History of the American Economy with Economic Applications

by Walton, Gary M.; Rockoff, Hugh

• ISBN13: 9780324259698
• ISBN10: 0324259697
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-03
• Publisher: South-Western College Pub

Summary

One of the first U.S. economic history books on the market, this classic text ties America?s past to the economic policies and debates of today and beyond. Presenting economic events chronologically for ease of understanding and to provide continuity, the authors equip students with a firm foundation in the evolution of American economic history.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Growth, Welfare, and the American Economy	1	(23)
Americans 1900--2000	1	(9)
A Study with a Purpose	10	(14)
Part One The Colonial Era: 1607--1776	24	(98)
Founding the Colonies	26	(24)
European Background to the Voyages of Discovery	26	(1)
Portugal and the First Discoveries	27	(1)
Portugal and Spain: Expanding Empires	28	(2)
The Latecomers: Holland, France, and England	30	(1)
First British Settlements in North America	31	(1)
Early Reforms	32	(6)
Demographic Change	38	(12)
Colonial Economic Activities	50	(18)
Land and Natural Resource Abundance, Labor Scarcity	50	(1)
Capital Scarcity	51	(1)
The Dominance of Agriculture	51	(6)
The Extractive Industries	57	(3)
The Manufacturing Industries	60	(4)
Occupational Groups	64	(4)
The Economic Relations of the Colonies	68	(19)
English Mercantilism and the Colonies	68	(2)
Exports, Imports, and Markets	70	(1)
Overseas Shipping and Trade	71	(4)
Intercolonial Commerce	75	(1)
Money and Trade	76	(2)
Money, Debts, and Creditors	78	(1)
Trade Deficits with England	79	(8)
Economic Progress and Wealth	87	(19)
Growth and Change in the Colonial Economy	87	(8)
Technological Change and Productivity	95	(4)
Speculations on Early Growth Rates	99	(1)
Per Capita Wealth and Income, 1774	100	(1)
The Distribution of Income and Wealth	101	(5)
Three Crises and Revolt	106	(16)
The Old Colonial Policy	106	(3)
The New Colonial Policy and the First Crisis	109	(2)
More Changes and the Second Crisis	111	(1)
The Third Crisis and Rebellion	111	(11)
Part Two The Revolutionary, Early National, and Antebellum Eras: 1776--1860	122	(140)
Hard Realities for a New Nation	124	(16)
The War and Economy	124	(3)
The Constitution	127	(3)
American Independence and Economic Change	130	(1)
A Quantitative Analysis of Economic Change	131	(2)
War, Neutrality, and Economic Resurgence	133	(7)
Land and the Early Western Movements	140	(22)
The Acquisition of the Public Domain	140	(7)
The Migrations to the West	147	(6)
The Southwestern Migration and Cotton	153	(4)
The Far Western Migration	157	(5)
Transportation and Market Growth	162	(22)
The Antebellum Transportation Revolution	162	(2)
The Routes of Western Commerce	164	(1)
Steamboats and the Natural Waterways	165	(5)
Public Versus Private Initiative on the Natural Waterways	170	(1)
The Canal Era	170	(4)
The Iron Horse	174	(1)
Roads	175	(2)
The Antebellum Interregional Growth Hypothesis	177	(1)
Ocean Transport	178	(6)
Market Expansion and Industry in First Transition	184	(19)
Early Changes in U.S. Manufacturing	184	(7)
Prerequisites to Factory Production	191	(4)
Productivity Advances in Manufactures	195	(1)
Protection From Foreign Competition	196	(7)
Labor During the Early Industrial Period	203	(19)
The Growth of the Population and the Labor Force	203	(1)
The Changing Labor Force Distribution and Composition	204	(4)
The Impact of Immigration	208	(1)
The Wages of Male Labor in Manufacturing	209	(3)
Growing Inequality of Income	212	(1)
The Early Union Movement	213	(4)
Political Gains for Common Working People	217	(5)
Money and Banking in the Developing Economy	222	(19)
The American Monetary Unit	222	(1)
The Bimetallic Standard	223	(1)
Bank Notes as Paper Money	224	(1)
The First Bank of the United States	225	(3)
The Second Bank of the United States	228	(4)
Economic Fluctuations and the Second Bank	232	(2)
Experiments in State Banking Controls	234	(2)
The Economic Consequences of the Gold Rush	236	(5)
The Entrenchment of Slavery and Regional Conflict	241	(21)
African Slavery in the Western Hemisphere	241	(1)
First U.S. Constraints on Slavery	242	(4)
Plantation Efficiency	246	(6)
Economic Exploitation	252	(2)
Economic Entrenchment and Regional Incomes	254	(1)
Political Compromises and Regional Conflict	255	(7)
Part Three The Reunification Era: 1860--1920	262	(152)
War, Recovery, and Regional Divergence	264	(21)
The Economics of War	265	(3)
The Civil War and Northern Industrialization	268	(2)
Economic Retardation in the South	270	(5)
The Legacy of Slavery	275	(10)
Agriculture's Western Advance	285	(22)
The Expansion of Land under Cultivation	286	(1)
Federal Land Policy	286	(2)
The Impact of Federal Land Policy	288	(2)
Growth and Change in Agriculture	290	(3)
Hard Times on the Farm, 1864--1896	293	(5)
Agrarian Political Organizations	298	(3)
The Beginnings of Federal Assistance to Agriculture	301	(1)
Natural Resource Conservation: The First Stages	302	(5)
Railroads and Economic Change	307	(19)
The Transcontinentals	308	(1)
Total Construction: Page and Patterns	309	(3)
Railroad Building and Railroad Demand	312	(1)
Land Grants, Financial Assistance, and Private Capital	313	(2)
Unscrupulous Financial Practices	315	(1)
Rate Setting and Regulation in Railroad Markets	315	(6)
Railroads and Economic Growth	321	(5)
Industrial Expansion and Concentration	326	(22)
Structural Change and Industry Composition	326	(9)
Economies of Scale and Industry Concentration	335	(2)
The Two Phases of the Concentration Movement	337	(4)
Legislation and Legal Actions	341	(7)
The Emergence of America's Labor Consciousness	348	(21)
Demographic Change and the Supply of Labor	348	(3)
Immigration, Politics, and Economic Effect	351	(3)
Gains for Workers in the Postbellum Period	354	(6)
Unions, Employers, and Conflict, 1860--1914	360	(5)
Labor's Gains and the Unions	365	(4)
Money, Prices and Finance in the Postbellum Era	369	(22)
New Forms of Currency	370	(4)
Gold, Greenbacks, or Bimetallism?	374	(9)
Financial Capital, Investment Banking, and the National Debt	383	(2)
Bank Panics and the Establishment of the Federal Reserve System	385	(6)
Commerce at Home and Abroad	391	(23)
Urbanization	391	(2)
Marketing and Selling	393	(6)
Product Differentiation and Advertising	399	(1)
The First Steps Toward Consumer Protection	399	(4)
Foreign Trade	403	(3)
The Acceptance of Protectionist Doctrines	406	(2)
The United States in an Imperialist World	408	(6)
Part Four War, Depression, and War Again: 1914--1946	414	(104)
World War I, 1914--1918	416	(14)
The Origins of War	416	(1)
U.S. Involvement	417	(4)
Replacement of the Market with a Command System	421	(3)
Labor during the War	424	(2)
The Legacies of World War I	426	(4)
The Roaring Twenties	430	(22)
Social Changes in the Aftermath of War	430	(1)
New Goods and the Rise of the Middle Class	431	(5)
The Labor Force in the Twenties	436	(4)
On the Land	440	(2)
Were the Rich Getting Richer While the Poor Got Poorer?	442	(1)
Macroeconomic Policies	443	(2)
International Developments	445	(1)
The Great Bull Market	446	(6)
The Great Depression	452	(21)
Dimensions of the Depression	453	(1)
Causes of the Great Depression	454	(6)
The Role of the Financial Crisis	460	(3)
Why Didn't the Federal Reserve Save the Banking System?	463	(2)
Fiscal Policy in the 1930s	465	(1)
Partial Recovery and then a New Downturn	466	(3)
Can It Happen Again?	469	(1)
What Does the Depression Tell Us about Capitalism?	469	(4)
The New Deal	473	(21)
The First New Deal: Relief and Recovery	474	(5)
Agriculture and the New Deal	479	(6)
Labor and the New Deal	485	(3)
The Supreme Court and the New Deal	488	(1)
The Second New Deal: The Welfare State	489	(1)
The Critics of the New Deal	490	(1)
The Legacy of the New Deal	491	(3)
World War II	494	(24)
Mobilizing for War	494	(5)
Fiscal and Monetary Policy	499	(4)
Wage and Price Controls	503	(2)
Wartime Prosperity?	505	(1)
Labor Relations during the War	506	(2)
Wartime Minority Experiences	508	(1)
Agriculture during the War	509	(3)
Demobilization and Reconversion	512	(6)
Part Five The Postwar Era: 1946 to the Present	518	(89)
The Changing Role of the U.S. Government	520	(24)
The Size of Government in the Postwar Era	520	(4)
The Liberal Era, 1945--1976: Continued Expansion	524	(4)
The Conservative Era, 1976--2000	528	(2)
Agriculture	530	(5)
The Environment and the Legacy of the Conservation Movement	535	(3)
Can the Principles of Economics Explain the Growth of the Government?	538	(6)
Growth and the Business Cycle after World War II	544	(21)
The Keynesian Era	545	(9)
Monetarism and Its Descendants	554	(8)
Was the Economy More Stable after World War II Than before the Depression?	562	(3)
Manufacturing, Productivity, and Labor	565	(27)
Employment Patterns	565	(1)
Gales of Creative Destruction	566	(6)
Changes in the Organization of Industry	572	(3)
The Rise of the Service Sector	575	(1)
The Changing Role of Women in the Labor Force	576	(4)
Minorities	580	(4)
The New Immigration	584	(2)
Unions	586	(1)
Real Wage	587	(5)
Achievements of the Past, Challenges for the Future	592	(15)
The Achievements of the Past	592	(1)
Real Income Has Grown Rapidly	592	(7)
Challenges for the Future	599	(4)
Prophets of Decline	603	(4)
Subject Index	607	(9)
Name Index	616