Kindahl, K. The New England Economy, Past and Present

Economics 364: The New England Economy, Past and Present
Fall Semester, 1995  (3 Credits)
Prof. James K. Kindahl 
Telephone: (413) 545-0954; E-mail: kindahl@econs.umass.edu
Office: Thompson 940; Office Hours: Tu 11-2; Fri 1-4; also by 
appointment or by chance

Prerequisites: Economics 103 (Introduction to Microeconomics) and 
Economics 104 (Introduction to Macroeconomics).

Course Outline and Reading List

A volume entitled Selected Readings for Economics 364 is available 
for purchase at the Textbook Annex.  All readings for the the 
course are in this volume.

I. Introduction to the New England Economy

  Th., Sep. 7  No reading asssignment

  Tu., Sep.12: A sketch of the New England economic history
   Chet Raymo, "New England's Long Rocky Road", Boston Globe July 
15, 1991
   David Warsh, "Some Miracles Never Cease", Boston Globe Sunday 
Magazine, May 7, 1989, pp. 20-21, 54-55, 67-72,  76-84.
   "The Boom That Went Away", The Economist May 5, 1990 pp. 29-30
   Charles Stein, "476,000 Jobs Lost in New England", Boston Globe 
October 14, 1992
   Gary McWilliams, "A Bloom Amid New England's Gloom", Business 
Week December 7, 1992 pp. 93-94
   Yolanda K. Kodrzycki, New England Economic Trends (Graphs and 
tables concerning the New England economy, 1988- 1994)

II.  Pre-industrial New England: 1620-1815

  Th., Sep. 14: Settlement and Early Economic Organization
   Douglas R. McManis, Colonial New England (Oxford University 
Press, 1975) pp. 42-53
   James K. Kindahl, "New England Trade in the Colonial Era"

  Tu. Sep. 19: Land Scarcity and Migration
   Robert A. Gross, The Minutemen and Their World (Hill and Wang, 
1976) pp. 74-104
   Kenneth A. Lockridge, "Land, Population, and the Evolution of 
New England Society", Past and Present 39 (1968) pp. 62-80

  Th., Sep. 21: Agriculture, transport costs, and markets
   No reading assignment

III.  Industrialization: 1815-1880

  Tu., Sep. 26: The Textile Industry Pt. I: Organization and 
technology
   Steve Dunwell, The Run of the Mill, (David R. Godine, pub., 
1978) pp. 3-81

  Th., Sep. 28: The Textile Industry Pt. II: Changes in the 
product and factor markets
   No reading assignment

 Tu., Oct. 3: The Boot and Shoe Industry:
   Blanche E. Hazard, "The Organization of the Boot and Shoe 
Industry prior to 1875", Quarterly Journal of Economics 27 (Feb. 
1913) pp. 236-262.
   William E. Mulligan, Jr., "Mechanization and Work in the 
American Boot and Shoe Industry", Journal of Economic History 41 
(March 1981) pp. 59-63

 Th., Oct. 5: Metalworking Industries:
   William N. Parker, "New England's Early Industrialization: A 
Sketch", in Peter Kilby (Ed.), Quantity and Quiddity: Essays in 
U.S. Economic History,  pp. 30-38 only
   John S. Hekman and John S. Strong, "The Evolution of New 
England Industry", New England Economic Review Mar./Apr., 1981, 
pp. 35-40 only

  Tu., Oct. 10:  Exam #1  (In-class)

  Th., Oct. 12: Other Industries: paper; fishing; whaling No 
reading assignment

Tuesday, Oct. 17: Term paper topics due.  Proposals must have a 
brief description of the question or questions to be asked, and a 
list of at least three sources of information to be used for 
writing the paper.

  Tu., Oct. 17:  A Tale of Three Towns: Agriculture during the 
Period of Industrialization
   Robert A. Gross, "Culture and Cultivation: Agriculture and 
Society in Thoreau's Concord", Journal of American History 69 
(1982) pp. 42-61
   Hugh M. Raup, "The View from John Sanderson's Farm: A 
Perspective for the Use of the Land", Forest History 10 (April, 
1966) pp. 2-8
   George Rogers Taylor, "The National Economy Before and After 
the Civil War", in D. T. Gilchrist and W. David Lewis (eds.), The 
Economy in the Civil War Era (Wilmington, Delaware: Eleutherian 
Mills-Hagley Foundation, 1965), pp.3-6
 
  Th., Oct. 19: Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in 
New England
   No reading assignment

IV.  Workers and Working Conditions, 1800-1914
  Tu., Oct. 24: Labor; Unemployment
   Alexander Keyssar, Out of Work: The First Century of 
Unemployment in Massachusetts (Cambridge University Press, 1986) 
pp. 9-38

  Th., Oct. 26: Immigration; Working Conditions
   Steve Dunwell, The Run of the Mill, pp. 91-101, 112-119
   James Green and Hugh Carter Donohue, Boston's Workers: A Labor 
History (Boston Public Library, Pub. #5, 1979) pp. 41-71.
   Iris Saunders Podea, "Quebec to  Little Canada : The Coming of 
the French Canadians to New England in the Nineteenth Century", 
New England Quarterly 23 (1950) pp. 365-80

V.  Industrial Maturity and Decline, 1880-1975

  Tu., Oct. 31: The Textile Industry since 1880
   Dunwell, The Run of the Mill, pp. 103-105, 143-167

  Th., Nov. 2: The Boot and Shoe Industry since 1875
     No reading assignment

Tuesday, Nov. 7: Last day for optional submission of term
paper drafts for comments and suggestions.

  Tu., Nov. 7: Other Industries: paper; apparel; fishing; whaling
   John S. Hekman and John S. Strong, "The Evolution of New 
England Industry", New England Economic Review, Mar/Apr 1981, pp. 
40-46

  Th., Nov. 9: Perspectives on the Period of Decline
   Ronald F. Ferguson & Helen F. Ladd, Economic Performance and 
Economic Development Policy in Massachusetts (Discussion Paper 
D86-2, Kennedy School of Govt., Harvard University, 1986) pp. 9-
17.
   Bennett Harrison, Rationalization, Restructuring, and 
Industrial Reorganization in Older Regions (Working Paper #72, 
Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and Harvard University, 1982) pp 16-41
  Tu, Nov. 14: Exam II (in class)

VI.  Recovery and Boom, 1975-1988:

  Th., Nov. 16: A shift-share analysis
   Ronald F. Ferguson & Helen F. Ladd, Economic Performance and 
Economic Development Policy in Massachusetts, pp. 17-47

Term papers due Tuesday, Nov. 21.  Papers will be returned on the 
last day of class, Thursday, Dec. 14.

  Tu., Nov. 21:  The Rise of High Tech Industries 
David Lampe, "The Making of a Miracle", in David Lampe (ed.) The 
Massachusetts Miracle: High Technology and    Economic 
Revitalization (MIT Press, 1988) pp. 1-18 
Nancy S. Dorfman, "The Development of a Regional High Tech 
Industry" Research Policy 12 (Dec. 1983) pp.  299-316.  Reprinted 
in David Lampe (ed.) The Massachusetts Miracle pp. 240-270

VII. The 1980's

   Tu. Nov. 28: An Overview 
Graphs of economic data for New England and the U.S., from New 
England Economic Indicators  (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 
1995) 
Charles Stein, "The '80s" A decade that didn't know when to quit", 
Boston Globe Dec. 31, 1989 Charles Stein, "Living in the shadow of 
the '80s", Boston Globe Dec. 30, 1990

VIII.  The Recession of 1989-92

     Th. Nov 30: What happened?  And Why?  An Overview 
"The Boom That Went Away", The Economist May 5, 1990  (N.B.: This 
paper is on pp. 15-16 of the selected readings.) 
"The Boom that Busted", The Economist Jan. 25, 1992 
Charles Stein, "Downturn cancels growth of '80s", Boston Globe 
July 26, 1992 
Renee Loth, "A jobless pool that's different", Boston Globe Mar. 
24, 1991 
Carl Case, "The real estate cycle and the economy", New England 
Economic Review September/October 1991 pp. 37-46

     Tu Dec. 5: The role of the financial sector: 
Charles Stein, "Why the Bank of New England fell so far, so fast", 
Boston Globe  Jan. 8, 1991 
Steven Sass, "The Credit Crunch", Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 
Regional Review, Winter, 1991 pp. 14-20 
John Campbell, "After the Credit Crunch", Federal Reserve Bank of 
Boston Regional Review, Fall 1993 pp.14-18

    Th Dec. 7: The fiscal crisis of the states 
Susan Schact, "Fiscal Shock: How New England state budgets lost 
their balance", Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Regional Review, 
Summer 1991 
Charles Stein, "Busting the budget busters", Boston    Globe Jan. 
18, 1994

VIII.  Recent developments; strategies for the New England economy

     Tu. Dec. 12  Recent economic developments; economic 
strategies 
Charles Stein, "Disappearing workers", Boston Globe Aug. 8, 1993 J
erry Ackerman, "Factories retrofit for a new age", Boston Globe 
Jan. 3, 1995 
Patricia Flynn, "Spreading the high-tech focus", Boston Globe June 
5, 1994 
Jerry Ackerman, "What price good jobs?", Boston Globe Apr 2, 1995

    Th. Dec. 14  Outlook for the future 
Lester Thurow, "A change in the rules: it's us vs. the    world", 
Boston Globe Apr. 21, 1991 Charles Stein, "Partly cloudy", Boston 
Globe Apr. 17, 1994 
Ronald Rosenberg, "More woes ahead for biotech", Jan. 3, 1995 
Ronald Rosenberg, "1994 investments signal shift", Boston Globe 
Feb. 26, 1995 
Charles Stein, "High costs curb states' job growth", Boston Globe 
Apr. 17, 1994 
Aaron Zitner, "Software firm picks Boston area", Boston Globe June 
28, 1995 
Anonymous, "Netlink leaves the Sun Belt to locate in Boston Area", 
Boston Globe July 2, 1995

Exam III will be given during the final exam period at the time 
scheduled by the Scheduling Office.