Tag: Haberler

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Final exam for Economic Trends and Fluctuations. Haberler, 1932.

Portr‰t des Haberler, Gottfried [1900-1995]

 

Gottfried Haberler taught two courses as a visiting lecturer at Harvard in 1931-32. His mid-year exam for Economics 15 Problems in Economic Theory was transcribed and posted earlier.

I have not (yet) found a syllabus for his one-semester business cycle course, but judging from the titles assigned for the reading period, he was clearly serving a Viennese melange of business cycle theories. 

___________________

Course Enrollment

Primarily for Graduates:—

III. Applied Economics

[Economics] 37 1hf. Dr. Haberler. — Economic Trends and Fluctuations.

Total 7: Graduates 7.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-1932, p. 72.

___________________

Reading Period
Jan 4-20, 1932

Economics 37.

Schumpeter, J.: The Explanation of the Business Cycle, in “Economica”, Vol. 7, 1927.

Hayek, F.A.: Prices and Production, London, 1931.

Robertson, D.H.: Banking Policy and the Price Level.

Suggestions for further reading:

Hayek, F.A.: Geldtheorie u. Konjunkturtheorie, Vienna, 1929. [1932 translation by N. Kaldor and H.M. Croome]

Mises, L.: Theorie des Geldes u. der Umlaufmittel, Pt. III, Ch. 5, “Geld, Umlaufmittel u. Zins”.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder: “Economics, 1931-32”.

___________________

1931-32
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 37

Students may use any books or notes they wish.

Answer FIVE of these six questions.

  1. The relation of the rate of interest and prices according to (a) Irving Fisher, (b) Knut Wicksell, and (c) R. G. Hawtrey. State whether these different views are compatible with each other in your opinion.
  2. What is the influence of a credit expansion on the structure of production?
  3. Criticize the “monetary” theory of the business cycle as developed by R. G. Hawtrey.
  4. A. Hayek and J. Schumpeter have the notion that the upward swing of the business cycle is characterized by an increase of the “roundaboutness” of production. What is the difference between their theories and why do they reach different conclusions as to the essence of depression?
  5. What is the difference between D. H. Robertson’s and F. A. Hayek’s theory of the business cycle?
  6. It is frequently said that an individual can use up his capital, but that this is impossible—excepting physical destruction by a war or an earthquake—for a closed economy because, if one person sells a piece of his capital equipment, it necessarily accrues to somebody else. What do you think of this?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 12, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-years, 1931-32.

Image Source: Link to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek record.

 

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Readings, exams for business cycles. Hansen and Haberler, 1942-44

Materials from the 1941-42 course in business cycles co-taught by Gottfried Haberler and Alvin Hansen have been posted earlier. This post adds material for the same courses offered in the next two years.

______________________

Enrollment, 1942-43

45a. [and 145a] (winter term) Professors Hansen and Haberler.—Business Cycles.

Total 45: 10 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 13 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, 1 Public Administration, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1942-43, pp. 47.

___________________

SPECIFIC READING ASSIGNMENTS IN ECONOMICS 45a
1943

  1. Types of Cycles and Statistical Materials(about 3 weeks)
    1. Haberler: Prosperity and Depression, Chapters 1, 9, 10,11
    2. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 1,2
    3. Schumpeter: Business Cycles, pp. 325-351
    4. Schumpeter: “Analysis of Economic Change,” Review of Economic Statistics, May, 1935
    5. Kondratieff: “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” Review of Economic Statistics, November 1935
    6. Federal Reserve Chart Book (Available at the Coop. 50¢)
  2. General Theoretical Analysis
    1. Hansen: Full Recovery or Stagnation?, Chapters 1-2
    2. Haberler: Prosperity and Depression, Chapters 2-4: 7-8; 13
    3. Hansen: Business Cycle Theory, Chapter 4
    4. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 11,12
    5. Wilson, T., Fluctuations in Income and Employment, (Pitman) 1942.
    6. Hansen: Full Recovery or Stagnation?, Chapters 16-20
  3. Reading Period (Choose A or B):
    1. 1. Mitchell: “Business Cycles,Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106.
      2. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chs. 3-5; 16-17; 23-24.
    2. Clark, J.M.: Strategic Factors in Business Cycles (entire book).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943 (2 of 2)”.

___________________

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Reading Period
April 26-May 8, 1943

Economics 45a: Choose A or B:

A.

(1) Mitchell, “Business Cycles, Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106.
(2) Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chs. 3-5; 16-17; 23-24.

B. Clark, J.M., Strategic Factors in Business Cycles(entire book).

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003, Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943 (1 of 2)”.

___________________

1942-43
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45a
[Final examination, May 1943]

I
(Answer any four questions in Part I)

  1. If the downward movement is cumulative why should it ever come to an end short of zero employment?
  2. Discuss cycles of different length and their possible interrelation and causation. Say something about the literature and state your own opinion.
  3. How is the business cycle as a whole, or particular phases of it, likely to be influenced by the widespread existence of monopolies? State your own opinion and give your reasons for it and, if you like, report about other people’s views.
  4. Is it circular reasoning to say that consumption depends on investment as explained by the multiplier and that investment depends on consumption as stated by the acceleration principle?
  5. “The kind of wave-like movement, which we call the business cycle, is incident to industrial change and would be impossible in an economic world in which there are no industrial innovations and discoveries.” Discuss.
  6. Why is it that the production of durable goods shows wider percentage fluctuations than that of perishable goods? Is this a cause or consequence of the cycle? Suppose by social security payments or otherwise, consumer spending were kept on an even keel (constant or steadily rising), could fluctuations in output and employment then arise?

II
(Answer either A or B)

  1. Discuss the relation of population growth to the business cycle.
  2. What are Clark’s findings about the amplitude of fluctuation in various series? Are these useful in explaining the business cycle?

Source:Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 7. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economic,…, Military Science, Naval Science. May, 1943.

______________________

Enrollment, 1943-44

45a. (winter term) Professor Hansen.—Business Cycles.

Total 34: 4 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen 3 Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe, 9 Navy V-12, 2 ROTC.

145a. (winter term) Professor Hansen.—Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting.

Total 8: 4 Graduates, 3 Public Administration, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1943-44, pp. 56, 58.

______________________

1943-44
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 45 and 145
[Final examination, February 1944]

  1. Discuss and compare the explanations of the cycle as developed by the following writers:
    1. Schumpeter
    2. Spiethoff
    3. Keynes
  2. Give a full discussion of the factors that bring about a termination of the boom—in short, an explanation of the upper turning point in the cycle. In this connection introduce the views of different cycle theorists, and consider the role of the acceleration principle.
  3. (Undergraduates should choose one of the following; graduates must write on )
    1. What are the strategic factors in business cycles according to Clark?
    2. With respect to Mitchell, discuss:
      1. “specific cycles” and “business cycles”
      2. The various phases of the business cycle.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Final Examinations, 1853-2001. Box 8. Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions,…, Economic,…, Military Science, Naval Science. February, 1944.

Image Source:  Alvin Hansen and Gottfried Haberler in the Harvard Class Album, 1942.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Readings and Final Exam for Business Cycles. Hansen and Haberler, 1942

 

Reading assignments and the final exam for the business cycles course taught at Harvard in 1938 by Alvin Hansen and Gottfried Haberler were posted earlier.

Also posted earlier are the Course outline and exam for 1949 and the course outline for 1950. that were taught by Alvin Hansen.

For 1955-56 we have the course outline and reading assignments again jointly taught by Hansen and Haberler.

_____________________

Course Enrollment

Economics 45a 2hf. Professors Hansen and Haberler. — Business Cycles.

Total 59: 2 Graduates, 14 Seniors, 30 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 1 School of Public Administration, 1 Other.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1941-42, p. 63.

_____________________

SPECIFIC READING ASSIGNMENTS
IN ECONOMICS 45a
1941-42

  1. First four weeks:
    1. Haberler: Prosperity and Depression, Chapters 1, 9, 10, 11
    2. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 1, 2
    3. Schumpeter: Business Cycles, pp. 325-351
    4. Schumpeter: “Analysis of Economic Change,” Review of Economic Statistics, May 1935
    5. Kondratieff: “The Long Waves in Economic Life,” Review of Economic Statistics, November 1935
    6. Mitchell: Business Cycles, Chapter 3
    7. Federal Reserve Chart Book (Available at the Coop. 60¢)
  2. Six weeks:
    1. Hansen: Full Recovery or Stagnation? Chapters 1-5
    2. Haberler: Prosperity and Depression, Chapters 2-8; 13
    3. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 11, 12
  3. Last two weeks:
    1. Hansen: Business Cycle Theory, Chapters 4 and 8
    2. Hansen: Full Recovery or Stagnation?, Chapters 16-20
  4. Reading Period (Choose A or B):
    1. 1. Mitchell: “Business Cycles,” Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 92-106
      2. Hansen: Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, Chapters 3-5: 16-17; 23-24
    2. Clark, J.M.: Strategic Factors in Business Cycles (entire book)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 3, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

_____________________

1941-42
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 45a
BUSINESS CYCLES
Final Examination

I

(Answer any THREE of the four questions in Part I.)

  1. Enumerate, describe and compare waves of different length suggested in the literature on business cycles. Discuss especially Schumpeter, Kondratieff, and Hansen with respect to the schema they suggest and the analysis they make of these different wave movements.
  2. Discuss the typical behavior of interest rates in the cycle and the role attributed to interest rates in the explanation of the cycle by different theorists.
  3. Compare the downturn in 1929 with that in 1937. How do they differ, and what are the differences in the explanations suggested thereby?
  4. Discuss briefly the essential features of (a) the multiplier principle and (b) the acceleration principle. Discuss their interaction and indicate the various types of movement which may result from their interaction.

II

(Answer EITHER A or B)

A.

(1) Discuss the technique used by Mitchell in the article in the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences for the analysis of business cycles.

(2) Compare the role of (a) monetary policy, and (b) fiscal policy in the United States in the recovery from 1933 to 1936.

B. Sketch the theoretical skeleton of J.M. Clark’s Strategic Factors in Business Cycles.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University Final Examinations, 1853-2001, Box 6, Papers Printed for Final Examinations [in] History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …,Military Science, Naval Science. June, 1942.

Image Source:  Alvin Hansen and Gottfried Haberler in the Harvard Class Album, 1942.

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Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading

Harvard. Mid-year exam for economic theory course. Haberler, 1931-32.

Portr‰t des Haberler, Gottfried [1900-1995]

 

 

In 1931-32 thirty-one year old Gottfried Haberler taught as a visiting lecturer at Harvard. Later he was to return to Harvard where he was appointed to a professorship in 1936. He was a member of the Harvard faculty until his move to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. in 1971.

This post provides three items from his 1931-32 course “Problems in Economic Theory”.

(1) Enrollment data. From the annual presidential report we see that only six students (half of whom were Radcliffe women) were registered for the course.
(2)  Assignments for both semesters’ reading periods. Note that Frank Knight accounts for a good half of that required reading.
(3) The final examination questions for the first semester. 

____________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 15. Dr. Haberler.—Problems in Economic Theory.

Total 6: 3 Seniors, 3 Radcliffe.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1931-32. Page 72.

____________________

Reading Period
Jan 4-20, 1932

Economics 15

Knight, F.H.: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Chs. III, IV.

Wicksteed, P.H.: Common Sense of Political Economy, Pt. I, Chs. II, VI, XI; P. II, Ch. On Rent.

Knight, F.H.: A Suggestion for Simplifying the Statement of The General Theory of Price, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 36, No. 3, June, 1928.

Suggestions for further reading:

Böhm-Bawerk, E.V.: Positive Theorie des Kapitals, 3rd or 4th edition (not translated), Exkurs VII, “Zurechnung”.

Mayer, Hans: Artikel “Bedürfnis”, “Produktion”, “Zurechnung” in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 4. Auflage.

Reading Period
May 9-June 1, 1932

Economics 15

Benham: “Economic Welfare”, in the Economica, June 1930.

Pigou: Economics of Welfare, Part I, Chs. 1,2,3,4,5; Part II, Ch. VIII, Secs. 1 and 2, Ch. X.

Knight: “Some Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost”,Quarterly Journal of Economics for August 1924.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 2. Folder: “Economics, 1931-32”

____________________

1931-32
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Economics 15
[Mid-year Examination]

Students may use any books or notes they wish.
Answer SIX of these questions.

  1. The problem of imputation and its relation to the theory of marginal productivity.
  2. Is it true that, if every factor is remunerated according to its marginal productivity, the whole product is exhausted? Under what conditions?
  3. Discuss the major differences between the (a) Marshallian, (b) Austrian, and (c) Walrasian theory of value and price.
  4. Discuss the mutual relation of utility, value and price and especially the proposition that there is a conformity of subjective value and the market price. Is it not circular reasoning to say that marginal utility determines the market prices because marginal utility itself depends partly, at last, on the price?
  5. Discuss the proposition that orthodox economics is individualistic and overlooks the fact that every individual is the product of social forces.
  6. What is the meaning of the “law of variation” of the factors of production? How or under what assumptions is it possible to derive from it a universal law of diminishing returns?
  7. What is the function of the concept of “want” or “need” in pure economic theory? State your opinion as to whether it can or should be eliminated and how it could be done.
  8. What do you think of Institutionalism and its criticism of orthodox economic theory?

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943 (HUC 7000.55). Box 12. Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1931-32.

Image Source: Link to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek record.

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Harvard/Chicago. Gottfried Haberler and Milton Friedman on Samuel Bowles, 1970

 

The following exchange between Gottfried Haberler and Milton Friedman is really quite remarkable. It is the second observation by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror of Gottfried Haberler trashing a liberal/radical economist on the q.t. The first instance involved John Kenneth Galbraith in 1948 (though I cannot say that I would personally fault Haberler for his having ranked Paul Samuelson above John Kenneth Galbraith as an economist). It will come as a surprise to some people that Milton Friedman defended the scholarly honor of one of the leading, if not the leading, radical economists in 1970. As we see below Friedman in no uncertain terms let Haberler know that he still considered his earlier support of Samuel Bowles for an untenured appointment at the University of Chicago to have been based solely on the analytical merits displayed by Bowles. 

You do not want to miss the Harvard anecdote relayed by Roy Weintraub that is posted below as a comment!

__________________

PERSONAL

May 14, 1970

Professor Milton Friedman
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Dear Milton:

I was told that Chicago has made an offer to Sam Bowles and that you supported it warmly. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised. He has certainly some analytic abilities but in general he is very radical, almost as wild as Arthur MacEwan, and thoroughly demagogic in his interventions in faculty meetings and talks to students. I would really like to know whether it is true that Chicago offered him a job.

Sincerely yours,

Gottfried Haberler

H:w

__________________

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
1126 EAST 59THSTREET
CHICAGO—ILLINOIS 60637

May 19, 1970

Professor Gottfried Haberler
Department of Economics
Harvard University
326 Littauer Center
Cambridge, Masachusetts 02138

Dear Gottfried:

Some years back I had occasion to read some of the work which Bowles had done in connection with our consideration of him at that time. I was very favorably impressed indeed by the intellectual quality of the work and the command that it displayed of analytical economics. At that time I was very much in accord with our decision to make him an offer of a position. He turned us down to stay at Harvard.

I have very vague recollections about what has happened this year. I do not know for certain whether or not we did make an offer to him this year. We may have done so; and if so, I would not have objected since the only consideration I would have considered relevant would have been his intellectual qualities.

I will try to find out more definitely and let you know.

Sincerely yours,
[signed, “Milton”]
Milton Friedman

ah

[Handwritten addition: P.S. I have checked. No offer was made to him this year. We made an offer some years ago at the Ass’t Prof level when he first went to Harvard. We made a later offer a couple of years ago again on a term basis. There is no offer outstanding now.]

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Gottfried Haberler Papers. Box 12, Folder “GH—Milton Friedman”.

Image Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst . Police Department, “Board of Trustees fee increase demonstration: Economics professor Samuel Bowles speaking to protesters, April 15, 1976“, University Photograph Collection (RG 110-176). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

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Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Advanced Economic Theory. Outline and readings. Haberler, 1947

 

 

In 1947-48 the advanced economic theory sequence of two semester courses featured the pairing of Gottfried Haberler and Joseph Schumpeter in the Winter and Spring terms, respectively. In this post you will find course enrollment data along with the course outline and assigned readings for the Winter term taught by Haberler. Alas I could not find the final examination questions for this course in the otherwise fairly complete collection of course examinations in the Harvard Archives.

Materials from the Spring Term course 1947-48 taught by Joseph Schumpeter.

__________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 103a. Professor Haberler.—Advanced Economic Theory (F).

Total 20:  15 Graduates, 2 Seniors, 2 Public Administration, 1 Radcliffe.

Source:Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1947-48, p. 90.

__________________

Advanced Economic Theory
Gottfried Haberler

Economics 103a
Fall Term, 1947

This course will be devoted to a discussion of some selected topics centering around the theory of capital and interest. An attempt will be made to conduct the course in a seminar-like fashion.

Content

  1. Introduction

Types of economics

Theoretical vs. non-theoretical approach.

Logical types of economic theory

Individualistic—collectivistic economics
Microscopic—Macroscopic (aggregative) theories
Psychological—behavioristic approach
Static—dynamic analysis
Equilibrium—disequilibrium
General—Partial equilibrium
Price theory—welfare theory
Pure—monetary economics

Some major schools

Classical and neo-classical economics
Marxian economics
Keynesian economics
Others

  1. Brief recapitulation of modern time-less theory

Theory of household
Theory of firm
Theory of distribution

  1. Theory of capital and interest

“Pure” vs. “Monetary” theories of capital and interest
Time preference
“Productivity” of capital
Liquidity preference theory of interest
Dynamic theory of interest
Profits and interest
Uncertainty and time

  1. Topics in the theory of capital and interest

Substitutability of “capital” and “labor”
Influence of changes in wage and interest rates or the substitution of capital for labor
The “Ricardo” effect
“Capital intensity” and the trade cycle
Theoretical problems of capital accumulation

*  *  *  *  *  *

Reading

  1. [Introduction] No definite assignments. Suggestions:

Joan Robinson: An Essay on Marxian Economics
P. M. Sweezy: “Orthodox and Marxian Economics,” Science and Society, Summer 1947.
L. R. Klein: The Keynesian Revolution
L. R. Klein: “Theory of Effective Demand and Employment,” Journal of Political Economy, April 1947.

  1. [Brief recapitulation of modern time-less theory]

Hicks: Theory of Wages, Part I.
Hicks: Value and Capital, Parts I and II.
Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution, Chs. 5, 7, 8, 12.
P. H. Douglas: The Theory of Wages, Chs. I, II, III.

  1. [Theory of capital and interest]

I. Fisher: Theory of Interest, mainly Part II and first two chapters of Part III.
F. H. Knight: Articles on Capitaland Interest in Ethics of Competitionor in Readings.
F. A. Hayek: “Mythology of Capital,” in Readings
Schumpeter: Theory of Economic Development, Chs. IV and V.
D. H. Robertson: “Mr. Keynes and the Rate of Interest,” in Readings
K. Wicksell: Lectures, Vol. I, Chs. on interest.
F. Lutz: “The Criterion of Maximum Profits in the Theory of Investment,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 1945.

  1. [Topics in the theory of capital and interest]

Hayek: Profit, Interest and Investment, first essay.
Hayek: “The Ricardo Effect,” Economica, May 1942.
Haberler: Prosperity and Depression, 1941, pp. 481-491.
N. Kaldor: “Capital Intensity and the Trade Cycle,” Economica, 1939.
N. Kaldor: “Professor Hayek and the Concertina-effect,” Economica, 1942.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 4. Folder “Economics, 1947-48 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source: Gottfried Haberler, Harvard Class Album 1946.

 

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Bibliography Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Course outlines and reading lists. Business Cycles and Economic Forecasting, Haberler & Hansen, 1955-56

 

The pairing of Gottfried Haberler and Alvin Hansen at Harvard for business cycle teaching spanned decades.

For comparison, the reading list and final exam for the course 17 years earlier:   Haberler and Hansen, 1938.

________________

Economics 245a
Business Cycles

Professor Haberler — Fall Term, 1955

Part I. Basic Facts and Concepts.

Types of economic changes and fluctuations

Definition of business cycles

Constant and varying characteristics

Income, production, employment, unemployment
Prices, wages, interest rates, etc.

Cyclical phases

Amplitude, length

Short cycles, intermediate cycles, long waves

Cycles and crises

Cycle history

Approaches to the study of business fluctuations

Descriptive and historical
Statistical and econometric
Theoretical

Part II. Explanation of Business Cycles

Theory of business cycles and theory of employment

Economic fluctuations and long-term growth

Formal characteristics of cycle theories

Statics-dynamics
Exogenous-endogenous theories

Older Cycle Theories

“Monetary” theories vs. “real” theories
Savings — investment
Inventions, innovations; Schumpeter’s theory
Psychological factors: Pigou, Keynes
Agriculture and the business cycle

Modern Cycle Theories

Keynesian contribution
Multiplier — acceleration models
Harrod, Hansen, Samuelson, Kaldor, Kalecki, Metzler
Hicks’ “Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle”
Inventory cycles
The role of wage and price rigidity in the cycle
Competition and monopoly and the business cycle
Many-cycle hypothesis
Is there still a business cycle?

Part III. Economic Growth

Part IV. Business Cycle Policy

Cycle Policy and Employment Policy

Can and should the Cycle be suppressed?

Have depressions a useful function?

Should business booms be prevented?

Preventive and curative depression policy?

Instruments of Policy

Monetary and credit policies
Fiscal policies
Price and wage policies
The role of business forecasting
Other measures

International aspects of business cycles and business cycle policy

Business cycles in planned economies

 

General Texts and Comprehensive Monographs

A. F. Burns, The Frontiers of Economic Knowledge (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1954)

Hansen, Business Cycles and National Income

Schumpeter, Business Cycles

Achinstein, Introduction to Business Cycles

Mitchell, Business Cycles

Bratt, Business Cycles and Forecasting

Pigou, Industrial Fluctuations (2ndedition, 1929)

Tinbergen and Polak, Dynamics of Business Cycles

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression

Gordon, Business Fluctuations

Readings in Business Cycle Theory (Blakiston)

Hansen-Clemence, Readings in Business Cycles and National Income

Readings in Monetary Theory (Blakiston)

N.B.E.R., Conference on Business Cycles

Speithoff, in International Economic Papers, III

Post Keynesian Economics. Kurihara, editor, Rutgers University Press, 1955.

 

Specific Readings

Part I.

Blakiston, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, Chs. 1, 2, 3.

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Ch. 9

Hansen, Business Cycles and National Income, Part I

Hansen-Clemence, Readings, Chs. 2, 3, 4 (for Part II: Chs. 11, 12, 16; for Part III: Chs. 28, 33, 36)

Mitchell, What Happens During Business Cycles? Chs. 2, 3, 4, 8, 10

N.B.E.R., Conference on Business Cycles, Gordon, Klein

Tinbergen-Polak, Dynamics of Business Cycles, Part I

H. L. Beales, “The Great Depression,” Economic History Review, October 1934

Slichter, “The Period 1919-1936….,” RES, 1937

Gordon, R. A., “Investment Behavior and Business Cycles,” RES, (to be published)

Ames, “A Theoretical and Statistical Dilemma—the Contributions of Burns, Mitchell, and Frickey to Business Cycle Theory, Econometrica, October 1948

K. D. Roose, “The Empirical Status of Business Cycle Theory,” Journal of Political Economy, October 1952

K. D. Roose, The Economics of Recession and Revival, New Haven, 1954

Part II.

(1) Haberler, Chs. 3, 8, 13
Hansen, Part III

(2) Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Ch. 6
Frisch, “Propagation Problems and Impulse Problems….,” in Economic Essays in Honor of G. Cassel
Goodwin, “Innovations and Irregularity…,” RES, 1946

(3) Harrod, Toward a Dynamic Economics
Baumol, Economic Dynamics, Ch. 4

(4) Hicks, Trade Cycle
Goodwin, “Secular and Cyclical Aspects of Multiplier and Accelerator” in Income, Employment and Public Policy
Goodwin, “A Nonlinear Theory of the Cycle,” RES, Nov. 1950
Alexander, “Issues of Business Cycle Theory,” AER, Dec. 1951
Duesenberry, “Hicks on the Trade Cycle,” QJE, August 1950
Chenery, “Overcapacity and the Acceleration Principle,” Econometrica, Jan. 1952
Alexander, “Accelerator as a Generator of Steady Growth,” QJE, May 1949
Matthews, “Capital Stock Adjustement—Theories of the Trade cycle and the Problem of Policy” in Post-Keynesian Economics, Kurihara, ed.
Kaldor, “Economic Growth and Cyclical Fluctuations,” Economic Journal, March 1954
Meyer and Kuh, “Acceleration and Related Theories: An Empirical Inquiry,” RES, August 1955

(5) Keynes, General Theory…, Ch. 22
New Economics, Harris, ed., Ch. 36 (Goodwin), Ch. 39 (Smithies), Ch. 40 (Tobin)
Readings, Ch. 5 (Ohlin), Ch. 12 (Samuelson)
Kaldor, “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, 1940
Kalecki, Essays in Theory of Economic Fluctuations
Fellner, “Employment Theories and Business Cycles,” in Survey of Contemporary Economics, 1948, Vol. I, Ellis, editor.

(6) Metzler, “Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles,” RES, 1941
Abramovitz, Inventories and Business Cycles (and in Conference, above)
Nurkse, “The Cyclical Pattern of Inventory Investment,” QJE, August 1952

(7) Readings, Part IV, Monetary Theory
Haberler, Ch. 2
Wicksell, Lectures, II, pp. 209 ff.
Fisher, “Debt-Deflation…,” Econometrica, 1933

Part III.

Domar, “Capital Expansion, Rate of Growth and Employment,” Econometrica, April 1946
Harrod, Dynamic Economics
Harrod, “An Essay in Dynamic Theory,” in Harrod, Economic Essays
N.B.E.R., Studies in Income and Wealth, No. 16, Long-Range Economic Projection
L. B Yeager, “Some Questions about Growth Economics,” AER, March 1954
Meier, “Some Questions about Growth Economics—Comment,” and Yeager, “Reply,” AER, December 1954

Part IV.

Bishop, “Alternative Expansionist Fiscal Policies…,” in Income, Employment and Public Policy
Readings in Monetary Theory (Friedman)
Hansen, Part IV
N.B.E.R., Conference on Regularization of Business Investment, 1951
N.B.E.R., Studies in Income and Wealth, No. 17, Short-term Economic Forecasting Readings in Fiscal Policy (Richard Irwin).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

BUSINESS CYCLES AND ECONOMIC FORECASTING
Economics 245b
Spring 1956
Professor Hansen

  1. Archibald, G.C., “Inventory Investment and the Share of Wages”, THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, June, 1955.
  2. Brems and Ozga, “Economic Growth and the Price Level”, THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, March, 1955.
  3. Kaldor, N., “The Relation of Economic Growth and Cyclical Fluctuations”, THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, March, 1954.
  4. Blyth, C.A., “The 1948-49 American Recession”, THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, September, 1954.
  5. Marris, R.L., “The Position of Economics and Economists in the Government Machine”, THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, December, 1954.
  6. Gordon, R.A., “Investment Behavior and Business Cycles”, REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, February, 1955.
  7. Matthews, R.C.O., “The Saving Function and the Problem of Trend and Cycle”, REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES, Vol. XXII, 1954-55.
  8. Stigler, George J., “The Early History of Empirical Studies of Consumer Behavior”, THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, April, 1954.
  9. Brems, Hans, “Business Cycles and Economic Policy”, THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, June, 1954.
  10. Lewis, John P., “The Lull that Came to Stay”, THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, February, 1955.
  11. Brown, E. Cary, “The Static Theory of Automatic Fiscal Stabilization”, THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, October, 1955.
  12. Nurkse, Ragnar, “Period Analysis and Inventory Cycles”, OXFORD ECONOMIC PAPERS, September, 1954.
  13. Mills, E.S., “Professor Nurkse on Inventory Cycles”, OXFORD ECONOMIC PAPERS, June, 1955.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

BUSINESS CYCLES AND ECONOMIC FORECASTING
Economics 245b
Spring 1956
Professor Hansen

  1. National Bureau of Economic Research, Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 16, LONG-RANGE ECONOMIC PROJECTIONS.
  2. Goldsmith, A STUDY OF SAVINGS IN THE U.S. 1955.
  3. Dewhurst, AMERICA’S NEEDS AND RESOURCES, 1955.
  4. Creamer, PERSONAL INCOME DURING BUSINESS CYCLES, (National Bureau of Economic Research), 1956.
  5. Fellner, TRENDS AND CYCLES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH, (Holt), 1956.
  6. Schumpeter, HISTORY OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS.
  7. Klein, ECONOMIC FLUCTUATIONS IN THE U.S.
  8. Tinbergen, ECONOMETRICS.
  9. Abramovitz, INVENTORIES AND BUSINESS CYCLES.
  10. Baumol, ECONOMIC DYNAMICS.
  11. Harrod, TOWARDS A DYNAMIC ECONOMICS.
  12. Ricardo, Vol. II, NOTES ON MALTHUS, (ed. by Sraffa).
  13. Colean and Newcomb, STABILIZING CONSTRUCTION, (McGraw-Hill).
  14. Smithies, THE BUDGETARY PROCESS IN THE U.S.
  15. Smithies and Butters, READINGS IN FISCAL POLICY.
  16. Colm, ESSAYS IN PUBLIC FINANCE AND FISCAL POLICY.
  17. Burns, THE FRONTIERS OF ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE.
  18. Hicks, THE TRADE CYCLE.
  19. Kurihara, POST-KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS.
  20. Lundberg, THE BUSINESS CYCLE IN THE POST-WAR WORLD.
  21. Wallich, MAINSPRINGS OF THE GERMAN REVIVAL.
  22. National Bureau of Economic Research, BUSINESS CONCENTRATION AND PRICE POLICY.
  23. Svenniloson, GROWTH AND STAGNATION IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY.
  24. Joint Committee on the Economic Report, (Nov. 9, 1955), FEDERAL TAX POLICY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND STABILITY.
  25. PRESIDENT’S ECONOMIC REPORT, 1956.
  26. Lane and Riemersma, ENTERPRISE AND SECULAR CHANGE.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 6, Folder “Economics, 1955-56 (2 of 2)”.

Image Source:  Hansen (left) and Haberler (right). Harvard Class Album, 1942.

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Berkeley Chicago Economists Germany Harvard New School Princeton

Harvard. Curriculum vitae submitted by Albert O. Hirschman, ca. 1942

 

One of those serendipitous finds in rummaging through a department’s correspondence in search of one thing (curricular material in my case) is the artifact transcribed for this post, a c.v. submitted to the Harvard department of economics by a 27 or 28 year old Rockefeller Foundation fellow,  O. Albert Hirschmann. It is written in a narrative, autobiographical style as was the custom in Europe of the time. Because I had the great pleasure of having worked as Albert O. Hirschman’s assistant at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during the 1980-81 academic year, I photographed his early c.v. in an act of filial piety. Of course all this and more can be found in the prize-winning biography written by Jeremy Adelman: Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman. Princeton University Press, 2013. Nonetheless, the c.v. possesses the charm of being the original words chosen by Hirschman to market himself back when he was just one of dozens of European economist émigrés looking for steady work.

Thanks to Adelman’s book I learned (p. 203) that one of my Yale mentors, William Fellner, taught a general seminar on the principles of economics at Berkeley that Albert Hirschman took during his Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. Historically speaking, it’s a small world! 

__________________

O. Albert Hirschmann
1751 Highland Place
Berkeley, Calif.

CURRICULUM VITAE

I was born on April 7th, 1915, in Berlin. My nationality is Lithuanian. In 1932 I began to study law and economics at the University of Berlin. In April, 1933, I left for Paris, where I registered at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (H.E.C.) and at the Institut de Statistiques de l’Université de Paris at the Sorbonne. In 1935 I had obtained the diplomas of both these institutions.

At the end of 1935, I went to England, in order to study for several months at the London School of Economics and Political Science under a scholarship granted to me by the International Student Service, which had already granted to me by the International Student Service, which had already helped me during my former studies. I had courses with Professors Robbins [1898-1984], T. E. Gregory [1890-1970] and B. A. Whale [Philip Barrett Whale, 1898-1950]. I worked in particular under Mr. Whale on French monetary policy since the stabilization of the Franc.

At the end of 1936, after a short stay at Paris, I applied for, and obtained a place as an assistant at the Institute of Statistics of the University of Trieste. I remained there until the middle of 1938, when I was compelled to return to Paris because of the anti-foreign and anti-semitic policy of the Fascist government. At Trieste, I worked under Professor P. Luzzatto-Fegiz [1900-1989]. I became much interested in Population Statistics and a part of my researches in this field was published in an article in the Giornale degli Economisti, January, 1938: “Nota su due recenti tavole di nuzialità della popolazione italiana.” (“A note on two recent nuptiality tables of the Italian population”.) I worked also on several problems of economic statistics and in particular on the statistics of the national income and of family budgets. At the same time I studied for my Doctor’s degree, which I obtained with the grade 120 points in a total of 120, in June, 1938. My thesis was a continuation and an expansion of the work on French monetary policy which I had begun at the London School of Economics. The thesis was to be printed in the Annals of the University, but this was rendered impossible by the subsequent political developments.

While still in Italy, during the first months of 1938, I tried to acquaint myself thoroughly with the Italian financial and economic situation. I finally sent an extensive report to Paris, which was published as a separate booklet, without naming the author, in June, 1938, by the Bulletin Quotidien de la Société d’Études et d’Informations Économiques, under the title: “Les Finances et l’Économie Italiennes – Situation actuelle et perspectives.” This report attracted some attention in Paris because by combining data from various sources I had thrown some light on the Italian economic and financial development which was surrounded by official secrecy. It was upon this report that Professor Charles Rist [1874-1955] offered me to collaborate in his Institut de Recherches Économiques et Sociales. Italy was my special field and from July, 1938, to April, 1940, I wrote regularly three-monthly reports on Italian economic development in L’Activité Économique, which was the publication of the Institute.

I also wrote a small booklet for the above named Bulletin Quotidian on the subject: “L’Industrie Textile Italienne et l’Autarcie.”

In November, 1938, Professor J. B. Condliffe [1891-1981], who was then acting as the director of studies for the International Studies Conference at Bergen, and in this capacity was organizing an international inquiry into the national systems of exchange control, entrusted me with the preparation of a report on the exchange control system of Italy. I also worked on other problems in connection with the Conference and, in particular, devised a new method of measuring the tendency toward bilateralism as completely distinct from the tendency towards equilibrium of foreign trade. Professor Condliffe encouraged me to write a small paper on this idea, and thus I presented two reports at the international Studies Conference at Bergen in 1939: (1) “Le Contrôle des Changes en Italie”—a report of ninety mimeographed pages by the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, which for various reasons was not signed, (2) “Étude Statistique de la Tendance du Commerce International [extérieur] Vers l’Équilibre et le Bilatéralisme”—a shorter paper also mimeographed and signed. A recent publication of the U.S. Tariff Commission on “Italian Commercial Policy (1922 – 1940)” has made an extensive use of my report on Italian Exchange Control, whereas Professor Condliffe has quoted my figures on bilateralism in his book “The Reconstruction of World Trade”.

I had registered as a volunteer for the French Army in case of war, in April, 1939. I was called as early as August, 1939. The stationary character of the war gave me the opportunity to prepare still two reports on the Italian economy, the necessary source-material being sent from Paris. After the armistice, in July, 1940, I was demobilized at Nîmes, in Southern France. From there I went to Marseilles, where I met Mr. Varian Fry [1907-1967], who had been sent to Marseilles by the Emergency Rescue Committee in order to evacuate political and intellectual refugees from France. I collaborated with him from August to December, 1940, when, upon the recommendation of Professor Condliffe, I obtained a Rockefeller fellowship, and thereupon the American visa. I arrived in this country on January 14, 1941.

After a short stay in the East, I went to the University of California at Berkeley to work in connection with a research project on Foreign Trade, directed by Professor Condliffe. Soon after my arrival at Berkeley, I met my wife and we were married in June 1941.

My original research plan was to give a statistical analysis of recent quantitative trends in world trade and my first months were spent in working out the specific problems which I intended to study. I wrote several papers on the measurement of concentration and related subjects in descriptive statistics which I hope to publish either as appendices to my main manuscript or as separate journal articles. The next step in my research was to apply the statistical methods which I had worked out to the foreign trade statistics. This required extensive calculations for which Professor Condliffe put an assistant at my disposal. I also participated in several graduate seminars and took a course in the theory of probability.

Upon the renewal of the Rockefeller fellowship for another year and after a two months illness during the winter of 1941-1942, I began to work at the theoretical and historical aspects of the problems which I had first studied from a purely quantitative point of view. The result of my research has now been embodied in a manuscript of 300 pages entitled “National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade”, of which only the concluding section remains to be written.

Professors Howard S. Ellis [1898-1992] and Condliffe have given me the assurance that the manuscript would be published by a series edited by the newly established Bureau of Economic and Business Research of the University of California. One chapter of the manuscript giving a new statistical analysis of the composition of world trade according to commodity groups, is somewhat loosely connected with the rest and it has been suggested to me to have it published as a separate article. The Rockefeller Foundation has granted me the expenses for a trip to the Middle West and East on which I have just had the opportunity to discuss my manuscript with Professor Viner [1892-1970] at Chicago, Professors Haberler [1900-1995] and Staley [Eugene Alvah Staley (1906-1989) was at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy] at Harvard, Professors Staudinger [1889-1980] and Lowe [1893-1995] at the New School of Social Research and with Professor Loveday [1888-1962] and Mr. [Folke] Hilgerdt [1894-1956] of the Economic Intelligence Service of the League at Princeton.

As a result of my training, I have acquired a certain specialization in statistical methods on the one hand and in the field of international economics on the other (theory and history of international trade, international monetary problems, exchange control, foreign trade statistics, etc.) Through my work in Europe I am well acquainted, in particular, with the economic problems of Italy and France.

Having studied for prolonged periods in Germany, France and Italy, I speak and write with complete fluency the languages of these countries. I also have a reading knowledge of Spanish.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Department of Economics, Correspondence & Papers 1902-1950. Box 5, Folder “H”.

Image Source: Albert O. Hirschman before he was dispatched to North Africa, circa 1943. From Michele Alacevich’s Introduction to “Albert Hirschman and the Social Sciences: A Memorial Round-Table” posted July 25, 2015.

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Berkeley Economists Yale

Berkeley and Yale. Short c.v. of William Fellner. Haberler’s remembrance, 1983

 

In earlier posts I provided the reading lists for courses that my Yale mentor, William John Fellner, offered at Harvard in 1950-51 (History of Economics, Advanced Economic Theory). The last time I spoke with Mr. Fellner was at lunch in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., ca. 1976. He brought along his regular lunch companion, Gottfried Haberler. I had no idea at the time who Gottfried Haberler was, and Haberler wasted no words with me, but I did take away one impression. The man ate faster than any human that I had ever met before. There is a German proverb to the effect that you work the way you eat so I presumed Gottfried Haberler was a genuine Arbeitstier (work+animal). Anyhow today’s post offers transcriptions of two items about William Fellner from Gottfried Haberler having to do with my dear mentor William Fellner.

First, three other obituaries:

____________________

November 1982

William Fellner

Born in Budapest, Hungary, May 31, 1905. Citizen of the United States since 1944. Studied at the University of Budapest; at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Dipl. Ing. Chem. 1927); and at the University of Berlin (Ph.D., Econ., 1929). Partner in a family enterprise in the Hungarian manufacturing industries 1929-38; member of the Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, 1939-52; Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1952-73 (Sterling Professor of Economics 1959-73; Emeritus since 1973). Member of President’s Council of Economic Advisers, 1973-75; at present Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., also Project Director of and contributor to Contemporary Economic Problems (a volume of studies published yearly since 1976 by the American Enterprise Institute).

Past President (1969) of the American Economic Association; fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; consultant of the Congressional Budget Office.

Honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa since 1952. Awarded Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, 1979. Awarded Bernhard-Harms Prize of the Institute of World Economics, University of Kiel (1982). Corresponding Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

Publications include among others: Monetary Policies and Full Employment (1946), Competition Among the Few (1949), Trends and Cycles in Economic Activity (1955),Emergence and Content of Modern Economic Analysis (1960), Probability and Profit (1965), Towards a Reconstruction of Macroeconomics: Problems of Theory and Policy (1976).

In addition, articles in scientific journals and contributions to symposia. Some recent items among these are Correcting Taxes for Inflation (with Kenneth W. Clarkson and John H. Moore), American Enterprise Institute, June 1975; “Lessons from the Failure of Demand-Management Policies: A Look at the Theoretical Foundations”, Journal of Economic Literature, March 1976; “The Valid Core of Rationality Hypotheses in the Theory of Expectations”, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, Supplement to November 1980 issue; and “The Bearing of Risk Aversion on Movement of Spot and Forward Exchange Relative to the Dollar”, Flexible Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments: Essays in Memory of Egon Sohmen, edited by John S. Chipman and Charles P. Kindleberger (1980). “Economic Theory Amidst Political Currents: The Spreading Interest in Monetarism and in the Theory of Market Expectations” (Bernhard-Harms Award lecture, published also in Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, September 1982). Also “The High-Employment Budget and Potential Output” in Survey of Current Business, U. S. Department of Commerce, November 1982.

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of Gottfried Haberler. Box 43, Folder: “Blue”

____________________

Gottfried Haberler
October 1, 1983

Dear Valerie, Dear Friends, Ladies, and Gentlemen:

We are gathered here to pay tribute to the memory of a great man. William Fellner was a giant among economists. This is not the occasion to go deeply into Willy’s economic work, but a few highlights must be mentioned. His work covers a large area, ranging from problems of abstract theory to questions of current economic policy. He was a prolific writer and hard worker, active and alert to the very end. My memories go back almost fifty years to when I met Willy for the first time in the summer of 1934 in Stresa, Italy, at a conference that was attended by, among others, Friedrich A. von Hayek and by Luigi Einaudi, the Italian economist who after the war became the first president of Italy. I met Willy the next time and you, Valerie, for the first time four years later, when you came to the United States. We saw each other from time to time when Willy taught at the University of California and Yale University, and we were in daily contact after he came to Washington ten years ago until his death.

Recalling our first meeting, I am struck by how little he changed over these fifty years. The same impeccable manners, the same old-world courtliness, the same sharpness of mind, the same dignified appearance and demeanor, the same courteous and conciliatory tone, even in heated discussions—up to the day of his death.

Willy was an indefatigable worker. His bibliography lists seven books and more than fifty important papers in professional periodicals and books. His major field of interest was what is now called macroeconomics, including money, business cycles, inflation, and unemployment. His first writings appeared during the heyday of the Keynesian revolution. His second book, Monetary Policy and Full Employment (1946), shows the influence of Keynes. Willy admired Keynes but not uncritically. In fact, his criticism of Keynes anticipated or foreshadowed much of what has come to be known as the monetarist counterrevolution, as well as of the modern theory of rational expectations. In later writings he referred to these two schools extensively and gave them their due. But he was too modest to let his readers know that he himself had discussed those issues years before.

In recent years he concentrated on the problem of inflation. He was one of the first to recognize that there can be no permanent trade-off between inflation and unemployment. If inflation is not brought down to near zero, he argued, we will be condemned to continue the vicious pattern of stop and go, with the stops—recessions—becoming increasingly severe. The consequences would be ever-increasing government expenditures and deficits and more and more controls of wages and prices. As a convinced liberal in the classical nineteenth-century tradition, he was a staunch advocate of free enterprise, free markets, and free trade. He opposed government central planning and controls not only on grounds of economic efficiency but also because in the long run central planning and comprehensive controls are incompatible with a free, democratic society.

Like all great economists, Willy was more than an economist. He had a keen sense of history; he put current events and policies in historical perspective. Willy was a man of great culture, fluent in several languages, and well versed in Hungarian, English, and German literature.

Willy held strong views on many issues; he was a shrewd and often stern judge of people. But Willy was at the same time one of the most generous, kind, and considerate persons I have met. He had many friends, even among those with whom he strongly disagreed on important questions. His untimely death leaves a great void. But his scientific work will endure and will inspire future generations of economists.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know I speak for all of us when I thank you, Valerie, for all you have done to make Willy’s imposing lifework possible. Without your loving care and understanding, he could not have achieved as much as he did. Please accept this expression of our profound gratitude.

Source:  Hoover Institution Archives. Papers of J. Herbert Fürth. Box 5.

Image Source:  William Fellner’s Presidential portrait, American Economic Association.

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Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Exams for International Economic Relations. Haberler and Harris, 1936-37

 

 

Reading lists for Harvard’s International Economic Relations two semester sequence for the academic year 1939-40 taught by Gottfried Haberler, Seymour Harris, and Wassily Leontief have been transcribed and posted earlier.  For the 1936-37 course I have only found the reading period assignments and the final exams for both semesters. 

________________________

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 43a 1hf. (formerly 9a). Associate Professors Haberler and Harris, and other members of the department.—International Economic Relations, I. Theory of International Trade.

Total 70: 4 Graduates, 48 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Others.

 

[Economics] 43b2hf. (formerly 9a). Associate Professors Haberler and Harris, and other members of the department.—International Economic Relations, II. Commercial Policy.

Total 62: 5 Graduates, 45 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 3 Sophomores, 4 Others.

 

Source:  Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1936-37, p. 92.

________________________

Reading Period First Semester
Economics 43a

Read one from each group:

  1. Marshall, Money, Credit and Commerce, pp. 98-190.
    Ohlin, Interregional and International Trade, pp. 1-138.
  2. Graham, Exchanges, Prices and Production in Hyper-Inflation Germany, pp. 97-238.

Reading Period Second Semester
Economics 43b

Read one of the following:

  1. Rope, German Commercial Policy
  2. Iverson, International Capital Movements, pp. 1-301 and pp. 454-512.
  3. World Trade Barriers in Relation to Agriculture
  4. a. Haight, French Import Quotas and
    b. Beverage, Tariffs, the Case Examined Chs. 1 thru 10.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1936-37”.

________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 43a

Answer one question from Group I, one question from Group II, and two questions from Group III.

Group I

  1. What use does Marshall make of the relation of demand and supply in international trade?
  2. What is the difference, if any, between Ohlin’s and the Classical approach?

Group II

  1. What is the meaning of the “comparative cost doctrine” if there are not two, but many export and import goods
    1. with constant cost in all industries
    2. with increasing cost in all industries
    3. in terms of opportunity cost?
  2. The market condition of demand, supply, price and quantity for a particular commodity in two countries A and B is given by this diagram.

    1. Suppose trade is opened between the two countries. What will be the influence on the price, quantities produced and consumed in both countries and how much will be exported from A to B, assuming that there is no transportation cost involved.
      Answer in words and show graphically.
    2. After trade has been opened, a duty is imposed in B whose height (on this diagram) is measured by a vertical distance of, say, one half inch. What will be its influence on prices and quantities produced, consumed and traded between A and B?
      Answer in words and sketch graphically.

Group III

  1. Assume you calculate the balance of international payments for a country during a particular year. The result is the following:
Net debits Net credits
Merchandise and Services 200
Tourist expenditures 100
Long-term capital 100
Short-term capital 200
Interest, Dividends 150
Gold movements 50 ….
Total 450 350

a) Enumerate a few possible explanations of the discrepancy between credits and debits.
b) In a recent book by J. E. Meade, Economic Analysis and Policy, you find the following statement: “If all the items in the Balance of Payments are properly and completely recorded, the total of all the items on the receipt side must be equal to the total of all the items on the payments side; the Balance of Payments must balance” (p. 216). Give your comments on this statement.
c) How can the above statement be reconciled with the statement frequently found that “the balance of payment is in disequilibrium?”

  1. Discuss the effects of exchange depreciation upon prices.
  2. Is the breakdown of the gold standard to be associated primarily with internal developments or with such external factors as large capital movements? Discuss.

Mid-Year.  1937.

 

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers (HUC 7000.28 vol. 79). Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. January-June, 1937.

 

________________________

1936-37
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 43b

Answer THREE of the first five questions, and ONE of the questions 6 to 9.

  1. When did the United States adopt the principle of the unconditional most-favored-nation treatment? Discuss the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the conditional and unconditional most-favored-nation clause.
  2. Discuss the differences and similarities between quotas and duties and the comparative merits of the two systems as methods for the restriction of imports and protection of home industries.
  3. Suppose an industry subject to decreasing cost; if production could be increased, costs per unit of output would fall. Production can, however, not be increased, because of foreign competition. Discuss whether and when in such circumstances an import duty can be justified on economic grounds.
  4. Discuss the mechanism of capital movements or reparation payments under a gold and under a paper standard. How do you account for wide difference of opinion among authorities concerning the practicability of large transfers of capital or reparations? Have recent discussions added anything new to the theory of capital movements? In answering, relate your discussion as much as possible to a concrete experience.
  5. Comment on one of the following:
    1. The international position of the United States in the thirties;
    2. The international position of Great Britain in the thirties;
    3. The international position of Great Britain at the end of the nineteenth century.In giving your answer, make some practical suggestions for attaining international equilibrium.
  6. Discuss (1) Germany’s recent commercial policies or (2) the operation and effects of clearing agreements.
  7. Can protection mitigate unemployment? (Beveridge.)
  8. Discuss briefly Iverson’s criticism of the classical approach towards capital movements, and comment on Iverson’s own contributions.
  9. What has the effect of trade barriers been upon trade in agricultural commodities and upon prices of these commodities? Relate your answers to the policies of one country.

Final. 1937.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Examination Papers (HUC 7000.28 vol. 79). Papers Printed for Final Examinations: History, History of Religions, …, Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science. January-June, 1937.

Image Source:  Harvard Class Album 1942.