Wright, G. American Economic History
Professor Gavin Wright Spring 1990-91
Economics 226
AMERICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY
Reading List
BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
Peter Temin, Lessons from the Great Depression.
David Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production.
Naomi Lamoureaux, The Great Merger Movement in American
Business 1895-1904.
John P. McCusker and Russell R. Menard, The Economy of British
America 1607-1789.
Gavin Wright, Old South New South: Revolutions in the Southern
Economy Since the Civil War.
ABBREVIATIONS
AER American Economic Review
EEH Explorations in Economic History
JEH Journal of Economic History
JEP Journal of Economic Perspectives
JPE Journal of Political Economy
QJE Quarterly Journal of Economics
TOPICS AND READINGS
I. Introduction: Economic Perspectives on History and Historical
Perspectives on Economics
* Paul David, "Clio and Economics of Qwerty," AER 75
(May 1985).
Douglas C. North, "Institutions," JEP 5 (Winter 1991).
Moses Abramovitz, "The Retreat from Economic Advance: Changing
Ideas About Economic Progress," Chapter 13 in Thinking
About Economic Growth.
William N. Parker (ed.) Economic History and the Modern
Economist.
II. The Colonial Settlement Phase 1607-1807
A. People, Institutions and Trade
* John P. McCusker and Russell R. Menard, The Economy of
British America 1607-1789. Chapter 1.
David Galenson, White Servitude in Colonial America. Chapters
8-9 .
* David Galenson, "The Rise and Fall of Indentured Servitude:
An Economic Analysis," JEH 44 (March 1984).
* Daniel Scott Smith, "A Malthusion-Frontier Interpretation
of US Demographic History before c. 1815," in W. Borah et
al, Urbanization in Americas (1980).
B. The Political Economy of Colonial Status, Revolution, and
National Independence
* McCusker and Menard, Chapter 17.
* Winifred Rothenberg, "The Emergence of Capital Market in
Rural Massachusetts, 1730-1838," JEH 48 (March 1988).
* Charles Calomiris, "Institutional Failure, Monetary Scarcity
and the Depression of the Continental," JEH 48
(March 1988).
* Jeffrey A. Frankel, "The 1807-1809 Embargo Against Great
Britain," JEH 42 (June 1982).
III. Nineteenth-Century Transition to Modern Economic Growth
1790-1907
A. Transportation Costs and Agricultural Progress
* Winifred Rothenberg, "The Market and Massachusetts Farmers,
1750-1855," JEH 41 (June 1981).
* Albert Fishlow, The Dynamics of Railroad Extension into the
West," from American Railroads and the Transformation of
the Antebellum Economy.
*Paul David, Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth,
Chapter 4 ("Mechanization and Reaping").
Alan Olmstead, "The Mechanization of Reaping and Mowing, 1833-
1970," JEH 35 (June 1975).
* Gavin Wright, The Political Economy of the Cotton South,
Chapters 3-5.
* Gavin Wright, Old and New South, Chapter 2.
* Roger Ransom and Richard Sutch, "Capitalists Without
Capital: The Burden of Slavery and the Impact of
Emancipation," Agricultural History 62 (Summer 1988).
B. Industrialization in the Nineteenth Century
* David Hounshell, American System, Chapters 1-2.
Alexander Field, "Land Abundance, Interest/Profit, and the
19th Century American and British Technology," JEH 43
(June 1985).
John James and Jonathan Skinner, "The Resolution of the Labor
Scarcity Paradox" JEH 45 (September 1985).
* Mark Bils, "Tariff Protection and Production in the Early
U. S. Cotton Textile Industry," JEH 44 (December 1984).
C. Population and Labor Supply
* Richard Easterlin, "Population Change and Farm Settlement in
the Northern U. S.," JEH 36 (March 1976).
* William Sundstrom and Paul David, "Old Age Security Motives,
Labor Markets and Farm Family Fertility in Antebellum
America," EEH 25 (April 1988).
* Claudia Goldin, "The Gender Gap in Historical Perspective,"
in Peter Kilby (ed.), Quantity and Quiddity.
* Gavin Wright, "American Agriculture and the Labor Market:
What Happened to Proletarianization?" Agricultural
History 62 (Summer 1988).
D. The Political Economy of Money
Milton Friedman, "The Crime of 1873," JPE 98 (December 1990).
Hugh Rockoff, "The `Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory,"
JPE 98 (August 1990).
IV. Rise To International Pre-Eminence 1890-1940
A. Growth Trends and American Economic Leadership
* Peter Temin, "Free Land and Federalism," Journal of
Interdisciplinary History 21 (Winter 1991).
* Gavin Wright, "The Origins of American Industrial Success",
AER 80 (September 1990).
* Gavin Wright, Old South New South, Chapters 3-6.
B. Modern Business Enterprise and the Rise of Government
* Hounshell, American System, Chapters 6-8.
* Alfred D. Chandler, "The Emergence of Managerial
Capitalism",Business History Review 58 (Winter 1984).
* Thomas McCraw, "Rethinking the Trust Question," in McCraw
(ed.) Regulation in Perspective.
* Naomi Lamoreaux, The Great Merger Movement, Chapters 1-3,
5-7.
Robert Higgs, "Crisis, Bigger Government and Ideological
Change: Two Hypotheses on the Ratchet Phenomenon," EEH 22
(1985).
C. The Great Depression and The New Deal
* Eugene N. White, "The Stock Market Boom and Crash of 1929",
JEP (Spring 1990)
* Michael Weinstein, Recovery and Redistribution Under the
NIRA, Chapters 1-2.
Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression,
Chapters 1-7,14.
* Peter Temin, Lessons From The Great Depression,
Chapters 1-2.
V. The Global Economics of the Postwar Era
* Moses Abramovitz, "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling
Behind," Thinking About Growth, Chapter 7
* Moses Abramovitz, "Welfare Quandaries and Productivity
Concerns", Thinking About Growth, Chapter 13
MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity, Made in America,
Chapter 2, and pp. 171-302
William Baumol, Sue Ann Batey Blackman, and Edward N. Wolff,
Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View,
Chapters 3-6.