Corruption and Reform : Lessons from America's Economic History

by Glaeser, Edward L.

• ISBN13: 9780226299587
• ISBN10: 0226299589
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Despite recent corporate scandals, the United States is among the world's least corrupt nations. But in the nineteenth century, the degree of fraud and corruption in America approached that of today's most corrupt developing nations as municipal governments and robber barons alike found new ways to steal from taxpayers and swindle investors. InCorruption and Reform,contributors explore this shadowy period of United States history in search of better methods to fight corruption worldwide today. Contributors to this volume address the measurement and consequences of fraud and corruption, and the forces that ultimately led to their decline within the United States.

Author Biography

Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government. He is a research associate at the NBER and the editor of the recent NBER volume The Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations. Claudia Goldin is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of the Development of the American Economy Program and research associate at the NBER. She is the coeditor of three previous NBER volumes including, most recently, The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century.

 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Corruption and Reform: Definitions and Historical Trends
Corruption and Reform: Introduction	p. 3
The Concept of Systematic Corruption in American History	p. 23
Limiting the Reach of the Grabbing Hand: Graft and Growth in American Cities, 1880 to 1930	p. 63
Digging the Dirt at Public Expense: Governance in the Building of the Erie Canal and Other Public Works	p. 95
Consequences of Corruption
Corporate Governance and the Plight of Minority Shareholders in the United States before the Great Depression	p. 125
Water, Water Everywhere: Municipal Finance and Water Supply in American Cities	p. 153
The Road to Reform
The Rise of the Fourth Estate: How Newspapers Became Informative and Why It Mattered	p. 187
Bank Chartering and Political Corruption in Antebellum New York: Free Banking as Reform	p. 231
Regime Change and Corruption: A History of Public Utility Regulation	p. 259
Reform and Regulation
The Irony of Reform: Did Large Employers Subvert Workplace Safety Reform, 1869 to 1930?	p. 285
The Determinants of Progressive Era Reform: The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906	p. 319
Politics, Relief, and Reform: Roosevelt's Efforts to Control Corruption and Political Manipulation during the New Deal	p. 343
Contributors	p. 373
Author Index	p. 375
Subject Index	p. 381
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