American Economic History

Jonathan R. T. Hughes was Robert and Emily King Professor of Business Institutions at Northwestern University.Louis P. Cain is Adjunct Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and Professor Emeritus at Loyola University Chicago.Chris Vickers is Associate Professor of Economics at Auburn University.Nicolas L. Ziebarth is Sam B. Cook Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• Introduction. Part I: The Colonial Period, 1607-1783 1. Overseas Empire 2. Colonial Economic Development 3. America on the Eve of Revolution 4. Gaining Independence Part II: The National Period and Constitutional Crisis, 1783-1861 5. Nation Building 6. People and Work 7. Law and the Rise of Classical American Capitalism 8. Transportation, Internal Improvements, and Urbanization 9. Agricultural Expansion: The Conflict of Two Systems on the Land 10. The Debate over the Economics of Slavery 11. The Early Industrial Sector 12. The Financial System and the International Economy Part III: The Rise of an Industrial Society, 1861-1914 199 13. Economic Effects of the Civil War 14. Railroads and Economic Development 15. Urbanization, Immigration, and Intergenerational Mobility 16. Big Business and Big Government 17. Financial Developments 18. America’s Changing Place in the World Economy 19. Labor and the Law Part IV: The Expansion of Federal Power, 1914–1945 20. The Command Economy Emerges 21. “Normalcy” and Its End 22. The Great Depression 23. The New Deal 24. The Economic Miracle (?) of World War II Part V: Brave New World? 1945–2008 25. Before the New Frontier: The Postwar Economy 26. Population, Health, and Labor in the Postwar Period 27. The Postwar Decline of American Industry 28. There and Back Again: Macroeconomic Stability and Instability 29. The Great Recession 30. Where Do We Go From Here? References. Appendices.