Economic History Classics

Selections for 2006

During 2006 EH.NET published a series of “Classic Reviews.” Modeled along the lines of our earlier Project 2000 and Project 2001 series, reviewers were asked to “reintroduce” each of the books to the profession, “explaining its significance at the time of publication and why it has endured as a classic.” Each review summarizes the book’s key findings, methods and arguments, as it puts it into the larger context and discusses any weaknesses.

This year’s selections are (alphabetically by author):

• Paul Einzig’s The History of Foreign Exchange (1962, 1970)
• Charles Feinstein’s National Income, Expenditure and Output of the U.K. (1972)
• Albert Fishlow’s American Railroads and the Transformation of the Antebellum Economy (1965)
• Earl Hamilton’s American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain (1934)
• Stanley Lebergott’s Manpower in Economic Growth (1964)
• Thomas C. Smith’s Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan (1959)
• Brinley Thomas’s Migration and Economic Growth (1954, 1973)
• Abbott Payson Usher’s A History of Mechanical Invention (1929, 1954)

Selection Committee

• Gareth Austin, London School of Economics
• Ann Carlos, University of Colorado
• John Murray, University of Toledo
• Lawrence Officer, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Cormac Ó Gráda, University College Dublin
• Peter Scott, University of Reading
• Catherine Schenk, University of Glasgow
• Pierre van der Eng, Australian National University
• Jenny Wahl, Carleton College