Motomura, A. United States Economic History

Description of Assignments

1. Class participation. Your participation will include contributing insightfully and frequently to class discussions of assigned readings, and giving two or more oral presentations: one or more on some reading that you but not the rest of the class will do, and one on your second paper in progress. You will be asked to grade your classmates' class participation confidentially.

2. You will regularly turn in discussion questions or reactions on assigned reading. These will help you prepare for class discussion and help me assess your effort and understanding in doing the reading. I may substitute quizzes if I decide they may be more effective in promoting the course goals.

3. Exams emphasizing thoughtful synthetic essays. The second exam will be comprehensive but emphasize post-midterm material.

4. Papers

a. First, a 4‑6pp critical essay; I will distribute topic suggestions. There will be a required rewrite.

b. Second, a 10‑12pp essay, on a topic of your choice, with a required proposal, progress report, and in-class presentation. You will start on the path of a critical review essay; if you do good early work you may expand this into a research paper. The quality of your intermediate work will affect your paper grade.

5. Critiques. You will write five short critiques on presentations and drafts by your classmates: one on a presentation about reading, two about drafts of the first paper, and two about presentations by about second papers in progress. Critiques of presentations are due 48 hours after the presentation. Critiques of drafts are due at the following class or 72 hours later, whichever is later. All critiques are due by e‑mail.

Alternative options. You may propose a thoughtful alternative set of assignments for yourself if you want to do something more creative or independent. Discuss your ideas with me, then we'll negotiate something specific. This option may not be used to put off an imminent deadline.

Scoring scale: All your graded work in this course will be given a score. The base total score is 1000 points, although the sum of base scores for all assignments is 1020 points. The approximate standard grading scale in percentages, at least for major assignments, is A=100%, B=80%, C=60%, D=40%, and F=20% or less. I will use these percentages as guidelines in giving course grades, but reserve the right to make adjustments to be fair. For example, I will try to give students with very similar scores the same grade, or I may encounter unexpected situations arising from my using this system for the first time. Scores of greater than 100% are possible on any assignment.

General adjustments: Absence on key dates like the due dates of the mini-paper and first draft, the field trip, and all second paper presentation dates, will be penalized 10 points; no excuses. Same penalty for not completing an ungraded requirement. Especially good or bad intermediate steps on papers will be awarded positive or negative points, tentatively at first, then finalized after the final draft is graded. Late intermediate steps like drafts and proposals will be penalized 3% of the base score for that paper the first day, then 1.5% for each additional day. Late papers will be penalized 5% of the base score for that paper the first day, then 2.5% for each additional day. Late critiques will be penalized 4 points for the first day, then 2 points for each additional day. Unexcused failure to complete a graded assignment or a required intermediate step will result in a negative score of 20% of the assignment's base score. Percentage penalties will be rounded to the nearest whole number of points.

Summary of Assignments, Dates, and Points

Class Participation 120*

Presentation on outside assigned reading 20

Critique of presentation on outside reading 10

Preliminary paper, due Thursday, September 10 20

Written discussion questions or quizzes for various classes 60

First paper, draft due Tues, Sept 29, or Thur, October 1 +/-

final version due Tuesday, October 20 100*

Two critiques of student presentations on first paper drafts, due Oct 2 or Oct 6 2x20

First exam, Thursday, October 8 100*

Second exam, Tuesday, November 24 190*

Two critiques of student presentations on second papers in progress 2x20

Second paper, individual conference Mon Oct 26 to Mon Nov 2

initial prospectus and bibliography due Thursday, November 5 +/-

oral presentation December 1‑10 (option to do earlier): 30

final version due Monday, December 14, time tba (including 30 of presentation) 190*

Bonus of (unweighted) average of four highest percentages grades of *'d items 120

Notes: 1) The dates are not absolute; we will see how the term goes. Changes will not be last minute or granted individually. 2) Improvement over the term will be considered in final course grades. 3) To be excused from a deadline or a midterm or given a makeup exam, you must have documentation of: illness serious enough to require medical attention, a major family emergency (like death or grave illness, not an errand), or an official College commitment‑-tell me by the Drop/Add deadline or as soon as possible once the conflict becomes apparent. My willingness to be accommodating in makeup assignments depends on how responsibly you act. 4) No makeup midterm will be given after the exam is returned.

Abreviations on the Reading List

BHR: Business History Review

EEH: Explorations in Economic History

HPAE: Historical Perspectives on the American Economy, a useful volume edited by Dianne Betts and Robert Whaples. It is on reserve at the library.

JEH: Journal of Economic History

W&R: Walton and Rockoff text

Pres: Recommended and the probable subject of an in-class presentation.

Rec: Other recommended reading

Scheduled Course Readings

All recommended readings, including those which are the subjects of presentations not from the W&R text or Hounshell will be on reserve at the library.

I. How Economic Historians Think (class #s 1‑4)

W&R, chapter 1.

Douglass C. North, Terry L. Anderson, and Peter J. Hill, pp. 1‑6 of Growth and Welfare in the American Past, 3d ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983.

Paul A. David, "Understanding the Economics of QWERTY: the Necessity of History," pp. 30‑49 of William N. Parker, ed., Economic History and the Modern Economist, New York: Basil Blackwell, 1986.

Rec: HPAE ch1, McCloskey, especially pp. 10‑31 (Section II).

II. The Colonial Period and American Revolution (classes 2-5)

A. European States' Rivalry and Conquest

W&R, ch 2.

B. The Colonial Economy

W&R, chs 3 and 5.

Rec: Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom, chs 5, 6, 11, and 15.

Pres: W&R, ch 4

Pres: HPAE ch 4, Galenson.

C. The Revolution and Confederation Period

W&R, chs 6 and 7.

Marc Egnal and Joseph A. Ernst, "An Economic Interpretation of the American Revolution," William and Mary Quarterly 29, Jan. 1972, pp. 3‑32.

III. Early National and Antebellum Years (classes 6‑10)

A. Land Sales and Westward Movement

W&R, ch 8

B. Growth of Regional and National Markets

Pres: W&R ch 9.

Pres: HPAE ch3, Winifred B. Rothenberg, "The Market and Massachusetts Farmers, 1750‑1855."

Rec: A useful introduction to regression analysis is the HPAE Appendix, pp. 612‑16.

C. Early Industrialization

W&R ch 10.

Hounshell, Introduction, and skim Appendix 1

*Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., "The Traditional Enterprise in Production", ch2 (pp. 50‑78) of The Visible Hand, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.

*Naomi R. Lamoreaux, "Banks, Kinship, and Economic Development: The New England Case," JEH 46 (1986), pp. 647‑67.

Pres: W&R ch 12

Pres: David Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800‑1932, 1984, Johns Hopkins. ch1

Pres: Railroads as the first modern businesses; Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., The Visible Hand, ch 3, pp. 81‑121.

FIELD TRIP to Slater Mill

D. Labor Conditions, Immigration, and the Know-Nothings

W&R ch 11.

Pres: Roger Ransom, "Ethnic Politics: Immigrants, Nativism, and Know-Nothings," pp. 127‑38 of Conflict and Compromise, Cambridge, England: Cambridge, 1989.

E. Slavery and the Civil War,

W&R ch 13.

*Frederick Douglass, "Narrative of the Life of an American Slave," Chapter XI.

Gavin Wright, "On Making Economic Sense of Cotton, Slavery, and the Civil War," ch5 (pp. 128‑57) of The Political Economy of the Cotton South, New York: Norton, 1978.

Rec: HPAE chs 5‑7 on slavery. Also Roger Ransom, "The Power of Ideas: Free Labor, Free Soil, and the 'Slave Power'," pp. 138‑46 of Conflict and Compromise.

First Exam (class 11)

IV. The Modern Industrial Economy (classes 11‑17)

A. The Postbellum South and Agriculture

Wright, Old South New South, chs 1-4.

Pres: W&R ch. 15.

Pres: HPAE ch 16: Hugh Rockoff on the free silver advocates.

Pres: HPAE ch 15, Anne Mayhew on the Populist revolt.

Rec: W&R ch. 14.

Rec: HPAE ch 8, Ransom & Sutch.

B. The Second Industrial Revolution and Big Business

W&R ch 17

Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., "The Emergence of Managerial Capitalism," BHR 58, 1984. pp. 473‑503.

Pres: W&R chs 16, 19, and 20.

Pres: Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800‑1932, ch 2, 3, or 4.

Pres: Gary Libecap, "The Rise of the Chicago Packers and the Origins of Meat Inspection and Antitrust," Economic Inquiry 30, 1992, pp. 242‑62.

Pres: Thomas K. McCraw, "Regulation in America: A Review Article," BHR 49, 1975, pp. 159‑83.

Rec: HPAE, ch12: Atack on industrial growth; ch13: Wright on resources and U.S. growth.

C. Wages and New Immigrants

W&R ch 18.

*Robert Higgs, "Landless by Law: Japanese Immigrants in California Agriculture to 1941," JEH 38, 1978, pp. 205‑25

*Masao Suzuki, "Success Story? Japanese Immigrant Economic Achievement and Return Migration, 1920‑1930," JEH 55, 1995, pp. 889‑901.

Pres: Yuzo Murayama, "Information and Emigrants: Interprefectural Differences of Japanese Emigration to the Pacific Northwest, 1880‑1915," JEH 51, 1991, pp. 125‑47.

Rec: Ronald Takaki, pp. 239‑45 of Strangers from a Different Shore, Boston: Little, Brown, & Co, 1990.

D. Fordism, aka Mass Production

David Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800‑1932, 1984, Johns Hopkins. ch6.

E. Gender and Job Segregation

*Olivier Zunz, "The Collar Line", ch5 (pp. 105‑28) of Making America Corporate, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990

Pres: Wayne Lewchuk, "Men and Monotony: Fraternalism as a Managerial Strategy at the Ford Motor Company," JEH 53, Dec. 1993, pp. 824‑56.

Rec: Claudia Goldin, "The Changing Economic Role of Women: A Quantitative Approach." in HPAE

F. Southern Industry, Race and The Great Migration

Wright, Old South, New South, chs 5‑6.

Pres: James Grossman, "'Eny Kind of Worke'"ch7 (pp. 181‑207) of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1989.

Pres: Grossman, pp. 246‑58; and Robert A. Margo, Race and Schooling in the American South, 1880‑1950, chs 1 and 8.

Pres: Price Fishback, "Coal Mines as Melting Pots," pp. 171‑97 of Soft Coal, Hard Choices: The Economic Welfare of Bituminous Coal Miners 1890‑1930, New York: Oxford, 1992.

Rec: Warren Whatley and Gavin Wright, "Race, Human Capital and Labor Markets in U.S. History," from Labor Market Evolution: The economic history of market integration, wage flexibility and the employment relation, eds. George Grantham and Mary McKinnon, New York: Routledge, 1994, pp. 270‑91

Rec: William A. Sundstrom, "The Color Line: Racial Norms and Discrimination in Urban Labor Markets, 1910‑1950," JEH 54 (June 1994), pp. 382‑96.

G. The US Economy in World War I

W&R, ch21

V. The Interwar Years (classes 18‑20)

A. The 1920s and Post-Fordism

Pres: W&R, ch 22.

Pres: Hounshell, chs 7 and 8

B. The Great Depression

W&R ch23

Pres: William A. Sundstrom, "Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression," JEH 52, June 1992, pp. 415‑29.

C. The New Deal

W&R ch 24

Wright, Old South, New South, ch 7.

Rec: HPAE chs 18‑19 (opposing views about the causes).

VI. Racing to the present: WWII and beyond (classes 20‑23)

A. Winning Another World War

W&R ch 25

Wright, Old South, New South, ch 8.

*Paul Krugman, "An Urban Mystery," ch3 (pp. 39‑46) of The Self-Organizing Economy, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.

Pres: Sherrie A. Kossoudji and Laura J. Dresser, "Working Class Rosies: Women Industrial Workers during World War II," JEH 52, June 1992, 431‑46.

Rec: Lee Alston and Joseph Ferrie, "The Bracero Program and Farm Labor Legislation in World War II," from Geoffrey Mills and Hugh Rockoff, eds., Sinews of War, 1993.

B. The Governmental Habit

W&R ch 27.

Pres: W&R, chs 26 and 28

C. The Postwar Boom

W&R, chs 29 and 30

D. The Productivity Slowdown and Summing Up

W&R, ch 31

Pres: Jeffrey G. Williamson, "Productivity and American Leadership: A Review Article," Journal of Economic Literature 31, Mar 1991, pp. 51‑68.

Second Exam (class 24)

VII. Student presentations and individual meetings on papers in progress (classes 25-28)

Stonehill College Fall Semester 1998

EC 206 / HS 251 US Economic History Motomura

DRAFT: SEPT 4

Schedule for USEH Fall 1998: subject to change

01 Th 09/03: Course intro

02 Tu 09/08: North, Anderson, & Hill 1-6. W&R chs 1-2 (15, 22). 43.

03 Th 09/10: Preliminary paper. W&R chs3&5 (22, 21). Discuss how to read ch5. 43.

04 Tu 09/15: D David (20). L W&R chs6&7 (17, 19). 56.

05 Th 09/17: D Ernst & Egnal 30. L W&R ch8 (23). 53.

06 Tu 09/22: L W&R ch 10 (20). D Chandler Visible Hand ch2 (29). 49.

07 Th 09/24: D Lamoreaux (21). D Douglass (10). L W&R ch 11 (22). 53.

08 Tu 09/29: Field trip? L W&R ch 13 (18). D Wright PECS ch5 (30). 48.

09 Th 10/01: Paper 1 draft due. D Wright OSNS chs1&2 (14, 34). 48.

10 Tu 10/06: D Chandler "Emergence" (31). W&R ch17 (26). 57. Questions about midterm.

11 Th 10/08: Midterm.

12 Tu 10/13: D Wright OSNS ch3 (30). L W&R ch18 (24). 54.

13 Th 10/15: D Wright OSNS ch4 (42). 42.

14 Tu 10/20: D Wright OSNS ch5 (32). 32. Paper 1 final version due.

15 Th 10/22: D Hounshell ch6 (46). 46.

16 Tu 10/27: D Higgs (21). D Suzuki (13). 34. Conferences about paper 2 this week.

17 Th 10/29: D Wright OSNS ch6 (42). 42.

18 Tu 11/03: D Zunz ch5 (24). L W&R ch21 (15). 39.

19 Th 11/05: W&R chs 23 & 24 (19, 21). 40. Paper 2 prospectus due.

20 Tu 11/10: D Wright OSNS ch7 (41). 41.

21 Th 11/12: L W&R chs 25 & 27 (20, 26). D Krugman (8). 54.

22 Tu 11/17: D Wright OSNS ch8 (36). L W&R ch 30 (15). 51.

23 Th 11/19: W&R L chs 29 & 31 (31, 22). 53. Wrapup discussion and review.

24 Tu 11/24: Second exam.

H Th 11/26: Thanksgiving holiday.

25 Tu 12/02- 28 Th 12/10: Presentations, Critiques and maybe individual meetings

Paper 2 due Mon 12/14, time tba.

Stonehill College Fall Semester 1998

EC 206 / HS 251 US Economic History Motomura

Oral Presentations

You will contribute to the class by giving oral presentations. Giving presentations is also good practice for your future. The general assignment is to present the most important points of the reading and to analyze them briefly. Aim for 10 minutes total; 12 is the maximum. By the end of your presentation, your audience should know:

1. the main point(s) of the reading;

2. the most important evidence (facts and reasoning) supporting the point(s);

3. whether or not the argument is convincing, and why or why not; and

4. how the reading fits into the course.

You will not have time to tell the class everything you've learned; it's your job to figure out what's most important, and then to summarize and explain those important points. Some students in the past have created very useful handouts and distributed them, or made overheads. If you get a handout to me the day before, I can arrange for photocopying.

I encourage you to meet with me before your presentation after you do a first reading and have some initial thoughts about what you think are the main points to present.

Do either one presentation by yourself, one of the double-starred (**) ones on the list with a partner, or two with a partner. Your presentation(s) will be based on reading that is recommended to but not required of the rest of the class (readings not in required books will be on reserve at the library). Use the reading listed with the topic as your source; doing additional reading is optional; let me know if you want to do some.

Sign up for a topic and approximate date (I may have to make slight changes to fit the class' progress) on my office door on the official signup sheet. First come, first serve. If you change your mind after you have signed up, call or e‑mail me in addition to marking your change on the signup sheet to make sure I notice the change. The list of topics appears on a separate sheet.

You will also each write one critique on another presentation. Details on the critique are on the reverse side.

Your presentation and your critique will be scored by the weights in the syllabus. You will be judged on content (within the constraints of the material), organization, clarity, and other factors that make for a good presentation or effective critique. The content of presentations is fair game on exams.

Stonehill College Fall Semester 1998

EC 206/HS 251: US Economic History Motomura

Critiques of Presentations on Recommended Readings

You will write a brief critique on one of your classmates' presentations. The idea is that students can often give each other valuable feedback (in some ways more useful than what I can give!) on presentation content and style. Also, just as you can improve at a given sport by analyzing how others play it, I think you will learn something that will help you improve your own presentations. Unless you become a hermit, your future activities will surely involve public speaking of some sort; you have a good chance here to practice and reflect on it.

Begin your critique by summarizing in about 100 words what you heard as the main points of the presentation. You will thus help the presenter learn if what she or he said and emphasized has gotten across to you.

Then offer comments and suggestions about the presentation. Points to consider: Were some things unclear, in either substance or style? Were the individual points made clearly enough? Was the content well enough organized for you to follow the flow of information, or could the speaker improve in that regard? Keeping in mind that the speaker must summarize and lacks time for much detail, were there still some important apparent gaps that you would have liked to hear more about? Did some detail seem unnecessary or excessive? Has the speaker helped you connect the presentation material to the rest of the course in your mind? Do you have any additional ideas of how this might be done? Can you offer constructive suggestions about presentation style? Any other relevant comments or suggestions that occur to you will be appreciated.

Often the most helpful tone in a critique is supportive but seriously suggestive. Just praising a person for a great job with no advice or criticism won't help that person improve and shows no critical engagement on your part. At the other extreme, being harshly negative without any support or specifics won't help the speaker's confidence or performance in future presentations.

Formal written English is not required for the critique, but clarity is. I have in mind a total length of 250‑300 words, but say more if you have something useful to offer.

Critiques are due, by e‑mail, by the next class meeting after the presentation. I urge you to write your critique as soon as possible after the presentation, while it is still fresh in your mind. Send two copies; one to me (amotomura@stonehill.edu) and one to the speaker.

Stonehill College Fall Semester 1997

EC 206 / HS 251 US Economic History Motomura

Oral Presentation Topics

Choose one by yourself, one double-starred (**) topic with a partner, or two with a partner. Use the reading (on reserve or in a required book) listed as your main source. Additional reading is optional; let me know if you want to do some. Sign up on my door, Duffy 241.

The readings from W&R are generally easier to comprehend. The difficulty of the reading will be considered in grading. You should know some macroeconomics to do a money, banking or finance topic.

Reserving a topic and date is a commitment. Changing your presentation date for any reason other than something which would merit a makeup exam will incur a penalty of 10 points if you postpone before or at the class prior to your scheduled presentation, 20 points if after the class prior to your scheduled presentation (10 points even if a good excuse).

Below are dates (sometimes a range I may narrow later); topics; and readings. Abbreviations: W&R: Walton and Rockoff; HPAE: Historical Perspectives on the American Economy; JEH: Journal of Economic History; BHR: Business History Review; Hounshell: David Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800‑1932, 1984, Johns Hopkins. Reg*: requires some knowledge of regression analysis to understand well.

a. Th 9/10 or Tu 9/15. British-colonial trade relations and colonial finance. W&R ch4

b. 9/15 or 9/17. The rise and fall of indentured servitude. HPAE ch4

c. 9/17 or 9/22. ** Reg* Massachusetts farmers' selling in markets, 1750‑1855. HPAE ch3

d. 9/17 or 9/22. Transportation in the early US. W&R ch9

e. ** 9/22 or 9/24. The start of interchangeable parts at Springfield Armory. Hounshell ch1.

f. ** 9/22 or 9/24. Railroads as the first modern businesses. Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., The Visible Hand, ch 3, pp. 81‑121.

g. 9/22 or 9/24. Money and banking in the Early Republic. W&R ch12

h. 9/24-10/1. Pre-Civil War interests and ethnic politics. Roger Ransom, pp. 127‑46 of Conflict and Compromise: "Ethnic Politics: Immigrants, Nativism, and Know-Nothings," and "The Power of Ideas: Free Labor, Free Soil, and the 'Slave Power'"

i. 10/1 or 10/6. Westward movement, farmers, and land after the Civil War. W&R ch15

j. **10/6 or 10/13. The rise of the sewing machine industry and Singer. Hounshell ch2

k. 10/6 - 10/15. Railroads after the Civil War. W&R ch16

l. 10/6 - 10/15. Banking and finance, 1860‑1920. W&R ch19

m. 10/6 or 10/22. The politics behind meat inspection and antitrust laws. Gary Libecap, "The Rise of the Chicago Packers and the Origins of Meat Inspection and Antitrust," Economic Inquiry 30, 1992, pp. 242‑62.