Gerriets, M. Canadian Economic History

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS 310:  CANADIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY
1994-1995 
SYLLABUS

Instructor: Marilyn Gerriets,
314 Nicholson Hall, 867-2113

Texts: 
Kenneth Norrie, and Douglas Owram, A History  of the Canadian 
Economy, (Toronto, 1991).

Douglas, McCalla, ed. Perspectives on Canadian Economic History 
(Toronto: 1987).

M.H. Watkins and H.M. Grant, Canadian Economic History:Classic and 
Contemporary Approaches, (Ottawa, 1993).

Course requirements:

Projects and debates  20%
Term tests  20%
Christmas examination  15%
Major Essay  20%
Final examination  25%
Total:  100%

COURSE OUTLINE

I. The settlement of Europeans

     Norrie and Owram: 20-94

     A. Approaches to understanding economic history

     M.H. Watkins, 'A Staple Theory of Economic Growth', from 
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 29 (1963), 
pp. 141-158, reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 19-38.

     H.G.J. Aitken, 'Myth and Measurement: the Innis Tradition in 
Economic History', Journal of Canadian Studies, 12 (1977), pp. 96-
107, excerpted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 39-50.

     B. The early Atlantic economy

     1. The fishery 

     Rosemary Ommer, '"All the Fish of the Post:" Resource 
Property Rights and Development in a Nineteenth-Century Inshore 
Fishery' 10, Acadiansis, (1981), pp. 107-23, reprinted in Watkins 
and Grant, pp. 61-78.

     2. Agriculture 

     Rusty Bitterman, 'The Hierarchy of the Soil: Land and Labour 
in a 19th Century Cape Breton Community', Acadiensis, 18, pp. 33-
55. 

     3. The timber industry

     4. Diversification

     Eric W. Sager and Lewis R. Fischer, 'Atlantic Canada and the 
Age of Sail Revisited', Canadian Historical Review 58:2 (1982), 
pp. 125-50, reprinted in McCalla, pp. 97-117.

     C. Central Canada
     1. Fur and Quebec in the 17th and 18th centuries

     H.A. Innis, 'The Fur Trade in Canada' reprinted in Watkins 
and Grant, pp. 53-60.

     2. Agriculture and timber

     F. Lewis and M. McInnis, 'The Efficiency of the French-
Canadian Farmer in the Nineteenth Century', reprinted in Watkins 
and Grant, pp. 103-126.

     T.J.A. LeGoff, 'The Agricultural Crisis in Lower Canada, 
1802-12: A Review of a Controversy',from The Canadian Historical 
Review, 55 (1974), pp. 1-31, reprinted in McCalla, pp. 10-36. 

     Marvin McInnis, 'Marketable Surpluses in Ontario Farming, 
1860' Social Science History, 4 (Fall, 1984), pp. 395-424 
reprinted in McCalla, pp. 37-58.

     3. Early diversification

     Angela Redish, 'Why was Specie so Scarce in Colonial 
Economies? An Analysis of the Canadian Currency, 1796-1830', 
Journal of Economic History, 44 (1984), pp. 713-28, reprinted in 
Watkins and Grant, pp. 85-102.

II. Government policy and industrialization

     A. Trade and tariffs in the Maritimes

     B. Trade, tariffs and railways in the Canada

     C. Industrial development before Confederation

     Paul Craven and Tom Traves, 'Canadian Railways as 
Manufacturers, 1850-1880', Historical Papers, (1983), pp. 254-81, 
reprinted in McCalla, pp. 118-143.

III.  Economic growth from Confederation to the 1920's

     A. The National policy   

     Peter George, 'The Rates of Return in Railway Investment and 
Implications for Government Subsidization of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway: Some Preliminary Results', Canadian Journal of Economics, 
1 (1968) pp. 740-62 reprinted in McCalla, pp. 144-165. 

     B. The Wheat boom and industrial development

     K.H. Norrie, 'The Rate of Settlement of the Canadian 
Prairies, 1879-1911', Journal of Economic History, 35:2 (June 
1975), pp. 410-27, reprinted in McCalla, pp. 168-81.

     Edward J. Chambers, and Donald F. Gordon, 'Primary Products 
and Economic Growth: An Empirical Measurement', The Journal of 
Political Economy, 74:4 (Aug. 1966), pp. 315-32, reprinted in 
McCalla, pp. 201-220.

IV. Interwar economic disturbance

     A. The turbulent 1920's

     Buckley, K.A.H. 'Capital Formation in Canada, 1896-1930' 
reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 211-222.

     David Alexander, 'Economic Growth in the Atlantic Region, 
1880-1940' reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 239-266.

     B. The depression

     D. Mole, 'Financial Development and Capital Formation' (Ph.D. 
University of Toronto, 1987), ch. 3, reprinted in Watkins and 
Grant, pp. 223-238.

V. Post war prosperity

     Norrie and Owram, pp. 539-621.

     A. The business cycle and government stabilization policy

     David A. Wolfe, 'The Rise and Demise of the Keynesian Era in 
Canada: Economic Policy, 1930-1982', Modern Canada 1930-1980's 
edited by Michael S. Cross and Gregory S. Kealey, (Toronto, 1984), 
pp. 46-78.

     B. Resource based growth

     C. Manufacturing

     D. Trade and the Canadian economy