Economic History of British Colonial America

ECON 808 [A]  ECONOMIC HISTORY: LESSONS FROM   Farley Grubb

Spring Semester  THE NOBEL LAUREATES, R. W.  831-1905

Last Updated: 7/99  FOGEL AND D. C. NORTH  grubbf@be.udel.edu

I. Reading List:

 A. Items available at the UD bookstore for ECON 808:

1. Douglass C. North, Economic Growth of the U.S., 1790-1860 (New York: Prentice Hall, 1961).

2. Robert W. Fogel, Without Consent or Contract (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989).

3. Douglass C. North, Structure and Change in Economic History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981).

4. Douglass C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (New York:  Cambridge University Press, 1990).

 B. Books on reserve at Morris Library for ECON 808:

5. Robert W. Fogel, Railroads and American Economic Growth (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1964).  {HE 2751.F65}

6. Douglass C. North and Robert Paul Thomas, The Rise of the Western World (New York: Cambridge  University Press, 1973). {HC240.N66}

7. Robert W. Fogel, Ralph A. Galantine, and Richard L. Manning, eds., Without Consent or Contract:

Evidence and Methods (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992). {E441.F63 1989 Suppl.3}

8. Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman, eds., Without Consent or Contract: Market and  Production, Technical Papers, Volumes 1 and 2 (New York: W. W. Norton 1992). {E441..F63 1989  Suppl.2 (two volumes)}

 C. Articles on reserve at Morris Library for ECON 808 listed under Farley Grubb, "Supplemental

Reading Packet for ECON 808" containing works in the following order:

9. Douglass C. North, "Ocean Freight Rates and Economic Development, 1750-1913," Journal of  Economic History 18 (Dec. 1958), pp. 537-55.

10. Douglass C. North, "Sources of Productivity Change in Ocean Shipping, 1600-1850," Journal of

Political Economy 76 (Sept/Oct. 1968), pp. 953-70.

11. Douglass C. North and Barry R. Weingast, "Constitutions and Commitments: The Evolution of

Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England," Journal of Economic

History 49 (Dec. 1989), pp. 803-32.

12. Robert W. Fogel, "Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality since 1700: Some Preliminary  Findings," in Stanley L. Engerman and Robert E. Gallman, eds., Long-Term Factors in American

Economic Growth (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), pp. 439-555.

13. Robert W. Fogel, "The Conquest of High Mortality and Hunger in Europe and America: Timing and  Mechanisms," in Patrice Higonnet, David S. Landes, and Henry Rosovsky, eds., Favorites

of Fortune (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 33-71.

14. Robert W. Fogel, "Second Thoughts on the European Escape from Hunger: Famine, Chronic  Malnutrition, and Mortality Rates," in S. R. Osmani, ed., Nutrition and Poverty (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1992), pp. 243-86.

II. Course Outline:

 The Quest for the Causes and Constraints of Long-Run Economic Growth.

 A. Young Lions: The quest for the causes and constraints of long-run economic growth within the paradigm of economic theory (looking at technical change, market integration, specialization, and trade), with a particular emphasis on the transportation revolution and U.S. data.

 1. Readings:

a. North, Economic Growth of the U.S.

b. North, "Ocean Freight Rates."

c. North, "Sources of Productivity Change in Ocean Shipping."

d. Fogel, Railroads and American Economic Growth.

 B. Mid-Career Pioneers of New Directions: The quest for the causes and constraints of long-run economic growth outside the paradigm of free market institutions: The role of property rights, both in man and in non-human resources.

 2. Readings:

e. North and Thomas, The Rise of the Western World.

f. Fogel, Without Consent or Contract.

g. Fogel, Galantine, and Manning, eds., Without Consent or Contract: Evidence and    Methods.

h. Fogel and Engerman, eds., Without Consent or Contract: Market and Production,    Technical Papers, Volumes 1 and 2.

 C. Mature Scholars Expanding Their Empires into Uncharted Territory: Imperial conquest of related academic disciplines in the quest for the causes and constraints of long-run economic growth: The role of institutions, constitutions, demography, and nutrition.

 3. Readings:

i. North, Structure and Change in Economic History.

j. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance.

k. North and Weingast, "Constitutions and Commitments."

l. Fogel, "Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality since 1700."

m. Fogel, "The Conquest of High Mortality and Hunger in Europe and America."

n. Fogel, "Second Thoughts on the European Escape from Hunger."

III. Course Requirements:

Non-PhD Students:

I. 6 four-page critical essay assignments during the semester worth, in total, 50% of the course grade.

II. A comprehensive final essay exam worth 50% of the course grade.

PhD Students:

In addition to I. and II. above, a short research paper is required. See me for details.