The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History

Edited by Louis P. Cain, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode

Oxford Handbooks

Provides a comprehensive and diverse look at the expanse of American economic history
Features thirty-eight essays written by more than fifty leading scholars in the field
Gives both a sense of where the field currently stands and where it is headed in the future

The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History

Edited by Louis P. Cain, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode

Description

American economic history describes the transition of a handful of struggling settlements on the Atlantic seaboard into the nation with the most successful economy in the world today. As the economy has developed, so have the methods used by economic historians to analyze the process. Interest in economic history has sharply increased in recent years among the public, policy-makers, and in the academy. The current economic turmoil, calling forth comparisons with the Great Depression of the 1930s, is in part responsible for the surge in interest among the public and in policy circles. It has also stimulated greater scholarly research into past financial crises, the multiplier effects of fiscal and monetary policy, the dynamics of the housing market, and international economic cooperation and conflict. Other pressing policy issues — including the impending retirement of the Baby-Boom generation, the ongoing expansion of the healthcare sector, and the environmental challenges imposed by global climate change — have further increased demand for the long-run perspective given by economic history.

Confronting this need, The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History affords access to the latest research on the crucial events, themes, and legacies of America's economic history — from colonial America, to the Civil War, up to present day. More than fifty contributors address topics as wide-ranging as immigration, agriculture, and urbanization. Over its two volumes, this handbook gives readers not only a comprhensive look at where the field of American economic history currently stands but where it is headed in the years to come.

The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History

Edited by Louis P. Cain, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode

Oxford Handbooks

List of contributors
Volume One
Introduction, Louis P. Cain, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode
Part One: Population and Health
1:Demography in American Economic History, Michael R. Haines
2:Health, Disease, and Sanitation in American Economic History, Hoyt Bleakley, Louis P. Cain, and Sok Chul Hong
3:US Fertility Rates and Childbearing, 1800 to 2010, Martha J. Bailey and Brad J. Hershbein
4:Immigration in American Economic History, Joseph P. Ferrie
5:Anthropometric History in American Economy, Richard H. Steckel
6:Health Policy in American Economic History, Melissa A. Thomasson
Part Two: Production and Structural Change
7:Agriculture in American Economic History, Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode
9:Manufacturing Productivity Growth and American Economic History, Alexander J. Field
10:Services in American Economic History, Stephen Broadberry, Louis P. Cain, and Thomas Weiss
11:Business Organization in American Economic History, Eric Hilt
12:Executive Compensation in American Economic History, Carola Frydman
Part Three: Factors of Production
13:The Labor Force in American Economic History, Robert A. Margo
14:Labor Market Institutions in the Gilded Age of American Economic History, Suresh Naidu and Noam Yuchtman
15:Retirement and Pensions in American Economic History, Robert L. Clark and Lee A. Craig
16:Income, Capital, and American Growth, Paul W. Rhode
17:Education and Human Capital in American Economic History, John M. Parman
18:Natural Resources and American Economic History, Gavin Wright
Volume Two
Part Four: Technology and Urbanization
19:Innovation and Patents in American Economic History, Petra Moser
20:Transportation in American Economic History, Jeremy Atack
21:Energy in American Economic History, Rowena Gray and Carl Kitchens
22:Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000, Leah Boustan, Devin Bunten, and Owen Hearey
23:Housing in American Economic History, Daniel Fetter, Jonathan Rose, Kenneth Snowden
24:Professional Team Sports in American Economic History, Stanley L. Engerman
Part Five: Government and Economic Policy
25:The U.S. Constitution in American Economic History, Robert A. McGuire
26:Property Rights in American Economic History, Gary D. Libecap
27:Government and Fiscal Policy in American Economic History, John Joseph Wallis
28:The Record of Economic Growth, Business Cycles, and Economic Policies in American Economic History, Lee E. Ohanian
29:Banking and Monetary Policy up to the Formation of the Federal Reserve, Matthew Jaremski and Peter L. Rousseau
30:Banking and Monetary Policy in American Economic History from the Formation of the Federal Reserve, Robert L. Hetzel and Gary Richardson
31:Trade Policy in American Economic History, Douglas A. Irwin
32:Antitrust and Regulation in American Economic History, Brooks Kaiser
33:The Environment in American Economic History, Karen Clay
34:The Civil War in American Economic History, Roger L. Ransom
35:Two World Wars in American Economic History, Taylor Jaworski and Price V. Fishback
36:The New Deal in American Economic History, Price V. Fishback
37:Welfare Policy: The Public Safety Net in American Economic History, Samuel K. Allen, Price V. Fishback, Jonathan Fox, and Brendan Livingston

The Oxford Handbook of American Economic History

Edited by Louis P. Cain, Price V. Fishback, and Paul W. Rhode

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Edited by Louis P. Cain, Professor Emeritus, Loyola University Chicago, Price V. Fishback, Thomas R. Brown Professor of Economics, University of Arizona, and Paul W. Rhode, Professor and Chair of Economics, University of Michigan

Louis P. Cain is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Loyola University Chicago and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Northwestern University. He co-authored The Children of Eve with Donald Paterson and American Economic History with the late Jonathan Hughes.

Price V. Fishback is Thomas R. Brown Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Executive Director of the Economic History Association. He is the co-author of Government and the American Economy: a New History and has won several awards for research and teaching from the Economic History Association and the Cliometrics Society.

Paul W. Rhode is Professor and Chair of Economics at the University of Michigan, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and former editor of The Journal of Economic History. He is co-author (with Alan Olmstead) of Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation in American Agricultural Development and Arresting Contagion: Science, Policy and Conflict over Animal Disease Control.