James, J. Topics in Economic History
Economics 440 Mr. James
Topics in Economic History Fall, 1991
This course will examine the monetary and financial history of the United
States from colonial times to World War II. It will combine elements of the
more descriptive, more traditional approach to economic history with the "New
Economic History," emphasizing the application of modern monetary and
macroeconomic theory to important historical issues. Knowledge of
Intermediate Macroeconomics, Economics 302, is a must while exposure to Money
and Banking, Economics 303, and Statistics, Economics 371, wouldn't hurt.
Three books - Friedman and Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United
states; Temin, The Jacksonian Economy; Temin, Did Monetary Forces Cause the
Great Depression? - will be available at Newcomb Hall Bookstore. The required
readings from journals and other books will be available in a packet from In
Print, 7 Elliewood Ave.
Course requirements include a mid-term exam (24% of the total grade),
research paper (36%), and final (36%). The paper should be a serious effort
combining economic analysis and historical research. Everyone should come and
talk to me about the topic he/she would like to write on by November 1. The
paper will be due on Tuesday, December 3.
I. Colonial Monetary Regimes
C. Nettels, The Money Supply of the American Colonies Before 1720,
Ch. 8.
*M. Friedman, "The Quantity Theory of Money," in The New Palgrave
Dictionary of Economics
B. Smith, "American Colonial Monetary Regimes: The Failure of the
Quantity Theory and Some Evidence in Favor of an Alternative View,"
Canadian Journal of Economics, 18 (1985), pp. 531-565.
R. Michener, "Colonial Money and the Quantity Theory," Carnegie-
Rochester Conference Series in Public Policy, 1987.
II. Revolutionary War Finance and After
E. J. Ferguson, The Power of the Purse, pp. 3-105, 179-286.
C. Calomiris, "Institutional Failure, Monetary Scarcity, and the
Depreciation of the Continental," Journal of Economic History, 48
(1988), pp. 47-68.
III. The Early Republic
Alexander Hamilton, First Report on Public Credit and Report on a
National Bank.
Peter Garber, "Alexander Hamilton's Market Based Debt Reduction Plan",
NBER Working Paper No. 3597.
R. H. Timberlake, The Origins of Central Banking in the United States,
Chs. 1, 2.
*Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics in America, Chs. 4-9.
D. Martin, "Bimetallism in the U.S. before 1850," Journal of Political
Economy, 76 (1968), pp. 428-442.
*A. Rolnick and W. Weber, "Gresham's Law or Gresham's Fallacy," Journal
of Political Economy, 94(1986), pp. 185-189.
*R. Sylla, J. Legler, and J. Wallis," Banks and State Finance in the New
Republic," Journal of Economic History, XLVII(1987), pp. 391-403.
IV. The Second Bank of the United States and the Bank War
P. Temin, The Jacksonian Economy.
V. Free Banking
*Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics in America, Ch. 18.
H. Rockoff, "The Free Banking Era: A Re-examination." Journal of
Money, Credit, and Banking, 6(1974), pp. 141-168.
A. Rolnick and W. Weber, "New Evidence on the Free Banking Era,"
American Economic Review, 73(1983), pp. 1080-1091.
VI. The Greenback Era: Inflation and Resumption
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Ch. 2.
E. Lerner, "Inflation in the Confederacy, 1861-65," in M. Friedman, ed.,
Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money.
G. K. Davis and G. M. Pecquet, "Interest Rates in the Civil War South,"
Journal of Economic History, L(1990), pp. 133-148.
*L. Officer, "The Floating Dollar in the Greenback Period: A Test of
Theories of Exchange Rate Determination," Journal of Economic
History XLI(1981), pp. 629-650.
J. Kindahl, "Economic Factors in Specie Resumption: The U.S., 1865-
1879," Journal of Political Economy, 59(1961), pp. 30-48.
VII. The Gold Standard
Barry Eichengreen, The Gold Standard in Theory and History, Ch. 1.
M. Bordo, "The Classical Gold Standard: Some Lessons for Today,"
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 63(1981).
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Chs. 3, 4.
*T. Clark, "Violations of the Gold Points, 1890-1908," Journal of
Economy, 92(1984), pp. 791-823.
VIII. Silver Agitation
*W. H. Harvey, Coin's Financial School, 1963.
Hugh Rockoff, "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of
Political Economy, 98(1990), pp. 739-760.
M. Friedman, "Bimetallism Revisited," Journal of Economic Perspectives,
4(1990), pp. 85-104.
*M. Friedman, "The Crime of 1873," Journal of Political Economy,
98(1990), pp. 1159-1194.
*L. Drake, "Reconstruction of a Bimetallic Price Level," Explorations in
Economic History, 22(1985), pp. 194-221.
IX. Longer-Term Trends
R. Sylla, "Monetary Innovation in America," Journal of Economic History,
XLII(1982), pp. 21-30.
*L. Davis and R. Gallman, "Capital Formation in the United States during
the Nineteenth Century," in Cambridge Economic History of Europe,
Vol. VII, Part 2, pp. 1-69.
*K. Snowden, "American Stock Market Development and Performance, 1871-
1929," Explorations in Economic History, 24(1987), pp. 327-353.
K. Snowden, "Historical Returns and Security Market Development,
1872-1925," Explorations in Economic History, 27(1990), pp. 381-420.
X. The National Banking Era: Financial Crises
E. N. White, The Regulation and Reform of the American Banking System,
Ch. 1
*E. N. White, "The Political Economy of Banking Regulations, 1869-1933,"
Journal of Economic History, XLII(1982), pp. 33-40.
Charles Calomiris and G. Gorton, "The Origins of Banking Panics:
Models, Facts, and Bank Regulation," in Financial Markets and
Financial Crises, pp. 109-173.
XI. The Establishment of the Federal Reserve System
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Ch. 5.
*E.N. White, The Regulation and Reform of the American Banking System,
Ch. 2.
J. Miron, "Financial Panics, the Seasonality of the Nominal Interest
Rate, and the Founding of the Fed," American Economic Review,
(1986), pp. 125-140.
*T. Clark, "Interest Rate Seasonals and the Federal Reserve," Journal
of Political Economy, 94(1986), pp. 76-125.
*G. Mankiw, J. Miron, and D. Weil, "The Adjustment of Expectations to a
Change in Regime: A Study of the Founding of the Federal Reserve,"
American Economic Review, 77(1987), pp. 358-374.
XII. The Great Depression, 1929-33
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Chs. 6, 7.
P. Temin, Did Monetary Forces Cause the Great Depression?
E. N. White, "State-Sponsored Insurance of Bank Deposits in the United
States," Journal of Economic History, XLI(1981), pp. 537-557.
*J. Hamilton, "Monetary Factors in the Great Depression," Journal of
Monetary Economics, 19(1987), pp. 145-169.
B. Bernanke, "Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the
Propagation of the Great Depression," American Economic Review,
(1983), pp. 257-276.
XIII. The 1930's
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Chs. 8, 9.
B. Eichengreen and J. Sachs, "Exchange Rates and Economic Recovery in
the 1930's," Journal of Economic History, (1985), pp. 925-946.
XIV. World War II Finance and Price Controls
M. Friedman and A. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the United States,
Ch. 10.
H. Rockoff, Drastic Measures: A History of Wage and Price Controls in
the United States, Chs. 4, 5.