With the expansion of economics course offerings at Harvard going into the 20th century, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror will continue its collection of semester examinations but limiting each post in the series to a single course per year. This post brings together material from four different sources (announcement, enrollment, mid-year exam and final-year exam) for the first course in economics “Outlines of Economics” that was taught in sections by five instructors in 1901-1902. Frank W. Taussig was on leave in Europe that year which is the reason the course was entrusted to the experienced junior hands of Abram Piatt Andrew and Oliver Mitchell Wentworth Sprague.
The complete battery of 1900-01 course exams can be found in a previous post.
The course material for the 1902-03 academic year has been posted too.
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Course Announcement
…Course 1 is introductory to the other courses. It is intended to give a general survey of the subject for those who take but one course in Economics, and also to prepare for the further study of the subject in advanced courses. It is usually taken with most profit by undergraduates in the second or third year of their college career. Students who plan to take it in their first year are strongly advised to consult the instructor in advance. History 1 or Government 1, or both of these courses, will usually be taken to advantage before Economics 1…
Primarily for Undergraduates
- Outlines of Economics. — Lectures on Social Questions and Monetary Legislation. Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9.Drs. [Instructor in Political Economy, Abram Piatt] Andrew [Jr.] and [Instructor in Political Economy, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and Messrs. [Instructor in Political Economy, Charles] Beardsley and [Austin Teaching Fellow, James Horace] Patten.
Course 1 gives a general introduction to economic study, and a general view of Economics for those who have not further time to give to the subject. It undertakes a consideration of the principles of production, distribution, exchange, money, banking, and international trade. Social questions and the relations of labor and capital, and the recent currency legislation of the United States, will be treated in outline.
Course 1 will be conducted partly by lectures, partly by oral discussion in sections. A course of reading will be laid down, and weekly written exercises will test the work of students in following systematically and continuously the lectures and the prescribed reading. Large parts of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy, of Walker’s Political Economy (advanced course), and of Dunbar’s Theory and History of Banking will be read; and these books must be procured by all members of the Course.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Annual Announcement of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics (June 21, 1901). Official Register of Harvard University 1901-1902. Box 1. Bound volume: Univ. Pub. N.S. 16. History, etc. pp. 35-36.
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Course Enrollment
Primarily for Undergraduates:—
[Economics] 1. Drs. [Instructor in Economics, Abram Piatt] Andrew [Jr.], [Assistant in Economics, Charles Whitney] Mixter, and [Instructor in Economics, Oliver Mitchell Wentworth] Sprague, and Messrs. [Austin Teaching Fellow, James Horace] Patten and [Assistant in Economics, Gilbert Holland] Montagne. — Outlines of economics.
Total 432: 19 Seniors, 79 Juniors, 239 Sophomores, 37 Freshmen, 58 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1901-1902, p. 77.
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Mid-year Examination 1902
ECONOMICS 1
Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.
- A man increases his capital by saving which involves diminution of his consumption, but his capital can be used only by being consumed. Explain.
- What is over-population? What is under-population? Some years ago British India had 200 inhabitants to the square mile; Belgium 469; Rhode Island 254. Which came nearer to over-population and which to under-population?
- Why are the wages of servants higher in the United States than in England for the same grade of service?
- How does Hadley’s justification of rent resemble that of profits? Does Mill differ from Hadley in regard to the “unearned increment”?
- To what other conceptions than that of return from land has the notion of “rent” been applied?
Explain the analogy between these various sorts of “rent.” - Which of Mill’s laws of value is applicable to
- iron ore
- shoes
- typewriters
- street railway fares
- postage stamps.
State the law of value governing each case.
- A member of Congress maintained that there was not money enough in the country, using the following argument: “Our currency must keep pace with our growth as a nation … France has a circulation per capita of thirty dollars: England, of twenty-five: and we with our extent of territory and improvements, certainly require more than either.” State your opinion of this argument.
- When it is asserted that the value of gold rose 40% or 50% between 1873 and 1896, what are the various methods by which such a measurement of the amount of appreciation is affected? Point out the limitations of these methods.
- Consider the monetary history of the United States since 1860 with reference to the quantity theory?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 6. Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1901-02.
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Year-end Examination 1902
ECONOMICS 1
Arrange your answers in the order of the questions. One question in each group may be omitted.
I.
Answer two.
- Are the private ownership of capital, and the payment of interest on capital justified when it is said that interest is the reward of abstinence? If so, in what manner? If not, why not?
- Explain what Hadley means when he says that “economic rent and net profit are differential gains.”Does Mill differ from Hadley in regard to these subjects?
- What groups of persons are favored by rising prices? by falling prices?
II.
Answer two.
- Suppose that labor became twice as productive as it is in all of our industries, what would be the probable effect upon the prices and values of the articles we import? Distinguish between the immediate and the ultimate effects.
- It is frequently urged that the high rate of wages prevailing in the United States disables this country from competing with “the pauper labor” of Europe. Examine the grounds of this statement, and consider how far it forms a justification for protection to American industry.
- Suppose the discovery of important gold fields in France. What would be the effect upon her foreign trade?
III.
Answer two.
- What is the difference between a commercial bank and a savings bank?
- “As the exchange of checks through the Clearing House has had results far beyond the mere gain in convenience and safety to which the practice owes its origin, so the redemption of notes by some corresponding mode has important bearings of much greater scope than the convenience of banks in maintaining their issues, and quite independent of any question as to the security of the currency. (Dunbar, p. 74). Explain the system suggested, and the particular advantage referred to.
- “The notion is often entertained that the national banks have some peculiar opportunity for making a double profit, by receiving both interest earned by their bonds, and interest earned by the loan of the notes issued upon the bonds” (Dunbar, p. 180).
Comment upon this.
IV.
Answer three.
- Do prices fluctuate because men speculate, or do men speculate because prices fluctuate?
- Would the country gain or lose from the abolition (1) of the “produce exchanges”? (2) of the “stock exchanges”? Give reasons in each case.
- Assuming that a combination has secured a monopoly, what influences would tend to check an indefinite increase in prices? Illustrate the varying operation of these influences in the case of diamonds, petroleum, and iron and steel.
- Discuss the economic effects of the immigration of unskilled labor to the United States?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics… in Harvard College (June 1902) included in the bound volume: Examination Papers 1902-03.
Image Sources: Abram Piatt Andrew (1920) from Wikimedia Commons. O.M.W. Sprague from Harvard Class Album 1920, p. 25.