[PDF] American Economic Development eBook

Author : Gavin Wright
Publisher : LSU Press
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 13,67 MB
Release : 2006-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0807131830

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"Slavery and American Economic Development is a small book with a big interpretative punch. It is one of those rare books about a familiar subject that manages to seem fresh and new." -- Charles B. Dew, Journal of Interdisciplinary History "A stunning reinterpretation of southern economic history and what is perhaps the most important book in the field since Time on the Cross.... I frequently found myself forced to rethink long-held positions." -- Russell R. Menard, Civil War History Through an analysis of slavery as an economic institution, Gavin Wright presents an innovative look at the economic divergence between North and South in the antebellum era. He draws a distinction between slavery as a form of work organization -- the aspect that has dominated historical debates -- and slavery as a set of property rights. Slave-based commerce remained central to the eighteenth-century rise of the Atlantic economy, not because slave plantations were superior as a method of organizing production, but because slaves could be put to work on sugar plantations that could not have attracted free labor on economically viable terms. Gavin Wright is William Robertson Coe Professor in American Economic History at Stanford University and the author of The Political Economy of the Cotton South and Old South, New South: Revolutions in the Southern Economy since the Civil War, winner of the Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award of the Southern Historical Association. He has served as president of the Economic History Association and the Agricultural History Society.

Author : Javier A. Reyes
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 46,24 MB
Release : 2015-12-14
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1317535707

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Latin America is one of the most intriguing parts of the world. The region’s illustrious history, culture, and geography are famous internationally, but in terms of economics, Latin America has been generally associated with problems. For many, the combination of a resource rich region and poor economic conditions has been a puzzle. This extensively revised and updated second edition of Latin American Economic Development continues to provide the most up to date exploration of why the continent can be considered to have underperformed, how the various Latin American economies function, and the future prospects for the region. The book addresses the economic problems of Latin America theme by theme. Changes and new features in this new edition include: Expanded coverage of how institutions affect economic growth in Latin America Many new boxes and questions for review and discussion New material on how climate change affects the region Updated material to reflect the ongoing macroeconomic stability of the past decade A new chapter on the political economy of Latin America The book provides a comprehensive text for undergraduate economics courses on Latin America, and is also suitable for use by students in other disciplines looking for a wide-ranging guide to the region. This book will continue to be an invaluable resource for undergraduates looking at Latin American economics, growth, and development.

Author : Thomas Weiss
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 45,56 MB
Release : 1994-04-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780804720847

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This collection of twelve essays is based on the premise that a better understanding of the economic development process can be gained by studying the history of those countries that have experienced long-term economic success, in this case the United States during the nineteenth century - that period of U.S. history most pertinent to less developed countries. Two of its contributors, Robert W. Fogel and Douglass North, received the 1993 Nobel Prize for Economics. The essays explore in great detail how the U.S. economy persisted on its upward trajectory in spite of perilous times and events and occasional political crises. They show how complex the experience was, how fluid and fragile the process can be. While the specifics of the American case will not be found everywhere, the complexity and fragility are common to all developing countries. The book is in three parts. The first set of essays deals with the meaning and measurement of economic growth and development: economic growth during the antebellum period; the long-term behavior of such financial variables as stock and bond yields and the savings rate; immigration to the United States during the 1850's; and the juxtaposition of economic history and development. The second group of essays examines the influence of institutional changes on American economic growth: the importance of ideas, ideologies, and institutions in sustaining growth; seasonality in labor markets; risk sharing, crew quality, labor shares, and wages in the whaling industry; and capital formation in midwest farms and industries. The essays of the third section analyze events in the political economy of U.S. development: the role of economic issues in the political realignment that led to the election of Abraham Lincoln; the effect of the Civil War on the economic fortunes of Philadelphia's entrepreneurs; the effect of the silver movement on price stability; and the growth and triumph of oligopoly

Author : Stanley L. Engerman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 41,22 MB
Release : 2012
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1107009553

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Examines differences in the rates of economic growth in Latin America and mainland North America since the seventeenth century.

Author : Robert J. Gordon
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 785 pages
File Size : 24,23 MB
Release : 2017-08-29
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1400888956

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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.

Author : Price V. Fishback
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 634 pages
File Size : 28,55 MB
Release : 2008-09-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0226251292

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The American economy has provided a level of well-being that has consistently ranked at or near the top of the international ladder. A key source of this success has been widespread participation in political and economic processes. In The Government and the American Economy, leading economic historians chronicle the significance of America’s open-access society and the roles played by government in its unrivaled success story. America’s democratic experiment, the authors show, allowed individuals and interest groups to shape the structure and policies of government, which, in turn, have fostered economic success and innovation by emphasizing private property rights, the rule of law, and protections of individual freedom. In response to new demands for infrastructure, America’s federal structure hastened development by promoting the primacy of states, cities, and national governments. More recently, the economic reach of American government expanded dramatically as the populace accepted stronger limits on its economic freedoms in exchange for the increased security provided by regulation, an expanded welfare state, and a stronger national defense.

Author : L. E. Davis
Publisher : CUP Archive
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 25,40 MB
Release : 1971-09-24
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780521081115

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This book presents a model for examining problems of institutional change and applies it to American economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors develop their model of institutional change. They argue that if external economic factors make an increase in income possible but not attainable within the existing institutional structure, new organizations must be developed to achieve the potential in income. Their model is designed to explain the type and timing of these necessary changes in institutional organization. Individual, voluntary cooperative, and governmental arrangements are included in the discussion, although the latter differs considerably from the first two.