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Link to original content: https://www.irwincollier.com/2024/02/
February 2024 - Economics in the Rear-View Mirror

Month: February 2024

Categories
Exam Questions Johns Hopkins Macroeconomics

John Hopkins. Final exam for graduate macroeconomic theory. Aschheim, Christ, Mills. 1962

Carl Christ

 

The only remarkable thing to note about the following macroeconomics examination from Johns Hopkins is its somewhat confusing scheme for allowing students to select from the questions. No heroic leaps of imagination were demanded of the examinees, which is humane I guess. But an artifact is an artifact, so duly transcribed, posted, and added to the collection.

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MACROECONOMIC THEORY 18.604
Final Examination, May 21, 1962

Messrs. [Joseph] Aschheim,
[Carl] Christ, and [Edwin] Mills

Answer all questions except:

either       (a) three of the 12-point questions in Part II.
or             (b) one of the 36-point questions in Part I.

Time: 3 hours (i.e., 180 minutes); total credit 180 points.

PART I. 36 points each.
  1. Compare the roles assigned to technological progress in major writings of Schumpeter and Solow.
  2. Write a short critical essay comparing either
    1. The growth models of Harrod and Domar, or
    2. The models of growth and fluctuations presented by Tobin (JPE 1955) and Duesenberry (Business Cycles and Economic Growth)
  3. Analyze the essential differences between the modern conventional theory of public debt and the recent reformulation of this theory.
  4. The stability of equilibrium in the Wicksellian monetary system has been subjected to opposing interpretations by Myrdal and Patinkin. Review these opposing interpretations in light of Wicksell’s own formulation.
PART II. 12 points each.
  1. Saving equals investment.
  2. The demand for money (as a stock) depends on bondholdings as well as on income and interest rates.
  3. Disarmament would create a major depression in the United States.
  4. The effect of an increase in government expenditure does not depend on how the extra expenditure is financed, as long as it does not come from increased taxes.
  5. If national income is $500 billion and consumption is $400 billion, then for each increase of $1 in government expenditure the equilibrium level of national income will increase by $5.
  6. The multiplier analysis is useful for studying economic growth, abstracting from cyclical fluctuations.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives. Department of Political Economy, Box 3/1 Series 6 , Folder “Graduate Exams 1933-1965” (sic).

Source: Professor Carl Christ in the Johns Hopkins University yearbook, Hullabaloo 1964, p. 42.

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Sociology

Harvard. Enrollment and exam questions for principles of sociology. J.A. Field, 1906-1907

 

Thomas Nixon Carver was on a European sabbatical with his wife and three children during the academic year 1906-07 so substitutes were needed to cover his courses on sociology, agriculture and income distribution. The graduate student James A. Field took over the principles of sociology course in Carver’s absence.

Note: Materials from some courses have already been transcribed and posted. Whenever that is the case, I’ll just add a link to the relevant post. Falling between Economics 1 and Economics 3 was Frank W. Taussig’s course, Economics 2 (“Principles of Economics–Second Course”). It was the “advanced” economic theory course in the curriculum.

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Previous Posts about James A. Field

Chicago. Decennial Harvard Class Report of associate professor of political economy James A. Field, ABD, 1913.

Harvard. Economics Graduate School Records of James Alfred Field, ABD. 1903-1911.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 3. Mr. J.A. Field. — Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress.

Total 44: 4 Graduates, 9 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 11 Sophomores, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 3

Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

I.

  1. [Elective reading(s)]
    1. Name the author and the title of the book which you chose for elective reading (or of each of the books, if your reading involved more than one).
    2. Indicate and briefly describe that which seems to you the central thought or the most interesting thought in the book (or in each of the books) thus read.
    3. Criticise the book (or one of the books) with regard to both merits and defects, giving special attention to the part you have described in your answer to question (b) above.

II
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What do you consider to be the true conception of social progress?
    To what extent does social progress in this sense promote the welfare of individuals?
  2. What is an acquired character?
    Assuming that acquired characters are not inherited, in what ways is that fact advantageous for society?
    Does this assumed non-inheritance of acquired characters become more advantageous or less advantageous as civilization advances?
  3. Describe the three stages traced by Comte in the progress of human society.
    Is Comte’s scheme in harmony with Kidd’s belief regarding the conditions of progress?
  4. What is meant by social heredity?
    Show the relation between social heredity and the theories of Baldwin, Fiske, and Tarde which have been considered in this course.

III
Omit one question of this group.

  1. What is Buckle’s conclusion as to the relative importance or moral and the intellectual factors of progress, and on what reasons is his conclusion based?
    Do you accept his conclusion and his reasoning as correct?
  2. How may self-interest act as a socializing influence?
  3. In what sense can a social mind be said to exist?
    How is it related to the individual minds of the members of society?
  4. What is religion, according to Kidd?
    How much has it in common with “the struggle for the life others”? How much has it in common with Idealization?
    Would Kidd agree that the function of all religions is to reconcile us to the inevitable?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 3

Year-end Examination, 1906-07

[Omit one question.]

  1. Briefly explain:
    1. Exogamy.
    2. Anthropomorphism.
    3. Refraction of Imitation.
    4. Vicarious Leisure.
    5. General Social Sanction.
  2. What are the functions which are organized in the institution of the family?
    Describe the Religious-Proprietary Family.
  3. Criticise Spencer’s antithesis of the militant and industrial types of society and compare it with Robinson’s theory of the relation between war and economics.
  4. What is the Standard of Living?
    For what reasons, and under what conditions, is a high standard of living desirable?
  5. Compare economic competition with the biological struggle for existence.
  6. What are the relations of cause and effect which connect competition, specialization and capitalism?
  7. Explain and criticise Veblen’s theory of the Instinct of Workmanship.
  8. Discuss the relation of women to the competitive process, to conservatism and reform, to religion and to the institution of the leisure class.
    How do you explain the psychic differences between men and women which this discussion suggests? To what extent do you regard these differences as merely the result of social conventions?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07 (HUC 7000.25), pp. 27-28.

Image Source: Original black-and-white image from the Special Diplomatic Passport Application by James Alfred Field (January 1918). Cropped and colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. (Note: left third of the image is slightly distorted because of a transparent plastic strip used to hold pages in the imaging process)

Categories
Exam Questions Harvard Principles

Harvard. Enrollments, staffing, exams for principles of economics. Taussig, Bullock, Andrew. 1906-1907

It is now time to begin posting transcriptions of course material for the Harvard academic year 1906-07. Sometimes, even for the curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror, this becomes a tedious task. Still, the opportunity to assemble a long time series of economics exams into searchable text for one of the leading economics departments has the virtue of being steady work. 

In the beginning… there is the undergraduate principles of economics course and that is the subject of this post. Subsequent posts more or less follow the course numbering used at the time by Harvard.

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Taussig explains the course structure

In a letter Aug 8, 1906 to E.R.A. Seligman at Columbia describing how Economics 1 was taught we learn that Frank Taussig gave the first semester lectures and his younger colleagues, Charles J. Bullock and A. Piatt Andrew split the second semester’s lectures between themselves. The textbooks used in the course were “Mill, Walker, and Seager.” Taussig also gave himself credit for introducing the course structure of having a common set of lectures and small-section work for discussion and exercises.

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 1. Professor [Frank William] Taussig and Asst. Professors [Charles Jesse] Bullock and [Abram Piatt] Andrew, assisted by Messrs [Selden Osgood] Martin, [Frank Richardson] Mason, G. R. [George Randall] Lewis, [Charles Phillips] Huse, and [Arthur Norman] Holcombe. — Principles of Economics.

Total 392: 1 Graduate, 15 Seniors, 43 Juniors, 252 Sophomores, 50 Freshmen, 31 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 70.

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ECONOMICS 1
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

Arrange your answers strictly in the order of the questions.

  1. Explain briefly what is meant by, — free goods; public goods; utility; marginal utility; productive labor.
  2. Explain the relation between, — the rate of interest; the selling price of land; the capitalization of monopolies; vested rights.
  3. What is meant by urban site rent? Does such rent differ from the rent of agricultural land? If so, in what essentials? If not, why not?
  4. Are business profits a return different in kind from wages, according to Mill? Seager? the instructor in the course?
  5. Is a high birth-rate to be regarded with anxiety? a low birth-rate? a high death-rate? a low death-rate? State (in round numbers per 1000 of population) what you would regard as high and low rates.
  6. Would you expect the price of a commodity to fall if its cost of production were lowered? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
    Would you expect the cost of producing a commodity to be lowered if its price fell? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not?
  7. Wherein had immigration into the United States during the decade just passed differed from immigration in earlier times; and what effect has recent immigration had (a) on the general rate of wages, (b) on wages in particular occupations?
  8. Explain the connection between, — collective bargaining; the closed shop; the open union.
  9. Suppose socialism, in the form proposed by Fourier, were adopted: how would wages, rent, interest, business profits, be affected? What if socialism, as outlined by modern writers, were adopted?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

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ECONOMICS 1
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

I.
Answer three questions.

  1. Does the value of a commodity depend on its utility? Does the price of a commodity depend on its value?
  2. Explain briefly what is meant by (a) the sweating system, (b) producers’ coöperation, (c) collective bargaining.
  3. Suppose a great increase in the supply of (a) gold, (b) silver, (c) wheat: would the values of these three articles be affected in the same way and in the same degree?
  4. What is the nature of the income received by (a) an owner of lodging house who lets rooms to students; (b) an owner of shares a “trust”; (c) an author receiving royalty on a copy-righted book; (d) a mine owner receiving a royalty (so much per ton) on minerals extracted from his mine.

II.
Answer three questions.

  1. Describe the various forms of credit which serve as means of exchange. Does their existence afford any disproof of the “quantity theory”? Explain why or why not.
  2. If there were no legal restrictions, would anything tend to prevent an over-expansion (a) of deposits, (b) of notes?
    If the present legal restrictions on note issue were abolished, what substitutes would you suggest?
  3. The imports of the United States from Brazil permanently exceed our exports to that country. What movements of specie between these countries are involved? The total exports of merchandise from the United States permanently exceed its imports. What movements of specie to or from this country are involved?
  4. Given mint par with England 4.86 2/3, France 5.18, Germany 0.952. What conditions with regard to American trade are indicated by the following quotations of exchange in New York, 4.84, 5.20, 0.945? How ought these rates to stand if the American dollar were to fall to half its present gold value?

III.
Answer three questions.

  1. According: to the principles laid down by Adam Smith and Mill, what changes should be made in the system of taxation employed by our national government?
  2. Compare the history of the income tax in the United States with the history of the tax in two European countries.
  3. What are the principal arguments for and against the proposal to levy progressive income taxes in order to prevent “undue” concentration of wealth? What are the arguments for and against using progressive inheritance taxes for the same purpose?
  4. Should a national debt be extinguished? Should municipal debts be extinguished? (In each case state fully the reasons for your answer.)

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1906-07; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1907), pp. 24-25.

Image Source: Frank W. Taussig in the Harvard Class Album, 1906. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Chicago Economists Yale

Chicago. Meet Ph.D. alumnus, Charles E. Lindblom, 1945

Charles Edward Lindblom (1917-2018!) was a Chicago economics Ph.D. (1945) who ultimately climbed as far up the Yale ranks as you could get – a Sterling Professorship of Political Science and Economics. He was working on his 1977 book Politics and Markets when I took a course with him in the Spring semester of 1973. His lectures have left no real mark on me, but I recall my impression of watching a thinker in real time who would dare to attempt to think things through while lecturing. I guess it should come as no surprise that someone who attained fame through an article with the title “The Science of ‘Muddling Through’” (1959), talked the talk the way he perceived policymakers to walk the walk (incrementally).

In a different course (Democracy and its Critics) I experienced his long-time colleague and collaborator Robert Dahl as the opposite model of an equally content-rich but silky smooth lecture style. I am glad to have sat at the feet of both when I was still of an impressionable age.

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From: The Yale Banner of 1960

Associate Professor of Economics CHARLES E. LINDBLOM came to Yale in 1946, after receiving his B.A. at Stanford and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Mr Lindblom has always had an interest in the fields where economics and political science converge, and thus he is active in both areas. In 1951 he held a Guggenheim Fellowship and later he was a fellow at the Center for Advance Studies in the Behavorial Sciences. Mr. Lindblom also assisted former Connecticut Governor Bowles [Fun fact: Gov. Chester Bowles was economist Sam Bowles‘ father.] on the problems of housing and compensation legislation. At present, Professor Lindblom is on a committee on Latin American economics for the Twentieth Century Fund, a consultant for the RAND Corporation, and a consultant to a United States Senate subcommittee. On the Yale scene, he is an advisor to the Political Union and has written Politics, Economics and Welfare with Mr. [Robert] Dahl and Unions and Capitalism; he is working on several books now. What time he can salvage from this busy schedule is devoted to woodworking and sculpting. Next year he will be a Ford Faculty Fellow in economics.

Source: The Yale Banner 1960, p. 39.

Categories
Economists Yale

Yale. Meet an assistant professor of economics. Montias, 1960

One of the first professors to lead me into the field of comparative economic systems was John Michael Montias (1928-2005). He provided me an early exposure to the economic theory behind the indexes of comparative productivity computed by Abram Bergson (see Chapter 6 by Bergson and also Chapter 7 by Evsey Domar published in Alexander Eckstein (ed.), Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. U. of California Press, 1971).

The portrait shows Mike Montias in his early thirties, a beaming assistant professor at Yale. I include the short biographical clip from The Yale Banner of 1960 that accompanied the portrait. I can confirm that he was very much “a genial person” and will add a “a very learned scholar.”

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From: The Yale Banner of 1960

An authority on Soviet economics, JOHN M. MONTIAS, Assistant Professor of Economics, came to Yale in 1958 after extensive study at Columbia. As an undergraduate, Professor Montias studied both Russian and economics and decided to combine them in his later career. After serving three years as an economic analyst for the United Nations in Geneva, Beirut, and New York, Mr. Montias traveled extensively in central Europe, working as a consultant for the Ford Foundation on the Polish Fellowship Program and holding several fellowships and grants for research. In addition to co-authoring a book on the Polish economy, Professor Montias has written for numerous professional magazines. Mr. Montias likes to play chess, study languages and travel. A genial person, Mr. Montias is well liked in his undergraduate course on the Soviet economy and his graduate course on central planning.

Source: The Yale Banner 1960, p. 35.

Categories
Education Harvard Labor Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Reading list for economics of education and technology. Bowles, 1967-68

The following reading list comes from a Harvard course on the economics of education and technology offered by assistant professor Samuel S. Bowles in the spring semester of the 1967-68 academic year. Bowles was 28 years young then. Here is a link to his Santa Fe Institute webpage.

Only the pages of the syllabus with the reading lists were submitted to the Harvard library for the purpose of putting books on reserve. Not included were the couple of paragraphs of motivation/description for each of the seven sections of the course. I had to insert approximate titles for sections IV and VII and have put those words between square brackets.

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Most likely spot to find more course content

Samuel Bowles, Planning Educational Systems for Economic Growth. Harvard University Press, 1969.

[When you get an account with archive.org, it is like having an old fashioned library card and you will have access to this book for an hour at a time when it is not being borrowed by another user.]

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Course Announcement

Economics 151 (formerly Economics 177). Economics of Education and Technology (Offered jointly with the Graduate School of Education)
Half course (spring term). M., W., F., at 9. Assistant Professor S. S. Bowles

Attention will be given to the economics of the education process, the theory and implications of innovation, the effects of education and technological change on the distribution of income and the role of education and technological change in economic growth. Relevant case studies and current policy issues related to the United States and underdeveloped countries will be considered.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, Harvard and Radcliffe, 1967-68, p. 124.

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Reading list
Ec. 151
Sam Bowles

I. THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME — RECENT U.S. EXPERIENCE

A. Batchelder, “Decline in the Relative Income of Negro Men,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 1964, pp. 525-48.

*H. Miller, Rich Man, Poor Man, chapters 1, 2, 4-6, pp. 54-134.

I. Kravis, “Relative Income Shares in Fact and Theory,” American Economic Review, 1959, pp. 917-947.

R. Lampman, The Share of Top Wealth-Holders in National Wealth, chapter 1, pp. 1-26; also Table 97, p. 209.

(Supplementary)

*G. Kolko, Wealth and Power in America.

H. Miller, Distribution of Income in the United States.

II. EDUCATION AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
  1. Education and Earnings

*H. Miller, Rich Man, Poor Man, Chapters 8 and 9, pp. 148-194.

  1. Education as Investment

I. Fisher, The Theory of Interest, Chapters 4, 7, 10, and 11, pp. 61-98, 159-177, and 231-287.

T. Ribich, Poverty and Education, Chapter I, pp. 1-17 and 23-32, mimeo.

G. Becker, Human Capital, Chapters 1-5; 7 and 8, pp. 1-123; 136-159.

  1. Equality of Educational Opportunity

J. Coleman, “Equal Schools or Equal Students,” in The Public Interest, Summer, 1966, pp. 70-75.

*P. Sexton, Education and Income, pp. 58-69.

(Supplementary)

*Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU), Youth in the Ghetto: A Study in the Consequences of Powerlessness, Chapter 7.

*J. Conant, Slums and Suburbs, Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

*P.  Sexton, “City Schools,” in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1964, reprinted in L. Ferman, et al., eds., Poverty in America.

  1. A Model of Education and the Distribution of Earnings

G. Becker, “Human Capital and the Personal Distribution of Income: An Analytical Approach,” mimeo, 59 pp.

  1. Education and the War on Poverty

B. Weisbrod, “Preventing High School Dropouts,” in R. Dorfman, (*) Measuring the Benefits of Government Investments, pp. 117-148.

J. K. Folger and C. B. Nam, Education of the American Population (U.S. Department of Commerce).

(Supplementary)

O. Lewis, “The Culture of Poverty,” Scientific American, October, 1966, pp. 19-25.

*Haryou, Youth in the Ghetto, Chapter 12.

C. A. Anderson, “A Skeptical Note on Education and Mobility,” in H. Halsey, J. Floud, C. Anderson, (*) Education Economy and Society.

III. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
  1. The Theory of Production and Distribution

M. Brown, On the Theory and Measurement of Technological Change, chapter 2, pp. 9-28.

*J. Meade, Efficiency, Equality and the Ownership of Property, Chapter 1, pp. 11-26.

J. Hicks, Theory of Wages, Chapter VI, pp. 112-135.

  1. Commentaries, Past and Present

A. Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter 1.

D. Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Chapter 31, “On Machinery.”

K. Marx, Capital, Volume I, Chapter XV, sections 3, 5 and 6, pp. 430-456; 466-488. (Pages refer to Modern Library edition.)

P. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chapter 5, pp. 75-95.

R. Solow, “Technology and Unemployment,” The Public Interest, Fall, 1965, pp. 17-26.

(Supplementary)

R. Eckaus, “The Factor Proportions Problem in Underdeveloped Areas.” American Economic Review, September, 1955, reprinted in A. Agarwala and S. P. Singh; (*) The Economics of Underdevelopment, pp. 348-78.

  1. Making the Most Out of Technological Change

*J. Meade, Efficiency, Equality and the Ownership of Property, Chapters 2-7, pp. 27-77.

*National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress, Technology and the American Economy, Vol. 1, chapters 1-4, pp. 1-58.

IV. [ECONOMIC GROWTH: MEASUREMENT, THEORY, PRODUCTIVITY]
  1. The Measurement and Characteristics of Economic Growth

S. Kuznets, Postwar Economic Growth, Lecture II, “Characteristics of Modern Economic Growth,” pp. 36-68.

*C. Cipolla, The Economic History of World Population, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 15-58.

*E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the United States, Chapters 1, 2, and 3, pp. 3-22.

(Supplementary)

M. Abramovitz, “The Welfare Interpretation of Secular Trends in National Income and Product,” Abramovitz, et al. (*) The Allocation of Economic Resources, pp. 1-22.

*S. Kuznets, Modern Economic Growth.

*O. Morgenstern, On the Accuracy of Economic Observations, Chapters 1 and 2.

  1. Theories of Economic Growth

G. Winston, “The Power Growth Model,” mimeo, 18 pp.

*J. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development, Chapters 1 to 4, pp. 3-156.

*J. Meade, A Neoclassical Theory of Economic Growth, Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-18.

  1. The Advance of Productivity in the U.S. Economy

J. Kendrick, Productivity Trends in the United States, pp. 3-12, 59-77.

(Supplementary)

M. Abramovitz, “Resource and Output Trends in the U.S. Since 1870,” American Economic Review, 1956.

R. Solow, “Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 1957.

V. EDUCATION AND GROWTH

T. Schultz, The Economic Value of Education, pp. 1-70.

S. Strumilin, “The Economic Significance of National Education,” in J. Vaizey and E. A. G. Robinson, The Economics of Education, pp. 276-323.

B. Weisbrod, “Education and Investment in Human Capital,” Journal of Political Economy Supplement, October, 1962, pp. 106-123.

W. Bowen, Economic Aspects of Education, Essay I, “Assessing the Economic Contribution of Education,” pp. 3-38.

*E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the U.S. and the Alternatives Before Us, pp. 23-46; 66-80; 84-87.

T. Schultz, “Investing in Farm People,” in T. Schultz, (*) Transforming Traditional Agriculture, pp. 175-206.

(Supplementary)

T. Schultz, “Investment in Human Capital,” American Economic Review, December, 1961.

W. Bowman, “The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 39, No. 2, Spring, 1966, pp. 112-137.

*B. Weisbrod, The External Benefits of Public Education.

A. Harberger, “Investment in Men vs. Investment in Machines: The Case of India,” in M. Bowman and C. A. Anderson, Education and Economic Development, pp. 11-33.

Carl Shoup, et al., The Fiscal System of Venezuela, pp. 406-409.

M. Bowman and C. Anderson, “Concerning the Role of Education in Development,” in C. Geertz, Old Societies and New States, pp. 247-279.

S. Bowles, “Sources of Growth in the Greek Economy,” mimeo.

VI. TECHNOLOGY AND GROWTH
  1. The Production of New Technologies

J. Enos, “Invention and Innovation in the Petroleum Industry,” in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, pp. 299-322.

H. Dickenson, “The Steam-Engine to 1830,” in Charles Singer et al. A History of Technology, Volume IV, pp. 168-198.

(Supplementary)

Articles by Peck, Mueller and Nelson, in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity.

R. Nelson, “The Economics of Invention: A Survey of the Literature,” in Journal of Business, April, 1959, pp. 101-127.

J. Schmookler, Invention and Economic Growth, Chapters 6 and 7.

  1. The Spread of New Technologies

W. E. G. Salter, Productivity and Technical Change, Chapters 4, 5, 6 and appendix to Chapter 7, pp. 48-82, 95-99.

Z. Griliches, “Hybrid Corn and the Economics of Innovation,” Science, July 29, 1960, Vol. 132, pp. 275-280.

(Supplementary)

J. Habakkuk, American and British Technology.

  1. Technology and Growth

E. Denison, The Sources of Economic Growth in the United States, pp. 154-255.

Z. Griliches, “Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn and Related Innovations,” Journal of Political Economy, October, 1958, pp. 419-431.

  1. Efficiency of Resource Allocation in Research and Development

R. Nelson, “The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research,” in Journal of Political Economy, June, 1959, pp. 297-306.

(Supplementary)

K. Arrow, “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention,” in National Bureau of Economic Research, The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity, pp. 609-625.

VII. [ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION]
  1. The Concept of Efficiency in Education

H. Johnson, “Economics and Education,” in School Review, Autumn, 1957, pp. 260-269.

(Supplementary)

Project Talent, Studies of the American High School, Cooperative Research Project 226, U.S. Office of Education. Chapters 6, 9, and 10.

J. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office of Education.

  1. The Market for Educated Labor

H. Leibenstein, “Shortages and Surpluses in Education in Underdeveloped Countries,” in M. J. Bowman and C A. Anderson, Education and Economic Development, pp. 51-62.

K. Arrow and W. Capron, “Dynamic Shortages and Price Rises, The Engineer-Scientist Case,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1959, pp. 292-308.

  1. Market Solutions to the Problem of Efficient Resource Allocation in Education

M. Friedman, “The Role of Government in Education,” in R. Solo, Economics and the Public Interest, pp. 123-144.

A. Daniere, Higher Education in the American Economy, chapters 2 and 4-5 pp. 13-19, 33-55.

(Supplementary)

C. Jencks, “Is the Public School Obsolete?” in The Public Interest.

  1. Educational Planning

M. Blaug, “Conflicting Approaches to Educational Planning,” mimeo, 34 pp.

H. Johnson, “The Economics of the Brain Drain,” Minerva, 1965.

A. Daniere, “Rate of Return and Manpower Approach in Educational Planning” in Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration, Public Policy, 1965, pp. 162-200.

(Supplementary)

F. Harbison and C. Myers, Education, Manpower and Economic Growth.

J. Tinbergen, et al., Econometric Models of Education, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 1965; An Experiment in Planning by Six Countries, 1966.

H. Parnés, Forecasting Education Needs for Economic and Social Development, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 1962.

R. Hollister, A Technical Evaluation of the First Stage of the Mediterranean Regional Project, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1966.

R. Eckaus, “Economic Criteria for Education and Training,” Review of Economics and Statistics, (May, 1964), pp. 181-190.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1967-1968, Box 9. Folder “Economics, 1967-68”.

Image Source: The Boston Globe (December 5, 1969), p. 15.

Categories
Econometrics Harvard Statistics Suggested Reading Syllabus

Harvard. Syllabus and partial reading list for graduate time-series econometrics. Sims, 1968-1969

Christopher A. Sims, portrait from his senior year

 

Future economics Nobel laureate (2011) Christopher A. Sims was a 26 year old assistant professor at Harvard tasked in the fall term of 1968 to teach a graduate level introduction to time-series econometrics. He had been awarded a Harvard economics Ph.D. earlier that year. His dissertation supervisor was Hendrik Houthakker.

A copy of Sims’ initial list of reading assignments and topics can be found in the papers of Zvi Griliches in the Harvard Archives. Sims does appear to have offered a rather heavy dose of time-series econometrics for that time. Perhaps it was too much of a good thing, at least too much to swallow for most of the department’s graduate students. In any event Econometric Methods I was transferred to / taken over by Zvi Griliches in the following years when the topic of time series was reduced to an amuse-bouche of serial correlation.

In the previous year the course had been taught by Marc Nerlove (Yale University) with the following brief description provided in the course catalogue:  “An introduction to the construction and testing of econometric models with special emphasis on the analysis of economic time series.” 

_______________________

Course Announcement
Fall Term, 1968

Economics 224a. Econometric Methods

Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., S., at 9. Assistant Professor C. A. Sims

The theory of stochastic processes with applications to the construction and testing of dynamic economic models. Analysis in the time domain and in the frequency domain, in discrete time and in continuous time.

Prerequisite: Economics 221b [Multiple regression and the analysis of variance with economic applications] or equivalent preparation in statistics.

Source: Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Courses of Instruction, 1968-69, p. 133.

_______________________

Fall 1968
Economics 224a
Asst. Prof. C. Sims

Course Description

            The accompanying Course Outline gives a detailed description of topics 0 through III which will (hopefully) occupy the first third of the semester. These topics include most of the mathematical tools which will be given econometric application in the later sections. The list of topics in the outline, even under the main headings 0 through III, is not exhaustive; and the topics listed are not all of equivalent importance.

            Many of the references listed overlap substantially. In the first, theoretical, section of the course (except for Section 0) the references are chosen to duplicate as nearly as possible what will be covered in lectures. They should provide alternative explanations when you find the lectures obscure or, in some cases, provide more elegant and rigorous discussion when you find the lectures too pedestrian.

            The primary emphasis of this course will be on the stationarity, or linear process, approach to dynamic models. The Markov process, control theory, or state space approach which is currently prominent in the engineering literature will be discussed briefly under topics V and VII.

            The latter parts of the course will apply the theory developed in the first parts to formulating and testing dynamic economic models or hypotheses. Some background in economics is therefore essential to participation in the course. The mathematical prerequisites are a solid grasp of calculus, a course in statistics, and an ability to absorb new mathematical notions fairly quickly.

            The course text is Spectral Methods in Econometrics by Gilbert Fishman. Spectral Analysis by Gwilyn M. Jenkins and Donald G. Watts is more complete in some respects, but it is less thorough in its treatment of some points important in econometrics and it costs three times what Fishman costs. A list of other texts which may be referred to in the accompanying course outline or in future outlines and reading assignments follows. Some of these texts are at a higher mathematical level than is required for this course or cover topics we will not cover in detail. Those texts which should be on library reserve are marked with a “*”, and those which are priced below the usual high prices for technical texts are marked with a “$”.

List of Text References

* Ahlfors, Lars, Complex Analysis, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1953.

Acki, Max., Optimization of Stochastic Systems, Academic Press, 1967.

* Deutsch, Ralph, Estimation Theory, Prentice Hall, 1965.

* Fellner, et.al., Ten Economic Studies in the Tradition of Irving Fisher, Wiley, 1967.

* Freeman, H., Introduction to Statistical Inference, Addison-Wesley, 1963.

Granger, C.W.J., and M. Hatanaka, Spectral Analysis of Economic Time Series, Princeton University Press, 1964.

Grenander, U., and M. Rosenblatt, Statistical Analysis of Stationary Time Series, Wiley, 1957.

Grenander, U., and G. Szego, Toeplitz Forms and Their Applications, University of California Press, 1958.

*$ Hannan, E.J., Time Series Analysis, Methuen, London, 1960.

$ Lighthill, Introduction to Fourier Analysis and Generalized Functions, Cambridge University Press.

Rozanov, Yu. A., Stationary Random Processes, Holden-Day, 1967.

*$ Whittle, P., Prediction and Regulation by Linear Least-Square Methods, English Universities Press, 1963.

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

Preliminary Course Outline
Fall 1968
Economics 224a
Asst. Prof. C. Sims

0. Elementary Preliminaries.

Complex numbers and analytic functions, definitions and elementary facts. Manipulation of multi-dimensional probability distributions.

The material in this section will not be covered in lectures. A set of exercises aimed at testing your facility in these areas (for your information and mine) will be handed out at the first meeting.

References: Ahlfors, I.1, I.2.1-2.4, II.1; Jenkins and Watts, Chapters 3 and 4 or the sections on probability in a mathematical statistics text, e.g. Freeman, part I.

I. Stochastic Processes: Fundamental definitions and properties.
  1. Definitions:

stochastic process;
normal (stochastic) process;
stationary process;
linear process; — autoregressive and moving average processes;
covariance stationary process.
autocovariance and autocorrelation functions
stochastic convergence — in probability, almost sure, and in the (quadratic) mean or mean square;
ergodic process — n’th order ergodicity, sufficient conditions for first and second order ergodicity.
process with stationary n’th difference
Markov process

  1. Extensions to multivariate case.

References: Fishman, 2.1-2.5; Jenkins and Watts, 5.1-5.2.

II. Background from Mathematical Analysis
  1. Function spaces.
  2. Linear operator on function spaces; their interpretation as limits of sequences of ordinary weighted averages.
  3. Convolution of functions with functions, of operators with functions; discrete versus continuous time.
  4. Measure functions; Lebesgue-Stieltjes measures on the real line.
  5. Integration; the Lebesgue integral, the Cauchy-Riemann integral, and the Cauchy principal value; inverting the order of integration.
  6. Fourier transforms; of functions; of operators; continuous, discrete, and finite-discrete time parameters; the inverse transform and Parseval’s theorem.
  7. Applications to some simple deterministic models.

References: Jenkins and Watts, Chapter 2. For more rigor, see Lighthill. No reference I know of covers topics 4 and 5 in as brief and heuristic a way as we shall.

III. The spectral representation of covariance-stationary processes and its theoretical applications.
  1. Random measures; the random spectral measure of a covariance stationary process; characteristics of the random spectral measure in the normal and non-normal cases.
  2. The spectral density; relation to autocovariance function; positive definiteness.
  3. Wold’s decomposition; regular, mixed, and linearly deterministic processes; discrete and continuous component in the spectral measure; example of non-linearly deterministic process; the criterion for regularity with continuous spectral density.
  4. The moving average representation; criteria for existence of autoregressive representation.
  5. Optimal least squares forecasting and filtering.
  6. Generalized random processes.
  7. The multivariate case; cross spectra.
  8. Applications to econometric models.

References: Fishman, 2.6-2.30; Jenkins and Watts, 6.2 and 8.3: For a much more abstract approach, see Rozanov, chapters I – III.

IV. Statistical analysis using spectral and cross-spectral techniques.

V. Regression in time series.

VI. Seasonality.

VII. Estimation in distributed lag models.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 123. Folder “Econometric Methods 1968-1982.”

Image Source: Christopher A. Sims ’63 in Harvard Class Album 1963. From the Harvard Crimson article “Harvard and the Atomic Bomb,” by Matt B. Hoisch and Luke W. Xu (March 22, 2018). Sims was a member of the Harvard/Radcliffe group “Tocsin” that advocated nuclear disarmament.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Some biographical backstory for Evsey Domar up through 1943

This post started small as simply the archival documentation of the teaching fellow positions at Harvard held by my dear dissertation advisor, Evsey Domar, before he left to work at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1943. But a detail led me to dive into immigration and citizenship records accessible through the genealogy website ancestry.com and I surfaced with Evsey David Domar’s, then (Evsey [Joshua] Domashevitsky’s) declaration of intention (1936) and petition for naturalization (1942). These two artifacts have been included in the post.

In an earlier post I provided Evsey Domar’s account of the final stage of his Ph.D. thesis review.

Harlan Monell Smith (b. 1914, d. 2013!), together with Alvin Hansen, signed an affidavit regarding Evsey Domar’s moral and civic worthiness for U.S. citizenship. Smith himself was educated at Harvard, Brown and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1949). He went on to become an economics professor at the University of Minnesota. (His obituary can be found at the Minneapolis “Star Tribune”, April 20, 2013, p. B4).

_________________

Evsey Domar
Timeline

1914. Born in Lodz, Poland.
1916. Family moved to Harbin, Manchuria.
1930. Graduated from a Russian high school.
1930-1932 (ca.) Study of economics at the State Faculty of Law in Harbin.
1934. Moved to Dairen, Manchuria.
1936. Emigrated to the United States.
1939. B.A. in Economics  UCLA
1940. Student at University of Chicago
1941. M.A.  (Mathematical Statistics) University of Michigan.
1943. A.M. Harvard University.
1947. Ph.D. Harvard University.
1943-46. Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System.
1946-47. Assistant Professor, Carnegie Institute of Technology.
1947-48. Research associate. Cowles Commission, University of Chicago.
1948-55. Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University.
1955-58. Professor, Johns Hopkins University.
1958-1984. Professor, M.I.T.
1984-1997. Professor Emeritus, M.I.T. [taught some courses at Brandeis and Wellesley during this time]
1997. Died in Concord, Massachusetts.

_________________

From a note written for a relative

EVSEY D. DOMAR

            I grew up in Harbin, Manchuria, where my family arrived in 1916. Harbin was the hub of the Chinese Eastern Railroad built by the Russians across Manchuria at the end of the last century. It was practically a Russian city, with Russian newspapers, theaters, and even Russian weights and measures. Originally, it had a Russian administration and Russian laws. I graduated from a Russian high school in 1930 and then studied for a year or so at the Economics Department of the State Faculty of Law. In 1934 I moved to Dairen, a Japanese colony at the very southern tip of Manchuria, a delightful city on the sea with an excellent climate but without the active cultural life of Harbin….

Source: Duke University, David Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscripts Library. Economists’ Papers Archives. Evsey Domar Papers, Box 3, Folder “Correspondence D-General.”

_________________

U.S. Department of Labor
Immigration and Naturalization Service
No. 23 51762

CERTIFICATE OF ARRIVAL

I HEREBY CERTIFY that the immigration records show that the alien named below arrived at the port, on the date, and in the manner shown, and was lawfully admitted to the United States of America for permanent residence.

Name: Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky
Port of entry: San Pedro, California
Date: August 16, 1936.
Manner of arrival: SS Taiyo Maru

I FURTHER CERTIFY that this certificate of arrival is issued under authority of, and in conformity with, the provisions of the Act of June 29, 1906, as amended, solely for the use of the alien herein named and only for naturalization purposes.

In Witness Whereof, this Certificate of Arrival is issued.
[Stamped: “Oct 9—1936”]
[Signed]
D. W. MacCormack, Commissioner

_________________

No. 78493

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DECLARATION OF INTENTION

(Invalid for all purposes seven years after the date hereof)

United States of America
Southern District of California
County of Los Angeles

ss: In the District Court of the United States
at Los Angeles

I, Evsey (Joshua) Domaschevitsky now residing at1154 W. 37th Dr., Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif. Occupation Student, aged 22 years, do declare on oath that my personal description is: Sex Male, color white, complexion medium, color of eyes dk.brown, color of hair dk.brown, height 5 feet 4 ½ inches; weight 143 pounds; visible distinctive marks mole on left ear and on right cheek, race Hebrew; nationality Russian. I was born in Lodz, Poland, on April 16, 1914. I am not married. The name of my wife or husband is [left blank], we were married on [left blank], at [left blank]; she or he was born at [left blank], on [left blank], entered the United States at [left blank], on [left blank], for permanent residence therein, and now resides at [left blank]. I have no children, and the name, date and place of birth, [left blank].

I have not heretofore made a declaration of intention:
Number [left blank], on [left blank], at [left blank], my last foreign residence was Dairen, Manchiria [sic]. I emigrated to the United States of America from Kobe, Japan, my lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was at San Pedro, Calif. under the name of Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky, on Aug. 16, 1936 on the vessel SS Taiyo Maru. I will, before being admitted to citizenship, renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly, by name, to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of which I may be at the time of admission a citizen or subject; I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to reside permanently therein. I certify that the photograph affixed to the duplicate and triplicate hereof is a likeness of me: SO HELP ME GOD.

[signed]
Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky

Subscribed and sworn to me in the office of the Clerk of said Court, at Los Angeles, Cal. This 24 day of Oct.anno Domini 1936. Certification No. 23-51762 from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization showing the lawful entry of the declarant for permanent residence on the date state above, has been received by me. The photograph affixed to the duplicate and triplicate hereof is a likeness of the declarant.

[signed]
R. B. Zimmerman,
Clerk U.S. District Court, Southern District of California.

Form 2202-L-A
U.S. Department of Labor
Immigration and Naturalization Service

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

5 UNIVERSITY HALL

OFFICE OF THE DEAN

June 14, 1941

Dear Mr. Conant:

            At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that the following appointments be made for one year from September 1, 1941, at the salaries indicated:

[…]

Teaching Fellows in Economics

Joshua Domashevitsky (B.A., Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 1939; M.A., Michigan, 1941, 640 Oxford Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan (After June: 51 West Second Street, Winona, Minnesota [Note: Domar’s recently immigrated (Dec. 13, 1940) mother Sarah Naumovna Domashevitsky was living in Winona, Minnesota in 1941]); at a salary of $1000. Mr. Domashevitsky is a Polish subject and has taken out first papers in the United States. (1st appointment).

[…]

Very truly yours,
[signed]
W. S Ferguson

President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 178, Folder “Economics, 1940-1941”.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

5 UNIVERSITY HALL

WILLIAM SCOTT FERGUSON, DEAN
PAUL HERMAN BUCK, ASST. DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASST. DEAN

October 27, 1941

Dear Mr. Greene:

            At the request of Professor Chamberlin, I recommend that the following increases in salary be made for 1941-42 for members of the Economics Department:

[…]

Joshua Domashevitsky, an increase of $333.33, making a total of $1333.33, all Department.

[…]

Very truly yours,
[signed]
W. S Ferguson

Mr. J. D. Greene
Massachusetts Hall

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

5 UNIVERSITY HALL

PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASST. DEAN

June 5, 1942

Dear Mr. Conant:

At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that the following appointments be made for one year from July 1, 1942, at the salaries indicated to cover a period of ten months beginning September 1, 1942:

[…]

Teaching Fellow in Economics

Josua Domashevitsky (B.A., University of California at Los Angeles, 1939; M.A., Michigan, 1941), 7 Story Street, Cambridge; at a salary of $1033.33. 2d appointment. Since Mr. Domashevitsky is a Polish citizen and has taken out first papers for citizenship in the United States, a statement concerning his loyalty is attached.

[…]

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.

President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 204, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

E. H. CHAMBERLIN, CHAIRMAN

M-8 LITTAUER CENTER

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

June 6, 1942

Dear Dean Buck:

Mr. Joshua Domashevitsky, who is being recommended by the Department of Economics for reappointment as Teaching Fellow, has been in the United States for a number of years and has taken out his first papers for American citizenship. I am confident there should be no question whatever as to his loyalty to this country.

Sincerely yours,
[signed]
E. H. Chamberlin

Dean Paul H. Buck

[Stamped date: “June 8, 1942”]

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 204, Folder “Economics, 1941-1942”.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

5 UNIVERSITY HALL

PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
HENRY CHAUNCEY, ASSISTANT TO THE DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASSISTANT DEAN

October 2, 1942

Dear Mr. Conant:

            At the request of Professor Chamberlin I recommend that […] the following changes in salary be made for the present academic year:

[…]

            Joshua Domashevitsky, Teaching Fellow in Economics, an increase of $200, making a total of $1233.33.

[…]

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.

President J. B. Conant
Massachusetts Hall

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 226, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943”.

_________________

No. 243932

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION

[Under General Provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 (Public, No. 853, 76th Cong.)]

To the Honorable the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts at Boston.
This petition for naturalization, hereby made and filed, respectively shows:

(1) My full, true, and correct name is  Evsey David Domaschevitsky a.k.a. Evsey David Domar. (2) My present place of residence is 14 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, Middlesex, Mass. (3) Occupation Student. (4) I am aged 28 years old. (5)  I was born on April 16, 1914 in Lodz Pietrokow Poland. (6) My personal description is: Sex male, color white, complexion medium, color of eyes dkbrown, color of hair brown, height 5 feet 4 ½ inches, weight 134 pounds, visible distinctive marks none, race white; present nationality Polish. (7) I am not married; the name of my wife or husband is [left blank], we were married on [left blank], at [left blank]; she or he was born at [left blank], on [left blank], and entered the United States at [left blank], on [left blank], for permanent residence therein, and now resides at [left blank] and was naturalized on [left blank] at [left blank] certificate No. [left blank]; or became a citizen by [left blank]. (8) I have no children, and the name, sex, date, and place of birth, and present place of residence of each of said children who is living, are as follows: [left blank]. (9) My last foreign residence was Dairen, Manchuria. (10) I emigrated to the United States of America from Kobe, Japan. (11) My lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States was at San Pedro, Calif. under the name of Evsey (Joshua) Domashevitsky, on Aug. 16, 1936 on the SS Taiyo Maru as shown by the certificate of my arrival attached to this petition.

(12) Since my lawful entry for permanent residence I have not been absent from the United States, for a period or periods of 6 months or longer, as follows:

[Table without entries omitted here]

(13) I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on October 24, 1936 in the USDC Court of Southern District at Los Angeles California. (14) It is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly, by name, to the prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which at this time I am a citizen or subject, and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States. (15) I am not, and have not been for the period of at least 10 years immediately preceding the date of this petition, an anarchist; nor a believer in the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or sabotage; nor a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government; nor a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposition to organized government. (16) I am able to speak the English language (unless physically unable to do so). (17) I am, and have been during all of the periods required by law, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. (18) I have resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of 5 years at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since Aug. 16, 1936 and continuously in the State in which this petition is made for the term of 6 months at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since Feb. 1, 1942. (19) I have not heretofore made petition for naturalization: No. [left blank] on [left blank] at [left blank] in [left blank] Court, and such petition was dismissed or denied by that Court for the following reasons and causes, to wit: [left blank] and the cause of such dismissal or denial has since been cured or removed. (20) Attached hereto and made a part of this, my petition for naturalization, are my declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States (if such declaration of intention be required by the naturalization law), a certificate of arrival from the Immigration and Naturalization Service of my said lawful entry into the United States for permanent residence (If such certificate of arrival be required by the naturalization law), and the affidavits of at least two verifying witnesses required by law.

(21) Wherefore, I, your petitioner for naturalization, pray that I may be admitted a citizen of the United States of America, and that my name be changed to

Evsey David Domar.

(22) I, aforesaid petitioner, do swear (affirm) that I know the contents of this petition for naturalization subscribed by me, that the same are true to the best of my own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated to be alleged upon information and belief, and that as to those matters I believe them to be true, and that this petition is signed by me with my full, true name: SO HELP ME GOD.

[signed]
Evsey David Domashevitsky
Evsey David Domar

AFFIDAVIT OF WITNESSES

The following witnesses, each being severally, duly, and respectively sworn, depose and say:

My name is Alvin H. Hansen, my occupation is college professor. I reside at 56 Juniper Rd. Belmont, Mass. and

My name is Harlin [sic] M. Smith, my occupation is student. I reside at 15½ Shepard St. Cambridge, Mass.

I am a citizen of the United States of America Wit. Hansen I have personally known and have been acquainted in the United States with said Domashevitsky, the petitioner named in the petition for naturalization of which this affidavit is a part, since October 1, 1941 and Wit. Smith has known the petitioner since Feb. 1, 1942 to my personal knowledge, the petitioner has resided immediately preceding the date of filing this petition, in the United States continuously since the date last mentioned and at Cambridge, in the State of Mass. continuously since Feb. 1, 1942 and I have personal knowledge that the petitioner is and during all such periods has been a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States, and in my opinion the petitioner is in every way qualified to be admitted a citizen of the United States.

            I do swear (affirm) that the statements of fact I have made in this affidavit of this petition for naturalization subscribed by me are true to the best of my knowledge and belief: SO HELP ME GOD.

[signed] Alvin H. Hansen
[signed] Harlan M. Smith

Subscribed and sworn to before me by the above-named petitioner and witnesses in the respective forms of oath shown in said petition and affidavit in the office of the Clerk of said Court at Boston, Mass. this 13th day of October Anno Domini 1942. I herby certify that Certificate of Arrival no 23 51762 from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, showing the lawful entry for permanent residence of the petitioner above named, together with Declaration of Intention no. 78493 of such petitioner, has been by me filed with, attached to, and made a part of this petition on this date.

Deps.

[signed] James S. Allen, Clerk
By [signature illegible], Deputy Clerk.

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; SO HELP ME GOD. In acknowledgment whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

[signed] Evsey David Domar…Evsey David Domashevitsky

Sworn to in open court, this 21 day of Dec, A.D. 1942

Petition granted: Line No. [left blank] of List No. 734 and Certificate No. 5703583 issued.

_________________

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

5 UNIVERSITY HALL

PAUL HERMAN BUCK, DEAN
HENRY CHAUNCEY, ASSISTANT TO THE DEAN
JEFFRIES WYMAN, JR., ASSISTANT DEAN

January 27, 1943

Dear Mr. Greene:

Professor Chamberlin has informed me that Mr. Evsey D. Domar (formerly Joshua Domashevitsky) is resigning as Teaching Fellow in Economics as of February 1, 1943. Will you kindly present this resignation to the corporation.

According to Professor Chamberlin Mr. Domar was voted a salary $1233.33 to be pro-rated equally over the ten-month period from September to June. He now says Mr. Domar was expected to carry a heavier load in second half-year. His salary for the first half-year should, therefore, he fixed at a total of $566.67.

Mr. Domar understands than this adjustment will be made in the check to be sent him on February 1. I have asked the Bursar not to make a payment to Mr. Domar until he has been notified by you as to the proper amount to be paid on that date.

Very truly yours,
[signed]
Paul H. Buck.

Mr. J. D. Greene
Massachusetts Hall

Source: Harvard University Archives. Records of President James B. Conant, Box 226, Folder “Economics, 1942-1943”.

Image Source: Joshua Domashevitsky (a.k.a. Evsey D. Nomar) in the UCLA yearbook, 1939 Southern Campus, p. 52. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.

Categories
Agricultural Economics Exam Questions Harvard

Harvard. Exam questions for agricultural economics. Carver, 1905-1906

In 1911 Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver published a textbook Principles of Rural Economics  that undoubtedly encompassed the content of his course on agricutural economics first taught in 1903-04. Somewhat unusually the book is prefaced with an eight page bibliography. The eight question final exam for this semester course from 1905-06 is found below.

___________________________

From a previous year

ca. 1904 Problem set

1903-04 Final exam

___________________________

Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 23 2hf. Professor Carver. — Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American Conditions.

Total 42: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 73.

___________________________

ECONOMICS 23
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe the two principal stages in the development of commercial agriculture.
  2. Describe the methods by which a citizen could acquire a title to government land at the following dates: 1850, 1870, 1890.
  3. What are the chief advantages of large-scale farming and of small-scale farming? Which system has the United States government favored, and by what means?
  4. What are the advantages of diversified farming, and under what conditions is it practicable?
  5. What experiments are being carried on under the direction of the United States Department of Agriculture in the breeding of animals?
  6. Describe three types of farm management as practiced in the United States.
  7. Name, in the order of their value, the five leading crops of the United States, and if any of them are grown in special regions or belts, state approximately their limits.
  8. What are the principal factors tending, at the present time, to affect the character of the rural population of the United States?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 46.

Image Source: “The American farmer – where he has to sell, and where he has to buy,” print by Louis Dalrymple in Puck, v. 35, no. 910 (August 15, 1894). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Print shows Uncle Sam as an American farmer trying to sell his products labeled “Pork, Wheat, Butter, Beef, Oats”, and corn overseas where there is stiff “Open Competition” at the “Market of the World” represented by John Bull labeled “England” and “Germany, Russia, South America, [and] Australia”. In a vignette, Uncle Sam is shown at “The McKinley Home Market and High Prices” looking at the merchandise for sale, where all the items that he needs have been “Marked Up” 35% to 45%; McKinley offers him a new coat that has been “Marked Up 35%”.

 

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Chicago. Notes on conversation with U Chicago president Colwell by T.W. Schultz, 1946

Biblical Greek Scholar/Theologian Ernest Cadman Colwell served under Chancellor Robert M. Hutchins as the president of the University of Chicago from 1945 to 1951. Theodore W. Schultz was the relatively new head of the Department of Economics who met with Colwell in late September 1946 to brief the president on developments in the economics department, especially with respect to efforts being made in pursuit of several economists needed to fill the gaps left by Henry Simons’ death (1946), Chester W. Wright’s retirement (1944), resignations by Jacob Viner (1946) and Simeon E. Leland (1946), and Oskar Lange’s leave of absence (1945-).

We see in the memorandum of conversation transcribed below that John and Ursula Hicks posed a spousal hire issue needing a creative solution before an actual offer could be made and that sixty year old Frank Knight was due some sort of a “senatorial courtesy” to get him on board with the majority of the department who badly wanted to extend an offer to thirty-one year old Paul Samuelson. 

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Chicago Economics in 1946

Mitch, David. “A Year of Transition: Faculty Recruiting at Chicago in 1946.” Journal of Political Economy 124, no. 6 (2016): 1714–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26549915. Especially the online supplemental materials, where the following memo is quoted in part.

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More on the Pursuit of Samuelson
by Chicago

Harro Maas, “Making Things Technical: Samuelson at MIT” in E. Roy Weintraub (ed.) MIT and the Transformation of American Economics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2014), pp. 272-294.

Roger Backhouse. Founder of Modern Economics: Paul A. Samuelson. Vol. I: Becoming Samuelson, 1915-1948 (Oxford University Press, 2017), Chapter 28 “Commitment to MIT.”

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Discussion with Ernest C. Colwell
(25 September 1946)

This discussion with President Colwell was highly satisfactory in that we considered in some detail and carefully, a number of important developments affecting the Department of Economics as follows:

1. I indicated to Mr. Colwell that the role of the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago should be reviewed, with the view of achieving a better division of labor among universities within the U. S. and internationally. An increasing number of universities can do creditable undergraduate work in economics, and also satisfactory graduate work up to and beyond the master’s. There are upwards of two score of such institutions in the U. S. Meanwhile, the number of students seeking training at the undergraduate level, and also in graduate work, has increased rapidly, and the post war promises further growth in numbers. Meanwhile, many Western countries are looking to the U.S. for some of their advanced education in other fields as well as in economics), this along with the development that is taking place within the U. S., suggests that the time has come for the University of Chicago to allocate its resources even more largely to the most advanced reaches of economics. I proposed that we examine carefully the implications of this kind of refocusing of our program. I was pleased that Mr. Colwell found himself drawn to the kind of analysis I was presenting. He made several contributions to it and concurred with the analysis itself. He very cordially urged the Department to examine this thesis and reconstitute itself to serve more effectively, taking full account of the division of labor within American academic institutions.

2. I reviewed in some detail the state of the Department, pointing out the losses that have come as the result of the death of Simons, the retirement of Wright, the resignations of Viner and Leland, and the leave of absence of Lange. I expressed our pleasure in achieving the appointment of Friedman and Blough, and reaffirmed my confidence in our judgment in seeking these appointments.

With regard to additional appointments, the following individuals were discussed.

(1) Mr. and Mrs. Hicks. I reviewed the agreements we had with Mr. Hutchins, which were the foundation of negotiations last spring. I indicated that the Hicks would arrive this week to be with us the fore-part of the fall quarter. If as a result of this opportunity of being together during part of the fall quarter, the Hicks see a real opportunity for their professional efforts at the University of Chicago, and we continue to be genuinely interested in bringing them to this University, would we be permitted to offer Mr. and Mrs. Hicks the salaries and positions that we had discussed last spring realizing we might have to go higher in the case of Mr. Hicks, for I was convinced his standing warranted our paying the maximum. Mr. Colwell said he was willing to authorize an offer of $10,000 to Mr. Hicks, and probed with me for a while the merit of making it higher instead of offering a position to both individuals. It was my judgment that our bargaining power would be at a maximum if we would offer both individuals a position, but that we could escape the liability of dual membership in one family by making the offer to Mrs. Hicks a term appointment — perhaps that of a Lecturer or Research Associate, say for three years at $3,000, and then reconsider at the end of three years, where she would have the privilege of withdrawing or redefining her relationship, and the Department would likewise have that privilege. Thus, the commitment would be permanent in the case of Mr. Hicks, but meaningful in terms of time turned into professional task to Mrs. Hicks and yet allowing flexibility in her case. Mr. Colwell accepted my proposal to proceed with an offer to both Mr. and Mrs. Hicks along the lines I have outlined.

(2) I reported Mr. Viner’s observations that it was not likely Mr. Robbins would leave the London School of Economics, and that, at least for a year, there was no point in making an indirect approach again to see whether or not he might feel free to accept an appointment in this country. Mr. Colwell fully concurred.

(3) I reviewed our offer to Mr. Colin Clark to come to the University of Chicago as guest professor for a year. I also pointed out we had included in the offer $1000 for travel expenses. I Indicated further that several of my colleagues were disposed to feel that we should now make an offer of a permanent appointment to Mr. Clark, since he is not able to obtain leave of absence to come as visiting professor. I then indicated why I felt, although tentatively, that it was unwise to make this move for a permanent relationship with the Department until we had a chance to become personally acquainted with Mr. Clark, although I continue to have a high regard for his professional work as evidenced by his major writings. Mr. Colwell concurred with the view I expressed, namely, we should not make an appointment on a permanent basis, but should try to get Mr. Clark to come as a visiting professor, if not this year, perhaps next year.

(4) I reviewed the case of Albert G. Hart, indicating that he had accepted a position at Columbia before we could approach him with an offer, and that it was important to his own growth to take the position at Columbia for a year. My plan is to approach him at the end of the year, let him weigh alternatives, including the opportunities as he sees them at Columbia. My proposal to Mr. Colwell was that we approach Hart along in February or March in order to induce him to come to Chicago. We discussed Hart’s background in some detail, Mr. Colwell concurred in the procedure I outlined to him.

(5) I then outlined at some length the case of Paul Samuelson of M.I.T. Mr. Colwell had not had the privilege of visiting with Samuelson at the time he was here. Samuelson visited with Hutchins and Gustavson, as far as Central Administration was concerned. I stated it was my judgment that Samuelson is one of the younger men in economics who has a high probability of achieving a distinguished career as an economist, and that in this respect his promise is most outstanding; that I had no doubt of the merits of the case intellectually and would press for an appointment, were that the only consideration, without delay, but that I had to achieve, however, an acceptance of Mr. Samuelson in the Department, not that a majority was lacking; a mandate existed satisfying the University administrative requirements. But the obstacle lies in what in substance is a matter of “senatorial courtesy” in behalf of the most distinguished and senior member of the Department, Professor Frank Knight. I expressed the hope it would be possible to have Professor Knight concur in the appointment and feel it was being made without any discourtesy to him and his professional role and standing in this University and in the profession. I felt this end must and could be achieved and that I was going to give a great deal of effort to it in the coming months. Pending the full exploration of what can be done in this connection I wanted to reserve decision as to whether or not to recommend the appointment of Mr. Samuelson. Mr. Colwell discussed at some length his own appraisal of the problem I had presented. He seemed to be pleased with the approach that was implicit in what I was relating to him. He made the point, and made it explicitly, that if the intellectual stature of Samuelson is as high as my judgment indicated, that it was exceedingly important the University move toward an appointment. I felt sure, though, that he was disposed to await the wishes of the Department, weighing carefully the factors I had tried to describe to him.

  1. At this point Mr. Colwell took me back to my general thesis, namely, the refocusing of the goals of the Department and the use of its resources, urging me to give active attention to this task. Whereupon I suggested the achievement of this role might well mean the setting up of 5 to 7 positions in the Department for individuals to spend 2 to 5 years at this university in what would be essentially a post-doctoral role as scholars, then accept positions elsewhere consistent with their accomplishments and promise. Mr. Colwell was drawn to the proposal as I had put it and referred briefly to similar planning and developments in other fields.

T. W. Schultz.

Source: University of Chicago Archives. Department of Economics, Records. Box 42, Folder “3”.