moved into new quarters on the fourth floor of Gilman Hall. These quarters are an important improvement over those previously available to the Department. The new quarters consist of 12 faculty offices, a departmental office, a calculator room, 11 small cubicles for graduate students, a seminar room, and a workroom where recent technical journals are kept.
In terms of space needs, however, the now quarters are already inadequate. We now have 13 faculty posts in the Department, but only 12 offices. In fall 1968 we expect to have all 13 posts filled, and we will have the Hinkley Professor in the Department. We will thus be two offices short. In addition, we recently hired a part-time secretary. The Department office is adequate for only the two secretaries now occupying it and we have to house the new secretary in the calculator room. Within the next year the part-time post will have to be made full time, and the housing problem will be acute.
The ten-year projection for the Department will require major additions to the Department’s space facilities. Faculty offices will have to expand from 12 to 18. The secretarial force will have to expand to at least five, and that will require at least two rooms entirely devoted to secretarial use. The Department now has one seminar room. Virtually all our 300- and 600-level courses are held there and it is in use more than 35 hours per week within a short time it will be necessary to have an additional seminar room. Within ten years it will be important to have a third room that can be used for seminars, conferences and other meetings. Within the next few years we will need a larger calculator room. We already need additional calculators, and this need will grow as the faculty and graduate student body grows. In addition, we will shortly need one or more real time sharing consoles in the Department area.
It is clear that a building to house either the social or behavioral sciences is already overdue at Johns Hopkins. Despite all the building on the campus in the last decade, the social sciences and humanities – as well as statistics and various ancillary facilities are still all housed In Gilman Hall. It is virtually the only building on the campus that is not fully air conditioned. And the removal of the main library has worsened the situation.
The nature of this Department’s space needs would make it difficult, but not impossible, to satisfy them by regrouping the Gilman facilities if some other departments were to be housed in other buildings. A social or behavioral science building – which would include economics ought to be a major part of the 10-year fund raising program.

VIII. Tables and Graphs

A. The following table shows the undergraduate concentrators and majors in Political Economy for 1967-68:

Concentrators Majors
Juniors 5 10
Seniors 16 9

This table does not include the BIM students.
In 1967-68 the Department has 18 entering and 27 returning graduate students. We have no post-doctoral students.

B. Faculty

Edwin S. Mills – Professor and Chairman

Age: 39
econometrics, statistics, microeconomics
Research projects: [blank]

Bela Balassa – Professor

Age: 39
International trade, economic theory, comparative systems, economic development
Research projects: [blank]

Carl F. Christ – Professor

Age: 44
econometrics, macroeconomics, money
Research projects: [blank]

G. Heberton Evans, Jr. – Professor

Age: 67
economic history, history of economic thought, private finance
Research projects: [blank]

Herbert E. Klarman – Professor

Age: 51
economics of health, public finance
Research projects: [blank]

Peter Newman – Professor

Age: 39
economic theory, mathematical economics, economic development
Research projects: [blank]

Jürg Niehans – Professor

Age: 48
economic theory, money
Research Projects: [blank]

Frederick T. Sparrow – Associate Professor

Age: [blank]
operations research, microeconomic theory, managerial economics
Research projects: [blank]

William Oakland – Assistant Professor

Age: 28
public finance, money, economic theory
Research projects: [blank]

John Owen – Assistant Professor

Age: 35
labor, economic theory, education
Research Projects: [blank]

William Poole – Assistant Professor

Age: 30
money, macroeconomics, international trade
Research projects: [blank]

H. Louis Stettler, III – Assistant Professor

Age: 29
economic history, economic theory, statistics
Research projects: [blank]

C. As was stated above, the Department should grow from its present size of 12 faculty members to 18 during the next decade. We feel that the current division by rank — about half the faculty are professors — is about right. The following table shows a feasible growth pattern to meet the projected goal:

1967-68

 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77

1977-78

Prof.

 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9
Assoc. Prof. 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

2

Asst. Prof.

 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7
Total 11 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17

18

Our priorities among specialties were indicated in Section II. Beyond that, it is not possible to indicate which appointments should be made in which years and at which levels. Much depends on the availability of particular faculty in whom we are interested and on combinations of zfields in which prospective faculty are interested.

D. The Department is not persuaded that there is an important place for postdoctoral studies in economics during the next decade. Promising graduate students now obtain well-paid posts at universities with graduate programs and with relatively light teaching loads. Our impression is that it would be difficult to entice them to post-doctoral fellowships, and that there is little merit in doing so. Nor are we persuaded that there is a substantial group of young economists at small colleges who could produce significant books and papers if given a year off from heavy teaching duties. The only promising possibility seems to be to find a small number of young foreign scholars who have the Ph.D. or its equivalent, and who could spend a year here with mutual benefit to themselves and to us. The Department is not prepared to urge such a program at this time.

E. The accompanying table shows a projected ton-year budget for the Department of Political Economy. The personnel item includes base salaries and fringe benefits of faculty, secretaries and junior instructors. It assumes that faculty salaries will rise by 7% per year over the next decade. It also takes account of the faculty expansion projected in Section E.
The fellowship budget includes graduate fellowships, tuition and stipends, from whatever source. At present, some is University money, some is U.S. Government money funneled through the University (NDEA, NSF), some is fellowship money obtained by students with Department recommendations, and some is money obtained by students (mostly foreigners) entirely on their own (from foreign sources, U.S. State Department, foundations). This budget assumes that fellowships per student will rise by about 5% per year during the next decade. The table also assumes that the number of entering students will rise from 18 to 25, and the total graduate student body from 45 to 75, over the next decade.
The third line projects a growth of the Department’s incidental and telephone accounts by about 5% per year over the decade.
Excluded from the table are research funds for supplemental faculty salary, research assistants, or computing. No attempt has been made to project funds available from sponsored research or from University sources such as the faculty research grants fund.

1967-68

 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72

1972-73

Personnel

 233,640 250,000 306,400 340,700 356,500 395,500
Fellowships 159,500 186,000 207,100 229,700 254,100

280,400

Telephones, Supplies

 4,000 4,200 4,400 4,600 4,900 5,100
397,140 440,200 517,900 575,000 615,500

681,000

1973-74

 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78
Personnel 453,200 484,900 535,800 573,800

653,400

Fellowships

 308,600 339,000 371,600 401,200 432,800
Telephones, Supplies 5,400 5,600 5,900 6,200

6,500

767,200

 829,500 913,300 981,200

1,092,700

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy [Records], Box 5, Folder “Planning Documents: 1938, 1965, 1967”.

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Exam Questions Finance Johns Hopkins Statistics Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Exam questions for mathematics of finance and applied statistics. Evans, 1937-1938

 

For an earlier post Economics in the Rear-view Mirror transcribed the examination questions for George Heberton Evans’ course on corporation finance offered to Johns Hopkins undergraduates in 1937-1938. That course and the following course on the mathematics of finance and applied statistics were not listed as prerequisites for each other. The essential difference appears to be that the following course appears to have covered themes of interest to actuaries (no pun intended). 

For some background information about Evans, see: Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, 1925. 

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Course Description
Mathematics of Finance and Applied Statistics
1937-1938

24 B. Mathematics of Finance and Applied Statistics. Associate Professor Evans. Three hours weekly through the year. F., S., 11.30. Gilman Hall 314.

The first half-year of the course will include the study of annuities, sinking funds, amortization tables, and valuation of bonds.

During the second half-year mathematics and statistical method will be applied to business and economic problems.

Prerequisites: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C and Political Economy 2 C.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular (1937).

__________________________

Semester Examinations for
Mathematics of Finance and Applied Statistics
1937-1938

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 24 B

Dr. Evans

February 4, 1938
1 p.m.

  1. A bond will be redeemed in 10 years for $1,000 cash. Semi-annually the owner of the bond receives $30 interest. Determine the present value of the bond if the current rate on similar investments is 5%.
  2. Find the bank discount on a $10,000 note for 6 months when the bank rate is 7%. What is the effective rate of interest charged!
  3. The XYZ Corporation has outstanding a bond issue of $10,000. It has agreed to pay to a trustee an amount at the end of each year, which invested at 4% will provide a fund to retire these bonds at the end of 10 years. Determine the amount that must be invested each year.
  4. Williams owes $7,500 due in 8 years, and $4,500 due in 5 years, each bearing 4% interest. What two equal payments will liquidate this debt, if the first is made in 1 year, and the second in 3 years? The current rate is 5%.
  5. Repairs costing $350 must be made each 2 years to a building which will last 20 years. Determine the amount that could be spent to eliminate these repairs without additional cost to the owner over the period. Interest at 4%.
  6. An estate left 110 years ago was unclaimed until recently. An heir has proved his claim and is to receive the estate of $50,000 with interest at 3% annually for 110 years. Determine the value of the estate.
  7. X has an obligation of $25,000 which he desires to liquidate by investing $3,500 now and the same sum annually thereafter, at 4½% compounded semi-annually. Determine when the fund should theoretically be large enough to liquidate the debt.
  8. Find the ordinary interest of $450 for 60 days at 8%.
  9. An insurance company agrees to pay you or your estate $2,000 a year for 15 years if you will pay them $23,875.87 cash. The salesman argues that you will get your money back and make a profit of $6,124.13. Determine the rate of interest that you will actually receive.
  10. In order to attract customers the Pacific Savings Bank advertises that it pays 3% compounded monthly. If you deposit $25 a month for 6 years what is the amount you will have accumulated at the end of 6 years?
  11. In how many years will money invested at compound interest double itself at 3%?
  12. In 10 years the bond issue of the Chemico Company will mature. An amount of $30,000 will be needed to retire this issue. The treasurer estimates that $2,300 a year will be available for investment. What rate of interest must be earned to accumulate a fund of $30,000 in 10 years? In answering, make use of the binomial theorem.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 24 B

June 4, 1938

  1. A bequest of $150,000 was left to A, aged 36. With what life annuity will this provide him?
  2. A, aged 40, gave $75,000 to Blank University with the understanding that after 15 years he receive an equivalent life annuity. What annual amount would he receive?
  3. A party of five men at a soda fountain match coins, agreeing that the odd man is to pay for the drinks: (a) What is the probability that there will be one odd man at the first attempt? (b) What is the probability that there will be no odd man at the first attempt, but that there will be one on the second? (c) What is the probability that there be an odd man at least once in two attempts?
  4. What is the earliest age at which the “odds are against” a man living:
    (a) one year?
    (b) five years?
  5. Using the theoretical method, calculate the purchase price of the following $1000 bond which was bought on May 4, 1928 to yield 4.40%: New England Tel. & Tel. 5’s, due Oct. 1, 1932, with coupon dates of Apr. 1 and Oct. 1.
  6. Dwight Minor paid, at the end of each month, dues of $23.25 on his 31 shares of $100 par value stock in the Garfield Loan and Savings Association. Immediately after his 99th payment the stock matured. What approximate rate, converted monthly, did his association allow him?
  7. B, aged 36, took out a 20-year endowment insurance policy for $50,000 to be paid for in 20 payments. On what net annual premium did the insurance company base its charge?

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Curricular Materials. Series 6. Box 2. Folder “Department of Political Economy — Exams, 1936-1940”.

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Graphic and Pictorial Collection. George Heberton Evans at approximately 40 years old. The portrait was colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

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Exam Questions Finance Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Final examinations for Corporation Finance and Investments. Evans, 1937-1938

 

Associate Professor George Heberton Evans, Jr. taught the undergraduate course in corporation finance and investments at Johns Hopkins in the 1937-1938 academic year. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has already posted some background information about him: Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, 1925. 

__________________________

 Course Description

6 B. Corporation Finance and Investments. Associate Professor Evans. Three hours weekly, through the year. Th., F., S., 10.30. Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course the theory and practice of corporation finance will be considered with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States. The more important topics taken up include: advantages and disadvantages of corporate organization; classification and examination of the characteristics of stocks and bonds; the choice of different types of securities to be issued; methods by which these securities are floated; the methods and forms of syndicate underwriting; policy with reference to dividends and surplus; refunding of debt and provisions for amortization; receivership and reorganization.

The second part of the course will be devoted to the study of investments. The more important topics covered include: an analysis of the essentials of a good investment; an historical study of the rate of interest and of periodic fluctuations in the rate; definition of the essential legal characteristics of the various debt instruments and especially of the mortgage; historical and analytical description of the more important forms of investment, such as Government, State and municipal bonds, securities of private corporations, and real estate mortgages; theories of valuation and amortization.

Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C, 2 C and 11 B.

__________________________

Course Examinations

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6 B

Dr. Evans

February 4, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. Discuss the risks peculiar to the ownership of holding company securities.
  2. Discuss the trust as a method for effecting combination.
  3. What is the law of balanced return and how is it employed in corporation finance?
  4. What factors determine how much of a corporation’s earnings should be distributed to the stockholders?
  5. List the factors which are to be considered when drawing up a financial plan. Comment at some length upon two of the factors which you have listed.
  6. What is meant by trading on the equity? What principles may be set forth concerning trading on the equity?
  7. What is the chief advantage of the corporate form of enterprise?
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 6 B

Dr. Evans

May 31, 1938
1 p.m.

  1. What advantages arise out of timing bond investments? Answer in terms of the concepts employed in the course.
  2. When can an investor afford to overlook the possibility that a loan will not be paid at maturity? Discuss fully.
  3. What has been the relationship between the changes in the prices of goods and capital? How do you explain the relationship?
  4. When are the market forecasts of the probabilities with respect to the payment of principal and interest of bonds more likely to be consistent with the results?
  5. Discuss the investment trust or company as an investment mechanism.
  6. What seems to you to be the prospect with respect to the rate of interest? Give the bases for your opinion.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Curricular Materials. Series 6. Box 2. Folder “Department of Political Economy — Exams, 1936-1940”.

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Graphic and Pictorial Collection. George Heberton Evans at approximately 40 years old. The portrait was colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Midyear and Final Exams for Five Economics Courses, 1932-1933

While on the whole I find these examination questions uninspired, I do wonder how one would have answered the last of the mid-year examination in economic history “Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?”

_________________________

1C. Elements of Economics.

Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. [George H.] Evans [Jr.], Thurs., Fri., Sat., 8.30, Maryland Hall 110; Section 2: Associate Professor [Broadus] Mitchell, Mon., Tues., Wed., 8.30, Gilman Hall 313; Section 3: Associate Professor [William O.] Weyforth, Mon., Tues., Wed., 11.30, Gilman Hall 314.

Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.

Required of all students before graduation.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Evans
February 1, 1933

  1. Under what conditions do lower prices mean higher profits?
  2. How do overhead costs affect the nature of competition?
  3. A country innkeeper hires a man to cripple the automobiles of passers-by. Is this man a producer? Explain.
  4. If each of our states were a separate nation, would we have less specialization than we have today? Explain.
  5. “The marginal utility of a ton of coal to a householder is $7.20.”
    1. Explain just what is meant by this statement.
    2. Why is the marginal utility of coal different now from what it was during the war? Explain carefully.
  6. Trace the history of bimetallism in the United States. What classes would be benefited if bimetallism were adopted in the United States in the near future?
  7. “The price of each good is determined by the willingness of buyers to purchase the last unit of the supply that is sold.” Discuss.
  8. A manufacturer buys out all his competitors. Assuming demand to be unchanged, can he now sell the former aggregate output at an advanced price? Explain.
  9. From the following figures for three firms which constitute the only producers or possible producers in the field, construct the combined long run supply curve and also the combined average cost curve which would prevail in the long run
  Average Costs of Production for Each Firm
No. of Units X Y Z
1 5 7 9
2 4.5 6 7.5
3 4.67 6 7.33
4 5 6.25 7.5
5 5.4 6.6 7.8
6 5.83 7 8.17

If the price in the market remains at $8 for a long period of time, how many articles will be supplied; what quantity will be produced by each firm? Suppose the price dropped to $7 and remained there.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 6, 1933

  1. Give a definition of Political Economy.
  2. What are the relative importances today of Production, Exchange, Distribution, and Consumption of wealth?
  3. Is the enterpriser gaining or losing in importance as an economic agent?
  4. Define capital and discuss the capitalistic method of production and exchange of wealth.
  5. Explain the marginal utility concept of value.
  6. Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition.
  7. Discuss (a) monopoly price; (b) class price.
  8. What would be your definition of money?
  9. What is the argument of the inflationists at the present time?
  10. Give the organization and functions of the Federal Reserve System.
  11. Tell what you know of Technocracy, with your comment upon it.
  12. What are the main indictments which the present depression brings against the capitalist economic system?
  13. What are some reasons for believing that there is a decided drift toward collectivism in the United States now?

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Weyforth
February 2, 1933

  1. Describe the more important changes that came about in the economic life of England as a result of the industrial revolution.
  2. How under a system of free enterprise is the overproduction of any article remedied? How is underproduction remedied?
    “Free enterprise is a self-regulating device for producing maximum satisfaction with a minimum of sacrifice.” Explain and criticize this statement.
  3. What is meant when it is said that modern industry is a capitalistic organization?
    A municipality which owned a street railway might find it desirable to give service at less than cost. Why? Could a capitalistically controlled company do this? Explain.
  4. “The use of machinery is limited by the extent of the market.” Why? In what sense is it equally true that the extending of markets has depended upon the development of the machine technique?
  5. Explain the nature of a corporation. How does it come into existence? Who owns it? How is it controlled and managed? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages?
  6. What functions do trade unions perform in our present economic system? Why did they not exist during the middle ages? What is meant by the “closed shop”? What justification is there for unions employing this device?
  7. In what way do commercial banks provide a medium of exchange? Why may it be said that banks create deposits? The national banking laws require that national banks maintain a certain reserve against deposits How does this limit the ability of banks to make loans?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Mitchell
June 5, 1933

  1. Explain and discuss the underlying economic theory and the proposals of the Single tax. Tell something of the life of Henry George.
  2. State and discuss three theories of wages.
  3. Distinguish between “pure profits” and “wages of superintendence”. In what ways do pure profits arise?
  4. Explain the time discount theory of interest.
  5. “The business cycle is inherent in the capitalist economic system.” Discuss this statement.
  6. What are the main arguments for and against fiat money inflation?
  7. Explain the difficulties in combining economic planning with the price-and-profit system.
  8. What developments in American economic life appear to recommend socialism today?
  9. Enumerate and discuss the conditions under which trade and labor unions may raise the wages of their members without being injured by the boomerang of unemployment due to decreased demand for their products.
  10. Identify: Nassau Senior, John Stuart Mill, Charles Kingsley, Robert Owen, Friedrich Engels, Richard Arkwright, Charles Fourier, Samuel Gompers, David Ricardo, Mathew Carey.
  11. Discuss economic nationalism as applicable to the present day.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 1C
Final Examination
Dr. Evans
May 31, 1933

  1. What is meant by monetary inflation in the United States?
    How is it to be effected; what are its advantages and disadvantages?
  2. To raise revenue to pay the interest on a three billion dollar loan for the purpose of carrying out a public works program, it has been proposed that the federal government increase the income and gasoline taxes. A general manufacturer’s sales tax has apparently been rejected. Criticize the plan.
  3. The wages of federal employes were recently cut by approximately the same per cent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics index of the cost of living has fallen. What theory of wage determination was involved in this action? What theory of wages seems to you to explain wages most completely?
  4. What is meant by the incidents of ownership? Discuss them in connection with the various legal forms under which business units operate.
  5. If the prices of commodities rise in the near future, what will probably happen to rates of interest? Why? What is your prediction concerning the future of pure interest?
  6. Criticize some of the arguments for the tariff.
  7. Do the credit structure and the type of organization under which business units operate have anything to do with determining the recipient of profits?
  8. Is it necessary to give special assistance to the agriculturists in order to pull this country out of the depression? What characteristics of agriculture make it so difficult to do much for the farmers? What program should the government follow in its efforts?

_________________________

2C. Statistics. Dr. Evans.

Three hours weekly through the year. Th., Fri., Sat., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first half-year attention is directed to the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, and study is made of the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the application of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.

Prerequisite: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Mid-year Examination
February 3, 1933

  1. The average deposit per individual depositor in savings banks in the United States was $437.89 in 1913. By 1926 this figure had risen to $633.10 per depositor, indicating that savings bank depositors were noticeably more thrifty than at the earlier date. Is the conclusion a sound one?
  2. Upon the following data construct price indices of the simple geometric type for 1901 and 1902, using 1900 as the base.
Commodity 1900
Price		 1901
Price		 1902
Price
A 1 2 3
B 3 3 3
C 1 1.5 2

In which year is the dispersion of the price relatives the larger? What is the significance of your observations upon the dispersions.

  1. A Japanese speaker argued recently that the apparently high birth rate of the Japanese in California was due to the fact that an unusually large proportion of the Japanese population was between the ages of 15 and 45, and that later this high birth rate would be reduced as the age distribution of the population became more normal. Discuss the validity of this argument.
  2. How would you verify the law of statistical regularity and the principle of inertia of large numbers?
  3. Without constructing what is technically called a ratio chart, plot the following figures so as to give the same effect as that produced by the ratio chart.
1900 2.4
1903 5.8
1904 7.3

How could your chart be converted into a ratio chart?

  1. Draw up in the rough a table with title, captions, stubs, etc., to provide for a complete cross-classification of the population of a city according to color, sex, marital status and age. (Note: emphasize the characteristics in the order named.)

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 2C
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. Discuss the limitations upon the use of statistical method.
  2. Describe how and when the estimation of the value of one variable can be made from a known value of another variable by the use of the scatter diagram.
  3. How can the period of lag of one series in relation to another be determined.
  4. What is meant by “normal” business conditions and how may mathematical measurements of normal be made?
  5. In obtaining a seasonal index, can cyclical and erratic influences be largely eliminated? How? Describe two methods of eliminating the effects of seasonal variation from time-series data.
  6. Explain “mathematical methods of trend fitting are not fool-proof”. What are the various methods of determining a line of trend?
  7. What kinds of situations make necessary the use of index numbers? Give the methods of constructing index numbers.

_________________________

3B. Money and Banking.
Associate Professor Weyforth.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 9.30, Gilman Hall 311.

In this course an analysis of the functions of money, credit and banking in our modern economic life will be made. There will be a description of various types of monetary systems, of the forms of credit and of banking and financial institutions. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between money, bank credit and prices; to the effects of price fluctuations upon individuals and upon general business conditions; to the problems of stabilizing prices and controlling business fluctuations by means of a deliberately directed monetary and credit policy. The Federal Reserve System will be studied with special emphasis upon its problem of credit control. Some time will also be devoted to the relationship between the money market and the stock market, to the problem of brokers’ loans, and to the financial operations involved in our international trade.

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Mid-year Examination
January 31, 1933

  1. Describe the functions performed by money and explain its importance in our present economic system.
  2. What is meant by “standard” money? Describe as many types of standard money as you can. Explain the difference between standard money and legal tender money. Illustrate the latter by examples from the United States currency.
  3. What factors were responsible for the rapid depreciation of German currency after the war? Why did prices rise more rapidly than the volume of currency? Can this be reconciled with the quantity theory of money? Explain.
  4. Explain the difference between fixed and circulating capital. What problems does this distinction create in regard to the financing of business enterprises? Explain fully.
  5. What is meant by the value of money? How do we measure changes in it? Explain the economic consequences of changes in the value of money.
  6. Distinguish between the functions of an investment banker and of a commercial bank. Explain how the commercial banks create deposits and show the limitations upon their powers in this respect.
  7. Describe the history of the monetary standard in the United States.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 3B
Final Examination
May 30, 1933

  1. Describe the more important types of loans and investments made by commercial banks. Describe the changes in the nature of their business since the war and the reasons for these changes.
  2. Explain the defects in our banking system prior to the establishment of the Federal reserve system and give a brief description of the steps toward reform.
  3. Explain the circumstances under which shipments of gold occur between two countries both of which are on a gold standard.
  4. Is there any limit to the extent to which the market rate of exchange may fluctuate between two countries when one or both of them does not provide for redemption of its currency in gold? Explain the operation of the factors involved.
  5. What is the importance of an elastic currency? What provision was made in the Federal Reserve Act for such a currency? What are the provisions of the laws passed during the present depression enlarging the note issues of national banks and Federal reserve banks?
  6. Explain the various methods which Federal reserve banks may employ to control credit and show how they operate.
  7. Explain and criticize the various principles that may be employed by Federal reserve banks as guides to their credit policy.
  8. What do you think of inflation as a means of promoting recovery from the depression?

_________________________

4B. Labor Problems. Professor [George E.] Barnett.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 10.30, Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course the problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied, e.g., child labor, industrial accidents, unemployment. It includes a critical discussion of the ameliorative measures which have been adopted in the leading industrial countries. Special attention will be given to an analysis of the principles underlying the schemes of social insurance against sickness, old age, and unemployment, so generally put into effect in recent years in European countries. In the second part of the course the history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are considered. Particular attention will be given to the working of representative systems of collective bargaining and an analysis of the conditions under which these systems have attained their greatest strength. An appraisal of rival forms of wage fixation, such as individual bargaining governmental intervention and shop committees will conclude the course.

Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C and 12 B.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Mid-year Examination
January 30, 1933

  1. On what principles, should an economic man divide his income between expenditure and saving?
  2. On what principles, should he divide his expenditure among different objects of expenditure?
  3. How and why should he divide his savings between investment and insurance?
  4. Describe briefly the various causes of unemployment.
  5. Discuss the effects of shortening the hours of labor.
  6. Why are the risks of unemployment, old age, etc. a part of the labor problem?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 4B
Final Examination
May 29, 1933

  1. Define “trade union” and distinguish trade unions from such associations as medical societies, bar associations.
  2. Describe the relations among the various units (local union, national unions, etc.) making up the structure of American trade unionism.
  3. Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions against employers.
  4. Discuss “picketing”.
  5. What is the object of trade unions to the injunction?
  6. What is “scientific management” and how has it influenced the employer in his attitude toward labor?
  7. Outline the chief lines of approach to the governmental adjustment of industrial disputes.
  8. Is the labor market a good market?

_________________________

12B. Economic History. Associate Professor Mitchell.

Three hours weekly through the year. Mon., Tues., Wed., 1 p.m., Gilman Hall 314.

In the first part of this course a study is made of English economic history, the purpose being to show not only the industrial development of the English people as such but the way in which the economic motive has influenced the whole of social life. Particular attention is given to the characteristic forms of economic organization—the manorial system, the guild system, the entrance of capitalism and the causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Special reference is made to those features of English economic history which have influence industrial life in the United States. The second part of the course is a survey of the economic history of our own country. Here the same effort is made, as in the case of England, to show the bearing of economic considerations on political evolution, especially in the direction of the growing importance of the Federal Government.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Mid-year Examination
Dr. Mitchell
February 3, 1933

  1. What is meant by the economic interpretation of history?
  2. Describe the manor and the main steps in its disappearance.
  3. Contrast Wat Tyler and George Washington.
  4. How did the medieval city under the craft gilds differ from Baltimore today, economically, socially, and politically?
  5. What was Mercantilism? Are there tendencies toward a return to Mercantilism now? If so, is this movement wise or unwise, and why?
  6. What developments preceded the Industrial Revolution?
  7. Describe the Industrial Revolution.
  8. Make an argument that mankind would be better off had the inventors of the eighteenth century never lived.
  9. Why is it that England had a socialist prime minister while the United States has an individualist president?

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Economy 12B
Final Examination
June 2, 1933

  1. State and discuss what you consider to have been the main tendencies in American economic life.
  2. Give an outline history of the tariff until the time of the Civil War.
  3. Sketch the history of banking in the United States from 1791 to 1863.
  4. “The essential cause of the Civil War was the difference in economic pursuits of North and South.” Explain this statement.
  5. Describe the causes of the panics of 1837 and 1873.
  6. In what respects have Hamilton’s policies been borne out by American economic and political development?
  7. What considerations have turned the American people from approval of Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of “trust busting” to Franklin Roosevelt’s policy of relaxing the anti-trust acts?
  8. Give the main developments in “internal improvements” to the present time.
  9. State briefly what you think you will recall from this course twenty-five years from now.

Sources:

Course announcements from The College of Arts and Sciences, 1932-33 (February, 1932). The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1932, No. 2, Whole Number 434, pp. 38-39.
Course examinations from Johns Hopkins University, Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy. Series 6, Curricular materials. Box 2, Folder “Exams 1930-1935.”

Image Source:  Photo of Gilman Hall from the 1924 Johns Hopkins yearbook, Hullabaloo.

 

 

 

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Activities of department of political economy, 1935-1936

 

Annual reports by university presidents often include chapters submitted by individual faculties, schools, and/or departments about their instructional, research, and outreach activities. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is as good a place as any to serve as a digital depository of such dispersed material that can document time-lines for individual economics departments and economists. It would be boring for both the curator and subscribers to be subject to a long continuous stream of such material from any one department, so from time to time, I’ll just add additional years and gradually complete the time-series of reports.

_____________________

1935-1936
POLITICAL ECONOMY
[at Johns Hopkins University]

The instruction in Political Economy was directed by Professor Hollander, who met students daily in seminary organization for formal study and for cooperative research. The courses were designed to afford systematic instruction in general economic principles, intimate acquaintance with special fields of economic activity, and, most important of all, knowledge of and ability to employ sound methods of economic research. Dr. George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics; Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. George H. Evans, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Economy; Dr. Howard E. Cooper, Associate in Political Economy; and Dr. Roy J. Bullock, Associate in Political Economy, assisted in the conduct of the work.

ECONOMIC SEMINARY

The papers and reports presented to the Seminary were as follows: Gregory King, the Political Arithmetician, by Professor Barnett; The History of British Preference Shares, by Dr. Evans; The Baltimore Wholesale, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market, by Mr. Deupree; Tench Coxe and the Federal Constitution, by Mr. Hutcheson; Hamilton’s Early Financial Papers, by Dr. Mitchell; Constitutional Restrictions on Economic Liberty, by Dr. Kahn; The Historical Development of the Massachusetts Municipal List, by Mr. Hickman; Food Marketing and Public Policy, by Dr. Bullock; The Baltimore Clearing House Association, by Mr. Hales; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Maryland, by Miss Wolman; The Trade Acceptance in America, by Mr. Wilcox; The Banking Principle and the Currency Principle, by Dr. Weyforth; The Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, by Mr. Douglas; The Literary and Economic Influences upon Alexander Hamilton, by Mr. Rappeport; Tench Coxe’s Plea for a National Economy, by Mr. Hutcheson; Real Property Tax Delinquency in Baltimore, by Miss Wolman; Administrative Control of Labor Relations, by Mr. Ziskind; The Fiduciary Nature of the Savings Bank, by Mr. Hickman; The Street Railway Industry, by Mr. Saks; The History of Marsh Market, by Mr. Deupree; The Origin of the Baltimore Clearing House, by Mr. Hales; Industrial Corporate Surplus, by Dr. Cooper; The Concept of Self Interest in Adam Smith and Related Writers, by Mr. Lovenstein; The Growth of Municipal Indebtedness in the United States, by Mr. Shattuck; Investment Affiliates in Recent American Banking, by Mr. Peach; Small Scale Enterprise in the Anthracite Coal Fields, by Mr. Lanyon.

Appreciable progress has been made by members of the Seminary in the study of special aspects of the several questions chosen for investigation. The income of the Lessing Rosenthal Fund for Economic Research has been of aid in connection with Mr. W. Braddock Hickman’s study of “The Legal Control of Savings Bank Investments in Massachusetts” and with Mr. Harold Hutcheson’s study of “Tench Coxe.” The Fund was also drawn upon for temporary advances toward defraying the cost of publication by the Johns Hopkins Press of Dr. Evans’ “British Corporation Finance,” of Dr. Wyckoff’s “Tobacco Regulation in Colonial Maryland,” and also a second impression of five numbers of the Economic Tracts, out of print.

The Hutzler Collection has continued to add to its works disclosing the development of American economic thought and American economic history. During the present session we have also acquired an admirable copy of the rare first edition of Graunt’s “Bills of Mortality,” and photostat copies of important writings of Gregory King and Charles Davenant for use in the forthcoming series of Economic Tracts. The recataloguing and the rearrangement of the collection, in progress for the past two years, will be completed in the coming months.

Professor Hollander lectured one hour a week on the Development of Economic Theory and one hour a week on Theory and Practice of Public Expenditure.

Professor Barnett lectured one hour a week throughout the year on American Trade Unionism.

Associate Professor Weyforth lectured one hour a week throughout the year on Industrial Fluctuations.

Associate Professor Mitchell lectured one hour a week throughout the year on The Slave South.

Associate Professor Evans lectured one hour a week during the first half-year on Index Numbers.

Dr. Cooper gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on The Interpretation of Financial Statements.

Dr. Bullock gave a series of lectures in the second half-year on Marketing of Consumers’ Goods by Manufacturers.

Members of the staff were called upon for public service in various capacities. Professor Barnett continued his service as a representative of the American Economic Association on the Advisory Committee of the Census. He was also appointed chairman of the Nominating Committee of the American Economic Association and Vice-President of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Weyforth was reappointed to the Maryland State Board of Examiners of Public Accountants. Dr. Mitchell served as consultant to the Director, Division of Review of the N. R. A. from November 1935 to March 1936. He was elected for the second time to membership on the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association.

The following undergraduate courses were given:

1. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth, Associate Professor Mitchell, and Associate Professor Evans.

2. Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Evans.

3. Money and Banking. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Weyforth.

6. Corporation Finance and Investments. Three hours weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

11. Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

12. Economic History. Three hours weekly, through the year. Associate Professor Mitchell.

14. Advanced Principles of Accounting. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Cooper.

16. The Money Market. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Hollander.

18. Wages and Employment. One hour weekly, through the year. Professor Barnett.

20. Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

21. Advanced Marketing. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Bullock.

22. Commercial Law. Two hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Howell.

23. Mathematics of Finance and Statistics. Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. Richeson.

 

EVENING COURSES IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

During the past twenty years The Johns Hopkins University has offered a series of Evening Courses in Business Economics under the general direction of the Department of Political Economy. Such instruction is made available at hours and under conditions designed to meet the convenience of those likely to make use thereof. While designed in the main to offer instruction to young men and women actually engaged in or contemplating entrance into business, industry and commerce, the courses are planned to meet the needs also of those who have a more general interest in the subjects. The following courses were offered during the year:

Current Economic Problems, Professor Hollander; Investments, Professor Barnett; Money and Banking, Associate Professor Weyforth; Political Economy, American Economic History, Associate Professor Mitchell; Business Statistics, Corporation Finance, Associate Professor Evans; Corporation Accounting, Dr. Cooper; Elements of Business Administration, Marketing, Dr. Bullock; Elementary Accounting, Dr. Bryan; Mercantile Credit, Mr. Clautice; Auditing Principles and Practice, Federal and State Tax Accounting, Mr. Baker; Advanced Commercial Law, Dr. Watkins; Salesmanship and Salesmanagement, Mr. Ramsen; Advanced Auditing and Accountant’s Working Papers, Mr. Stegman; Applications of Psychology to Business, Dr. Bentley; Advanced Accounting Problems, Mr. McCord; Principles of Advertising, Mr. Corner; Commercial Law, Mr. Thomsen; Specialized Accounting, Cost Accounting, Mr. Smith; Business English, Public Speaking, Dr. Lyons.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

The academic year 1935-36 marked the fourteenth year of operation of the School of Business Economics. The School was established to take care of the increasing need of specialized academic training for men contemplating a business career. In planning the curriculum of the School of Business Economics there was kept in mind the need for an adequate training in certain fundamental subjects, as well as for specialized instruction in economics and business subjects. Accordingly, during the first two years the studies are rather closely prescribed and are selected so as to furnish an essential background for a career in any field of business. In these years the curriculum is very similar to that which would be taken in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the third year greater latitude is allowed the student in the selection of subjects, and in the fourth year nearly all the subjects are elective. During these last two years it is intended that there should be intensive specialization in studies in business economics.

Students in the School of Business Economics are called upon, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics, to submit in the last year of residence an essay dealing with some business or economic subject. A wide range of choice is permitted to students in the selection of subjects. A suggested list of topics is submitted to them, but they are not restricted to such topics. It is believed that one of the principal benefits that a student may derive from the writing of such an essay is the experience obtained in the independent gathering and organization of material; and the industry and zeal of the student is likely to be enhanced if the subject on which he is working is one of special interest to him. The subjects on which essays were written in the year 1935-36 included the following: Interest as a Cost to Manufacture; The Chain Store Movement in Men’s Wear Merchandising; Control and Planning of Department Store Merchandising; Accounting Presentation for the Executive; Production Indexes; Should Public Utility Holding Companies be Eliminated?; Advertising Agencies in the United States; Investment Value of Low, Medium, and High Priced Common Stocks; Public Policy Toward Chain Stores; The Federal Securities Act of 1933 and Its Amendments; Revaluation of Fixed Assets; The American Paper Industry; The Baltimore Consumer Market. Several students wrote on the Analysis of Financial Statements, each one selecting a different corporation as the basis of his study.

In 1936, 17 students were graduated. These students were awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics.

PUBLICATIONS

George E. Barnett.

Review of History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932, volumes III and IV, in American Economic Review, June 1936, pp. 339-342.

George Heberton Evans, Jr.

British Corporation Finance 1775-1850; A Study of Preference Shares. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press), pp. 208.

Jacob H. Hollander.

Two Letters on the Measure of Value by John Stuart Mill, 1822 (Editor). Fourth number of fourth series of Reprint of Economic Tracts. (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1936), pp. 24.

Broadus Mitchell.

American Radicals Nobody Knows, in South Atlantic Quarterly, October 1935, pp. 394-401.

Economists and the Depression, in Social Frontier, April 1936, pp. 215-217.

Articles in Dictionary of American Biography, as follows: vol. XV—Enoch Pratt, pp. 171-172; John Rae, pp. 321-322; vol. XVI—Edward Van Dyke Robinson, pp. 42-43; Jacob Schoenhof, pp. 450-451; XVII—Stephen Simpson, pp. 183-184; Lysander Spooner, pp. 466-467; XVIII—Philip Evan Thomas, pp. 442-443; Robert Ellis Thompson, pp. 469-470; Daniel Augustus Tompkins, pp. 581-583.

—and reviews as follows:

Parmelee, Farewell to Poverty, in Social Frontier, January 1936, p. 122.

Lawrence, Stumbling into Socialism, in The Annals, January 1936, pp. 281-282.

Ely and Bohn, The Great Change, in The Annals, November 1935, pp. 191-192.

Douglas, Controlling Depressions, and Fledderus and van Kleeck, On Economic Planning, in New Republic, August 28, 1935, p. 81.

Harvey, Samuel Gompers, in Journal of Political Economy, February 1936, pp. 106-107.

Baker, Concerning Government Benefits, in The Survey, June 1936, p. 188.

Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, in Virginia Quarterly Review, July 1936, pp. 453-457.

William O. Weyforth.

Review of A New Monetary System of the United States (Related Studies), in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, November 1935, pp. 308-309.

Jacob H. Hollander,
Abram G. Hutzler Professor of Political Economy.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. University Circular. Annual Report of the President, 1935-1936, Vol. 481, (November 1936), pp. 99-103.

Categories
Economists Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Career of economics Ph.D. alumnus (plus doctoral exams), George H. Evans, 1925

 

This post began as a straightforward transcription of the final Ph.D. examinations of George Heberton Evans, Jr. who was to stay on at Johns Hopkins, becoming professor of political economy, then long serving chairman of the department (1942-1960), and finally serving as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy (1959-1966).  But as I was typing the questions below, I had the feeling that I had seen these questions before and began to fear that maybe I was senselessly duplicating a previous post at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. 

It turns out that the Johns Hopkins Department of Political Economy engaged in a fairly vigorous recycling of final Ph.D. examination questions over the years. I remember wondering what sense there was in having written final doctoral examinations in May for a degree to be awarded in June, literally weeks away. This practice of posing virtually identical examination questions would seem to indicate that the department did not regard the examinations as much more that an academic formality.

Cf. the very high correspondence of questions with those of the 1933 examinations. Incidentally the economic theory questions below are completely identical to those of the May 19, 1927 exam and in the applied economics questions below six of the questions are the same as the May 21, 1927 exam.

_______________________

Vital dates, George Heberton Evans, Jr.

Born January 20, 1900 and died October 12, 1979 in Baltimore, Maryland.

_______________________

Awarded the Ph.D. at the 1925 Commencement
of Johns Hopkins University

George Heberton Evans, Jr., of Maryland, A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1920. Political Economy, Political Science, Psychology

Dissertation Title: Apartment Rents in Baltimore, January 1917 Through October 1923.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Conferring of Degrees at the Close of the Forty-Ninth Academic Year (June 9, 1925), p. 8.

_______________________

AEA 1969 Biographical Listing

Evans, George Heberton, Jr., academic; b. Baltimore, Md., 1900; A.B., Johns Hopkins U., 1920, Ph.D., 1925. DOC DIS. Apartment Rents in Baltimore January 1917 through October 1923, 1925. FIELDS 1bc, 7a, 6b. PUB. Business Incorporations in the United States, 1800-1943, 1948; Principles of Investment, 1940; British Corporation Finance, 1775-1850: A Study of Preference Shares, 1936. RES. History of American Business Corporations, 1800-1950. Prof. political economy, Johns Hopkin U. since 1942, dean, Faculty of Philosophy, 1959-66. ADDRESS Political Economy Dept., Johns Hopkins U., Gilman Hall 411, Charles and 34th Sts., Baltimore, MD 21218.

Source: American Economic Review, Vol. 59, No. 6. 1969 Handbook of the American Economic Association (January, 1970), p. 127.

_______________________

G.H. EVANS, JR.
May 21, 1925

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY AS A PRINCIPAL SUBJECT
(Principles of Political Economy)

  1. What is the relation of Political Economy to economic history in scope and method of investigation?
  2. What important economic doctrines had been clearly formulated prior to the year 1600? [sic, in several other exams with nearly identical content “1800” so probably “1800” is correct]
  3. Discuss the personal contacts and doctrinal contrasts of Quesnay and Adam Smith.
  4. Contrast the theories of distribution formulated by (a) Adam Smith, (b) David Ricardo, (c) Alfred Marshall.
  5. What has been the development of the principle of population since the time of Malthus?
  6. Discuss the origin and development of the wage fund theory.
  7. What have been the most important contributions of the Austrian economists?
  8. What scientific theory of wages have your own studies of wage conditions tended to confirm?
  9. What assignable limit is there to the size of the modern industrial unit?
  10. What would be the theoretical effects of a horizontal increase of ten per cent in general wages upon the several classes of society?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

G.H. EVANS, JR.
May 22, 1925

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY AS A PRINCIPAL SUBJECT
(Applied Economics)

  1. What principles should govern the governmental commission in the fixture of railway rates?
  2. Outline the history of (a) metallic and (b) paper money in the United States since the adoption of the federal constitution.
  3. Discuss the history, the defects and the incidence of the General Property Tax.
  4. State and criticize the Quantity Theory of Money.
  5. On what grounds can the sale of protected manufactures in foreign markets at less than domestic prices be justified?
  6. Discuss modern industrial combinations in the light of an assignable limit to the growth in the size of the modern industrial unit.
  7. Trace the progress of the U.S. Tariff since the Civil War.
  8. State the theory of large numbers and explain the relation of the theory to the logic of chance.
  9. Compare the administrative organization of the Bank of France and the Reichsbank.
  10. What is the relation of labor legislation to economic organization? What are the natural limits of labor legislation?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Department of Political Economy. Series 6. Box 3/1, “Graduate Exams 1903-1932.”

Image Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Graphic and Pictorial Collection. George Heberton Evans at approximately 40 years old.

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary, presenters and topics. 1925-26

 

 

The graduate economic seminary at Johns Hopkins University kept good records of the weekly sessions so that we know the names of all the presenters and their topics. I have added the academic backgrounds from the published Johns Hopkins Circular for all the graduate students either attending or presenting.

The economic seminary schedule for the following years have also been posted:

1903-1904
1904-1905

1922-1923
1923-1924
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927

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POLITICAL ECONOMY

…The Economic Seminary

“The students following Political Economy as a principal subject for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy met weekly under the direction of Professors Hollander and Barnett. The work of the year centered in the investigation of representative forms of industrial development in the United States, and in the analysis of significant activities of American labor organizations…”

 

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1925-1926, (October 1926, Vol. 45, No. 375), pp. 106.

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MEMBERS OF THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY
1925-1926

Students and visitors

[G = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; SE = Social Economics; T = Teachers College. The small “s” following a capital letter indicates a special student. Roman numeral indicates year of residence.]

Fonaroff, Frank Israel. (Gs) I. S.B. Eng. Johns Hopkins University 1918; M.B.A. Harvard University 1924. Political Economy.

[Froehlich, Wolfgang. (G) I. Graduate, St. Elisabeth Real-Gymnasium, Breslau 1924. Political Economy.]

Fulton, Maria Kent.  (SE) (G) II. A.B. Hollins College 1924. Political Economy.

Hart, William Sebastian. (Gs) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Helbing, Albert Theodore.(G) II. Ph.B. Denison University 1923. Political Economy.

Hilberg, Mildred Edith.(SE) (G) II. A.B. Goucher College 1923. Political Economy.

Hoops, Walther Dietrich. (G) I. Ph.D. Heidelberg University 1923. Political Economy.

Howard, Charles Harold. (G) II. S.B. Gettysburg College 1923. Political Economy.

Mitchell, Elizabeth W. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Goucher College 1924. Political Economy.

Mitchell, George Sinclair. (G) III. A.B. University of Richmond 1922. Political Economy.

Newman, Andrew J. (G) II. A.B. Washington University 1910. A.M. University of Missouri 1911. Political Economy.

Northcutt, Elizabeth. (SE) (G) I. S.B. in Education, University of Missouri 1924. S.B. in Business and Public Administration 1925. Political Economy.

Powlison, Keith Eon. (G) II. A.B. Columbia College 1922. Political Economy.

Rea, Leonard Owens. (G) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Richardson, Ellen L. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Wellesley College 1919. Political Economy.

Richardson, Hayes Ayres. (Ts) (G) I. A. B. Randolph-Macon College 1922. Political Economy.

Robinson, Carolyn A. (G) I. A.B. Wellesley College 1924. Political Economy.

Schneider, David M. (G) II. E.E. University of Kieff [sic, Kyiv?] 1921. Political Economy.

Townsend, Clarissa L. (SE) (Gs) III. A.B. Goucher College 1923. Political Economy.

 

Faculty

Professor Jacob H. Hollander, Professor of Political Economy

Professor George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics

Dr. William O. Weyforth, Associate Professor of Political Economy

Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate in Political Economy

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics

Dr. George Heberton Evans, Jr., Instructor in Political Economy

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Seminar Presentations 1925-26

October 7, 1925

The session’s opening meeting of the Seminary was held in the Seminary Room, 315 Gilman Hall, at 2 o’clock. Accounts were given of summer experiences. The list of the members of the Seminary is given on another page [see above].

October 14, 1925

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The History of the Manuscript of Ricardo’s ‘Notes on Malthus’.”

October 21, 1925

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Introduction of Machinery and the Displacement of Skill”.

October 28, 1925

Dr. Weyforth read a paper on “The ‘Current Rate of Wages’ in Baltimore”.

November 4, 1925

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “Simon Newcomb and Simon N. Patten”.

November 11, 1925

Mr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Progress of the Unions in the Southern Textile Industry. (1900-1925).”

November 18, 1925

Mr. Powlinson read a paper on “Historical Sketch of the Hours of Labor Movement.”

November 25, 1925

Mr. Rea read a paper on “The Development of Uniform Municipal Accounting.”

December 2, 1925

Mr. Newman read a paper on “Definition of Income.”

December 9, 1925

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party in the Machinists’ Union”.

December 16, 1925

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “Structure and Function of the Building Trades Department of the A. F. of L.

Christmas Recess.

January 6, 1926

Mr. Howard read a paper on “Promotion and Tenure in the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.”

January 13, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “Introduction to Ricardo’s Notes on Malthus”.

January 20, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Introduction of Machinery and Trade Union Policy”.

January 27, 1926

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Economic Opinions of William Gregg and J. H. Hammond”.

February 3, 1926

Miss Townsend read a paper on “Sight-Saving Classes in Baltimore”.

February 10, 1926

Miss Jacobs read a paper on “The Attitude of Trade Unions toward Social Work.”.

February 17, 1926

Mr. Mitchell read a paper on “Trade Unions in the Southern Textile Field”.

February 24, 1926

Miss Richardson read a paper on “The Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children”.

March 3, 1926

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “Union Cooperative Management Plans”.

March 10, 1926

Dr. Hoops read a paper on “The German Iron Industry.

March 17, 1926

Mr. McDaniel read a paper on “The Leather Workers”.

March 24, 1926

Mr. Froehlich read a paper on “The Reconstruction of German Finances”.

March 31, 1926

Miss Mitchell read a paper on “The Intake of the Henry Watson Children’s Aid Society”.

April 14, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “Family Endowments”.

April 21, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “Differences between Ricardo and Malthus as to Rent”.

April 28, 1926

Miss Hilberg read a paper on “Public Welfare in Maryland”.

May 5, 1926

Miss Northcutt read a paper on “The Housing of Common Laborers in Baltimore”.

May 12, 1926

Mr. Richardson read a paper on “Treasury Certificates of Indebtedness”.

May 19, 1926

Mr. Newman read a paper on “The Distinction between Capital and Income as Revealed by the Income Tax”. This was the last meeting of the seminary for the session 1925-26.

 

 

Sources:   

Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 1. Minutes of the Economic Seminary, 1892-1951. Folder “1922-1940”.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register, 1925-26, (November 1925, Vol. 44, No. 365).

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1925-1926, (October 1926, Vol. 45, No. 375), pp. 106-107. Also lists names and topics for seminar speakers.

 

Image Source: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University from the Johns Hopkins’ yearbook Hullabaloo (1924) .