Economist in the Rear-view Mirror [Larry Summers] is not to be confused with Economics in the Rear-view Mirror [my blog]

#EconSky Reading lists for the overwhelming majority of Harvard economics courses open to both undergraduates and graduate students in 1920-21. Even better, every item has been linked! Economics in the Rear-view Mirror takes you there. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-cour...

#EconSky Memo to the Harvard Dean of Arts and Sciences by Frank W. Taussig in 1925 in support of the fresh PhD meat, Edward S. Mason. Taussig testified that Mason was "a handsome, upstanding chap. His very appearance makes an impression on the young fellows". www.irwincollier.com/harvard-lett...

#EconSky With "creative destruction" back in fashion, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror offers a glance at advanced economic theory taught at Harvard in 1948-49 by Joseph Schumpeter. His course reading lists included nine future Nobel laureates. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-adva...

#EconSky I have found different prelim exams for Economic Theory I for the 1957 winter quarter at the U of Chicago. This is the copy of the exam found in Zvi Griliches' papers. www.irwincollier.com/chicago-econ...

#EconSky In the Spring of 1993 these were the questions from the Harvard General Examination in Macroeconomic Theory. Objects in Rear-view mirror are closer than they appear. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-gene...

#EconSky Harvard even had a course on the history of economics that started with ancient Greece. OK, it was 1909-10 and Charles Bullock knew enough Greek and Latin to have taught the subjects before going to grad school in economics. Cantillon, anyone, anyone? www.irwincollier.com/harvard-hist...

#EconSky Half of Thomas Nixon Carver's final exam on the economics of socialism, communism, and the single tax at Harvard 1909-10 was dedicated to the single-tax reform. Too much of a good thing? www.irwincollier.com/harvard-meth...

#EconSky Shall I be wise and great, or rich and powerful? A question never asked by Thomas Nixon Carver in his Harvard course on the Distribution of Wealth, 1909-10. Round up the usual functional share suspects.... www.irwincollier.com/harvard-dist...

#EconSky Another reminder that European economic history was a core element in the training of early 20th century economists. Consider Howard Levi Gray and Edwin Francis Gay's course offerings for 1909-10 at Harvard... www.irwincollier.com/harvard-euro...

#EconSky In March 1938 four Harvard economics professors signed a petition in support of US non-neutrality with respect to the Spanish Civil War. Plot-spoiler: they were on the anti-fascist side of the matter. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-econ...

#EconSky The economics of corporations was taught by Prof William Z. Ripley at Harvard 1909-10. Course description, report assignment, final exam. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-econ...

#EconSky Applied economics courses in the early 20th century typically were framed as "Problems of ...". William Z. Ripley taught Problems of Labor at Harvard in 1909-10. Course description, enrollment and final exam posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-prob...

#EconSky Meet the University of Chicago economics Ph.D. alumnus from 1926, Shirley Jay Coon. Thesis: Economic Development of Missoula, Montana. You read that right. www.irwincollier.com/chicago-econ...

#EconSky The reading list and final exam for Henry Rosovsky and Dwight Perkins' course on the economic development of China and Japan (Harvard, 1966-67) are posted. Bonus material: Rosovsky's contribution to the 2003 Birthday book of Jeffrey Epstein. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-econ...

#EconSky The second semester of the two-term money and banking sequence at Harvard in 1909-10 was taught by asst prof O.W.M. Sprague, back from a guest professorship in Japan. Historical and comparative study of banking systems. Course final exam etc. posted. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-desc...

#EconSky Meet an economics Ph.D. alumnus from the Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government (1925), Dexter Merriam Keezer. Of the institutional school persuasion, President of Reed College, OPA deputy administrator, head of economics at McGraw-Hill. www.irwincollier.com/brookings-ec...

#EconSky William J. Baumol identified five dangers to be avoided by prospective historians of economics in the introductory lecture to his course at Princeton on the history of economic doctrines (rev. Jan 1979). His notes have been transcribed, links added. www.irwincollier.com/princeton-in...

#EconSky The Nov 1961 graduate economic theory exam at Harvard asked the student to answer six of ten questions. Copy transcribed from the Edward Chamberlin papers at the Economists' Papers Archive at Duke University. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-grad...

#EconSky M.I.T. professor Davis Rich Dewey was a visiting lecturer in economics at Harvard in 1909-10. He taught the Money course that year. Course description, enrollment and final exam are posted. His teaching assistant was a Harvard law student. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-cour...

#EconSky Meet Harvard economics PhD. (1907) Charles Phillips Huse who substituted for his thesis advisor in 1909-10 to teach a course on taxation. His professional timeline plus transcribed course description, enrollment and final exam. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-publ...

#EconSky Following the death of Charles F. Dunbar in 1900, Harvard first turned to visiting professors to cover courses in public finance. Meet Henry Bryton Gardner, Johns Hopkins PhD, who founded Brown's economics department. He taught a course in 1902-03. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-enro...

#polsky What rhymes with Walter Ulbricht? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgan...

#EconSky Harvard's core economic history courses in 1909-10 were taught by E.F. Gay and H.L. Gray: Econ 6a, European Economic History and Econ 6b, U.S. Economic History. Course bibliographies, final exams, enrollments, descriptions. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-euro...

#EconSky William Z. Ripley in his day covered many applied economics fields in Harvard's department in the first couple of decades of the 20th century. Materials from his course offered in 1909-10 on transportation are posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-econ...

#EconSky Economist William Zebina Ripley taught the Harvard course on statistics for undergrads and graduate students. Course description, enrollment figures, and the final exams (mid-year, year-end) have been posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-exam...

Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

#EconSky The Harvard professor of economics, Thomas Nixon Carver, taught the principles of sociology for many years at Harvard before there was ever a department of sociology. His exam questions (mid-year and year-end) from 1909-10 are transcribed and posted. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-enro...

#EconSky Economics in the Rear-view Mirror is back from a break. Back to the 1909-10 academic year at Harvard. T.N. Carver and C. J. Bullock's Principles of Economics course. Course announcement and enrollment figures along with the mid-year and year-end final examinations. Enjoy!

#EconSky Taking a break from a research break from Economics in the Rear-view Mirror to add to the "Economists Wearing Bowties Collection". Allyn A. Young looking dapper in his 1918 passport application photo. www.irwincollier.com/economists-w...

#EconSky Exam for Harvard's course on social policy in 1908-09 taught by divinity professor Francis Peabody and his assistants McConnell (philosophy), Ford (economics/social ethics) and Foerster (economics/social ethics). www.irwincollier.com/harvard-desc...

#EconSky The summer quarter 1961 graduate core exam in economic theory at the University of Chicago www.irwincollier.com/chicago-pric...

#EconSky In the graduate records of Harvard economics PhD O.W. Blackett we find the first time that Mathematics was accepted as a minor field in the General Examination for the PhD. The approval was in 1920, his General Exam in 1922, PhD awarded in 1926. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-appl...

I'm happy to share a draft of my paper "W.E.B. Du Bois, Harvard Economics, and Marginalist Wage Theory." I show that Du Bois made quite important contributions to wage theory in the 1890s, an underappreciated contribution that he left behind when he went to Berlin. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

#EconSky There was a question about "the so-called Cobb-Douglas production function". You also had to know something about Ricardo, Malthus, and Marx. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-grad...

#EconSky Yes indeed! Just transcribed a University of Chicago graduate prelim exam in economic theory to plug another gap in the collection at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. From the summer quarter of 1962. www.irwincollier.com/chicago-pric...

#EconSky From 1937-40 Dorothy Beal was an economics grad student at Columbia. Economics in the Rear-view Mirror follows the life and career of this ABD alumna from Columbia. Yes, an ABD can have a full and complete life...for those who need to hear that! www.irwincollier.com/columbia-mee...

#EconSky Patinkin had the honor of inspiring the first question in UCLA's 1980 qualifying exam in monetary economics. All the questions transcribed now and posted at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. www.irwincollier.com/ucla-phd-qua...

#EconSky The backstory of where political economy instruction fit into the course offerings of philosophy at Harvard in the 19th century. Hardly a subfield of philosophy for the first 70 years or so. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-inte...

#EconSky Harvard economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver grew up on a farm so it was logical for him to teach the course on agricultural economics. The 1908-09 final exam for his course has been transcribed and posted. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-fina...

#EconSky Try your hand on the Harvard graduate economics prelim exam in economic theory from April 1962. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-grad...

#EconSky In memory of Stanley Fischer, Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has posted a 1973 caricature of assistant professor Fischer in his U of Chicago days drawn by the graduate student Roger Vaughan. www.irwincollier.com/chicago-cari...

#EconSky A brief memo detailing the beginnings of instruction in economics at the University of Pennsylvania written in 1925 in response to an inquiry by Prof. E.R.A. Seligman of Columbia. www.irwincollier.com/pennsylvania...

#EconSky Four Columbia graduate students wrote a short memo with suggestions for improvement in the economics program there in 1939. They mentioned that Milton Friedman's course on neoclassical theory was hot, but there was no mention of statistical methods. www.irwincollier.com/columbia-lis...

#EconSky The "Economic Theory" prelim exam for Chicago graduate students from the Winter Quarter 1961 transcribed and posted. From the eve of the rechristening of the prelim exam as "Price Theory". It features one equation. www.irwincollier.com/chicago-prel...

#EconSky From back in the day when an economics Ph.D. candidate needed to satisfy a foreign language requirement at Columbia. The 1966 German language exam has been posted. Fun fact: Lore Kullmer now has a street named after her in Regensburg. www.irwincollier.com/columbia-ger...

#EconSky While the U.S. was dealing with the prospects of an impeachment of President Nixon, graduate students across the land were taking their PhD qualifying exams. The Money exam at UCLA has been transcribed and posted. www.irwincollier.com/ucla-phd-qua...

#EconSky Harvard economics chairperson (1962) John T. Dunlop wrote the annual report for his department covering the activities during the 1961-62 academic year. Post includes a 1960 yearbook blurb about him as a bonus. www.irwincollier.com/harvard-annu...

#EconSky The academic life of economist Allyn A. Young up through his assistant professorship at Wisconsin from the 1907 edition of The Badger. www.irwincollier.com/wisconsin-me...