ECO 312: American Economic Development Fall 2013 Prof Mike Haupert 403V Wimberly Hall Office hours: MWF 11-12, Th 10-3, and by appointment phone: 785-6863 mhaupert@uwlax.edu Course objectives What is economic growth and development? How we recognize it, measure it, determine its extent, and explain its causes? We will consider the evolution and growth of the U S economy by focusing on its major players First we will examine the changing household, particularly in regard to the trade-offs between labor and leisure, including the changes we observe in the makeup of household income earners and labor market participants We will in turn examine changes in the makeup of firms, the role of government, and special topics in transportation, banking, and the Great Depression as a lesson for our recent economic crisis This is a CTC (Critical Thinking in the Curriculum) Course, which differs from other courses in its use of writing and oral presentation assignments that are designed to integrate material across the economics discipline By its nature, economic history is multi-disciplinary, but the CTC format will make this more evident You will be required to read beyond the course syllabus in order to complete the assignments, particularly the in-class and semester end poster presentations All of this will help to build on your analysis, synthesis and evaluation skills This course applies economics to history and history to economics Economic methodology is used to explore historical issues, and historical examples are used to understand the process of economic development Within this framework, the course will pursue four goals First, it will make you better aware of the historical origins of our present economic system Second, it will illustrate how economic theory can be enriched by the study of history Third, it will highlight the importance of markets in the allocation of society's resources throughout history Fourth, it will shed light on the process of economic growth and its causes and consequences Course requirements and grading Grades in this course will be determined by your performance on the following assignments, with the weight of the assignment as indicated All written assignments except in-class quizzes must be typed, 1.5 line spacing, with standard font and margins 1) Poster presentation of research on a topic in economy history due in four stages: abstract (5%), bibliography with summary (5%), first draft (5%), and final presentation (15%) This is an individual project that will be completed in stages You will focus on an issue of economic growth/development in the La Crosse area We will spend time at Murphy Library and the La Crosse Public Library learning about resources available to you Pick a time period separated by at least 50 years Did economic growth/development occur? How are you going to measure it? Focus on one topic For example, you could argue that economic growth means an increase in real wages How will you determine the change in real wages? Who was affected? What may have caused the changes? Can you measure that? How might you check for causation? All posters will be presented at the Economics Department Celebration of Critical Thinking at the end of the semester Your presence is mandatory Clear your work and practice schedules now Alert coaches, directors, and employers of this conflict in your schedule If you are not present you will receive a zero for that portion of the project 2) Class presentation of article (15%) This is a small group project You may work with one or two others on a 10-15 minute presentation to the class of one of a select number of articles on the reading list You will be expected to read the article and present its arguments in class I recommend you also read a related article or two to give perspective to the work for a better presentation Have others expanded on this research or criticized it? You must send me a copy of your presentation at least 24 hours before you will present it On the day of your presentation be sure to arrive a few minutes before class starts to get your presentation ready so we can start on time I will give a brief quiz after the presentation Presenters will not have to take their own quiz, but will receive the average grade of the rest of the class Presenters will also give the class a thought question to respond to in a written essay due the following class period Presenters will not have to respond to their own thought question The thought question should be closely related to the material presented Your grade will be a function of the quality of your presentation (both form and content), the performance of the students on the quiz, and the quality of the thought question you assign Each member of a group will get the same grade 3) Class participation (10%) This will involve discussions of articles on the reading list assigned for each class You will be expected to read all readings in preparation for class discussion, and will occasionally be called upon to summarize the day's readings Since discussions are a valuable part of this course, your attendance will be required Each absence will result in a grade of zero for that day's discussion If you choose not to attend class, you are still responsible for everything that takes place in class that day 4) Brief quizzes based on student presentations (10%) Short answer questions based on student in-class presentation and how it might relate to required readings and lecture that week 5) Written assignments related to student presentations (thought questions) (15%) These may become discussion questions They are short responses to the material presented by students The presenting students will assign the thought question They will not have to write responses to their own thought question 6) Written assignment related to other students’ poster presentations (5%) A few days before the poster presentations I will distribute a rubric for you to use in critiquing other posters Note that there will be poster presentations from students in other Economics classes besides ours 7) Executive summaries of articles (15%) Executive summaries of some articles will be assigned Details will be provided on the first day of class Extra Credit For those wishing to earn extra credit, which will be added to your grade at the end of the semester, you may attend Department of Economics seminars, offered four to five times during the semester, and write an executive summary of the presentation Unlike your assigned executive summaries, this one should include a final paragraph indicating what, if anything, you learned from the presentation If you learned nothing, explain why You are always welcome to attend the seminars, but you may only submit two summaries for extra credit Each summary will be worth two percent of the total semester grade Where to find the readings: Journal articles can be found in bound volumes of the appropriate journals in Murphy Library Most of them can also be found in electronic format on the Murphy Library website Available on hour reserve at Murphy Library: North, Douglass, Growth and Welfare in the American Past: A New Economic History, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966 Fogel, Robert and Stanley Engerman, Time on the Cross, Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1974 Paul David, et al., eds., Reckoning with Slavery: a Critical Study in the Quantitative History of American Negro Slavery, New York: Oxford University Press, 1976 Reading List Required reading Should be read before class on the date listed Paper that will be presented by students Number in parentheses is presentation number Articles that will be discussed/presented in class Some may be assigned as additional readings 1) Economic Growth in America Romer, Paul, “Why, Indeed, in America?” American Economic Review 85, May 1996, pp 202206 Wright, Gavin, "The Origins of American Industrial Success, 1879-1940," American Economic Review 80, September 1990, pp 651-668 2) Labor, Leisure, and the Changing Household Logan, Trevon, “Nutrition and Well-Being in the Late Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Economic History 66 no.2, June 2006, pp 313-41 a) Who works i) Slaves Fogel, Robert and Stanley Engerman, Time on the Cross, Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1974, pp 3-12 and 258-64 (2)Wright, Gavin, "Prosperity, Progress, and American Slavery," in Paul David, et al., eds., Reckoning with Slavery: a Critical Study in the Quantitative History of American Negro Slavery, New York: Oxford University Press, 1976 ii) Children Moehling, Carolyn, “She has Suddenly Become Powerful: Youth Employment and Household Decision Making in the Early Twentieth Century,” Journal of Economic History 65 no.2, June 2005, pp 414-43 iii) Women Goldin, Claudia, “The Changing Economic Role of Women: A Quantitative Approach,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 13 no 4, spring 1983, pp 707-33 (1)Moehling, Carolyn, “Women’s Work and Men’s Unemployment,” Journal of Economic History 61 no.4, Dec 2001, pp 926-49 b) What they i) Agriculture Rasmussen, Wayne, “The Impact of Technological Change on American Agriculture, 1862- 1962,” Journal of Economic History 22, no 4, December 1962, pp 578-91 Alston, Lee and Joseph P Ferrie, “Time on the Ladder: Career Mobility in Agriculture, 18901938,” Journal of Economic History 65 no.4, December 2005, pp 1058-81 ii) Manufacturing (3)Uselding, Paul, “Factor Substitution and Labor Productivity Growth in American Manufacturing, 183-1899,” Journal of Economic History 32 no 3, (September 1972), pp 670-81 iii) White collar (6)McColloch, Mark, “White Collar Unionism, 1940-1950,” Science & Society 46 no 4, Winter 1982/1, pp 405-19 c) What does it pay (4)Lindert, Peter, and Jeffrey Williamson, “American Incomes Before and After the Revolution,” Journal of Economic History 73 no.3, September 2013, pp 725-65 Atack, Jeremy, Fred Bateman, Robert A Margo, “Skill Intensity and Rising Wage Dispersion in Nineteenth-Century American Manufacturing, “Journal of Economic History 64 no.1, March 2004, pp 172-92 Bailey, Martha and William J Collins, “The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s,” Journal of Economic History 66 no.3, Sept 2006, pp 737-77 Whaples, Robert, “Winning the Eight-Hour Day,” Journal of Economic History 50 no 2, June 1990, pp 393-406 Sundstrom, William, “The Geography of Wage Discrimination in the Pre-Civil Rights South,” Journal of Economic History 67 no.2, March 2007, pp 410-44 d) Leisure Dupont, Brandon, and Thomas Weiss, “Variability in overseas travel by Americans, 18202000,” Cliometrica no.3, September 2013, pp 319-39 Haupert, Michael, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: the Pursuit of Pleasure and Profit on the Ball Field,” Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game no (Spring 2010), pp 28-43 (5)Sedgwick, John, “Product Differentiation at the Movies: Hollywood, 1946-1965,” Journal of Economic History 62 no.3, September 2002, pp 676-705 3) The Firm Chandler, Alfred and Louis Galambos, “The Development of Large-Scale Economic Organizations in Modern America,” Journal of Economic History 30 no.1, March 1970, pp 201-17 Lamoreaux, Naomi, “Partnerships, Corporations, and the Theory of the Firm,” American Economic Review 88 no 2, (May 1998), pp 66-71 Atack, Jeremy, “Firm Size and Industrial Structure in the United States During the Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Economic History 46 no 2, (June 1986), pp 463-75 Galambos, Louis, “The Agrarian Image of the Large Corporation, 1879-1920: A Study in Social Accomodation,” Journal of Economic History 28 no 3, (September 1968), pp 341-62 McCurdy, Charles, “American Law and the Marketing Structure of the Large Corporation, 1875-1890,” Journal of Economic History 38 no 3, (September 1978), pp 631-49 4) Government a) The changing role of government Ulen, Tom, “The Market for Regulation,” American Economic Review 70 no 2, May 1980, pp 306-310 Troesken, Werner, “The Limits of Jim Crow: Race and the Provision of Water and Sewerage Services in American Cities, 1880-1925,” Journal of Economic History 62 no.3, Sept 2002, pp 734-72 (7)Fleck, Robert, “Democratic Opposition to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,” Journal of Economic History 62 no.1, March 2002, pp 25-54 b) The rise of the public sector Lindert, Peter, “The Rise of Social Spending, 1880-1930,” Explorations in Economic History, 1994 (8)Ziliak, Stephen, “Self-Reliance before the Welfare State: Evidence from the Charity Organization Movement in the United States,” Journal of Economic History 64 no 2, June 2004, pp 433-61 5) Transportation Gunderson, Gerald, "The Nature of Social Saving," Economic History Review (August 1970) North "Ships, Railroads, and Economic Growth," pp 108-21, in North, Douglass, Growth and Welfare in the American Past: A New Economic History, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966 (9)Owen, Wilfred, “The View from 2020: Transportation in America’s Future,” The Brookings Review no 4, (Fall 1988), pp 10-14 6) Banking (10 or 11)James, John, “The Development of a National Money Market, 1893-1911,” Journal of Economic History 36, December 1976, pp 878-97 Sylla, Richard, “Monetary Innovation in America,” Journal of Economic History, March, 1982, pp 21-30 7) The Great Depression White, Eugene, “The Stock Market Boom and Crash of 1929 Revisited,” Journal of Economic Perspectives no 2, Spring 1990, pp 67-83 (10)Mishkin, Frederic, "The Household Balance Sheet and the Great Depression," Journal of Economic History (December 1978) Mitchener, Kris James, “Bank Supervision, Regulation, and Instability during the Great Depression,” Journal of Economic History 65 no.1, March 2005, pp 152-85 (11)Dimon, Curtis, “The Supply Price of Labor during the Great Depression,” Journal of Economic History 61, no.4, Dec 2001, pp 877-903 Proposed Course Outline week day Wed Fri Mon date topic 4-Sep Introduction discussion: are you better off 6-Sep than your grandparents 9-Sep how to make a presentation Wed American Economic Growth 11-Sep Wright AER 1990 part II 10 Fri Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed Fri 13-Sep 16-Sep 18-Sep 20-Sep 23-Sep 25-Sep 27-Sep 30-Sep 2-Oct 4-Oct 7-Oct 9-Oct 11-Oct 14-Oct 16-Oct 18-Oct La Crosse Public Library visit La Crosse Public Library visit UWL library visit independent work Claude Diebolt labor who worked student present slavery Mon Wed 21-Oct leisure 23-Oct required reading due Romer AER 1996 Wright AER 1990 discussion question executive summary Wright AER 1990 thought question: Wright Goldin JIH 1983 Fogel 1989 student present labor what they seminar Rasmussen JEH 1962 student presentation labor what it pays Whaples JEH 1990 student presentation Fri 25-Oct student presentation Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed Fri Mon Wed 28-Oct 30-Oct 1-Nov 4-Nov 6-Nov 8-Nov 11-Nov 13-Nov Dupont and Weiss Cliometrica 2013 seminar poster abstract the firm Chandler and Galambos JEH 1970 student presentation government Ulen AER 1980 student presentation the rise of the public sector poster lit review Lindert EEH 1994 11 12 Fri Mon seminar Tue Sept 24 15-Nov student presentation 18-Nov transportation seminar first draft of poster presentation North 1966 Wed Fri Mon 13 14 15 20-Nov 22-Nov student presentation 25-Nov banking Wed Fri Mon Wed 27-Nov 29-Nov Thanksgiving break 2-Dec The Great Depression 4-Dec student presentation 10 Fri Mon Wed Fri 6-Dec 9-Dec 11-Dec 13-Dec Celebration of Critical Thinking in Economics student presentation 11 final discussion Final Exams Sylla 1982 final copy of poster presentation White JEH 1990