The Regulated Economy

by Goldin, Claudia Dale; Libecap, Gary D.

• ISBN13: 9780226301105
• ISBN10: 0226301109
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-09-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

How has the United States government grown? What political and economic factors have given rise to its regulation of the economy? These eight case studies explore the late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century origins of government intervention in the United States economy, focusing on the political influence of special interest groups in the development of economic regulation. The Regulated Economy examines how constituent groups emerged and demanded government action to solve perceived economic problems, such as exorbitant railroad and utility rates, bank failure, falling agricultural prices, the immigration of low-skilled workers, workplace injury, and the financing of government. The contributors look at how preexisting policies, institutions, and market structures shaped regulatory activity; the origins of regulatory movements at the state and local levels; the effects of consensus-building on the timing and content of legislation; and how well government policies reflect constituency interests. A wide-ranging historical view of the way interest group demands and political bargaining have influenced the growth of economic regulation in the United States, this book is important reading for economists, political scientists, and public policy experts.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
The Origins of State Railroad Regulation: The Illinois Constitution of 1870	p. 13
The Institutional Antecedents of State Utility Regulation: The Chicago Gas Industry, 1860 to 1913	p. 55
Congress and Railroad Regulation: 1874 to 1887	p. 81
The Interaction of Taxation and Regulation in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Banking	p. 121
The Origins of Federal Deposit Insurance	p. 145
Political Bargaining and Cartelization in the New Deal: Orange Marketing Orders	p. 189
The Political Economy of Immigration Restriction in the United States, 1890 to 1921	p. 223
Coalition Formation and the Adoption of Workers' Compensation: The Case of Missouri, 1911 to 1926	p. 259
Contributors	p. 299
Author Index	p. 301
Subject Index	p. 307
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