Description
Book SynopsisThe essays in this book use the analytical tools and theoretical framework of economics to interpret quantitative historical evidence, offering new ways to approach historical issues and suggesting entirely new types of evidence outside conventional archives. Rosenbloom has gathered together seven essays from leading quantitative economic historians, illustrating the breadth of scope and continued importance of quantitative economic history.
All of the chapters explore in one way or another the economic and social transformations associated with the emergence of an industrial and post-industrial economy, with most focusing on the transformations of the US economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the technological innovations that factored into this transformation and the relationship between industrialization and rising wealth inequality.
Trade Review"This collection of new essays by important economic historians deals with a broad range of scholarly questions and marks an important contribution to the study of American economic history." Stanley Engerman, University of Rochester, USA.
Table of ContentsContents, Preface, Acknowledgements, 1. Editor’s Introduction: The Good of Counting, Joshua L. Rosenbloom, 2. An Economic History of Bastardy in England and Wales, John Ermisch, 3. Epidemics, Demonstration Effects, and Municipal Investment in Sanitation Capital, Louis P. Cain and Elyce J. Rotella, 4. Profitability, Firm Size and Business Organization in Nineteenth Century U.S. Manufacturing, Jeremy Atack and Fred Bateman, 5. Railroads and Local Economic Development: The United States in the 1850s, Michael R. Haines and Robert A. Margo, 6. Did Refrigeration Kill the Hog-Corn Cycle?, Lee A. Craig and Matthew T. Holt, 7. Measuring the Intensity of State Labor Regulation During the Progressive Era, Rebecca Holmes, Price Fishback and Samuel Allen, 8. Reexamining the Distribution of Wealth in 1870, Joshua L. Rosenbloom and Gregory W. Stutes
