Economic History

Rich in both quantitative techniques and economic theory, American Economic History demonstrates how an understanding of our past can illuminate economic issues that face society today and in the future. Overseas Empire; Colonial Development; America on the Eve of Revolution; Gaining Independence; Westward Expansion; Population and Labor Force; Law and the Rise of Classical American Capitalism; Transportation: Internal Improvements and Urbanization; Agricultural Expansion: The Conflict of Two Systems on the Land; The Debate Over Slavery; The Early Industrial Sector; The Financial System and the International Economy; Economic Effects of the Civil War;  Railroads and Economic Development; Post-Civil War Agriculture; Population Growth and the Atlantic Migration; Industrialization, Entrepreneurship, and Urban Growth; Big Business and Government Intervention; Financial Developments 1863-1914; The Great Economy and Its International Relations; Labor and the Law; The Command Economy Emerges: World War I; “Normalcy”: 1919-1929; The Great Depression; The New Deal; The “Prosperity” of Wartime; Before the New Frontier: The Postwar Economy; Population, Health and Labor; Postwar Industry and Agriculture; To the New Millennium and Beyond; Does Our Past Have a Future? For those interested in learning how our present economy works by exploring its past.

A complete survey of man's intellectual advances in the light of economic phenomena, this monumental volume now includes a new introduction by Mark Perlman, one of the foremost contemporary economists and former editor of the prestigious Journal of Economic Literature.

In his stunning memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins detailed his former role as an "economic hit man" in the international corporate skulduggery of a de facto American Empire. Now Perkins zeroes in on hot spots around the world, drawing on interviews to examine the current geopolitical crisis, and providing a compassionate plan to reimagine our world.

Lionel Robbins's now famous lectures on the history of economic thought comprise one of the greatest accounts since World War II of the evolution of economic ideas. This volume represents the first time those lectures have been published. Lord Robbins (1898-1984) was a remarkably accomplished thinker, writer, and public figure. He made important contributions to economic theory, methodology, and policy analysis, directed the economic section of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet, and served as chairman of the Financial Times. As a historian of economic ideas, he ranks with Joseph Schumpeter and Jacob Viner as one of the foremost scholars of the century. These lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics between 1979 and 1981 and tape-recorded by Robbins's grandson, display his mastery of the intellectual history of economics, his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, and his eloquence and incisive wit. They cover a broad chronological range, beginning with Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, focusing extensively on Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and the classicals, and finishing with a discussion of moderns and marginalists from Marx to Alfred Marshall. Robbins takes a varied and inclusive approach to intellectual history. As he says in his first lecture: "I shall go my own sweet way--sometimes talk about doctrine, sometimes talk about persons, sometimes talk about periods." The lectures are united by Robbins's conviction that it is impossible to understand adequately contemporary institutions and social sciences without understanding the ideas behind their development. Authoritative yet accessible, combining the immediacy of the spoken word with Robbins's exceptional talent for clear, well-organized exposition, this volume will be welcomed by anyone interested in the intellectual origins of the modern world.

New sources of data, together with advances in theory, offer the opportunity for a fresh look at old and new questions. This book asks such questions as: did mercantilism cause the American Revolution?; was slavery profitable?; and what were the causes of the Great Depression? Illustrated.

This classic book offers a broad sweep of economic history from prehistoric times to the present and explores the disparity of wealth among nations. Now in its fourth edition, A Concise Economic History of the World has been updated to reflect the stunning changes in the world economy since 1989. Truly a definitive history of globalization, the new edition has been expanded to include coverage of the most recent developments in the European Union, East Asia, and, in general, transition economies. Comprehensive and global in scope, this concise text features ample illustrations and a fully updated annotated bibliography that guides readers to the relevant scholarly literature. Now available in eleven languages, including Spanish (second edition), French, German (two volumes), Polish, and Chinese, this unique work remains an invaluable, lively, and accessible text for both undergraduate and graduate students of European economic history, the history of globalization, and world development.

This book covers the economic history of Latin America from independence in the 1820s to the present. It stresses the differences between Latin American countries while recognizing the similar external influences to which the region has been subject. Victor Bulmer-Thomas notes the failure of the region to close the gap in living standards between it and the United States and explores the reasons. He also examines the new paradigm taking shape in Latin America since the debt crisis of the 1980s and asks whether this new economic model will be able to bring the growth and equity that the region desperately needs. First Edition Hb (1995): 0-521-36329-2 First Edition Pb (1995): 0-521-36872-3

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 Wealth of Ideas traces the history of economic thought, from its prehistory (the Bible, Classical antiquity) to the present day. In this eloquently written, scientifically rigorous and well documented book, chapters on William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Léon Walras, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Piero Sraffa alternate with chapters on other important figures and on debates of the period. Economic thought is seen as developing between two opposite poles: a subjective one, based on the ideas of scarcity and utility, and an objective one based on the notions of physical costs and surplus. Professor Roncaglia focuses on the different views of the economy and society and on their evolution over time and critically evaluates the foundations of the scarcity-utility approach in comparison with the Classical/Keynesian approach.