A poling yard is one where the tea cars are sorted by pushing them with a pole using an engine on an adjacent track. They are banned today
Harvard Railroad Economics Exam (1906)
71–73 of 73 posts
Re: Harvard Railroad Economics Exam (1906)
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
High-level theory is nice. Ditto public policy savvy. And quite a few of the other questions on the 1906 exam reflect that. But back at the coal face - Rail yards were a very important and expensive part of a ~1906 railroad's infrastructure - both to build, and to operate. And the efficiency differences between a well-designed and poorly-designed yard were huge. A prospective RR manager who can't quickly map out a go…
The issue seems to be one of terminology. The questions on the exam (and thus topic of the course) appear to be about technical competence at a handful of skills highly specific to the railroad industry. That's fine and valuable, but its not what most people would describe as "economics". I wouldn't expect the skills taught in an "economics" class to be concerned with the specific price of shipping a very particular…
A notable and interesting example I remember of "economics" being used to refer to practical skills is in "Home Economics"[0], which actually has nothing to do with home prices or underlying theories about spending in households. It's practical skills in social care, meal prep, and basic maintenance relevant to on-the-ground families.
Re: Harvard Railroad Economics Exam (1906)
#73Amusing to me that Minneapolis was important enough at the time that Harvard put it on an exam.
Only amusing if you don’t know anything about Minneapolis, western expansion, or railroads.
No, I grew up there (though I was born in Iowa). I was making a comment about how usually Harvard and the like forget about places like Minnesota. So it's amusing in the sense that you have to go back to 1906 to find a time when they don't.