Tag: Stolper

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Economists Germany Public Finance Transcript

Germany. Wolfgang Stolper’s Seminarschein for a public finance seminar. Schumpeter, 1932

Back in the day before German universities began awarding Bachelor and Master degrees instead of their historical Diplom and Magister degrees (a process initiated in August 2002 and essentially completed by 2010), German students collected their certificates seminar-by-seminar, signed by their instructors, that together constituted their entry tickets required for degree examinations. I began teaching in a German university (Freie Universität Berlin) in 1994 and have signed such “Seminarscheine” for my students. The printed fonts had changed and typed insertions replaced hand-written ones, but the Scheine themselves were essentially identical to those used by earlier generations.

Below we have the image of the Seminarschein obtained by Wolfgang Stolper who attended Joseph Schumpeter’s advanced seminar in public finance in 1932. Official course transcripts are of considerable informational value but when it comes to antiquarian charm, I’ll take a stack of Seminarscheine any day over a registrar’s one page (stamped) transcript.

__________________________________

Stolper’s Seminarschein
for a Schumpeter seminar
in Bonn, 1932

Staatswissenschaftliches Seminar
der Universität Bonn

Bonn, den 26 Juli 1932
Herr Wolfgang Stolper hat im Sommer-Winterhalbjahr 1932 an meinem finanzwissenschaftlichen Vollseminar—Proseminar
Besprechungen zur _____________________________
mit gutem Fleiß und gutem Erfolg teilgenommen und folgende Arbeiten geliefert:

Hausarbeiten

Aufsichtsarbeiten
mit Auszeichnung:
gut:  ___1___
voll befriedigend:
genügend:
nicht genügend:

[signed] Schumpeter

Translation

Political Science Seminar
of the University of Bonn

Bonn, 26 July 1932
Mr. Wolfgang Stolper was enrolled in my public finance advanced/ introductory seminar during the summer/winter semester 1932.
Tutorial on  _______
His participation demonstrated good work and good performance, completing the following assignments:

Written home assignments

Proctored written examinations
with distinction: [blank]

[blank]
good:  ___1___

[blank]
satisfactory: [blank]

[blank]
sufficient: [blank]

[blank]
insufficient: [blank]

[blank]

[signed] Schumpeter

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Economists’ Papers Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper papers, 1892-2001. Add. 02/207: Box 23, Folder unlabeled (job search 1940-41 correspondence).

Image Source: Harvard University Archives, from Schumpeter’s 1932 German passport. J. Schumpeter Papers. Box 2 (Correspondence and Papers relating to death of JAS), Folder “Dept of Labor–citizenship”.

 

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Exam Questions Swarthmore Undergraduate

Swarthmore. B.A. Honors Examination in Economic Theory. External Examiner, Lloyd Metzler, 1943-45

 

Wolfgang Stolper taught at Swarthmore College from 1941-1949. In his papers at Duke University’s Economists’ Papers Archive one finds copies of  the following economic theory examination questions prepared by Swarthmore’s external examiners:

Jan/May 1942 (James G. Smith)
Jan 1943 (Paul Samuelson)
May 1943 (Paul Samuelson)
October 1943 (Lloyd Metzler) [transcribed below]
Feb 1944 (Joseph D. Coppock)
June 1944 (Friedrich Lutz)
Oct 1944 (Lloyd Metzler) [transcribed below]
Jun 1945 (Joseph D. Coppock)
Jun 1946 (Richard Musgrave)
Jan 1947 (Joseph D. Coppock)
Undated (Lloyd Metzler) [transcribed below]

The above list has led me to an interpolative guess of either February or October 1945 for the undated Metzler honors examination. Links are provided to the previously posted transcriptions of the examinations by Samuelson and Musgrave.

_________________________

Swarthmore College
Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics
October 20, 1943

Economic Theory
Honors Examination
Mr. Metzler

ANSWER ONE QUESTION FROM EACH PART

PART I
Write a one-hour essay on one of the following topics:

  1. The relation between cost curves and supply curves, and the conditions of equilibrium in a purely competitive industry, both in the long run and in the short run.
  2. A comparison of monopolistic competition and pure competition, including a contrast of the equilibrium position of the firm and the number of firms in the “industry” under monopolistic competition, with the equilibrium conditions and number of firms under pure competition.
  3. The marginal productivity theory in its original form, and the changes made necessary by the theory of monopolistic competition.
  4. Determinants of the level of employment and income.
  5. A careful analysis of the population problem in the United States, including both regional distribution problems and the problem of the size of the total population.
  6. Monetary versus “real” theories of the rate of interest.

 

Part II

  1. How was the cost controversy related to the development of the theory of monopolistic competition?
  2. A tax of $1 per unit is imposed upon the production of a certain commodity which is produced under conditions of pure competition. Assuming that the industry is initially in equilibrium, show how this tax affects he price, output, profits, and the number of firms in the industry, both in the short run and in the long run.
  3. Discuss the principles of price discrimination in a monopolized industry.
  4. Suppose there are only two firms producing a standardized product. Describe the determination of price and output in this industry, pointing out the difficulties which arise in such a case.

 

Part III

  1. Suppose a particular industry X produces its commodity with only two factors, labor and land, which may be used in variable proportions. An increased supply of this particular type of labor causes the wage rate to decline. Assuming no change in the demand for the product, analyze the effect of the wage reduction on (a) employment of labor, (b) employment of land, (c) price of the product, (d) output of the product, and (e) labor’s relative share in the total distribution.
  2. Describe Malthus’ theory of population. Can you present a more sophisticated version in the light of modern theories of production and distribution?
  3. “The rate of interest is the result of a race between accumulation and invention.” Discuss.
  4. Discuss the relation of the modern corporation to the theory of profits.

 

Part IV

  1. What types of cyclical fluctuation may be found in statistics of employment, income, production, and prices? How do you explain each type of cycle?
  2. What measures would you suggest for the control of employment after the war? Explain each carefully.
  3. In the period of the twenties, economists believed that business cycles could be controlled by monetary measures (i.e., movement of interest rates, bank reserve ratios, etc.). Account for the failure of such measures to control the depression of the thirties.
  4. Explain carefully the relation between investment and the level of employment, relating the analysis to Schumpeter’s “circular flow”.

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 22, Folder 1.

_________________________

Swarthmore College
Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics
October 16, 1944

Economic Theory
Honors Examination
Dr. Lloyd A. Metzler
Federal Reserve Board
Washington, D.C.

ANSWER FIVE QUESTIONS, INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE FROM EACH PART.
I

  1. “The conditions which determine the prices charged by a local clothing store are quite unlike those which govern the price of wheat or corn.” Explain carefully.
  2. After the war, expenditures of the federal government will be considerably higher than in the pre-war period. To meet part of these expenditures, two kinds of business taxes are proposed: (1) a tax on corporate profits, similar to our present tax, but with lower rates; (2) taxes on the sales of certain luxury items, such as cigarettes, tobacco, and liquor. It is sometimes said that the first type of tax falls upon the corporations themselves, whereas the second falls upon the consumers of the taxed items. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
  3. “Imperfectly competitive markets involve an inevitable waste. Each firm produces less than its optimum output, and charges a higher price than might otherwise be necessary.” Evaluate this statement. If such wastes exist, how can they be eliminated?
  4. Suppose a particular industry produces a standardized product, such as steel, but there are only four or five producers in the whole industry. What determines the price of the product?
  5. Compare the effects of a tax on output in a perfectly competitive industry with those of a similar tax on a monopolistic output, both in the short run in the long run.

 

II

  1. “In a perfectly competitive industry, every worker gets just what he is worth, but in monopoly industries the workers are always exploited.” Present your own opinion on this subject.
  2. Define “elasticity of substitution” and explain type of problem in which the concept is useful.
  3. An industry in which there is only a single producer is unionized, and a standard wage is set which is higher than the prevailing wage. Analyze the effects of this action upon (a) the number of workers employed, (b) the output of the industry, (c) the price of the product, and (d) the total wage bill.
  4. Answer (3), assuming that the industry is perfectly competitive.

 

III

  1. One frequently encounters two statements about the return to land: (a) “Rent is the difference between the productivity of a given plot of land and the productivity of land which it is just worthwhile to cultivate.”(b) “Rents would exist even if all land were uniformly productive; it is a surplus which arises from the fact that additional units of labour applied to a given plot of land have diminishing productivity.” Are these two statements contradictory? Explain your answer.
  2. “The law of diminishing returns is indispensable to the existence of rent. Unless this law were true, the entire world’s supply of wheat could be grown in a flower pot.” Comment.
  3. “Rent, like the reward of any other factor of production, is determined by conditions of supply and demand. From this point of view, rent differs from wages mainly in respective conditions of supply.” Do you regard this is an important difference? Why or why not? Contrast the long-run effects of a tax on rents with the long-run effects of a tax on wages, assuming that wages initially are near the subsistence level.
  4. “The equilibrium rate of interest is the rate which makes the supply of savings equal to demand. The supply of savings is the schedule of amounts which individuals wish to save at various interest rates, while the demand is the schedule of amounts which business men wish to invest. Thus, when the rate of interest is in equilibrium, savings are equal to investment. But if the rate of interest exceeds the equilibrium rate, investment falls short of savings.” Evaluate this statement.
  5. Compare Böhm-Bawerk’s theory of interest with the monetary theory.
  6. “In the long run, profits of the competitive industry tend toward zero.” Does this mean that the accountant’s reports of the small enterprise owned by a single individual will also attend toward zero? Explain your answer.

 

IV

  1. Present a program for maintaining full employment in the United States after the war.
  2. “Since national income is equal to consumption plus net investment, and savings are simply the difference between income and consumption, it follows that savings for any given period are always equal to investment, by definition. For this reason, a business cycle theory which attributes changes in income and employment to a disparity between savings and investment must be fallacious.” Comment.
  3. Explain carefully how income is related to the level of net investment.
  4. During the first world war, a high interest rate was regarded as one of the important means of curbing inflation. In the present war, on the other hand, a conscious attempt has been made to keep interest rates at a very low level. Explain the relation between interest rates and prices in an economy where full employment prevails. Why do you suppose high interest rates were abandoned as an anti-inflation measure in the present war?
  5. It is sometimes said that unemployment exists because workers are unwilling to accept the wage which corresponds to their productivity. According to this view, if workers were willing to accept a reduction of wage rates, business men would find it profitable to hire more workers and unemployment would thereby be reduced. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 22, Folder 1.

_________________________

Swarthmore College
Division of the Social Sciences
Department of Economics
[No date–1945?]

ECONOMIC THEORY
Honors Examination
Dr. Lloyd A. Metzler
Washington, D.C.

ANSWER FOUR QUESTIONS, INCLUDING ONE FROM EACH PART.
I

Write an essay (about one hour) on one of the following topics:

  1. The theory of interest, from Böhm-Bawerk to Keynes.
  2. Monopolistic competition and the theory of distribution.
  3. The theory of discriminating monopoly.
  4. A comparison of perfect competition with monopolistic competition.
  5. Factors which determine the level of employment.
  6. The relation of wage rates to employment.
  7. The theory of the duopoly.
  8. The relation between wates [sic, “wage rates”?] and rent.
  9. The law of variable proportions and theory of distribution.

 

II

  1. As a result of a technological change, the cost of producing a particular commodity, X, is reduced for all firms. Assuming that the industry is perfectly competitive, the effects of this change upon output, price and profits in both the short run in the long run.
  2. Explain the relations between marginal costs, average costs, and supply curves in a perfectly-competitive industry.
  3. “In a perfectly-competitive industry, the tax on sales is always born by consumers, whereas in a monopoly industry, the monopolists bears a part of the added costs.” Evaluate this statement, considering both the short-run in the long-run.
  4. Explain the meaning of “excess capacity” in the theory of monopolistic competition, and show how it is related to other concepts of capacity.

 

III

  1. It is sometimes said that unions can improve the position of workers only to a very limited extent, since wages are governed by productivity, over which unions have little control. Evaluate this statement.
  2. Discuss the relations between inventions, wage rates, and the total wage bill.
  3. Contrast the theory of wages presented by Hicks with that of Ricardo.
  4. Show how Keynes’ monetary theory of interest evolved from Marshall’s “supply and demand” theory.
  5. Economic conditions in a particular country are disturbed by a rise in the propensity to consume. Explain the repercussions upon the rate of interest, assuming that the amount of money remains unchanged.
  6. Compare the theories of profit of Marshall and Schumpeter.

 

IV

  1. Describe the analytical problems which arise in attempting to measure business cycles.
  2. Show how the demand for producers’ goods is related to the demand for consumers’ goods, and explain the relevance of this relationship to business cycle theory.
  3. Present a brief description of the problem of unemployment which will face the United States at the close of the war, and suggest measures for solving this problem.
  4. Compare Schumpeter’s theory of business cycles with the theory of employment developed by Keynes.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 22, Folder 1.

Image Source: “From family album, taken while Lloyd Metzler was a student at Harvard.”
“Lloyd A. Metzler” by Margiemetz – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.

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Exam Questions Swarthmore Undergraduate

Swarthmore. Senior comprehensive economics exam, 1931

 

The two previous posts provided undergraduate comprehensive examinations for Harvard and Princeton from the early 1930s that were published in the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges (December, 1933). The cross-section of comprehensive economics exams is now expanded with this post to include Swarthmore College’s economics department.

A decade later Swarthmore College brought in external examiners (many of whom recruited from Wolfgang Stolper’s network of Harvard graduate buddies), e.g.

_________________

Senior Comprehensive Examination in Economics

Swarthmore College, 1931

  1. a. Why have railroads been subject to an unusual amount of regulation?
    b. Appraise reproduction cost as a basis for the valuation of public utilities.
    c. Explain the operation of the principle of joint costs in the determination of rates for specific services.
  2. Discuss:
    a. “One of the unions’ chief errors is restriction of output, which is always against the social interest and even fruitless for the workers.”
    b. “To the extent that employee representation seems to the worker to be just an employer’s weapon against trade unionism, it will be still less popular in the future than today and even its good points will be ignored.”
  3. Is it necessary to make goods in order to make money? Give the answers of T. N. Carver, S. & B. Webb, F. M. Taylor, T. Veblen, Adam Smith, R. H. Tawney, and Alfred Marshall. Why have these scholars come to such contrary conclusions after examining the facts? Is it possible that both groups are right; that neither one is right? How so? If not, which group is right and why?
  4. a. Since it is understood that all kinds of money in this country are to be maintained at a parity of value with standard money, would not inconvertible paper money issued by our government be quite as acceptable and useful as any kind? Explain.
    b. In the United States there are many kinds of money. What are they, and what is the security behind each one? Does Gresham’s Law operate? Why, or why not.
  5. a. It is said that the United States is evolving into a commission form of government; that the government set up by the Constitution is gradually delegating its duties to “expert commissions.” Bearing in mind the frailty of commissioners and their staffs, do you believe this is a wise movement? Why? Be specific.
    b. Giving generous reference to the history of governmental regulation in the United States, what do you believe will be the position of the government as a regulator of business twenty-five years hence?
  6. According to present estimates, the federal government will complete this fiscal year, June 30, 1931, with a deficit of nearly one billion dollars. Outline, in detail, the causes of this deficit. Suggest, with reasons, the fiscal program which the government should adopt, for the coming year, in view of this deficit.
  7. Philip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, has proposed the imposition of a tax on the site value of land as a means of balancing the British budget. It is argued that such a tax would have less of a repressive effect upon industry than any other type of tax which might be imposed. Give in detail the reasoning which supports this position.
  8. Give an historical account of the currency agitation and legislation from the end of the Civil War to the end of the last century. What issues were involved and how did they arise? On the whole, do you think that our currency history of this period refutes or verifies the quantity theory of money?
  9. a. Imagine yourself a Congressman in the year of 1828 and make a brief argument for the high tariff policy adopted in that year. Would you argue in the same way today? If not, why not? Is your supposed speech that of a representative from South Carolina or Pennsylvania? Give reasons.
    b. Briefly comment upon what you regard as three important causes or factors in the present industrial depression.
  10. a. How important for price theory and for practical life are differences in the elasticity of demand for commodities? Illustrate, using diagrams.
    b. Translate, and if necessary, correct the following popular statements into the more exact language of economic theory:

(1) “We produce too much coal and people freeze to death; we raise too much cotton and people go naked.”
(2) “Great Britain’s foreign trade is in a bad way; she has an extremely unfavorable balance.”
(3) “The price of corn is low because you can buy good corn land so cheaply.”
(4) “Depressions are due to over-production, and by this I mean that more goods are produced than can be sold, for two reasons; rich people save too much, and the workers do not get high enough wages.”

(Answer five questions. Use the first half-hour to study and select your questions. Then devote about thirty minutes to answering each question.)

 

Source:  Edward S. Jones. Comprehensive Examinations in the Social Sciences, Supplement to the December, 1933 Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, pp. 41-43.

Image Source: Parrish Hall, Swarthmore College  .

 

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Suggested Reading Swarthmore Syllabus

Swarthmore. Honors Economic Theory Seminar. Stolper, ca. 1944

 

This seminar reading list and reports was probably typed by Wolfgang Stolper himself and given to a (the?) departmental secretary for preparing 25 mimeographed copies to distribute. While this typed seminar outline has no date, at least judging from the last item to be reported on, William Beveridge’s Full Employment in a Free Society, the outline probably dates from the 1944-45 academic year.

The course description remained the same throughout Stolper’s years at Swarthmore.

Paul Samuelson was an honors examiner in 1943.

Richard Musgrave also served as an external examiner in 1946.

______________________

Course Description
(taught by Stolper 1941-42 through 1946-47, 1948-49)

The following seminars prepare for examinations for a degree with Honors:

[…]

  1. Economic Theory. Mr Stolper. Each semester.

An advanced analysis of the processes by which the prices of goods and services and the incomes of the factors of production are determined under various market condition. A study of theories of the business cycle. Directed reading and discussion, supplemented by reports on the theoretical problems raised by factual studies.

Source:  Swarthmore College Catalogue, 1941-42 p. 62.

______________________

Stolper
Economics Theory Seminar
25 copies

(1) First Week

Assigned:

Joan Robinson, Imperfect Competition, Bk. I
E.H. Chamberlin, Monopolistic Competition, Chs. 1,2
Ricardo, Principles, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Introd. und Pt. I, Sec 1

Suggested:

J.St. Mill, Principles, Bk. III, except Ch. 5
J. Cassels, A Re-interpretation of Ricardo on Value, QJE, Vol. 49, p. 518

Topic:

Review of the Tools of Analysis

(2) Second Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Lectures, Vol. I, Pt. I, pp. 29-100.  You may omit: p. 31 small print; p. 60-63 small print; p. 79, 2d last para- p. 81 top; p. 93-95, small print and diagram
J. Viner, Cost Curves and Supply curves
Marshall, Principles, Bk. V, Chs. 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 15

Topic:

Pure Competition. The Classical Statement of Value Theory

(3) Third Week

Assigned:

Marshall, op.cit. Bk. V., Chs. 12, 14
Chamberlin, op.cit., Chs. 3-6
Triffin, Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium Theory, Pt. I, secs. 1, 2,4; Pt. II complete

Suggested:

Triffin, op.cit. Pt. I, Secs. 3, 5, note

Topic:

Monopolistic Competition

Report:

TNEC Monograph 21, Competition and Monopoly in American Industry, by Clair Wilcox

(4) Fourth Week

Assigned:

Triffin, op.cit., Pt. III, secs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Suggested:

Triffin, Monopoly in Particular Equilibrium…,Econometrica. Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 121
J. Robinson, What is Pure Competition? QJE Vol. 49, p. 104
F.Y. Edgeworth, Pure Theory of Monopoly
Cournot, Mathematical Theory of Wealth

Topic:

Criticisms of Monopolistic Competition

Reports:

(a) The Problem of Excess Capacity(See Bibliography in Chamberlin, op.cit.)
(b) Price Discrimination between Markets

G. Haberler, International Trade, Ch. on Dumping
J. Robinson, op.cit., Ch. XV
For illustrative facts refer to the following:
TNEC Monog. 41, Price Discrimination in Steel
TNEC Monog. 42, The Basing Point Problem

(c) Price Policy

TNEC Monog. 1, Price Behavior and Business Policy
Hall and Hitch, Oxford Economic Papers No. 2, pp. 12-45
Clive Saxton, The Economics of Price Determination
National Bureau of Economic Research, Cost Behavior and Price Policy

(d) F.P. Bishop, The Economics of Advertising

 (5) Fifth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 1, 2, 11
Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 1. You may omit: pp. 127-129, small print. Don’t worry about the mathematics on pp. 127-131, 139-40
Meyers, Elements of Modern Economics, Ch. XIII (old edition, Ch. XI)
J. Cassels, The Law of Variable Proportions, Explorations in Economics, pp. 223-228
Chamberlin, op.cit. Ch. VIII (also in Explorations, …., pp. 237-250)
Triffin, Pt. III, Sec. 2
Schumpeter, The Instability of Capitalism, Economic Journal, Vol 38 (1928)

Suggested:

Articles by Machlup, Hart, Smithies, and remainder of article of Cassels, in Explorations in Economics
G. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories

 (6) Sixth Week

Assigned:

Marshall, Bk. VI, Chs. 3, 4, 5 Bk. IV, Ch. 4, 5
Ricardo, Ch. 5
Hicks, Theory of Wages, Complete

Suggested:

A. C. Pigou, Theory of Unemployment
J.T.Dunlop, Wage Determination under Trade Unions

Topic:

Wage Theory and Wage Problems

Reports:

(a) Colin Clark, The Conditions of Economic Progress, particularly, Chs. V-IX
(b) National Resources Planning Board, Problems of a Changing Population, pp. 1-138
Reddaway, Economics of a Declining Population
Malthus, Principles,
Myrdal, Population
Hansen, Economic Progress and Declining Population Growth, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, pp. 366-85

(c) P. Douglas, Theory of Wages
National Income of the US, Chs. 1-4

(d) TNEC Monog. 22, Technology in our Economy
TNEC Hearing on Technological Progress, selections
Consult for further readings

(e) J.T. Dunlop, op, cit., Chs. I-VI, IX, X
(f) TNEC Monog. 5, Industrial Wage Rates, Labor Costs and Price Policies

(7) Seventh Week

Assigned:

Ricardo, Ch. 2, 3
Mill, Bk. III, Ch. 5
Marshall, Bk. V, Ch. 10, 11, Bk. VI, Chs. o,10
Chamberlin, op.cit. Appendix D

Report:

H.W. Singer, Index of Urban Land Rents, Econometrica, Vol IX,

(8) Eighth Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development, Chs. 2, 3, 4
Triffin, op.cit., Pt. V, omitting B
Marshall, Bk, VI, Chs. 7, 8
R.A.Gordon, Explorations in Economics, pp. 306-317
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 1
Wicksell, Pt. II, sec. 3

Reports:

(a) Berle and Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property
TNEC Monograph 29, The Distribution of Ownership in the 200 largest non-financial Corporations
(b) W.L.Crum, Corporate Size and Earning Power

Topic:

Profits. General Summary of Value and Distribution

(9) Ninth Week

Assigned:

Wicksell, Pt. II, Sec. 2; Pt. III. You may omit: Sec D, pp. 172-184; pp. 203-5, small print; p. 216, 2d para—p. 217, 1stpara
Marshall, Bk, VI, Ch. 6
Schumpeter, Development, Ch. V, I
Keynes, General Theory, Chs. 13, 14
Higgins and Musgrave, Deficit Financing—The Case Examined, Public Policy Yearbook II, pp. 136-207
O. Lange, The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume, Readings in Business Cycle Theory, No. 8

Suggested:

J.M. Keynes, General Theory
Readings…., Pt. II

Topic:

Interest Theory

Reports:

(a) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, Bks. I-III
(b) E.v. Böhm-Bawerk, Positive Theory, Bks. IV to end
(c) F.A.Lutz, The Structure of Interest Rates, Q.J.E., Vol. 55,

(10) Tenth Week

Assigned:

Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, 1939 ed. or later, Chs. 8, 9, 13
Hicks, Value and Capital, Ch. 24
Hicks, Social Framework, Chs. XI-XVI, Appendices E and F
and either
Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Ch. 4
Kuznets, Review of Schumpeter, AER
or
Mitchell, Business Cycles, Ch. III

Suggested:

Readings…., Pt. I

Topic:

Measurement and Separation of Cycles

Reports:

(a) Burns, Production Trends in the US since 1870
(b) Schumpeter, Business Cycles, Chs. 6, 7
Kondratieff, Readings…, pp. 20-42
(c) Schumpeter, Cycles, Vol. II, Chs. 14, 15
(d) The Cob Web Theorem

(11) Eleventh Week

Assigned:

Schumpeter, Development, Ch. 6
Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
P.A.Samuelson, Readings…. pp. 261-289

Suggested:

Readings, Pt. III, IV, V.
Tinbergen, Critical Remarks on Some Business Cycle Theories, Econometrica, Vol. 10, pp. 129 ff

Reports:

(a) A.H.Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles, particularly Pts. I, III, IV
P.A.Samuelson, A Synthesis of the Principle of Acceleration and the Multiplier, JPE, 1939
_______________, Fiscal Policy and Income Determination QJE, August 1942
(b) Haberler, Prosperity and Depression, Chs. 4, 6, 7
Hansen, Business Cycle Theory
Readings, …., Pts. IV, V
(c) Wm. Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society

Topic:

Business Cycles, Theory and Theories

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economist Papers’ Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 19, Folder “S miscellaneous (2 of 3) Swarthmore Theory outline”.

Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).

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Economists Harvard Radcliffe Swarthmore

Harvard. Wolfgang Stolper describes his training in letter to Hobart College, 1941

 

This post provides Wolfgang Stolper‘s own description of his academic training, teaching and research interests as of early 1941 in a letter to the President of Hobart College regarding his application for an assistant professorship. Stolper’s Harvard coursework for 1934-37 was transcribed for an earlier post. He was on the job market for the 1941-42 academic year after having taught a wide range of courses at Harvard since completing his Ph.D. in 1938. 

Hobart’s offer ended up being only 73% of the offer he was to receive from  Swarthmore (and which he accepted). From the April 29, 1941 letter from President’s office at Swarthmore:  “I realize that the salary which we are offering you [$3300] is considerably under what you have been receiving this year. It is, however, the equivalent of your combined Harvard and Radcliffe salaries for the past two years…” A follow-up letter from the President of Swarthmore College dated May 7, 1941 confirmed the approval of Stolper’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Economics at Swarthmore for 1941-42 at a salary of $3300 ($900 higher than the Hobart offer).

Also of some interest is the rather casual/modest mention of what ultimately was to become Wolfgang Stolper’s greatest hit: “Right now I am finishing another article on Protection and Real Wages.”

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Carbon copy of Wolfgang Stolper’s letter
to President of Hobart College

Wolfgang F. Stolper

19 Ware Street
March 18, 1941

Mr. Brooks Otis
Hobart College
Geneva, N.Y.

 

Dear Mr. Otis,

I am writing this letter to you about my background and training, as you suggested at our meeting on March 17. If you think it desirable either you or I can ask the Harvard appointment office to send you all the documents concerning me.

First about my background. I was born in Vienna in May 1912. There I went to elementary school and through the first three years of high school. We then moved to Berlin where I finished high school (humanistisches Gymnasium) in 1930, and where I also studied law for three semesters. I then went to Bonn, where I studied law and economics in about the same proportions. My economics teachers were Professors Spiethoff, who is now retired, H. v. Beckerath, who is now at Chapel Hill, and Schumpeter who is now in Harvard. From Bonn I went to to Zürich where I wrote a thesis under Professor Eugen Grossmann on the reasons, economic and otherwise, which lead the various nations to defend different economic policies during the World Economic Conference in London in 1933.

In August 1934 I came to Harvard as a Holtzer fellow, and I held a University fellowship during the next year 1935/36. Since 1936 I have been teaching. I took somewhat more than the required eight courses, my main interests within the field of economics being: Theory, Money and Banking, Business Cycles, International Economic Relations, and Building.

In May, 1935 I took my M.A., and in May, 1938 I got my Ph.D.. My thesis was on the British housing boom from 1931-36, and its connection with monetary policy in the widest sense.

My teaching experience has been quite extensive, more so, I believe, than that of most of my colleagues. Besides the usual complement of tutees and the principles course I have been giving half of the lectures in the course on International Economic Relations [Econ 43a,  Report of the President of Harvard College 1938-39, p. 98;  Report of the President of Harvard College 1939-40, p. 99;  Report of the President of Harvard College 1940-41, p. 58,], and I am this year assisting Professors Haberler and Hansen in the course on Business Cycles [Econ 45a, Report of the President of Harvard College 1940-41, p. 58]. In Radcliffe College I am also giving a section of the course on principles, half of the course on International Economic Relations, and also half of the course on Business Cycles [Radcliffe College. Courses of Instruction 1940-41, pp. 43, 45.]. This year I was also asked to give a University Extension course on International Economic Relations [Report of the President of Harvard College 1940-41, p. 347].

The list of my publications does not look too impressive. I have published a number of short book reviews in the American Economic Review, a short theoretical article in the Quarterly Journal. My thesis which I have revised and brought up to date will be published by the Harvard University Press. I also just signed a contract with Blakiston Co. to write a text on International Trade together with my friend, Dr. H.K. Heuser who is Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Right now I am finishing another article on Protection and Real Wages.

Perhaps I should add that I am married and have a ten-year old son.

I hope that this information is what you wanted. My teachers and senior colleagues will of course be glad to give you any information about me which you might want. I need hardly add that I am very interested in the position, and that I, therefore, hope very much to hear from you again in the not too distant future.

Yours very sincerely,

________________

Job Offer to Wolfgang Stolper from Hobart College

HOBART COLLEGE
Geneva, New York

April 29, 1941

The President

 

Mr. Wolfgang F. Stolper
19 Ware Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

Dear Mr. Stolper:

I regret to think that more than a month has passed since I talked with you at Cambridge. Doubtless you have gathered that we had entirely lost interest in you in the interim. That is, however, by no means the case. Since we have to appoint three men at this time, a sociologist, a political scientist and an economist we have, necessarily, had to proceed rather slowly. Our major preoccupation so far has not been Economics simply because we have had to concentrate on one thing at a time. We have now, however, reached a point where the Economics appointment is directly concerning us.

I am writing this letter to you to find out more definitely what your expectations would be. The plain fact is that we find that we cannot offer the salary that we should like to. The best thing that we can do for next year in Economics is an Assistant Professorship at twenty-four hundred dollars ($2400.00). I might also add, as I think I said to you personally, that anyone appointed to this position would have considerable freedom in the choice of courses and in the teaching, and a considerable opportunity to influence the operation and planning of the whole Social Science curriculum here in cooperation with his colleagues in Sociology and Political Science,–that is, of course, if he cared to do so.

If it is not too much trouble, would you drop me a line stating whether you would still be interested in the job as outlined above?

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Brooks Otis

BO/bg

________________

Carbon copy of Stolper letter
declining Hobart offer

Wolfgang F. Stolper

19 Ware Street
May 2, 1941

Mr. Brooks Otis
Hobart College
Geneva, N.Y.

 

Dear Mr. Otis,

Thank you very much for your letter of April 29. I regret very much that I have to reject your offer to come to Hobart next year since I have just accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College.

I was very glad to have had a chance of meeting you, and I hope very much that this letter will not be the end of our relationship.

Very truly yours,

 

Source:Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Wolfgang F. Stolper Papers, Box 23, Folder “[illegibly marked]”

Image Source: Wolfgang F. Stolper from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).

Categories
Harvard Seminar Speakers

Harvard. International Economic Relations Seminar. Haberler and Harris, 1940-45

 

The most famous economics seminar at Harvard University in the history of economics is undoubtedly the fiscal policy seminar run by John Williams and Alvin Hansen. A list of that seminar’s speakers and their topics was included in an earlier post. Below I provide the reported speaker’s and topics for the “younger” international economic relations seminar jointly organized by Gottfried Haberler and Seymour Harris during the War years.

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EXPANSION OF THE SEMINAR PROGRAM

Several additions have been made in the seminar program of the School [of Public Administration] for the year 1940-1941. Professors Haberler and Harris are presenting a seminar on international economic relations. We planned our seminar program in 1937 on the assumption that it was wise to begin with domestic problems despite the fact that a number of the Faculty had special interests in the international field. In view of the events of the last few years, it seems highly important to develop these interests. The seminar given by Professors Haberler and Harris deals with the application of the principles of international trade to current problems…

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1939-40, p. 306.

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1940-41
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS SEMINAR
[partial list]

[Seven of the meetings of the Fiscal Policy Seminar were held jointly with other seminars – four with the International Economic Relations Seminar and three with the Agricultural, Forestry, and Land Policy Seminar.]

 

October 11. SVEND LAURSEN, Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.

Subject: International Trade and the Multiplier. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy Seminar.)

February 21. HARRY D. WHITE, Director, Division of Monetary Research, United States Treasury Department.

Subject: Blocked Balances. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy Seminar.)

March 21. RICHARD V. GILBERT, National Defense Advisory Commission.

Subject: The American Defense Program. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy Seminar.)

May 2. GUSTAV STOLPER, Financial Adviser.

Subject: Financing the American Defense Program. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy Seminar.)

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-41, p. 323 ff.

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS SEMINAR:
1941-1942. Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Harris

In 1941-42 the seminar devoted its attention to war and post-war problems in the field of International Economic Relations. A few meetings were spent on the discussion of fundamental theoretical problems. During the first semester all meetings were taken up by papers of outside consultants and their discussion. In the second semester student reports were presented and discussed, and a few extra meetings were arranged for outside speakers. The consultants and their topics were as follows:

 

October 1. EUGENE STALEY, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Economic Warfare.

October 8.[**] CHARLES P. KINDLEBERGER, Federal Reserve Board. Canadian-American Economic Relations in the War and Post-War Period.

October 15.[**] A. F. W. PLUMPTRE, University of Toronto. International Economic Position of Canada in the Present Emergency.

October 22. HEINRICH HEUSER, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Exchange Control.

October 29. FRITZ MACHLUP, University of Buffalo. The Foreign Trade Multiplier.

November 5. HENRY CHALMERS, United States Department of Commerce. Trade Restrictions in Wartime.

November 12. ARTHUR R. UPGREN, United States Department of Commerce. International Economic Interest of the United States and the Post-War Situation.

November 19. OSKAR MORGENSTERN, Princeton University. International Aspects of the Business Cycle.

November 28.[*] NOEL F. HALL, British Embassy. Economic Warfare.

December 5.[*] ROBERT BRYCE, Department of Finance, Canada. International Economic Relations with Special Reference to the Post-War Situation.

January 26.[*] PER JACOBSSEN, Bank for International Settlements. The Problem of Post-War Reconstruction.

February 13.[*] JACOB VINER, University of Chicago. Monopolistic Trading and International Relations.

February 18. H. D. FONG, Director, Nankai Institute of Economics, Chungking, China. Industrialization of China.

February 25. MICHAEL HEILPERIN, Hamilton College. International Aspects of the Present and Future Economic Situation.

March 11. JACOB MARSCHAK, New School for Social Research. The Theory of International Disequilibria.

March 14.[*] RICHARD M. BISSELL, JR., Yale University and the United States Department of Commerce. Post-War Domestic and International Investment.

March 18. ANTONIN BASCH, Brown University. International Economic Problems of Central and Southeastern Europe.

March 20.[*] ALBERT G. HART, University of Iowa. The Present Fiscal Situation.

April 10. ABBA P. LERNER, University of Kansas City. Post-War Problems.

May 8. HORST MENDERSHAUSEN, Bennington College. International Trade and Trade Policy in the Post-War Period.

 

Six of these were joint meetings with the Fiscal Policy Seminar [*] and two were joint meetings with the Government Control of Industry Seminar[**].

Student reports were presented on the following subjects:

Argentine International Trade.
Exchange Control in Argentina.
Some Aspects of Sino-Japanese Trade.
International Effects of Price Ceilings.
Location Theory and the Reconstruction of World Trade.
Some Post-War Politico-Economic Problems of the Western Hemisphere.
Economic Problems and Possibilities of a Pan Europe, Pan America and Similar Schemes.
The Balance of Payments of China.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1941-42, pp. 344-346.

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS SEMINAR
1942-43. Professor Haberler

A larger portion of the time of the seminar than usual was devoted to the discussion of fundamental principles of international trade and finance. This was due to the fact that the graduate course on international trade (Economics 143) was not offered, and the seminar had to take over to some extent the functions of the graduate course.

There were eleven meetings with outside consultants, of which eight were joint meetings with the Fiscal Policy seminar. The smaller number of students made it advisable to combine the two seminars more frequently than usual. The consultants and the topics discussed with them were as follows:

 

November 13. Professor FRITZ MACHLUP, University of Buffalo. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: National Income, Employment and International Relations; the Foreign Multiplier.

November 18. Dr. THEODORE KREPS, Economic Adviser, Board of Economic Warfare, Office of Imports.

Subject: Some Problems of Economic Warfare.

November 27. Hon. GRAHAM F. TOWERS, Governor, Bank of Canada. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: Canadian War Economic Measures.

December 4. LYNN R. EDMINSTER, Vice-Chairman, U. S. Tariff Commission. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: Post-War Reconstruction of International Trade.

December 11. Professor SEYMOUR E. HARRIS, Director, Office of Export-Import Price Control, Office of Price Administration. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: Trade Policy in Wartimes.

February 12. THOMAS MCKITTRICK, President, Bank for International Settlements. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: The Bank for International Settlements.

February 24. Dr. LEO PASVOLSKY, State Department. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: Post-War Problems in International Trade.

March 3. P. T. ELLSWORTH, War Trade Staff, Board of Economic Warfare.

Subject: The Administration of Export Control.

April 12. EMILE DESPRES, Office of Strategic Services, Washington, D. C. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: The Transfer Problem and the Over-Saving Problem in the Pre-War and Post-War Worlds.

April 16. Dr. ALBERT HAHN. (Joint meeting with Fiscal Policy seminar.)

Subject: Planned or Adjusted Post-War Economy.

April 20. Dr. ALEXANDER LOVEDAY, League of Nations.

Subject: European Post-War Reconstruction.

 

Student reports were presented on the following subjects among others: practice and theory of an international bank; post-war industrialization of China; coordination of fiscal policy in different countries; international position of the Brazilian economy; international commodity agreements; international implications for fiscal policy; British exchange equalization account; and Argentine exchange control.

Twelve students were enrolled in the seminar of which four were Littauer fellows, seven graduate students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and one from the College.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1942-43, pp. 246-247.

 

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS SEMINAR
1943-44. Associate Professor Harris

A new approach was tried in the International Economic Relations Seminar this year. We paid particular attention to the international economic problems of Latin America and especially to the problems raised by the great demand for Latin American products for war, the expansion of exports and of money, and the resulting inflation. Attention was also given to the transitional problems in the postwar period, particularly to the adjustments that will be required in exports, imports, capital movements, exchange rates, and the allocation of economic factors. In the course of the year leading government authorities on Latin American economic problems were invited to address meetings of the seminar, which were frequently joint meetings with the Fiscal Policy Seminar or the students of the graduate course in international organization.

The schedule of meetings for 1943-44 was as follows:

 

November 12. Professor HARRIS.

Subject: Inflation in Latin America.

December 9. Dr. CORWIN EDWARDS, Chairman, Policy Board of the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Cooke Commission to Brazil.

Subject: Brazilian Economy.

December 17. Dr. HARRY WHITE, Director of Monetary Research, Treasury Department.

Subject: Problems of International Monetary Stabilization.

January 6. Professor HARRIS.

Subject: International Economic Problems of the War and Postwar Period.

January 10. Professor HABERLER.

Subject: Reparations.

January 14. Dr. N. NESS, Member, Mexican-U. S. Economic Commission.

Subject: Mexico.

January 17. Dr. BEARDSLEY RUML, Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Subject: Economic Budget and Fiscal Budget.

January 21. Dr. P. T. ELLSWORTH, Economic Studies Division, Department of State.

Subject: Chile.

January 24. Dr. DON HUMPHREY, Special Advisor on Price Control to Haitian Government; Chief, Price Section, O.P.A.

Subject: Haiti.

January 31. Dr. ROBERT TRIFFIN, Member, U. S. Economic Commission to Paraguay.

Subject: Money, Banking, and Foreign Exchanges in Latin America.

February 4. Dr. MIRON BURGIN, Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

Subject: Argentina.

February 9. Dr. FRANK WARING, Director, Research Division, Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

Subject: Broad Aspects of Latin-American Economics.

February 10. Dr. BEN LEWIS, Head of Price Control Mission to Colombia, Special Assistant to the Price Administrator.

Subject: Colombia.

March 9. Dr. HENRY CHALMERS, Department of Commerce.

Subject: Inter-American Trade Practices.

March 31. Mr. HENRY WALLICH.

Subject: Fiscal Policy and International Equilibrium.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1943-44, pp. 271-2.

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS SEMINAR
Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Harris

The seminar meetings in the year 1944-1945 may be arranged under the following headings:

  1. Exchanges, Controls, and International Trade (8 meetings)
  2. Regional Problems (8 meetings).
  3. Regional and International Aspects of Domestic Problems (8 meetings).
  4. Lectures and Discussions on International Trade by Professors Haberler and Harris (8 meetings).

Four of the papers presented at these meetings were subsequently published in economic journals.

The schedule of meetings for 1944-1945 was as follows:

November 16. Dr. RANDALL HINSHAW, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: American Prosperity and the British Balance-of-Payments Problem. (Published in the Review of Economic Statistics, February 1945.)

December 11. EDWARD M. BERNSTEIN, Assistant Director, Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department.

Subject: The Scarcity of Dollars. (Published in The Journal of Political Economy, March 1945.)

December 15. Dr. FRANCIS MCINTYRE, Representative of the Foreign Economic Exchange on Requirements Board of the War Production Board.

Subject: International Distribution of Supplies in Wartime.

December 21. Dr. ALEXANDER GERSCHENKRON, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Some Problems of the Economic Collaboration with Russia.

January 11. Dr. WOLFGANG STOLPER, Swarthmore College.

Subject: British Balance-of-Payments Problem After World War I.

January 22. Dr. WALTER GARDNER, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Some Aspects of the Bretton Woods Program.

January 26. Dr. WILLIAM FELLNER, University of California.

Subject: Types of Expansionary Policies and the Rate of Interest.

January 29. Professor WALTER F. BOGNER, Dr. CHARLES R. CHERINGTON, Professors CARL J. FRIEDRICH, SEYMOUR E. HARRIS, TALCOTT PARSONS, ALFRED D. SIMPSON, and Mr. GEORGE B. WALKER.

Subject: The Boston Urban Development Plan.

March 5. Dr. ROBERT TRIFFIN, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: International Economic Problems of South America.

March 19. Dr. LOUIS RASMINSKY, Foreign Exchange Control Board, Ottawa, Canada.

Subject: British-American Trade Problems from the Canadian Point of View. (Published in the British Economic Journal, September I945.)

March 22. Dr. ROBERT A. GORDON, War Production Board.

Subject: International Raw Materials Control: War and Postwar.

March 26. Dr. HERBERT FURTH, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Monetary and Financial Problems in the Liberated Countries.

April 2. Dr. LLOYD METZLER, Federal Reserve Board.

Subject: Postwar Economic Policies of the United Kingdom. (An article based on this paper and written in collaboration with Dr. RANDALL HINSHAW was published in The Review of Economic Statistics, November 1945.)

April 16. Professor EDWARD S. MASON, State Department, Washington.

Subject: Commodity Agreements.

April 23. Dr. ABBA P. LERNER, New School for Social Research, N. Y.

Subject: Postwar Policies.

April 27. Professor JOHN VAN SICKLE, Vanderbilt University.

Subject: Wages and Employment: A Regional Approach.

May 14. Dr. E. M. H. LLOYD, United Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, British Treasury.

Subject: Inflation in Europe.

May 28. Professor LEON DUPRIEZ, University of Louvain, Belgium.

Subject: Problem of Full Employment in View of Recent European Experience.

May 29. Professor SEYMOUR E. HARRIS, Professor WASSILY W. LEONTIEF, Professor GOTTFRIED HABERLER, Professor ALVIN H. HANSEN.

Subject: The Shorter Work Week and Full Employment.

 

Source:   Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1944-45, pp. 285-6.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. International Trade and Commercial Policy. Haberler, Harris, Leontief 1940

 

Of the fields with a deep bench at Harvard in the immediate pre-WWII era, international trade could boast three faculty members and two post-docs of great distinction: Gottfried Haberler, Wassily Leontief, Seymour Harris; and Wolfgang Stolper and Heinrich (a.k.a. “Henry”) Heuser. This post has the course outlines with assigned readings for both the trade theory and commercial policy semesters and the final examination questions for commercial policy. 

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Henry Heuser from AEA List of Members 1948

HEUSER, HENRY KARL-MARIA, 1747 F St., N.W., Washington, D.C. (1942) Int. Monetary Fund, econ., res., govt serv.; b. 1911; B.A., 1932, McGill; M.A., 1933, Ecole des Science Economiques et Politiques (Paris); Ph.D., 1938, Univ. of London. Fields 10, 1a, 7. Doc. dis.  Economics of exchange control. Pub. Control of international trade (Rutledge, London, 1938; Blakiston, Philadephia, 1939).

Source:  Alphabetical List of Members (as of June 15, 1948) in the 1948 Directory of the American Economic Association (Jan., 1949). American Economic Review, Vol. 39, No. 1.p. 85.

 

Obituary for Henry Heuser (1911-95) from the Washington Post
April 21, 1995

Henry K. Heuser, 83, an economist who retired in the early 1970s from the Agency for International Development, died of cancer April 18 at the Washington Hospice.

Mr. Heuser was born in Berlin. In the mid-1920s, he immigrated to Canada. He graduated from McGill University and also studied at Ecole des Sciences Economiques in Paris and at the London School of Economics, where he received a doctorate.

In the late 1930s, he taught economics and international trade at the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He was author of a book, “Control of International Trade,” which was published in 1939.

During World War II, he was an intelligence officer with the Office of Strategic Services, then after the war he worked in Paris on the Marshall Plan for the economic rehabilitation of postwar Europe.

In the late 1940s, he worked for the Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund, then joined U.S. foreign assistance programs. He served in Italy, Korea, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and the Ivory Coast.

On retiring from AID, Mr. Heuser lived in the Tuscany region of Italy, where he restored a 16th-century monastery and grew grapes for Chianti wine. He returned to Washington about 1987.

Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Maria Heuser of Washington; five children, Chilla Heuser-Rousselle of Paris, Alice Heuser of Potomac, Stephen Heuser of London, Tayo Heuser Shore of Narragansett, R.I., and Michael Heuser of Beverly Hills, Calif.; and 13 grandchildren. MARK LEE PATTEN Carpenter

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Course Enrollment
1940-41

[Economics] 43a 1hf. Professor Haberler and Associate Professor Leontief.—International Economic Relations, I. Theory of International Trade.

Total 22: 1 Graduate, 13 Seniors, 3 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, 3 Others.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-41, p. 63.

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Course Description
1940-41

Economics 43a 1hf. International Economic Relations, I. Theory of International Trade. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructors) Fri., at 9. Professor Haberler and Dr. Stolper.

The course will deal with the following subjects: Monetary problems of international trade; the pure theory of international trade.

 

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 56.

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Economics 43a
International Trade and Commercial Relations
[1939-40]

During the first half of the term the monetary problems of International Trade will be discussed in the following order:

The theory and measurement of the balance of payments
Gold Standard
Paper standard and purchasing power parity theory
Exchange Depreciation
The transfer problem and capital movements
The present gold problem
Problems of exchange control

Assignments of the first six weeks:

Haberler, Theory of International Trade, pp. 1-117.
Whale, International Trade, Chs. 17-19, 21-23
Department of Commerce, The Balance of International Indebtedness of the United States for 1938.
Graham and Whittlesey, “The Gold Problem,” Foreign Affairs, January, 1938.
Meade and Hitch, Economic Analysis, Part V, pp. 307-355.

 

The second half of the term will be devoted to the pure theory of international trade and to some of its applications. The classical theory will be discussed and confronted with Ohlin’s approach. The concept of the terms of trade will be taken up and some applications of monopoly theory, especially to the problem of dumping, will be treated.

Assignments for the second half of the term:

Meade and Hitch, Economic Analysis, Part V, pp. 356-408.
Haberler, International Trade, Chs. IX-XII, and Ch. XVIII.
Ohlin, Interregional and International trade, Parts I and II.
Viner, J., Memorandum on Dumping (League of Nations).

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Folder “Economics, 1940-1941”.

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Final Examination
Economics 43a 1hf.
1940-41

[Not found (yet).]

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Course Enrollment
1939-40

[Economics] 43b 2hf. Associate Professor Harris , Drs. Heuser and Stolper.—International Economic Relations, II. Commercial Policy.

Total 18: 11 Seniors, 6 Juniors, 1 Other.

 

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1939-40, p. 99.

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Course Description
1940-41

[Economics 43b 1hf. International Economic Relations, II. Commercial Policy.] Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., at 12, and a third hour at the pleasure of the instructors. Professor Haberler, Associate Professor Harris, and Dr. Stolper.

Omitted in 1940-41.

 

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics Containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 56.

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Economics 43b
1939-40

Week Subject Reading
Feb. 5-10 General case for free trade and criticism
(Dr. Stolper)		 Haberler, Chs. 13, 14.
Robertson, “The Future of International Trade,” Economic Journal, March, 1938.
Feb. 12-17 General effect of tariffs, partial analysis. Preferential tariffs.
(Dr. Stolper)		 Haberler, Ch. 15
Feb. 19-March 9 Special tariff arguments. Discussion of some of the Hutchins Committee Report. Schüler and Keynes arguments. Foreign Trade Multiplier.
(Dr. Stolper)		 Beveridge, Tariffs, the Case Examined, Chs. 5, 9, 10, 13.
Haberler, Chs. 16, 17, and Ch. 12, §4 review Macmillan Report, Addendum I.
Copland, D.B., “A Neglected Phase of Tariff Controversy,” Q.J.E., 1931.
Anderson, Karl, “Protection and the Historical Situation,” Q.J.E., 1938.
Samuelson, Marion Crawford, “The Australian Case for Protection Re-examined,” Q.J.E., 1939.
Taussig, Chs. 13 and 16.
Suggested reading: Taussig, Chs. 14, 15.
March 11-16 Dumping, anti-dumping duties
(Dr. Stolper)		 Haberler, Ch. 18, omitting the graphs.
Robinson, J., Economics of Imperfect Competition, Ch. 15, sec. 1-4.
Viner, J., Memorandum on Dumping (League of Nations).
March 18-April 20 Other measures, particularly quotas. Exchange Control and Clearing. Exchange Agreements, etc.
(Dr. Heuser)		 Haberler, Chs. 19, 20, 21.
Heuser, Control of International Trade, Ch. VI.
Ellis, Exchange Control, Supplement to Q.J.E., 1939, Ch. I.
Ellsworth, Chs. IX, X.
April 22-27 Tariff History: The glass industry.
(Dr. Davis)		 Probably Taussig, Tariff History.
April 29-May 4 Reciprocal Trade Agreements
(Dr. Stolper)		 Tasca, Reciprocal Trade Policy, selected chapters.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 2, Both in Folders “Economics, 1939-1940 (2 of 2)” and “Economics, 1940-1941”.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 43b2
1939-1940

Part I
(One hour and a half)

Take both questions. Write one hour on one of them and one-half hour on the other.

  1. “Territorial jurisdiction over a particular area can never be of economic advantage as long as there is free trade in commodities.” Do you agree?
  2. Discuss the relative merits of general depreciation, discriminating exchange rates, and export subsidies as means of restoring equilibrium after a period of strict exchange control.

Part II
(One hour and a half)

Answer question 3 and two other questions.

  1. Take (a), (b), (c), or (d) only.
    1. Do you think that Marshall’s argument for free trade are applicable to the United States of to-day?
    2. Outline the reciprocal trade agreements program of the U. S. A. and its probable effects on various sectors of the American economy. Do you think the program leads towards increased bilateralism or towards greater free trade?
    3. “Increased competition from newly industrialised countries compels the older industrial countries to choose between higher tariffs or lower standards of living.”
    4. It has been claimed that the protective effect of an import quota and a tariff combined are cumulative. Discuss with regard to the effects in the importing country as well as in the exporting countries.
  2. If a country’s exports are subject to foreign tariffs it cannot improve its position by levying tariffs on its imports. Give your considered opinion of this assertion.
  3. Under conditions conducive to a flight of capital [,] restrictions on capital exports may fail completely to bring about a permanent improvement in the balance of payments. Discuss.
  4. The total volume of trade between two countries under exchange clearing is just as likely to increase as to decrease. Discuss with respect to clearings between (a) a free country and a control country, (b) two control countries.
  5. “The operation of the foreign trade multiplier necessitates reconsideration of the proposition that employment and national income can never be increased by the introduction of tariffs.” Discuss.

Final. 1940.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations. History, History of Religions,…Economics,…Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1940) in Harvard University. Final examinations, 1853-2001 (HUC 7000.28) Box 5.

Image:  Haberler, Leontief and Harris from Harvard Album 1942.

Categories
Exam Questions Swarthmore Undergraduate

Swarthmore. External Examiner Richard Musgrave’s Economic Theory Exam, 1946

 

 

Harvard economics alumnus Wolfgang Stolper (Ph.D. 1938) was able to leverage his friendships and connections from graduate school to obtain a flow of external examiners for Swarthmore College’s honors examinations in economics. For today’s post I have transcribed the examination questions in economic theory provided by Richard Musgrave (Harvard Ph.D., 1937).

The 1943 honors examination questions of Paul Samuelson have been posted earlier.

_________________________

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

Honors Examination
Richard A. Musgrave
Federal Reserve Board
Washington, D. C.

June 11, 1946
2:00-5:00 p.m.

ECONOMIC THEORY

Answer 4 questions, one from each part. All questions have equal weight.

Part I

There are some basic tools and concepts of economic analysis which can be applied to the solution of a variety of economic problems. Demonstrate this for any one of the following three tools, choosing such illustrations as you consider most significant:

(1) Indifference curves
(2) Tendency toward equilibrium
(3) Multiplier principle

Indicate both merits and shortcomings of your tool.

Part II

(1) Explain the shape of short and long run cost curves for the individual firm and show their relationship to the industry’s cost schedule.

(2) “From the social point of view perfect competition is always superior to monopolistic competition, monopoly or oligopoly.” Discuss.

(3) Discuss price determination under duopoly.

(4) Show briefly the effects on a firm’s price and output of any three of these changes:

(a) An increase in wage rates
(b) A progressive tax on profits
(c) A fall in demand
(d) A flat tax on unit of output. Show how the results will depend upon the prevailing state of competition.

Part III

(1) Compare the economic determination of (a) distribution of income and (b) factor prices in a free market economy and in a centrally planned economy.

(2) “The theory of distribution based on the concept of marginal productivity provides the economist with an adequate answer to the solution of wage disputes”. Do you agree?

(3) Discuss the difference, if any, between interest and profits and state the major factors which determine either return.

(4) Discuss the economic pros and cons of a more equal distribution of income, allowing for all major aspects of the question.

Part IV

(1) Suppose that a rapid development of atomic energy during the next 10 years will lead to a drastic reduction in the cost of power and a replacement of coal and electricity. What would be some of the economic consequences?

(2) Discuss the major factors determining the level of income and employment. You may illustrate with reference to a future year, say 1950.

(3) “As long as flexible costs and prices are assured, it is indeed impossible that overproduction or unemployment should prevail. The doctrine of under-employment equilibrium advanced by Keynes and others is based on the assumption of price rigidity.” Do you agree?

(4) “The capitalist society is inherently unstable. It may be likened to a bicycle rider who can maintain his balance only by moving ahead at a rapid rate.” Explain and discuss.

 

Source: Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Economists’ Papers Archive. Wolfgang Stolper’s Papers. Box 22, Folder 1.

Image Source:Richard A. Musgrave portrait from the University of Michigan Faculty History Project.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Final Exams 2nd semester of graduate money and banking course, John Henry Williams. 1939-41

 

 

John Henry Williams was professor of economics at Harvard (1921-57) and served from 1936-48 as the first dean of its Graduate School of Public Administration. Together with Alvin H. Hansen he taught a graduate course with the nominal title “Principles of Money and Banking” that from judging from detailed notes taken in 1938-39 by R. W. Bean (Harvard Class of 1939) and in 1939-40 by James Tobin (likewise Harvard Class of 1939), also included generous doses of Keynesian macroeconomics and fiscal policy as well as of international monetary economics. From these notes we learn that Hansen and Williams taught the first and second semesters, respectively. To date I have only been able to find the semester final examination questions for the second semesters. A future posting will provide the reading list for the course.

This posting gives the course announcements, enrollments and the final examination questions for the 1938-39 through 1940-41 years.

Research Tip:  a typed copy of the Bean notes [missing pp. 98-99] can be found in the Wolfgang Stolper papers at Rubenstein Archive at Duke University (Box 29 ). A neatly handwritten bound copy of Tobin’s notes can be found in Box 6 of his papers at the Yale Archives.

________________________________

 

1938-39 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN, and Associate Professor HARRIS.

Source: Harvard University. Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences during 1938-39, 2nd edition. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXV, No. 42 (September 23, 1938), p. 151.

 

Course Enrollment

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN, and Associate Professor HARRIS—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 40: 18 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 6 School of Public Administration, 5 Radcliffe, 1 Others

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1938-39, p. 99.

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1938-39

1938-39
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Answer THREE questions

  1. Discuss the elements of instability in our monetary and banking mechanism, and the suggestions in recent years for making it more stable.
  2. Discuss the “pump-priming” theory versus the “compensatory” theory of deficit spending.
  3. Discuss the relation of fiscal policy to long-run economic progress.
  4. Discuss the merits and defects of monetary policy as an instrument of business cycle control.

Final. 1939

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 4 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1939).

 

________________________________

 

1939-40 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

Source: Harvard University. Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1939-40, 2nd edition. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVI, No. 42 (September 22, 1939), p. 158.

 

 

Course Enrollment 

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 65: 38 Graduates, 13 Seniors, 2 School of Public Administration, 6 Radcliffe, 6 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1939-40, p. 100.

 

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1939-40

1939-40
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss question ONE and TWO others.

  1. Keynes’ “General Theory” as a basis for long-run economic stability.
  2. The views of Foster and Catchings and Hayek on the “dilemma of thrift.”
  3. Hawtrey’s analysis of the business cycle and its control.
  4. The American gold problem.

 

Final. 1940

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 5 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1940).

 

________________________________

 

1940-41 Academic Year

Course Announcement

Economics 141. Principles of Money and Banking. Tu., Th., Sat., at 11. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.

The subject as a whole will be systematically reviewed. Selections from important writings dealing with monetary principles will be read and critically discussed. Particular attention will be given to the theory of the value of money and to the policy and operations of central banks.

Source: Harvard University. Division of History, Government, and Economics, Containing an Announcement for 1940-41. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XXXVII, No. 51 (August 15, 1940), p. 61.

 

Course Enrollment 

[Economics] 141. Professors WILLIAMS and HANSEN.—Principles of Money and Banking.

Total 45: 28 Graduates, 4 Seniors, 7 School of Public Administration, 2 Radcliffe, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1940-41, p. 60.

 

Second Semester Final Exam, 1940-41

 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 141
PRINCIPLES OF MONEY AND BANKING

(Three hours)

Discuss THREE topics.

  1. The uses and limitations of the multiplier concept.
  2. Compare the “over-saving” and “under-investment” theories as guides to fiscal policy.
  3. Monetary and fiscal policies under conditions of war or defense.
  4. “Full employment” as a criterion of fiscal policy.
  5. Discuss: “Deficit spending is the logical sequel to central bank policy, and it was entirely logical that its first phase should be pump-priming.”

Final. 1941

Source: Harvard University Examinations. Final examinations, 1853-2001, Box 5 (HUC 7000.28). Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Papers Printed for Final Examinations in History, History of Religions, … , Economics, …, Military Science, Naval Science (June, 1941).

 

Image Source:  John Henry Williams from the Harvard Class Album 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Economists Harvard Syllabus Undergraduate

Harvard. Sweezy and Stolper’s Outline for a “good Text”. 1940

 

 

Three handwritten pages of notes taken by Wolfgang Stolper sometime late in 1940 from what appears to have been a brain-storming session with his buddy Paul Sweezy were important enough to Stolper to have been saved by him in a folder filled with economics honors exams and course syllabi from his early years at Swarthmore.

Anyone who has taught an introductory economics course has probably drawn up a rough outline of one’s own ideal course. Stolper actually attached a handwritten title page that was stapled to the three pages “Outline for a good Ec A course or good Text”. I think there is a note of irony in this description, but maybe not, there really was not an abundance of good modern texts of economics at the time. Paul Samuelson’s own text Economics was only published in 1948.

The significance of the outline is to have a glimpse at what other young Harvard economists around Samuelson were thinking at that critical juncture in modern economics.

Note.  I have highlighted my conjectures for the very few illegibilities/ambiguities in the text.

_______________________________

 

Outline for a good Ec A course or good Text.
by Paul M. Sweezy and W. F. Stolper
about Nov. or Dec. 1940

  1. Nat[tional] Income
    1. explanation of what it is
    2. how received
    3. how spent
      poverty even of U.S.
    4. difference betw[een] inc[ome] prod[uced] & paid out.
  2. Conditions of Equil[ibrium]
    1. Full employment
    2. Savings & investment
      period analysis
  3. Secular Trends in investment
    1. Industr[ial] Revol[ution] today
    2. Kondratieff waves
    3. cycle
  4. Capital Formation
    Rel[ation] betw[een] investment & Nat[ional] income
    Hoarding & dishoarding
    Variation in effective Dem[and]
    Credit creation
    Fed[eral] Reserve System
    “Say’s Law”
  5. Full employment & Fiscal Policy
    thorough awareness of (8a)
  6. Assuming Full Employment
    how should factors of prod[uction] be allocated most effectively
    perf[ect] compet[ition] & rel[ative] optimum
    MP conditions
  7. Modifications of compet[ition]
  8. Corpor[ations] & unions, how effect terms of the foregoing analysis
    1. level of ec[onomic] activity
    2. the effectiveness of ec[onomic] activity
  9. The interrelationship of markets
    Interrel[ationship] betw[een] nat[ional] inc[ome] & for[eign] trade
    allocation of resources betw[een] agr[iculture] & ind[ustry]
    bal[ance] of payments, & rel[ationship] of monetary systems for trade multipliers
    cap[ital] movementsState activity designed to modify & improve working of the system

    1. Fiscal Policy & distrib[ution] of income
    2. Publ[ic] utilities, R[ail]R[oad] rates
    3. antitrust & monop[oly] regul[ation] Gov[ernment] Corp[orations,] TVA etc.
  10. [Welfare economics]
    Criteria for overall planning

    1. to increase level of activity
    2. to increase welfare
      1. meanings of welfare
      2. Taxation problems:
        shifting of taxes
        stimulating taxes
  11. Alternat[ive] Ec[onomic] Systems—Overall Planning
    State Cap[italism]—Socialism—Fascism
    Feudalism

 

 

Source: Duke University, Rubenstein Library. Papers of Wolfgang F. Stolper, 1892-2001, Box 22, Folder 1.

Image Sources: Paul Sweezy (left) from Harvard Class Album 1942; Wolfgang F. Stolper (right) from  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (Fellow, 1947).