The Rise and Fall of American Growth


Book Description

How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated. Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.




Economics and the Public Welfare


Book Description




A Bibliography of Historical Economics to 1980


Book Description

Historians and economists will find here what their fields have in common - the movement since the 1950s known variously as 'cliometrics', 'economic history', or 'historical economics'. A leading figure in the movement, Donald McCloskey, has compiled, with the help of George Hersh and a panel of distinguished advisors, a highly comprehensive bibliography of historical economics covering the period up until 1980. The book will be useful to all economic historians, as well as quantitative historians, applied economists, historical demographers, business historians, national income accountants, and social historians.




An Economic History of the United States


Book Description

An Economic History of the United States is an accessible and informative survey designed for undergraduate courses on American economic history. The book spans from 1607 to the modern age and presents a documented history of how the American economy has propelled the nation into a position of world leadership. Noted economic historian Ronald E. Seavoy covers nearly 400 years of economic history, beginning with the commercialization of agriculture in the pre-colonial era, through the development of banks and industrialization in the nineteenth century, up to the globalization of the business economy in the present day.




The Institutional Economics of Russia's Transformation


Book Description

This book applies institutional theory to the analysis of the post-Soviet Russian economy to bring to light the reasons why reforms have gone awry. Emphasis is put on the elements missed in the early blueprints of reforms: constraints embodied in formal and especially informal institutions. Other aspects considered include the dominant model of power relationships and the networks of localized and personalized relationships among economic actors. The first part provides a general description of the core concepts of institutional theory, including both the 'old' institutionalism of T. Veblen and J. Commons and the 'new' institutional economics of R. Coase, O. Williamson and D. North, and in the second part an institutional model of the post-Soviet Russian economy is developed. In the course of the analysis the authors discuss such unresolved issues as post-privatization development in Russia and validity of the Coase theorem in the post-Soviet institutional context. Rich empirical data grounds the discussion throughout.




The People’s Welfare


Book Description

Much of today's political rhetoric decries the welfare state and our maze of government regulations. Critics hark back to a time before the state intervened so directly in citizens' lives. In The People's Welfare, William Novak refutes this vision of a stateless past by documenting America's long history of government regulation in the areas of public safety, political economy, public property, morality, and public health. Challenging the myth of American individualism, Novak recovers a distinctive nineteenth-century commitment to shared obligations and public duties in a well-regulated society. Novak explores the by-laws, ordinances, statutes, and common law restrictions that regulated almost every aspect of America's society and economy, including fire regulations, inspection and licensing rules, fair marketplace laws, the moral policing of prostitution and drunkenness, and health and sanitary codes. Based on a reading of more than one thousand court cases in addition to the leading legal and political texts of the nineteenth century, The People's Welfare demonstrates the deep roots of regulation in America and offers a startling reinterpretation of the history of American governance.







The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History, vol. 2


Book Description

American economic history describes the transition of a handful of struggling settlements on the Atlantic seaboard into the nation with the most successful economy in the world today. As the economy has developed, so have the methods used by economic historians to analyze the process. Interest in economic history has sharply increased in recent years among the public, policy-makers, and in the academy. The current economic turmoil, calling forth comparisons with the Great Depression of the 1930s, is in part responsible for the surge in interest among the public and in policy circles. It has also stimulated greater scholarly research into past financial crises, the multiplier effects of fiscal and monetary policy, the dynamics of the housing market, and international economic cooperation and conflict. Other pressing policy issues--including the impending retirement of the Baby-Boom generation, the ongoing expansion of the healthcare sector, and the environmental challenges imposed by global climate change--have further increased demand for the long-run perspective given by economic history. Confronting this need, The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History affords access to the latest research on the crucial events, themes, and legacies of America's economic history--from colonial America, to the Civil War,up to present day. More than fifty contributors address topics as wide-ranging as immigration, agriculture, and urbanization. Over its two volumes, this handbook gives readers not only a comprhensive look at where the field of American economic history currently stands but where it is headed in the years to come.




The Nobel Memorial Laureates in Economics


Book Description

. . . this book will continue to share shelf-space next to my current textbooks. As a librarian, such utility makes this a desirable addition to any educator s collection. As a history of economic thought book, Vane and Mulhearn have brought together a breadth of information that can be found through disparate sources but at a cost of effort and, especially for students, qualitative decisions regarding sources. . . The convenience of their starting methodology, breadth over depth coverage, and clear intention of writing to an audience of students makes this a useful text. Kirk Douglas Johnson, Journal of the History of Economic Thought The essays summarizing the main achievements of the prize winners are well written and to the point. They are short enough that they never cause the reader to lose interest, but substantive enough to let you know what the winners accomplishments amount to. These compact, factually accurate essays mark the real value of the book as a reference work. . . there is little for which to fault the authors. Vane and Mulhearn have done a very nice job with the book, and it is an added bonus that it includes a formal portrait photograph of each prize winner. Bradley W. Bateman, History Political Economy . . . Vane and Mulhearn have produced a useful reference work. John Quiggin, Economic Analysis and Policy This collection has the capacity to surprise the reader. You learn all sorts of new and sometimes admirable things about these economists and about the richness of the profession that is often obscured from students of the subject. John Lodewijks, History of Economics Review This volume provides a non-technical description of the main published works of every Nobel Memorial (Economics) winner from the first annual award in 1969 to 2004 . . . This is a reference book par excellence . . . it will interest not only those having some involvement with economics, past or present, but it should also attract more general readers wanting to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding economics and economists. Economic Outlook and Business Review Vane and Mulhearn have produced an introduction to the careers and major publications of the 55 economists awarded the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel between 1969 and 2004. The short essays on each economist are readable and accurate; they provide a discussion of the subjects, major contributions and an introduction to the secondary literature, often with the outstanding reports on the laureates work provided to the Economic Prize Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The collection is introduced with a review of the prize and the common characteristics of the winners thus far, all neatly summarized in a table with each laureate s year and country of birth, university, year of first and higher degrees, affiliation at the time of the award, field of study, and a summary citation. This volume provides a very useful introduction to the development of economic ideas in the last three-quarters of the 20th century. Highly recommended. D.E. Moggridge, Choice Every serious research economist will want to have a look at this comprehensive work. Edwin Burmeister, Research Professor of Economics, Duke University, US The award of the Nobel Prize has, for more than thirty years, been economists way of informing the public at large about what work most of them think is important, and about who has done it. Anyone seeking to understand the development of recent economic ideas and the profession that has created them must deal with the Prize s history, and Vane and Mulhearn have provided an indispensable guide to it brief, readable and accurate. David Laidler, Professor Emeritus and Bank of Montreal Professor, University of Western Ontario, Canada This is a splendid account of the personal stories of the Nobel Laureates in Economics, the diversity of practice of recent economists, and, perhaps above all, the nature o