Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Money and Banking

Johns Hopkins. Final exams for undergraduate money and banking. Weyforth, 1937-1938

 

Brief biographical information William Oswald Weyforth can be found in the earlier post that has includes the 1930-31 exam questions in money and banking.

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Course Description
for Money and Banking
1937-1938

3 B. Money and Banking. Associate Professor Weyforth. Three hours weekly through the year. M., Tu., W., 9.30. Gilman Hall 311.

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

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.

SourceThe Johns Hopkins University Circular (1937).

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Semester Examinations for Money and Banking
1937-1938

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3 B
(Money & Banking)

February 1, 1938

  1. What are the essential features of a gold standard? Distinguish between a gold specie and a gold bullion standard. Is the United States on a gold standard at the present time? Give the reasons for your answer.
  2. What is bimetallism? What were the forces responsible for the demand for bimetallism after 1873. Criticize the recent silver policy of the United States government.
  3. Distinguish the international “balance of trade” and the “balance of payments” of any country. What are the more important types of transactions that enter into the balance of payments? Explain the forces through which equilibrium in the international balance of payments of a country is maintained under an international gold standard.
  4. When two countries are both on a gold standard why do market rates of exchange between the two currencies remain close to the mint par of exchange? Explain fully the circumstances under which bankers will undertake shipments of gold.
  5. Explain the relation between the quantity of money and the general level of prices. Will an increase in the quantity of money always result in an increase in the general level of prices? Explain fully.
  6. Explain the type of financing under which large government expenditures might lead to inflation. How might such expenditures be financed without bringing inflation?
  7. Explain the relationship between the purchasing power and the exchange rates of two currencies. Is the equilibrium rate between two paper currencies necessarily the purchasing power parity? Explain.
  8. Distinguish between a bill of exchange and a promissory note. Explain the significance of negotiability.
  9. Show how demand deposits in banks serve as money. Explain how banks create deposits. How is the power of banks limited in this respect? Explain the difference between the power of the banking system as a whole and that of a single bank that is one among a number in the system.
  10. What is meant when it is said that the pound sterling was overvalued when England returned to the gold standard in 1925; and that the franc was undervalued when France returned to gold in 1928? What are the economic effects of a country’s overvaluation or undervaluation of its gold currency?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3 B

Dr. Weyforth

May 31, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. What factors have been responsible for the decline of commercial loans in the United States since the end of the world war? What is the nature of the problem that this development has presented to commercial banks?
  2. In what way has speculation in securities been financed by commercial banks? Explain fully. What specific powers have been conferred upon the Federal Reserve Board by the Banking Act of 1933, and by the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 so as to give the Board greater control over speculation in securities?
  3. What factors have been responsible for the large excess reserves of member banks during the depression? Why have these excess reserves not led to a commensurate expansion of loans and investments?
  4. What justification is there for saying that we have a managed currency in the United States at the present time?
  5. What methods may be employed by the Federal reserve system at the present time for the purpose of credit control? Distinguish between quantitative control and qualitative control.
  6. In determining its policy of credit control what consideration should be given by the Federal Reserve officials to the following factors: (a) the state of the gold (gold certificate) reserves of the Federal reserve banks; (b) the general level of commodity prices; (c) the movement of security prices; (d) the volume of employment?
  7. What are the limits of the effectiveness of easy credit conditions as a means of stimulating business activity during a depression? How effective do you believe that government spending may be for this purpose? Explain fully.
  8. State the arguments pro and con for branch banking in the United States.
  9. What is meant by sterilized gold in the United States Treasury? What was the mechanism by means of which this sterilization was accomplished.

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

Image Source: William Oswald Weyforth (ca. 50 years of age). Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection, Sheridan Libraries. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Principles Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Exams for the five sections of principles of economics, 1937-1938

 

This post is the first of transcribed mid-year and end-year course examinations in political economy at Johns Hopkins University for the academic year 1937-1938. Principles of economics was taught in five sections: three for the College of Arts and Sciences, one for the School of Business Economics and one for the School of Engineering.

Related earlier material from Johns Hopkins:

Exams 1921-22;  Exams 1923-24Exams 1932-33

A report of activities of the department of political economy for 1935-1936 has also been transcribed and posted earlier.

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Twitter and Facebook outposts will continue announcing new content as well as occasional retweets, toots, shared-links and other such social stuff. Different strokes and all that jazz, but so far no requests for music or dance videos.

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Course Description

1 C. Elements of Economics. Three hours weekly through the year. Section 1: Dr. Bullock, Th., F., S., 8.30. Maryland Hall 110. Section 2: Associate Professor Mitchell, M., Tu., W., 8.30. Maryland Hall 110. Section 3: Associate Professor Weyforth, M. Tu., W., 11.30. Gilman Hall 314. Section 4: Dr. Cooper, M., Tu., W., 10.30. Gilman Hall 311. Section 5: Mr. Deupree, M., Tu., W., 8.30. Gilman Hall 314.

Note: Students in the School of Engineering will be assigned to Section 1; students in the School of Business Economics to Section 3; and students in the College of Arts and Sciences to Sections 2, 4, and 5.

This course teaches the elements of the science, aiming to show the principles upon which economic society is organized and operated. Particular attention is given to the theory of value and the theory of distribution together with their application to leading economic problems. Such subjects as Money and Banking, Rent, Wages, Interest, Profits, Industrial Combinations, International Trade, are treated in the course. It is part of the purpose of the course to indicate the application of scientific principles to current economic problems.

Required of all students before graduation.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular (1937). Vol. LVI, No. 486 (April, p. 61).

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Elements of Economics
Mid-year and End-year Examinations
1937-1938

Elements of Economics. Section 1
Dr. Roy J. Bullock

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Bullock

Wednesday
February 2, 1938, 9 a.m.

I.

Define or identify:

1. Property
2. Utility
3. Laissez-faire
4. Intensive margin of cultivation
5. Cumulative preferred stock
6. Time preference
7. Craft gild
8. Marginal revenue
9. Vertical combination
10. Demand

II.

What would be the difference between monopoly and competitive price under the following conditions:

    1. Elastic demand and increasing costs
    2. Elastic demand and rapidly decreasing costs
    3. Inelastic demand and increasing costs
    4. Inelastic demand and decreasing costs?

Illustrate each with a diagram.

III.

President Roosevelt has proposed a revision of the Federal Anti-Trust Laws. What reasons are there for being dissatisfied with our existing anti-trust laws? Are there any reasons for changing the objectives that have guided our anti-trust policy in the past? In what respects is the trust problem a price problem? Discuss.

IV.

Assume the following data with regard to a grain farm for the years 1930 and 1936:

1930 1936
Number of bushels produced 5,000 7,000
Total expenses of production $4,500 $8,000
Price of grain per bushel $.90 $1.30
Rate of return expected on farm investments 5% 4%
    1. What was the economic rent of this farm in 1930? in 1936? As a tenant what rent could you have afforded to pay in each year?
    2. Does the rent paid by the former have any effect on the price of grain at the primary market? Explain.
    3. As a buyer of land how much would you have been willing to pay for this farm in 1930? in 1936? Why?
    4. If grain alcohol became a commercial success as a substitute for gasoline, what would be the probable effect on the economic rent of this farm?

V.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the individual proprietorship, the corporation and the partnership from the point of view of the organizer of a business. Why has the corporation gained in relative importance during recent years?

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Bullock

Friday, June 3, 1938 – 9 a.m.

I

Explain briefly the meaning or significance of:

1. Legal tender
2. Favorable balance of trade
3. Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
4. American Federation of Labor
5. Fiat money
6. Stoppage at the source
7. Elastic currency
8. Committee for Industrial Organization
9. Taxation according to benefit
10. Workmen’s compensation law.

II

(a) Explain clearly how commercial banks are able to make loans greatly in excess of their cash resources.

(b) Explain the difference between the equation of exchange and the quantity theory of money.

III

A popular slogan of recent years has been, “More business in government, less government in business.” Developments have been in the opposite direction to that advocated. Have these developments been the result of party politics or are they in accord with underlying economic tendencies? Evaluate the slogan in the light of current conditions.

IV

Appraise national legislation to stablish a minimum weekly wage and a maximum number of hours work per week with regard to its probable effect on laborers income and on the business cycle.

V

(a) “The restoration of the pound sterling to its pre-war value was equivalent to the imposition of a heavy tax upon the British exporting industries.” Explain. Did the increase in the value of the pound make it easier or more difficult for other countries on the gold standard to sell in the British market? Explain.

(b) Explain and illustrate the difference between a tariff schedule designed as a revenue measure and a schedule aimed primarily at protection.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 2
Associate Professor Broadus Mitchell

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
Political Economy 1 C

[Monday, Jan. 31, 1938. 9 a.m. Dr. Mitchell]

  1. What is the general theory of the competitive economic system?
  2. (a) Show how prices are determined under conditions of competition.
    (b) What are some of the forces which, in fact, interfere with this perfect operation of competition?
  3. On what economic theory do inflationists rely? Explain this theory briefly.
  4. State and explain the marginal utility theory of value.
  5. Identify briefly: the Physiocrats, Colbert, Kirkcaldy, James Watt, P. S. DuPont, Salmon P. Chase, R. B. Taney, Friedrich Engels, holding company, consumer‘s surplus, elastic demand.
  6. (a) Discuss the chief means used in this country to cope with the problem of unemployment.
    (b) What is meant by “technological unemployment”?
  7. Explain the changes made in the Federal Reserve System as a result of the depression of 1929.

 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Mitchell

May 30, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. (a) Give the purposes, structure, and method of operation of the Federal Reserve System.
    (b) Why, in your opinion, did it fail to prevent the depression of 1929 and the subsequent closing of the banks of the country?
  2. (a) Explain the differential or Ricardian theory of rent.
    (b) What were the influences responsible for Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty?
    (c) What is the Socialist’s criticism of the single tax proposal?
  3. State and discuss the Wage Fund Theory and the Exploitation theory of wages.
  4. (a) How do pure profits arise?
    (b) What developments in American economic life appear to make our old reliance upon the profit motive inappropriate now?
  5. In what sense is it true that the cost known as interest would be present even in a collectivist economy?
  6. What forces are responsible for the present increased demand for industrial unionism as against craft unionism in the United States?
  7. Contrast the teachings of Robert Owen with those of Karl Marx.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 3
Assoc. Professor William O. Weyforth

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Weyforth

February 3, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. What is meant by the doctrine of “laissez faire”? That were the conditions under which the doctrine was developed? Explain the arguments in favor of the doctrine, and the factors responsible for a departure from the doctrine in recent years.
  2. What are the essential features of the corporation as a form of business organization? How do you account for the rise of the corporate form of business organization in recent years? Distinguish the following: common stock, preferred stock, bonds.
  3. What are the “factors of production” and the “agents of production”? What is meant by the “best combination of the agents of production” as applied to any business enterprise. Distinguish between the average total unit cost of production and the marginal cost of production. Illustrate by diagram.
  4. Explain what is meant by an individual demand schedule for any commodity. Show the relationship between such a demand schedule and the theory of marginal utility. Upon what principles does a consumer tend to divide his expenditures among different commodities? How is the total demand schedule in any market for a certain commodity related to the individual demand schedules?
  5. Show how the market price is determined by supply and demand under conditions of competition. Show how an increase in supply, demand remaining constant, will lead to a decline in price. Would the decline in price be greater where the demand is elastic or inelastic? Explain the problem by the use of diagrams.
  6. In what way is the monopolist able to control price? What is the theory of monopoly price? Explain the statement that the monopolist will tend to fix the price at the point where the marginal revenue curve intersects the marginal cost curve.
  7. What is meant by monopolistic competition? State some of the circumstances under which it tends to appear. Explain the difference in the shape of the demand curve for the product of an individual producer under conditions of pure competition and those of monopolistic competition.
  8. Explain the distinction between industries of constant cost, increasing cost, and decreasing cost. What are the factors primarily responsible for these differences, that is, under what circumstances are we likely to have each type of industry? How can we have an industry of increasing cost and at the same time constant or falling prices for the product of that industry over a period of years.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Weyforth

June 2, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. In the regulation of public utilities, what are the important economic problems involved in the determination of a fair price to be charged for the services rendered?
  2. Show how bank deposits subject to check serve as a medium of exchange. Explain how the volume of such deposits may be affected by the loan and investment policies of banks.
  3. What are business cycles? Explain the theory that fluctuations in general business activity are due primarily to fluctuations in the volume of investment. What are the possibilities of public spending as a means of remedying business depression?
  4. Explain the theory that under conditions of competition the rate of wages in any occupation tends to correspond to the marginal productivity of labor in that occupation. According to this theory how do you explain the relatively higher wages paid to skilled workers as compared with unskilled workers?
  5. Explain how, other things being equal, the growth of population will affect the rent of land. How is this explanation related to Henry George’s proposal. for a single tax on land?
  6. Show how interest rates are determined by the supply of and the demand for loanable funds. What are the sources of the supply of and demand for loanable funds? How may banking policy affect interest rates? What are the limits of banking policy in this respect?
  7. What are the factors that give rise to profits? What functions do profits perform in an economic system of free enterprise?
  8. What are the characteristic features of capitalism? What do you mean by socialism? by communism? What is “utopian” socialism? “scientific socialism”?
  9. Explain the law of comparative cost as applied to international trade.

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 4
Dr. Howard E. Cooper

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UMIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

[Dr. Cooper]

January 31, 1938
9 a.m.

Please write your answers to these questions legibly and in ink.

  1. “The Production of wealth may take the form of the creation of form utility, of place utility, or of time utility.”
    Explain and give examples of each.
  2. What would be the effect on our industrial system of too much saving, of too little saving?
  3. “The division of labor promotes production by economizing labor, increasing its efficiency, and making more effective use of capital.” This is all helpful from the point of view of capital. How about the laborer?
  4. What is the concept of marginal utility?
  5. What are some examples of elastic demand?
    What are some examples of elastic supply?
  6. Distinguish between increasing costs and decreasing costs.
  7. What is the meaning of imperfect competition?
  8. What are some of the limitations on monopoly price?
  9. Suppose the quantity of money held by everyone were to be doubled. Would we be twice as wealthy? Explain.
  10. Discuss briefly some of the factors which influence the rate of interest.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
IN
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Cooper

Monday [May] 30, 1938
9 A.M.

Please use ink and write clearly.

  1. In what ways does the Federal Reserve System seek to control credit?
  2. (a) What is the significance of the double budget made use of by President Roosevelt?
    (b) Trace briefly the National Debt of the United States?
  3. (a) What is meant by combining business risks to prevent their harmful effects? Illustrate.
    (b) What is meant by passing risks to the shoulders of others more able or willing to bear them? Illustrate.
  4. Define the following:
    (a) a pool
    (b) a trust
    (c) a holding company
    (d) a consolidation
    (e) a merger.
  5. The newspapers frequently carry statements to the effect that local patriotism requires that you patronize local merchants and industries in order to keep money at home. Criticize.
  6. What factors lead to fluctuations in foreign exchange?
  7. Would you advocate an early return to the gold standard? Give reasons for and against.
  8. Discuss briefly the factors affecting the supply and demand for labor.
  9. Distinguish between the craft or trade union, and the industrial union. Which do you think will be the union of the future? Why?
  10. Marx held that the tendency toward concentration, and the increasing numbers and misery of the laboring class would lead us into Socialism. Taking into consideration the long time period, is it possible that he was right?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Elements of Economics. Section 5
Dr. Robert G. Deupree

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MID-YEAR EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Deupree

February 1, 1938
1 p.m.

  1. Define: wealth, utility, income, capital, functional distribution.
  2. Contrast: the manorial system, guild system, and domestic system.
  3. Distinguish between the following forms of the business unit: Individual proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, and corporation.
  4. Discuss the economic effects of division of labor.
  5. Explain the marginal utility concept.
    How does it relate to price?
    Explain marginal cost of production.
    How does it relate to price?
  6. Distinguish between production under conditions of increasing, decreasing, and constant costs, giving examples of each.
  7. A monopolist finds the following cost and demand schedules prevailing in the market for his commodity:
Quantity Cost per unit Selling price per unit
1,000,000 1.00 1.00
750,000 1.07 1.10
500,000 1.36 1.40
250,000 1.49 1.50

What would be the monopoly price in this market? Why? Are there any limitations upon the monopolists’ power to fix price? Explain.

  1. Show how economic rent arises on urban lands. Does the law of diminishing returns apply to urban lands? If so, in what manner? Explain what is meant by the extensive and intensive margins of cultivation in agriculture and their relation to economic rent.
  2. What is the time preference theory of interest?
    How would the rate of time preference be affected by:
  1. a steady growth of the national income?
  2. extravagance in consumption?
  3. old age pensions paid by the government?
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1 C

Dr. Deupree

June 1, 1938
9 a.m.

  1. Identify or define:
    1. Karl Marx
    2. Thomas Malthus
    3. Gresham’s law
    4. Knights of Labor
    5. Rochdale system
    6. Law of large numbers
    7. Hedging
    8. Processing taxes
    9. Gold export point
    10. Mint par of exchange.
  2. a. Discuss money.
    b. Define a commercial bank and discuss its functions.
    c. Define a central bank and discuss its functions.
  3. Summarize the major provisions of and evaluate any two of the following:
    a. Banking Act of 1935
    b. Social Security Act
    c. Trade Agreements Act
    d. National Labor Relations Act
    e. National Industrial Recovery Act
    f. Clayton Anti-trust Act
  4. a. Sketch the basis of the conflict between the American Federation of Labor and the Committee for Industrial Organization. Discuss the relative merits of the arguments.
    b. How would you account for the wages paid a particular group of workers — for example, carpenters in Baltimore?
  5. a. What are the basic Socialist proposals?
    b. Distinguish: Socialism, Communism, Fascism.
  6. How would you meet the unemployment problem in the United States? Give reasons for each step you propose.

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

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate economics examinations, 1921-1922

 

Mid-year and year-end exams for the undergraduate political economy courses at Johns Hopkins for the academic year 1921-1922 have been transcribed for this post. Exams for the second semester of Political Economy V and VI were not found in the department’s file of old examinations. Names of instructors with their educational backgrounds along with short course descriptions are provided below as well.

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Previous years’ exams transcribed

Undergraduate exams for 1919-20.

Undergraduate exams for 1922-23.

Undergraduate exams for 1923-24.

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Johns Hopkins Faculty 1921-22
For Undergraduate Courses in Political Economy

Weyforth, William Oswald, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.

A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

Mitchell, Broadus, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.

A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph.D., 1918.

Barnett, George Ernest, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.

A.B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, John Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.

Jacobs, Theo, A.B., Associate in Social Economics.

A.B., Goucher College, 1901; Federated Charities of Baltimore (District Assistant, 1905-07, District Secretary, 1907-10, Assistant General Secretary, 1910-17, Acting General Secretary, 1917-19).

Sources:

Academic Rank  in 1921-22 from The Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1922, No. 7. Report of the President of the University 1920-1921  (November 1922), p. 70.

Academic biographical data from The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924.

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UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1921-22

Political Economy I. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States were studied. In the second half-year particular attention was given to the history of distribution and its application to leading economic problems. (Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy II. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation was made; attention was directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry. In the second half-year the principles of monetary· science were taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking and credit. (Professor Barnett and Dr. Weyforth.)

Political Economy IV. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the problems growing out of modern industrial employment were studied. In the second half-year the history of the industrial corporation was studied. (Professor Barnett and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy VI. Three hours weekly, through the year. In the first half-year the applications of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, were considered. In the second half-year the theory and practice of finance was considered, with particular reference to the problems of taxation presented in the experience of the United States. (Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.)

Political Economy VII. Two hours weekly, through the year. History and development of social work. The responsibility of the State and private organizations toward the dependent, defective, and delinquent. (Miss Theo Jacobs.)

SourceThe Johns Hopkins University Circular, New Series 1922, No. 7. Report of the President of the University 1921-1922  (November 1922), pp. 56-57.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
(Academic Section)

January 30, 1922 — 2-5 P.M.

  1. What was the economic situation of England during the Roman occupation?
  2. Describe the economic strength and weakness of the manorial system, and show how the feudal plan suggests the Single Tax scheme.
  3. What elements in gild life would be welcome in our present industrial order, and what elements of the medieval arrangement would be impossible with us at present?
  4. Tell what you know of trading in England in the middle ages.
  5. Suppose half the people of the United States should die inside of two or three years. What would be the chief economic consequences?
  6. Trace the gradually developing economic freedom of the lowest order of workers in England. Did peasants benefit more from the breaking up of the manorial system, or journeymen and apprentices from the collapse of the gilds?
  7. What was the economic condition of England on the eve of the Industrial Revolution?
  8. What is the significance of the Industrial Revolution? How did the factor system differ from the factory system?
  9. Define briefly: enclosures, Peasants’ revolt, Gresham’s Law, Steelyard, steward, serf or villein, apprentice, domestic system, Doomsday Book, Statute of Artificers, staple, virgate.
  10. What is the chief thing you have learned in this semester?

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY I
(Academic Section)

Wednesday, May 31 — 2-5 P.M.

  1. What distinction would you draw between history, political science, and political economy? Explain fully.
  2. What facts in the industrial history of England illustrate economic principles that we have dwelt upon?
  3. Define: Wealth, capital, labor, time discount, wages of superintendence, consumer’s surplus, real wages, economic good, marginal productivity, entrepreneur.
  4. Explain carefully the differential principle of rent. With whose name do we link this theory, and how did Henry George employ the law of rent to justify the Single Tax?
  5. What was the wage-fund theory, and how was it used to discourage trade unionism?
  6. Comment fully on this passage from Adam Smith: “Nothing is more useful than water; but it will purchase scarce anything; scarce anything can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use, but a very great quantity of goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.”
  7. What accounts for the phenomenon of interest?
  8. What is meant by pure profit?
  9. Comment upon the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in declaring the national act imposing a 10% tax on the net profits of industries employing children unconstitutional.
  10. Give, briefly, as many arguments as you can for and against trade unionism?
  11. State the number of firms interviewed by you in connection with the survey of the industrial life of the Negro in Baltimore.

RE-EXAMINATION
POLITICAL ECONOMY I.
[Handwritten note: Late June 1922]

  1. Define the following terms: “entrepreneur”, “marginal utility”, “capital”, “labor”, “diminishing returns”.
  2. Explain fully the differential principle of rent.
  3. Name and describe briefly four theories of wages.
  4. What in your judgment is the best justification for trade unions?
  5. What seems to you the most reasonable theory of interest?
  6. Explain the theory of value to which most emphasis was given in the lecture.

_______________________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY 1.
Dr. Weyforth

Monday — January 30, 1922 — Afternoon.

  1. Describe the chief characteristics of the economic life of the towns in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  2. What was the industrial revolution? What new conditions and what problems in economic life resulted from it?
  3. Define the following terms: goods, free goods, economic exchange value, price,
  4. Explain the underlying principles of “scientific management” in production. State and explain the attitude of organized labor toward scientific management.
  5. Explain how market price is determined under conditions of competition. What is the relationship between market price and expenses of production?
  6. Describe the principal forms of combination that have been used in the United States. Outline the main features of Federal legislation concerning combinations.
  7. What is meant by standard money? What are the requirements of a bimetallic standard? Outline the main features of the monetary legislation of the United States.
  8. What is a corporation? How is it brought into existence? What are its advantages as compared with the partnership or individual enterprise? Describe the principal securities through the issue of which its capital is obtained.

 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY 1
(Engineering Group)

[N.B. falsely filed as a 1923 exam]

Wednesday, May 31.

  1. Define the various types of credit. Explain how bank credit serves as a substitute for money as a medium of exchange,
  2. Explain the factors that a bank officer takes into consideration in judging of the credit standing of a borrower,
  3. What is the fallacy involved in the mercantilist theory of the desirability of a favorable balance of trade?
  4. Explain the theory that each factor in production tends to receive a share of the product corresponding to its marginal productivity.
  5. What is interest? Give an analysis of the forces that determine its rate.
  6. How do you account for inequalities in the personal distribution of wealth? Why is less inequality desirable? How could it be effected?
  7. What are some of the outstanding economic characteristics of railroad transportation? Explain their bearing upon the following: (a) practice of charging what the traffic will bear; (b) large variations in net earnings with small variations in traffic; (c) cut-throat nature of competition that sometimes develops.
  8. What is socialism? Give briefly the arguments for and against

_______________________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY II.

Thursday, February 2, 1922 — 9-12 A.M.

  1. What is the distinction between a census and a registration?
  2. Define an average. Illustrate by defining the arithmetic mean, the mode and the median.
  3. Define an index number. Explain the difference between the aggregate and the relative methods of constructing an index number.
  4. Taking the following group of figures calculate the standard deviation:
Height of men No. in Class
5.6 — 5.7 28
5.7 — 5.8 42
5.8 — 5.9 65
5.9 — 5.10 78
5.10 — 5.11 164
5.11 — 6.0 92
6.0 — 6.1 46
6.1 — 6.2 7
  1. For the same group, calculate the mode.
  2. For the same group, calculate the mean.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
Money and Banking
Dr. Weyforth

Friday, June 2

  1. What is bimetallism? What are the chief requisites of a bimetallic standard? What principles do the bimetallists depend for maintaining the concurrent circulation of gold and silver?
  2. Define credit. What are the various kinds of credit? Distinguish especially the difference between investment credit and mercantile or commercial credit?
  3. What is the function of the commercial paper house or note broker in present day commercial banking?
  4. What is (a) a trade acceptance and (b) a bank acceptance? Explain their use and advantages.
  5. What problems are presented to bankers (a) by seasonal fluctuations in business and (b) by cyclical fluctuations in business?
  6. Describe the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  7. In what way does the Federal Reserve System provide for elasticity in currency and elasticity in credit?
  8. What is the principle that governs the distribution of gold among the nations of the world under normal conditions such as those existing before the war?

_______________________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV
(Labor Problems)

February 2, 1922 — 9 A.M.-12M.

  1. What are the principal reasons for believing that trade unionism and employers’ associations did not originate in the medieval gilds?
  2. State in some detail who Francis Place was and explain his service to trade unionism.
  3. What present-day evidences have we of the spirit which characterized the English combination acts?
  4. State the arguments for and against the “closed shop”.
  5. What do you know of the history of strikes?
  6. Give your estimate of the purposes and progress of workers’ education in England and in the United States?
  7. In the light of what you have learned, do you believe compulsory arbitration likely to promote industrial peace? What would you make the main provisions of a compulsory arbitration law could such be passed by congress?
  8. Speak of the trade agreement and its significance.
  9. Describe briefly one of the books you read during this course.
  10. What do you think will be the next important development in the labor movement in this country?
  11. List the books you have read for this course.

 

EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY IV.

Friday, June 2nd, 1922, (3-5 p.m.)

  1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the partnership?
  2. Why is a complex capitalization usually superior to a simple form of capitalization?
  3. What is the distinction between preferred and common stock as to (a) income, (b) control, (c) risk?
  4. Define mortgage bonds, debenture bonds, income bonds, collateral bonds and equipment trust bonds.
  5. What is meant by amortization? Under what circumstances is some provision for amortization necessary for the protection of the bond-holders?
  6. What is the distinction between an underwriting syndicate with undivided liability and a syndicate with divided liability?
  7. Does a stock dividend theoretically increase the total value of the stock outstanding? Practically how does it frequently work and why?
  8. What are the advantages of the holding company form of organization?

 

_______________________________

POLITICAL ECONOMY VI
Dr. Weyforth.

Tuesday — January 31, 1922 — Afternoon.

  1. Explain the construction of a logarithmic chart. What are its advantages?
  2. Explain and illustrate the construction of (a) an index number of relatives, and (b) an index number of aggregates. What advantages are claimed for the latter?
  3. Describe the way in which the Bureau of Labor Statistics index number of the total cost of living is constructed
  4. What is the utility of an index number of the physical volume of production? Explain how Professor Stewart and Professor Day respectively constructed their index numbers.
  5. Explain as fully as you can the system employed by the Harvard University Committee on Economic Research for the forecasting of business conditions.

_______________________________

[POLITICAL ECONOMY VII.]
SOCIAL ECONOMICS
Miss Jacobs.

Monday — January 30, 1922  — Morning

  1. Give the arguments for and against public outdoor relief.
  2. Give the war and peace time activities of the American Red Cross.
  3. What is the Confidential Exchange of Information? What is its value to the community?
  4. What are the effects of dependency and delinquency upon the community?
  5. Give some of the causes of poverty. Tell how some of them may be lessened or eradicated.
  6. Give the objects and aims of three (3) social organizations that seem the most important to you.

 

Source: Johns Hopkins University. Eisenhower Library. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box No. 6/1, Folder “Exams 1907-1924.”

Image Source. Gilman Hall image from the 1924 edition of the Johns Hopkins’ yearbook Hullabaloo.

 

Categories
Economics Programs Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Exams for Undergraduate Political Economy Courses, 1923-1924

 

Several undergraduate course exams for the 1922-23 academic year at Johns Hopkins University in Political Economy have been posted earlier. The exams for 1919-20 have also been transcribed. A more complete (though still incomplete) sample is available the the university archives for the following year and which have been transcribed for this post.

_______________________________

Johns Hopkins Faculty
for the Undergraduate Courses in Political Economy
1923-1924

Barnett, George Ernest, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.

A.B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, John Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.

Weyforth, William Oswald, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Economy.

A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

Mitchell, Broadus, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.

A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph.D., 1918.

Jacobs, Theo, A.B., Associate in Social Economics.

A.B., Goucher College, 1901; Federated Charities of Baltimore (District Assistant, 1905-07, District Secretary, 1907-10, Assistant General Secretary, 1910-17, Acting General Secretary, 1917-19).

Newlove, George Hills, Ph.D., Associate in Accounting, School of Business Economics.

Ph.B., Hamline University, 1914; A.M., University of Minnesota, 1915; Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1918; C.P.A. (Ill.), 1918; C.P.A. (S.C.), 1919.

Gillies, Robert Carlyle, A.B., Instructor in Political Economy.

A.B., Princeton University, 1920.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924.

Biographical information for George Hills Newlove found in John J. Kahle American Accountants and their Contributions to Accounting Thought, 1900-1930. Routledge Library Editions: Accounting, 2014.

_______________________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1923-24

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

Three hours weekly through the year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH, Dr. MITCHELL and Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Statistical Methods.

After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Money and Banking.

The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

  1. American Trade Unionism.

The history, structure and functions of American trade unionism are studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor BARNETT.

  1. Labor Problems.

The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor BARNETT.

(Course 5 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Corporation Finance.

The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered , with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor BARNETT.

  1. Investments.

Includes historical and analytical description of the more important forms of investments and theories of valuation and amortization.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor BARNETT.

(Course 7 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Applied Statistics.

The applications of statistics to business and economic problems, such as price levels, cost of living, wage adjustments, business cycles, and business forecasting, are considered.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

  1. Foreign Trade and Exchange.

The economic principles of international commerce, the methods of conducting foreign trade, and the theory and practice of foreign exchange will be studied.

Three hours weekly, first half-year. Associate Professor WEYFORTH.

(Course 9 will not be given in 1923-24.)

  1. Business Organization.

This course is designed not only to show the structure of typical business entities, but their methods of formation and expansion. The common forms of securities are examined. Operation and administration of business units and the processes of marketing are studied in detail.

Three hours weekly, second half-year. Mr. GILLIES.

  1. Accounting.

This course deals with the fundamental principles underlying the recording of business transactions in the accounting books and records, and the preparation of balance sheets and statement of profit and loss for single entrepreneurs, partnerships, and corporations.

Four hours weekly, through the year. Dr. NEWLOVE.

  1. Economic History.

This course is designed to furnish a background for the study of economic principles and special phases of economic activity. It is a particular purpose of the course to show the relationship between economic fact and economic and political theory and practice.

Three hours weekly, through the year. Dr. MITCHELL.

  1. Social Economics.

The history and development of charitable and social agencies are traced. Causes and treatment of cases of dependency and delinquency are discussed.

Two hours weekly, through the year. Miss JACOBS.

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register 1922-1923, No. 342, January 1923. Announcements for 1923-1924, pp. 255-256.

_______________________________

Examinations for
Undergraduate Political Economy Courses
Johns Hopkins University
1923-1924

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “A”

February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Compare the manorial system with farming at the present time. Compare the system of industry in towns during the middle ages with the modern industrial system.
  2. What is meant by the “industrial revolution”? What theories in regard to the proper relationship of the state to industry, developed at this time? Explain. Compare these new ideas with the theory and practice preceding. What is the tendency of present theory and practice as regards state interference with industry?
  3. (a) “Labor alone is the producer of wealth; take away labor and not all the capital in the world could produce anything.” Allowing the second clause to be true as a statement of fact, does it prove the proposition contained in the first? Explain.
    (b) “Discovery and invention have doubtless played a very large part in securing our present high industrial efficiency. But they are not the whole thing. The increase of capital has been equally necessary; for, without capital, invention could have accomplished little or nothing.” Defend and illustrate the last sentence.
  4. Explain how market price is the result of the forces of supply and demand. Illustrate by tables and diagrams showing supply and demand. At what point does price tend to be fixed? Why?
  5. Define the following: (a) utility; (b) diminishing utility, (c) marginal utility. Why can we say that the market price of a good corresponds to the marginal utility of that good to the marginal consumer?
  6. In general, what is the relationship between cost of production and market price? What is the relationship between the cost of production of two goods produced under conditions of joint cost and the selling prices of those goods? If the price of cotton seed oil should rise, what would tend to be the effect upon the price of cotton fibre? Why?
  7. What are the functions of money? What is meant when it is said that we have a “gold standard” in the United States? What are the actual kinds of money in use in the United States?
  8. What is credit? What service does it perform in the modern economic system? What is the difference between a promissory note and a bill of exchange? What use does the business man make of a commercial bank?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “A”
[Dr. Weyforth]

Thursday; May 29, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. Explain the economic factors that must be taken into consideration in determining Germany’s capacity to pay reparations. How will Germany obtain funds abroad with which to make such payments?
  2. What policy should be pursued by the business man during a period of cumulating prosperity? What would be the policy of banks during such a period?
  3. Explain the principles determining the rent of land. If the price of wheat is $1.50 per bushel, what rent could be paid for the use of an acre of land that yielded 30 bushels at an average cost in labor and capital of $1.25 per bushel? Would the tendency be for any of these bushels to cost the producer $1.50? Explain.
  4. How do you account for the great differences in the wages of railroad presidents and of unskilled laborers? Suggest a general program for our society that would tend to bring about a much greater degree of equality in the returns for labor service than now prevails.
  5. Explain why interest can be paid and why it must be paid. What is the effect upon the rate of interest of (a) increased saving, (b) inventions making possible the use of more elaborate machinery, (c) war? Explain.
  6. What is the nature of the railroad problem in the United States? Describe briefly the history of our governmental policy toward railroads. What possible methods of handling the problem are open to us at the present time?
  7. Distinguish socialism from anarchism and syndicalism. What would you say is the fundamental idea in socialism? What criticisms do the socialists make of our present economic system? Give a critical estimate of socialism.
  8. What would you expect to be the relation between the goods exports and the goods imports of a country during the following periods:
    1. When it is first open to settlement or to industrial enterprise;
    2. When it has become quite well supplied with imported capital goods;
    3. When its citizens begin to make investments in other countries;
    4. When a relatively large amount of such foreign investments have been made.

Explain the reasons for your answer. In which of the above stages is the United States? England? Mexico?

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “B” [Mitchell.]

Tuesday, February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. What are the distinctions between the physical sciences and the social sciences?
  2. Why is our interest turning at this time to production?
  3. Define briefly: consumer’s surplus, capital, wealth, “unearned increment”, diminishing returns.
  4. What is the chief criticism to be made of cost theories of value?
  5. (a) Why is it sometimes to the advantage of an individual landowner to withhold his land from use?
    (b) How does the withholding of land from use affect the incomes of landlords as a class?
    (c) Can a tax on land be shifted from owner to occupier?
  6. What do you understand by Ricardo’s “iron law of wages”?
  7. (a) Why is interest paid? (b) Why did the schoolmen of the Middle Ages object to interest?
  8. What is the justification of a progressive income tax?
  9. State all you know about the personnel of the new labor government in Great Britain.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “B”
Elements of Economics

Thursday, May 29, 1924

  1. Discuss the several sorts of monopoly.
  2. What are the advantages of the corporate form of business enterprise?
  3. (a) What is the justification for a progressive income tax?
    (b) Compare the advantages of financing a war by taxation and by borrowing.
  4. Describe briefly the Federal Reserve System.
  5. What are the economic and social effects of inflation?
  6. Discuss the main doctrines of Karl Marx.
  7. What are the chief benefits and drawbacks of a cooperative system as opposed to a competitive system?
  8. (a) Discuss the origin of trade unionism.
    (b) Distinguish between the purposes and methods of the I.W.W. and the unions affiliated with the A.F. of L.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “C”

February 5th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the present economic system? What are its present tendencies? Under what conditions should the state interfere in our economic processes, and how?
  2. Summarize the case for competition as opposed to (a) private monopoly; (b) state ownership. In what type of cases would private monopoly under state regulation offer the best solution?
  3. How is the price of labor affected by changes in the volume of immigration? By shifting of the negro population? What classes of labor would be affected? Relate your answer to the fact that wages rose constantly in the United States from 1897-1921.
  4. (a) Given the following data:
Price (Dollars)
3.00 4.00 5.00
Demand (units) 52 46 30
Supply (units) 24 35 56

Calculate the elasticity of demand at $4.00.
(b) What are the conditions that make for a slow rate of diminishing utility?

  1. Is there any necessary connection between monopoly and “big business”? What is the difference between a partnership and a corporation in (a) legal requirements and liability, (b) structural organization, (c) comparative advantages?
  2. Define non-cumulative-participating-preferred stock; holding company; general-mortgage bond. Give the principal features of the Sherman Act. Name some methods of unfair competition.
  3. Would wheat be a satisfactory money commodity? Would diamonds? Give reasons for your answers. What is meant by the “gold standard”? What has been our experience with bimetallism? Can it work?
  4. What is meant by “fiat” money? Were the greenbacks fiat money? Were the Federal Reserve notes issued during the World War fiat money? Why did prices go up during both wars? Is this necessary? Why?
  5. Describe the Federal Reserve System, its chief functions, changes it produced in our money and banking system, etc. How are checks cleared under the system?
  6. What is the quantity theory of money? What would be the effect upon prices of (a) adopting bimetallism, (b) increased bank reserve requirements, (c) a national fad for gold ornaments, (d) a higher rediscount rate, (e) enforcing seigniorage?
    If the quantity of metallic money has not changed, nor the level of prices, how do you reconcile this fact with a change in the volume of business over the same period?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY I “C”
[Mr. Gillies]

May 29, 1924—9  A.M.

  1. Whom do you consider the most important factor in modern business, the landlord, the laborer, the capitalist, or the entrepreneur? Give reasons for answer.
    What other elements must be separated from price movements before the business cycle can be recorded? How can you tell when business is near a crisis?
  2. What is the purpose of the finance bill, and how does it operate? Discuss the merits and limitations of the doctrine of purchasing power parity, and tell what effect the maintenance of a high tariff by the United States against England has in the working of the doctrine as between these two countries.
  3. Validate the statement that the only way Germany can pay her indemnity is by an excess of exports over imports.
    Show how the mechanism of foreign exchange and international trade tends to produce like price movements all over the world.
  4. Outline the argument for the utility theory of value as opposed to the cost of production theory of value and show the application of these arguments to the determination of the share of industrial earnings going per unit to land and to capital.
  5. How is rent determined when the same land may be used for a number of different purposes? What has the varying intensivity [sic] of cultivation to do with rent?
    What is the economic justification of labor unions?
  6. Distinguish the attitude of British law and the Clayton Act in regard to labor disputes. What place does the concept of conspiracy play in the treatment by the courts of labor troubles in this country? Do you consider it just for the employer to bear the whole cost of industrial accidents? Is this the effect of our compensation laws?
  7. How large a return must be imputed to capital goods in order that they may truly pay for themselves? Does the fact that the price of consumption goods, when traced back, ultimately resolves into rent, wages and interest mean that there is no such thing in the long run as profits? (Reasons)
    Show roughly how income is distributed among our population. What can be done to improve this distribution.
  8. Is an increasing percentage of the national income spent for governmental activity a sign of increasing extravagance? (Reasons) To what extent should a government borrow and to what extent should it support itself by taxation? What constitutes justice in taxation?
  9. Distinguish direct and indirect taxes. Name some taxes of each kind. What taxes can be shifted? What determines the amount of shifting? What are the objections to a general property tax?

 

Examination in Statistics
(Pol. Econ. II)

January 31, 1924

  1. What are some of the common sources of secondary data? Given the relative advantages and disadvantages of collecting data by (a) personal investigation, (b) questionnaires, (c) enumerators. Give examples where possible in all cases.
    20 minutes.
  2. Give the number and total capacity of box cars, coal cars, and other cars in the Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of the United States, tabulate so as to show average capacity of these three types and of all cars in each district and in all districts; use letters with subscripts to represent data, e.g. capacity coal cars in the Southern District = Ccs.
    30 minutes.
  3. Sow the various ways in which the above data could be presented diagrammatically, pictorially, or graphically.
    20 minutes.
  4. Given the following data:
Article of Food Consumption, 1901, per family Average Retail Price per Unit
1913 1917 1920
Sirloin steak 70 lbs. $0.25 $0.32 $0.35
Eggs 80 doz. 0.35 0.48 0.70
Milk 350 qts. 0.09 0.11 0.17
Potatoes 15 bu. 1.00 2.60 3.80

Show (do not compute) how an index number for these four commodities would be made up on

      1. Bradstreet’s method,
      2. Dun’s method.
      3. Compute the index number for 1917 and 1920 according to the method of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (base = 1913).
      4. What is the chief objection to an “average of relatives” index number?
        25 minutes.

5.  (A or B).

    1. How is an ogive constructed? Illustrate by sketch and show how the mode and the eighth decile may be determined from it. How is a percentage histogram constructed? What is its purpose?
    2. Prove the general validity of the short-cut method of computing the standard deviation.
      15 minutes.

 

  1. Given the following data:
Operating Revenues of Class I Carries
Eastern District—1920
In Millions of Dollars
1 2 3 4 7 15 24 74 492
1 2 3 4 8 15 26 75
1 2 3 5 10 15 30 76
1 2 3 5 10 16 35 81
1 2 4 5 11 17 39 94
1 2 4 5 11 19 45 94
2 2 4 6 12 19 51 107
2 2 4 6 12 22 65 [?] 200
2 3 4 7 14 23 70 314
Arithmetic Average $32,268.

Calculate, showing operations, the quartile coefficient of dispersion and skewness (series is theoretically continuous).
Compute, in tabular form, the coefficient of dispersion based on the median (to nearest whole number of millions).
How many places are justified in the above arithmetic average, on basis of data shown? Calculate the coefficient of skewness based on the mode.
30 minutes.

  1. Inflation of money is accompanied, or followed, by higher prices. Price fluctuations are measured roughly by index numbers. To the extent that inflation in one country exceeds that in another, its exchange in terms of the currency of the other country will depreciate. The following exercise is designed to test the tenth [sic, “truth”] of this doctrine.
    Given the following data:
1920 Index Numbers Sterling Cables
New York
Value £ in Dollars
B.L.S.*
(United States)
Statist+
(England)
January 248 288 $3.68
February 249 306 3.39
March 253 307 3.72
April 265 313 3.93
May 272 305 3.85
June 269 300 3.95
July 262 299 3.86
August 250 298 3.63
September 242 292 3.52
October 225 282 3.47
November 207 263 3.43
December 189 243 3.63
* Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wholesale Prices.
+ The Statist, English journal of finance, Wholesale Prices.

Reduce the B.L.S. indices to relatives of the corresponding statist indices, and correlate these relatives with the price of sterling by Pearson’s method. Does result confirm the above theory? How would you modify the method to correlate the short time changes in the two variables? Compute the standard deviation for one variable in your table.
Explain log. How would you plot a logarithmic historigram of the B.L.S. index numbers?
40 minutes.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY III

Monday, May 26, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. What is standard money? State the requisites of (a) a gold standard; (b) a bimetallic standard; (c) a paper standard. State the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  2. Explain the functions of a commercial bank, showing what economic services it performs. Distinguish the functions of a commercial bank from those of (a) a savings bank; (b) an investment banker.
  3. Define, illustrate and explain the use of the following types of credit instruments: (a) promissory note; (b) bill of exchange; (c) trade acceptance; (d) bank acceptance.
  4. Explain the connection between the loans and deposits of commercial banks. To what extent ordinarily can an individual bank increase its loans as the result of a cash deposit of $100,000? To what extent can the loans of the banking system as a whole be increased as the result of such an addition to the cash deposits of the system? Explain.
  5. How does the Federal Reserve System provide for elasticity in currency and in credit? What is the need for such elasticity?
  6. What is the need for the control of bank credit? How may this control be effected under the Federal Reserve System?
  7. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York receives $8,000,000 of gold deposits.
    1. If member banks take all their rediscounts in federal reserve notes, how much additional paper can the reserve bank rediscount for its members, assuming that it does not borrow at other reserve banks? Make no allowance for discount charges.
    2. Answer the same question, assuming that member banks leave all their rediscounts on deposit.
    3. Answer the same question, assuming that member banks take 1/5 of their rediscounts in federal reserve notes and leave the remainder on deposit.
    4. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect upon prices, of changes in the quantity of money, and of bank credit.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY IV

January 31, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Define a trade union and indicate the distinctions between trade unions and other analogous associations such as cooperative societies, societies of physicians, etc.
  2. Classify trade unions according to the character of the employer.
  3. Sketch the historical development, by periods, of American trade unionism.
  4. Describe the present structure of American trade unionism, indicating the relation of the national union to the other forms of organization.
  5. Classify American national trade unions from the point of view of function.
  6. Classify and discuss the methods of enforcement used by trade unions.
  7. What is meant by collective bargaining? What is the economic justification for collective individual bargaining?
  8. Describe the system known as scientific management and indicate why it has been opposed by trade unions.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY VI
Corporation Finance

Monday, May 26, 1924

  1. Define a “bond”. Describe the following classes of bonds: divisional bonds, guaranteed bonds, income bonds, convertible bonds.
  2. Distinguish the capitalization, the capital, and the capital stock of a corporation.
  3. Distinguish equipment bonds and equipment trust certificates.
  4. Distinguish repairs, depreciation, and obsolescence.
  5. Discuss the relative advantages of serial bonds and sinking fund bonds.
  6. State and illustrate the law of balanced returns.
  7. Describe the various financial devices which have been used in the expansion of American railways.
  8. What is usually the nature of the agreement among the members under which an underwriting syndicate is formed?
  9. A corporation with common stock of $1,000,000 wishes to secure additional capital. The stock has a par value of $100 and is selling at $150. The corporation offers additional stock at par to the amount of $200,000, or one share of the new for each five shares held. What will be the value of the rights? What will be the value of the stock after the issue is consummated? Explain your answer.
  10. Define a “reorganization”, a “receivership”.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY X
Business Organization

Monday, May 26, 1924—9 A.M.

Lectures

  1. Discuss the relation between the problem of distribution and the density of population, proportion of inhabitants living in cities, etc. What part does credit play in this problem? Is it a cause or an effect?
  2. What gains could be made in efficiency of our distribution system by the general state ownership and control of industry? Do you consider these possible gains sufficient grounds for the adoption of such a plan? (Reasons)
  3. What is meant by scientific management? Why is the present a logical time for its introduction into business? What is the purpose of motion study, and what does it consist of?
  4. Discuss the elements to be considered in locating an establishment. What is the proper balance between fixed and circulating capital (including investment in labor)? Why is (or is not) the cost-plus method of letting building contracts to be preferred to the lump sum method?
  5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of profit-sharing as a method of stimulating employee efficiency.

Text: Stockder

  1. What are securities? When is an industry said to be in the securities-capital stage? What are factors’ agreements? Why is it proper for railways to issue long term mortgage bonds, without sinking fund or serial retirement provisions, even to an amount exceeding the par value of stocks, and not for an ordinary industry to do so?
  2. Describe the joint-stock company operating structure. Why is the business trust said to be superior to all other forms of business organizations? Are these two forms of organization common law or statute law?
  3. Tell what you would do to organize a holding company which also to operate as an industrial company; including principal terms of agreements, regulations, etc.
  4. Describe the formation of the Standard Oil trust of 1882, using sketch. Is Federal Incorporation an effective or desirable remedy for commercial abuses? (Reasons)
  5. Have you completed the auxiliary reading, including supplementary forms in Stockder and pamphlets from U.S. Chamber of Commerce? If not, to what extent have you completed this reading?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XI
Accounting 1

January 30, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. [Given the following items:]
Cash $2,320
Inventory $12,000
Accounts Receivable $21,000
Reserve for Bad Debts $1,500
Store $20,000
Reserve for Depreciation $7,000
Accounts Payable $2,500
Capital Stock $20,000
Surplus $23,940
Insurance $120
Wages $500
$55,440 $55,400

Purchased on credit $20,000; paid creditors $21,500. Credit sales were $30,000; collected from customers $45,000. Estimated amount of uncollectable accounts receivable on books $1,750. Depreciation for period was $2,000. Other cash disbursements: Wates $6,000, Dividends $10,000. At the end of the year the unexpired insurance was $60, inventory $11,000, accrued wages $400.
From the above starting point—closing trial balance and the interim adjustments given, prepare a closed ledger, a final balance sheet, and a profit and loss statement.

  1. Describe two different ways of recording cash discounts on sales in the cash books. Do not mention any accounting books except the cash books.
  2. Define the different kinds of indorsements used with negotiable instruments.
  3. A note for $1,000, dated June 10, for 4 months, with interest at 7 per cent, was discounted July 30, at 8 per cent. Find the net proceeds under the rules of bank discount.

 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XI
Accounting 1
[Dr. Newlove]

May 28, 1924—9-12 a.m.

  1. A and B start in partnership investing $10,000 and $8,000, respectively, on January 1. A withdrew $2,000 on May 1 and invested $2,000 on November 1. B invested $3,000 on March 1 and withdrew $3,000 on July 1. Give the entries for the above transactions together with the allocation of a net profit of $5,000 on the average investment basis.
  2. X and Y, partners, sell their business to a new corporation, whose authorized stock of $50,000 is all paid to the partners. The balance sheet of X and Y is:
Cash $5,000 Accounts Payable $15,000
Merchandise 30,000 X, Capital 15,000
Accounts Receivable 25,000 Y, Capital 30,000
$60,000 $60,000

Give the detailed closing entries of the partnership.

  1. Give the detailed opening entries for the corporation in Problem 2.
  2. (a)
Accounts Receivable Reserve for Bad Debts
$75,000 $5,000

Make entry for a customer owing $500 who becomes bankrupt and pays 10 cents on the dollar.
(b)

Machinery Reserve for Depreciation
$50,000 $4,000

A machine, which cost $1,000 five years ago, is sold for $400. The recorded depreciation on the machine is $500. Give the entry for sale.

  1. C and D entered on January 1 a joint venture each contributing merchandise costing $5,000. C paid expenses of $1,000 on the same date. On July 1 C received a draft from the consignee for $15,000. Interest was allowed at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. Show the accounts on C’s books affected by the venture, if C settled with D on July 1.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XII
ECONOMIC HISTORY

January 29, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. How does economic history differ from political history?
  2. What did the Romans accomplish economically for Britain?
  3. (a) What were the rights and obligations of the various classes under the manorial system
    (b) Did William the Norman change the manorial plan fundamentally?
  4. How were goods exchanged in England of the Middle Ages?
  5. What were the facts which rendered the guilds suitable to the economic needs of the country at the time they flourished?
  6. (a) What were the consequences of the “Black Death”?
    (b) Of the “Peasants’ Revolt”?
  7. What were the main facts of the Industrial Revolution, and what was the economic theory upon which it rested?
  8. Tell something of (a) chartism; (b) the Factory Acts; (c) the rise of trade unions.
  9. What is the present status of child labor legislation in the United States?
  10. What have been the forces that have brought the Labor Party into power in England?

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XII
ECONOMIC HISTORY

Saturday, May 24, 1924

  1. What were the colonial policies of Great Britain?
  2. (a) Give the chief economic doctrines of Alexander Hamilton.
    (b) What was the connection between economic interests and the formation of the Constitution?
  3. What were the chief economic causes and effects of the Civil War?
  4. Discuss the economic and political consequences of the opening of the West.
  5. What were the main routes covered by canals and railroads, and why were these selected?
  6. Discuss the growth of trusts.
  7. Why is the Federal Government gaining in power while the individual State Governments are losing power?
  8. A factory needing 500 operatives is located in a farming community. What will be the likely economic results?
  9. Discuss the tariff vs. free trade.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XIII
SOCIAL ECONOMICS

February 4th, 1924—9-12 A.M.

  1. Why are delinquency and dependency community problems?
  2. Give the laws regulating school attendance in Maryland. Are they adequate?
  3. Give the Child Labor Laws of Maryland.
  4. Give the significance of the White House Conference of 1909. State the recommendations made. Give what you think the most important outcome of this conference.
  5. Give the names of the social agencies in the Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies. Describe the work of the Family Welfare Association and one other social organization in the federation.

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY XIII
SOCIAL ECONOMICS

Friday, May 30, 1924—9 a.m.

  1. What are the functions of a Charities Endorsement Committee?

  2. On what principles is social case work based? What is the difference in the meaning of social case work and social work?
  3. Of what value is knowledge of social economics to the professional and business man?
  4. Give the social functions of recreation.

 

Source:  Johns Hopkins University. Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6, Box 6/1, Folder “Exams, 1907-1924”.

Image Source: Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins University. Hullabaloo 1924.

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

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

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

_________________________

1C. Elements of Economics.

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

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

Required of all students before graduation.

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

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

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

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

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

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

_________________________

2C. Statistics. Dr. Evans.

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

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

Prerequisite: Mathematics 1 C or 2 C.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

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

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

How could your chart be converted into a ratio chart?

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

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

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

_________________________

3B. Money and Banking.
Associate Professor Weyforth.

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

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

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1 C.

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

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

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

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

_________________________

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

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

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

Prerequisites: Political Economy 1 C and 12 B.

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

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

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

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

_________________________

12B. Economic History. Associate Professor Mitchell.

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

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

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

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

    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

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

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

Sources:

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

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

 

 

 

Categories
Economics Programs Johns Hopkins

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

 

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

_____________________

1935-1936
POLITICAL ECONOMY
[at Johns Hopkins University]

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

ECONOMIC SEMINARY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following undergraduate courses were given:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

EVENING COURSES IN BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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

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

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

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

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

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

PUBLICATIONS

George E. Barnett.

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

George Heberton Evans, Jr.

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

Jacob H. Hollander.

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

Broadus Mitchell.

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

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

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

—and reviews as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William O. Weyforth.

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

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

 

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

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Undergraduate

Johns Hopkins. Undergraduate Economics Exams, 1920

 

Even at the Johns Hopkins University, one of the pioneers in academic economics in the United States, there were only six semesters worth of undergraduate economics actually offered in 1919-20. This post provides transcriptions of the six semester final examinations for that year.

The final examinations for the 1922-23 academic year have been transcribed for an earlier post.

Note:

Political Economy 2(b) Money and Banking was scheduled to be taught by Professor Barnett in 1919-20. However in the announcement for 1920-21 Dr. Weyforth was listed as course instructor which is consistent with the ex post report for 1919-20 for instruction in the department of political economy.

Political Economic 4(b) was scheduled as Public Finance to be taught by Professor Hollander in 1919-20, but from the exam below it is clear that the course matches “Corporation Finance” found in the course announcements for 1920-21 which was taught by Professor Barnett.

___________________

Instructors of Undergraduate Courses
1919-20

George Ernest Barnett, Ph.D., Professor of Statistics.
A. B., Randolph-Macon College, 1891; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1899-1900, and Ph.D., 1901.
Appointment to professor, 1911.

Broadus Mitchell, Ph.D., Instructor in Political Economy.
A.B., University of South Carolina, 1913; Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1916-17, and Ph. D., 1918. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

William Oswald Weyforth, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy.
A. B., Johns Hopkins University, 1912, and Ph.D., 1915; Instructor, Western Reserve University, 1915-17. Appointment to instructor, 1919.

___________________

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
1919-20

  1. (a) Economic History.
    The economic development of England and the industrial experience of the United States are studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Elements of Economics.
    Particular attention is given to the theory of distribution and its application to leading economic problems.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth and Dr. Mitchell.
  2. (a) Statistical Methods.
    After a preliminary study of the value and place of statistics as an instrument of investigation, attention is directed to the chief methods used in statistical inquiry.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Professor Barnett.
    (b) Money and Banking.
    The principles of monetary science are taught with reference to practical conditions in modern systems of currency, banking, and credit.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Dr. Weyforth.
  3. (a) Insurance.
    The principles of insurance are taught with reference to existing systems of property, personal, and social insurance.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year.
    (b) Transportation.
    The history and theory of transportation are taught with particular reference to conditions in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year.
    [Course 3 will not be given in 1919-1920.]
  4. (a) Labor Problems.
    The problems growing out of modern industrial employment will be studied.
    Three hours weekly, first half-year. Dr. Mitchell.
    (b) Corporation Finance.
    The theory and practice of corporation finance are considered, with particular reference to the problems presented in the United States.
    Three hours weekly, second half-year. Professor Barnett.

NOTE—Undergraduate Course 2 is open only to such students as have completed or are pursuing Course 1: Courses 3, 4, and 5 only to students who have completed 1 and 2.

 

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, University Register 1918-1919 with Announcements for 1919-20. Circular, Vol. 38, No. 314, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p.222.

Johns Hopkins University, Annual Report of the President 1919-20, Circular, Vol. 39, No. 327, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, April 1919), p. 66.

___________________

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Economic history]

February 5, 1920, 9 – 12 A.M.

  1. Describe the manor system.
  2. How were the gilds organized, and what were the circumstances of their dissolution? What were the economic consequences of the Black Death?
  3. Discuss the Industrial Revolution, giving its causes and main effects. What results did it have for the manual worker in England?
  4. What is the doctrine of laissez faire, and how did it come to have such vogue, particularly in the first years of the 19th century?
  5. Discuss the Factory Acts. What tendency in social thinking did they represent?
  6. What are chief social and economic advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor?
  7. Do you think our present method of securing entrepreneurs a good one? How might it be improved?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY I
[Elements of economics]

June 3, 1920, 9 A.M. – 12 M.

  1. Name and discuss as many theories of wages as you know.
  2. Explain, with the assistance of a diagram, the differential principle of rent. How does the argument of the Single Tax rest on this law?
  3. What is the distinction between interest and profits? Explain the economic justification of each.
  4. Describe the functions of credit. Show how the Federal Reserve System has remedied defects in the National Bank System.
  5. Comment upon the following statement: “We are coming to be more interested in promoting the health of nations than the wealth of nations. The aim of political economy is humanistic.”
  6. Using your economic knowledge, supplemented by conversation with a man of affairs, give an estimate of the present financial and business situation.
  7. What are the theoretical foundations and practical proposals of socialism?
  8. What advantage have you gained from studying political economy?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Statistical methods]

February 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Explain how a “refined” death rate is calculated. Illustrate.
  2. What kinds of questions can not properly be asked in taking a census?
  3. Define “average” and “measure of dispersion.”
  4. Discuss the significance of different averages.
  5. Calculate Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the probable error, and the ratio of variation for the following:

X

Y
1

2

2

5

3

3

4

8
5

7

  1. Define an index number.
  2. Discuss the relative advantages of the “aggregate” and the “relative” methods of computing index numbers.
  3. Under what conditions is “weighting” necessary?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY II
[Money and banking]

TUESDAY June 1, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Describe the various forms of money in use in the United States.
  2. What are the essential features of a system of bimetallism? Explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a system.
  3. Give a brief history of the greenbacks.
  4. What is a bill of exchange? An acceptance? A promissory note? What are the advantages of trade acceptances?
  5. What are the principal ways in which deposits originate in commercial banks? Explain the connection between loans and deposits.
  6. Describe the defects of the old national banking system.
  7. Outline the organization of the Federal Reserve System.
  8. Explain the quantity theory of money, showing the effect of both money and deposits on prices.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV

[Labor problems]

February 3, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Did trade unionism in England originate in the gilds? Did the American labor movement grow out of gild organizations? Give reasons for your answer.
  2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect British working-men?
  3. Discuss the Combination Acts. Who was Francis Place and what part did he play in the labor movement?
  4. What facts as to the Knights of Labor are indicated by the motto “an injury to one is the concern of all”?
  5. Discuss the closed shop.
  6. Is there any justification for the policy of restriction of output as employed by unions? By employers?
  7. What are the chief causes of strikes? How have unions affected the causes of strikes?
  8. What did you learn from the steel strike and the coal strike?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
POLITICAL ECONOMY IV

[Corporation finance]

June 2, 1920, 2 – 5 P.M.

  1. Discuss the relative advantages of the various legal forms of the business unit.
  2. Trace briefly the history of the corporation.
  3. Define “preferred stock” and describe the varieties of such stock.
  4. Why are ordinary business corporations frequently over-capitalized? Is this justifiable?
  5. State the principles of capitalization adopted by public service commissions.
  6. Explain the difference between “treasury stock” and “authorized but not issued” stock.
  7. Discuss the legal relations of the persons participating in a syndicate.
  8. How are corporate securities usually marketed? Why?
  9. Explain and discuss the principle of “trading on the equity” as applied in the capitalization of corporations.
  10. Under what conditions would the issue of common stock only be desirable?

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives, Eisenhower Library. Department of Political Economy, Series 5/6. Box: 6/1. Folder: Department of Political Economy, Exams, 1907-1924.

___________________

Image Sources: Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection.

George Ernest Barnett (1873-1938), ca 52 years of age
William Oswald Weyforth (1889-1983), ca 36 years of age
John Broadus Mitchell (1892-1988), ca 30 years of age

 

 

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

Johns Hopkins. Economic Seminary. Participants, Presenters and Topics, 1926-27

 

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

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

1903-1904
1904-1905

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

_____________

POLITICAL ECONOMY
The Economic Seminary

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

Source: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1926-1927, (October 1927, Vol. 46, No. 385), p. 63.

_____________

MEMBERS OF THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY
1926-1927

[B = School of Business Economics; BE = Evening courses in Business Economics; E = School of Engineering; G = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; SE = Social Economics; T = College for Teachers. The small “s” following a capital letter indicates a special student. Roman numeral indicates year of residence.]

Allen, George Levis. (G) I. S.B. Washington University 1905. Political Economy.

Allen, Paul Stephen (BE).

Adams, Beatrice. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Newcomb College, Tulane University 1925. Political Economy.

Black, Stanley.

Goodnow, Elinor Root (SE) (G) II. A.B. Vassar College 1913. Political Economy.

Hart, William Sebastian. (G) III. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

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

Hodgkins, Alton Ross. (G) I. A.B. Bates College 1911; A.M. American University 1926. Political Economy.

Lampen, Dorothy. (BE) (Ts) (G) I. A.B. Carleton College 1926. Political Economy.

McCulloch, Mary W. C. (SE) (G) II. Political Economy.

McDaniel, J. Milton. (G) II. A.B. Johns Hopkins University 1924. Political Economy.

Morrissy, Elizabeth. (Gs) VI. A.B. Beloit College 1908; A.M. Johns Hopkins University 1922. Political Economy.

Murchison, Lucia. (SE) (GE) II. A.B. Agnes Scott College 1922. Political Economy.

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

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

Reid, Gertrude. (SE) (G) II. S.B. Elmira College 1925. Political Economy.

Schneider, David Moses. (G) III. E.E. University of Kieff [sic, Kyiv] 1921. A.M. Johns Hopkins University. Political Economy.

Snoke, M. Elsie S. (Mrs.) (SE)

Street, Helen Merryman. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Salem College 1921. Political Economy.

Taylor, Lyra. (SE) (G) II. LL.B. Victoria College, Wellington (New Zealand). Political Economy.

Van Hall, Madeleine W. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Radcliffe College 1925. Political Economy.

Walker, Mabel L. (S) (G) I. A.B. Barnard College 1926. Political Economy.

Wine, Helen. (SE) (G) II. A.B. Western Maryland College 1923. Political Economy.

Faculty

Dr. Professor Jacob Harry Hollander, Professor of Political Economy

Dr. George Ernest Barnett, Professor of Statistics

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

Dr. George Hilles Newline, Associate Professor of Accounting

Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate in Political Economy

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics

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

 

Seminar Presentations 1926-27

October 6, 1926

The session’s first meeting of the Seminary was held on October 6. Members of the staff gave informal accounts of their summer activity.

October 13, 1926

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The Royal Commission on Indian Currency”.

October 20, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “Family Allowances”.

October 22, 1926

Incident to the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the University, the Department of Political Economy held a reunion of alumni Friday afternoon, October 22. The meeting was held in the Seminary Room. Professor Hollander presided. He told in outline the history of the Seminary under the seeral professors and lecturers who have directed its work. He then called upon old members of the seminary to give their reminiscences of work in the department.

Following the meeting in the Seminary Room, Professor Barnett entertained the alumni of the Departments of Political Economy, History and Political Science at tea in the Historical Library. Those attending the reunion of the Department are as follows:

Victor Rosewater William A. Wetzel Alfred B. Morton
A. Herbert Fedder James W. Chapman William O. Weyforth
Joshua Bernhardt Broadus Mitchell G. H. Evans, Jr.
M. A. Mechanic A. M. Sakolski L. Owens Rea
G. H. Newlove Edward W. Bemis Dorothy Lampen
K. Morimoto David A. McCabe Albert T. Helbing
Robert Merrick L. F. Schmeckebie George L. Allen
B. W. Arnold Theo Jacobs J. Milton McDaniel
D. M. Schneider

At eight o’clock in the evening, fifty past members of the Seminary and members of their families were guests of Professor Hollander at dinner at his home. Several were present who had not found it possible to attend the afternoon meeting.

October 27, 1926

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “Installment Buying”.

November 3, 1926

Mr. Powlison read a paper on “Substitution of Other Materials for Wood and Their Relation to the Lumber Industry”.

November 10, 1926

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “The Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor”.

November 17, 1926

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party and the Furriers’ Union”.

November 24, 1926

Dr. Evans read a paper on “History of Preferred Stock”.

December 1, 1926

Miss Jacobs read a paper on “Trade Unions and Social Work”.

December 8, 1926

Dr. Newlove read a paper on “Graduate Schools of Business”.

December 15, 1926

Mr. Rea read a paper on “The Financial History of Baltimore Since 1900”.

Christmas Recess.

January 5, 1927

Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Validity of the Index Numbers of the Cost of Living”.

January 12, 1927

Miss Taylor read a paper on “Juvenile Courts in the United States”.

January 19, 1927

Miss Adams read a paper on “A Survey of the Hospitals of New Orleans”.

January 26, 1927

Mr. Schneider read a paper on “The Workers’ Party and the Miners’ Union”.

February 2, 1927

Miss Morrissy read a paper on “Unemployment Insurance in the Clothing Industry”.

February 9, 1927

Professor Hollander read a paper on “The Theory of a Universal Glut”.

February 16, 1927

Dr. Mitchell read a paper on “The Industrial Revolution in the South”.

February 23, 1927

Miss Lampen read a paper on “Land Reclamation in the West”.

March 2, 1927

Mr. Helbing read a paper on “The Union Label Trades Department and the Railway Employees Department of the American Federation of Labor”.

March 9, 1927

Miss Walker read a paper on “Finances of Public Libraries”.

March 16, 1927

Mr. Newman read a paper on “The Conception of Income”.

March 23, 1927

Dr. Weyforth read a paper on “The McFadden Bill”.

March 30, 1927

Mr. Hodgkins read a paper on “Baltimore’s Trade with South America”.

April 6, 1927

Professor Hollander read a paper on “John Bates Clark as an Economist”. Professor Barnett read a paper on “The Theory of the Entrepreneur”.

April 13, 1927

Mr. Newman read a paper on “Significance of Depreciation as Applied in the Administration of Federal Income Tax”.

April 20, 1927

No meeting. — Easter Recess

April 27, 1927

Miss Reid read a paper on “An Index of Dependency in Baltimore”.

May 4, 1927

Miss Streett read a paper on “Hospital Facilities for Negroes in Baltimore”.

May 11, 1927

Miss Van Hall read a paper on “Domestic Difficulty Cases of the Family Welfare Association”.

May 18, 1927

Miss Wine read a paper on “The Intake of the Family Welfare Association”. Miss Murchison read a paper on “A Study of Juvenile Gonorrheics in Baltimore”.

(last meeting)

Sources:   

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

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, University Register, 1926-27, (February 1927, Vol. 46, No. 378). For full names and educational backgrounds of students in the seminar.

The Johns Hopkins University Circular, Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1926-1927, (October 1927, Vol. 46, No. 385), pp. 63-64. List of names and topics for seminar speakers without dates.

Image Source:  Jacob Harry Hollander (ca. 1918) from Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries’ graphic and pictorial collection.

 

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins. Mid-year and end-year exams for undergraduate money and banking. Weyforth, 1930-31

 

William Oswald Weyforth, Jr.  (b. September 1, 1889; d. March 10, 1983) was the author of The Federal Reserve Board. A Study of Federal Reserve Structure and Credit Control. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1933. The book was reviewed by F.A. Bradford in the March, 1934 AER and by C. S. Tippetts in the June, 1934 JPE.

Research for an earlier monograph (The Organizability of Labor [1917] was begun while Weyforth was a member of the Economic Seminary at Johns Hopkins. 

Weyforth’s A.B. (1912) and Ph.D. (1915) were both from Johns Hopkins University. Before returning to the Johns Hopkins department of political economy he was an instructor at Western Reserve University, 1915-17.

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Course Announcement and Description
3B. Money and Banking. Associate Professor Weyforth.

Three hours weekly through the year.(Mon., Tues., 9.30; Fri., 10.30.) Gilman Hall 313.

In the first part of this course the principles of money, credit and banking will be considered, with special reference to the operation of the American banking system. A study will be made of the functions of the modern commercial bank and of the relationship between the commercial bank and the business man. A large part of the course will be devoted to a consideration of the factors leading to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, the changes in our banking system under that Act and problems in the management of the Federal Reserve System.

In the second part of the course the principles of international trade and exchange will be studies. Particular attention will be given to foreign exchange, foreign credits, foreign investments and in general to the problems of international finance.

Prerequisite: Political Economy 1C.

Source: Johns Hopkins University. The College of Arts and Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University, 1930-31, p. 33.

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THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Mid-Year Examination
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3
January 29, 1931

  1. What is meant by the monetary standard? Explain the following types of standards: gold standard, bimetallic standard, paper standard. What are the reasons for adhering to a gold standard?
  2. Explain carefully the quantity theory of money, showing the various limitations upon the theory. Does the fact that at times increases in prices may precede changes in the quantity of money nullify the theory. Explain.
  3. Describe briefly the various types of financial institutions that may function in meeting the financial requirements of corporations and explain the fundamental nature of the operations of each type.
  4. Describe an underwriting operation by a syndicate in the flotation of an issue of corporation bonds.
  5. Enumerate and describe the more important types of investment credit instruments. What are the fundamental commercial credit instruments? Explain their nature and use. What is the nature and importance of negotiability?
  6. What is the essential nature of a “demand deposit”? How do such deposits come into existence? How does the receipt of a cash deposit of $100,000 affect the lending power of an individual bank? How does it affect the lending power of the system as a whole? Explain fully.
  7. Why is it necessary for a commercial bank to maintain a cash reserve? What determines its amount? What is the importance of capital and surplus to a bank? How does a commercial bank invest its fund? What is the importance of liquidity in its investments? How is liquidity secured?

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Final Examination
POLITICAL ECONOMY 3
Wednesday, May 27, 1931 — 9 a.m.

  1. Give a brief survey of banking conditions in the United States leading to the organization of the National Banking System. Explain the defects that developed in that system and the history of the reform movement that eventually led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System.
  2. In what way can the banking system of a country contribute to stability or instability of business conditions?
  3. Explain the manner in which the Federal Reserve System can affect the general level of prices. Discuss the limitations upon the powers of the Federal Reserve System in this respect.
  4. What is the nature of the business of commercial paper houses? Explain the financial services that they perform. How are installment sales financed? Describe the operations of the institutions that perform this type of financing.
  5. Describe the organization and operations (a) of the Federal Farm Loan System, (b) of the Federal Intermediate Credit Banks.
  6. Explain the manner in which international payments are effected by means of foreign exchange operations. Show how, through these operations, exports pay for imports. What is the basis of the contention that the United States ought to reduce its tariff rates if it expects the allied nations to pay their debts to us?
  7. What is meant by “department store” banking? What factors have been responsible for the consolidation of banks in recent years? What are the arguments for and against branch banking?

Source: Johns Hopkins University.Sheridan Libraries, Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr. Archives. Department of Political Economy Curricular Materials, Series 6, Box 2, Folder “Exams 1930-1935”.

Image Source: William Oswald Weyforth (ca. 36 years of age). Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection, Sheridan Libraries.

Categories
Johns Hopkins Seminar Speakers

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

 

 

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

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

1903-1904
1904-1905

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

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POLITICAL ECONOMY

…The Economic Seminary

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

 

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

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MEMBERS OF THE ECONOMIC SEMINARY
1925-1926

Students and visitors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Faculty

Professor Jacob H. Hollander, Professor of Political Economy

Professor George E. Barnett, Professor of Statistics

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

Dr. Broadus Mitchell, Associate in Political Economy

Miss Theo Jacobs, Associate in Social Economics

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

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Seminar Presentations 1925-26

October 7, 1925

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

October 14, 1925

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

October 21, 1925

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

October 28, 1925

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

November 4, 1925

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

November 11, 1925

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

November 18, 1925

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

November 25, 1925

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

December 2, 1925

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

December 9, 1925

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

December 16, 1925

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

Christmas Recess.

January 6, 1926

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

January 13, 1926

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

January 20, 1926

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

January 27, 1926

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

February 3, 1926

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

February 10, 1926

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

February 17, 1926

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

February 24, 1926

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

March 3, 1926

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

March 10, 1926

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

March 17, 1926

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

March 24, 1926

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

March 31, 1926

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

April 14, 1926

Professor Barnett read a paper on “Family Endowments”.

April 21, 1926

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

April 28, 1926

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

May 5, 1926

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

May 12, 1926

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

May 19, 1926

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

 

 

Sources:   

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

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

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

 

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