In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Social Insurance is one such “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Dr. Robert Franz Foerster, instructor in social ethics who had recently been awarded his Harvard economics Ph.D., and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
Economic Theory by Professor Frank Taussig
Taxation by Professor Charles J. Bullock
Trade Unionism by Professor William Z. Ripley
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From the Prefatory Note:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
Source: Prefatory Note by Francis G. Peabody. A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, p. vi.
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IV.13. SOCIAL INSURANCE
ROBERT F. FOERSTER
[Note: items in square brackets have been added
by the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror]
In this section are comprised works upon those measures, usually public but not always technically insurance, which aim to protect the working classes from the economic consequences of sickness, accident, invalidity and old age. Ways of meeting the problem of unemployment, though in part logically finding a place here, are for special reasons treated in a separate section. The importance, in this connection, of such titles described under Thrift Institutions as Henderson’s “Industrial insurance in the United States” and the report by the United States Commissioner of Labor on “Workmen’s insurance and benefit funds in the United States” is obvious.
I. GENERAL
A helpful compilation.
This, the most valuable work of reference on social insurance, is a collection of historical and descriptive monographs for all important countries, except Germany, published at intervals since 1898. Each volume discusses the results of laws, contains a special bibliography, and prints the texts of laws both in the original language and in German. As significant changes have occurred, supplementary volumes have been added.
[Erster Band (1900). Heft 1-12: Dänemark, Schweden, Norwegen, Frankreich, England, Italien, Oesterreich, Ungarn, Russland, Finland, Schweiz, Belgien.]
[Heft XVII. Charles Richmond Henderson, Die Arbeiterversicherung in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-Amerika (1907)]
A compilation second in importance only to Zacher, but different in procedure and omitting France. Like Zacher, it supplies historical and descriptive matter and texts, but instead of treating each country independently, it discusses, in one volume, sickness insurance; in six, accident insurance; in two, invalidity and old-age insurance; and in a supplementary volume, published four years after its predecessor, describes recent changes and additions.
[I. Assurance contre maladie (1892)]
[II. Assurance contre les accidents: 1ème parti (1895); 2ème partie (1896); 3ème partie (1900); 4ème partie (1901); 5ème partie (1903)]
[III. Assurance contre l’invalidité, 1ère partie (1905)]
The international congress has usually been held triennially, since 1889, and its proceedings, including many important papers, have been published in French and German.
[Paris (1889) Volume I; Volume II; Berne (1891); Milan (1894) Volume I, Volume II; Bruxelles (1897); Paris (1900), Volume I; Düsseldorf (1902); Vienne (1905), Volume I, Volume II; Rome (1908); Washington (1915)]
The quarterly Bulletin of the Congress, published by the Comité Permanent (Paris: Arthur Rousseau), is the best current source of information on all branches of social insurance. It includes texts of bills and laws, and able discussions.
This volume, dealing mainly with European plans, can still, despite the great extension of insurance since its appearance, reliably be used for an understanding of the earlier developments.
United States. Fourth Special Report of the Commissioner of Labor. Compulsory insurance in Germany. Prepared by John Graham Brooks. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893, pp. 370. [Revised Edition, 1895]
Although important amendments have been enacted and fresh experience gained since this volume was written, it is still one of the most useful accounts in English of the origin, nature and problems of social insurance in Germany.
Probably the best non-technical exposition of the nature, operation and effects of the German insurance plan. Though the work is semi-official, and its tone laudatory and defensive, the arguments are skillfully chosen, well put and persuasive.
Discusses the principles and effects of German insurance.
Argues that insurance has not made the workman better disposed to state or employer and has reduced his self-reliance.
Measures the employers’ burden.
An attractive statement, in simple terms, of the principles of social insurance, with special reference to American needs.
An argument for compulsory insurance; good in its exposition of the German plan, questionable in its economic logic.
A concise study, based on original sources. Only national and international unions are considered.
A history and description, with statistical results.
II. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND DISEASE
Discusses the frequency of accidents in the more dangerous occupations.
Probably the best available volume in its field. The sixty chapters deal more generally with disease than accidents. Of a more popular character is the author’s later volume on “Diseases of occupations” (London: Methuen & Co., 1908, pp. vi, 427).
Two good additions to the literature on industrial disease.
A compendious, classified statement of the enactments of twenty-two countries, convenient at once for a rapid view of the legislation of one country and for international comparison.
The legal and financial principles of various forms of accident insurance clearly explained.
“The object of this book is to present a complete view of the law of workmen’s compensation as contained in the Act of 1906, and in the decisions of the English and Scotch courts both prior and subsequent to that act” (preface, page 5). In this aim the book admirably succeeds; it is thorough, clear and, in its comparisons with the older acts, highly instructive.
A history of previous acts and an exposition, with the text, of the Act of 1906.
An excellent statement of the American law.
An important study, by the secretary of the New York State Employers’ Liability Commission, of the causes of industrial accident in the Pittsburgh district, the operation of present liability laws, and the best method of reform. There are interesting appendices.
An able preliminary discussion of present difficulties and of remedies.
These reports discuss conditions in Wisconsin, and foreign and American remedies, tried and proposed.
History of an ill-conceived and ephemeral, but not uninstructive, American plan of state insurance. The text of the law appeared in Bulletin No. 45, pp. 406-408; the grounds of its unconstitutionality are set forth in Bulletin No. 57, pp. 689, 690.
III. INVALIDITY AND OLD AGE
A comprehensive survey of existing systems, public and private, national and local. Issues are discussed with special reference to an American community; and a conclusion adverse to the institution of a state scheme for Massachusetts is reached.
A brief exposition of an interesting voluntary scheme.
A concise critical description of the various plans proposed in England before the act of 1908, and a thoughtful discussion of the factors of the pension problem. In an appendix are reviewed the chief foreign systems. The book serves incidentally as a guide to the important Parliamentary papers on the subject.
Many of the articles are of general significance and are written by eminent students.
Source: Teachers in Harvard University, A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, pp. 203-209.
Image Source: Assistant Professor of Social Ethics, Robert Franz Foerster in Harvard Album 1920.
