Subjects
The Development of the National Economy:
The United States from the Civil War through the 1890s
Series Editors: William J Barber, Malcolm Rutherford, Steven G Medema, Marianne Johnson and Warren J Samuels
Early American Economic Thought
978 1 85196 751 3: 234x156mm: £395.00/$725.00
These texts consider issues such as the national debt and supply of money, early efforts to present systematised text-book statements of political economy, protection versus free trade, railroad regulation, poverty in relation to institutions, competition versus monopoly, social structure in relation to economic policy, monetary theory, the socio-economic role of religion, the 'labour question' and the organisation of labour, and government regulation versus ownership. Writings address the controversy over the Single Tax, as well as several other efforts at social reform, and applied policy topics such as taxation, tariffs, antitrust, unionisation and strikes, immigration, imperialism.
Writings relate issues such as the appropriate scope and methodology of economics as an increasingly academic discipline, the organisation of the American Economic Association, and early attempts to write the history of economic thought. Also included are important issues of theory such as income distribution, monetary standards, and questions of evolutionary and dynamic economics.
Contents
Volume 1: Fresh Realities, Novel Approaches: From the Civil War to the Early 1880s
David A. Wells, Our Burden and Our Strength (1864); Simon Newcomb, ‘Were the Legal Tender Notes Necessary?’ (1865; Henry C. Carey, Contraction or Expansion? Repudiation or; Resumption? (1866) 77; David A. Wells, Report of the Special Commissioner of the; Revenue, for the Year 1868 (1869); Henry Carey Baird, The Rights of American Producers, and the; Wrongs of British-Free-Trade Revenue-Reform (1872); Amasa Walker, The Science of Wealth: A Manual of Political; Economy (1872); Arthur Latham Perry, Elements of Political Economy ([1866] 1878); Francis Bowen, American Political Economy (1870); Charles Francis Adams, ‘Railway Commissions’ (1870); Railroads: Their Origin and Problems (1878); Henry Demarest Lloyd, ‘Story of a Great Monopoly’ (1881); Henry George, Progress and Poverty ([1879] 1979); William Graham Sumner, ‘What Social Classes Owe to Each; Other’ (1883); Charles F. Dunbar, ‘Economic Science in America, 1776–1876’ (1876)
Volume 2: The Battle of the ‘Schools’ in the 1880s
Richard T Ely, The Past and The Present of Political Economy (1884); Simon Newcomb, ‘The Two Schools of Political Economy’ (1884); Discussions of the Nature and Condition of Political Economy in; Science (April – July 1886); Edwin R A Seligman, ‘Change in the Tenets of Political; Economy with Time’ (April 1886); Edmund J James, ‘The State as an Economic Factor’; (May 1886); Frank W Taussig and Edmund J James, ‘Comment on James’; and James’s ‘Reply’ (May 1886); Richard T Ely, ‘Ethics and Economics’ (June 1886); Simon Newcomb, ‘Aspects of the Economic Discussion’; (June 1886); Richard T Ely, ‘The Economic Discussion in SCIENCE’; (July 1886); Simon Newcomb, ‘Can Economists Agree Upon the Basis for; Their Teachings?’ (July 1886); Richard T Ely, Report of the Organization of the American Economic; Association (1886); John Bates Clark, The Philosophy of Wealth Economic Principles Newly; Formulated ([1885] 1886); Richard T Ely, The Labor Movement in America (1886); Simon Newcomb, A Plain Man’s Talk on the Labor Question (1886); Edmund J James, The Relation of the Modern Municipality to the Gas; Supply (1886); Henry Carter Adams, Relation of the State to Industrial Action; (1887); Arthur T Hadley, Railroad Transportation: Its History and Its Laws; ([1885] 1886); Francis Amasa Walker, Political Economy ([1887]1888); Simon Newcomb, Principles of Political Economy (1885)
Volume 3: Regroupings in the 1890s
Francis Amasa Walker, The Tide of Economic Thought (1891); Charles F Dunbar, ‘The Academic Study of Political Economy’; (1891); J Laurence Laughlin, ‘The Study of Political Economy in the United States’ (1892); Simon Newcomb, ‘The Problem of Economic Education’ (1893); ‘The Single Tax Discussion’ (1890); Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 2000–1887 (1888); Francis Amasa Walker, ‘Mr Bellamy and the New Nationalist; Party’ (1890); Edward Bellamy, ‘Looking Backward Again’ (1890); ‘Progress of; Nationalism in the United States’ (1892); William H Harvey, Coin’s Financial School (1894); J Laurence Laughlin, ‘Coin’s Food for the Gullible’ (1895); Henry Demarest Lloyd, Wealth Against Commonwealth (1894)
Volume 4: Perspectives on Applied Topics and Forward Trajectories
Edwin R A Seligman, Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice (1894); Frank W Taussig, ‘The Tariff Act of 1894’ (1894); Jeremiah W Jenks, ‘Capitalist Monopolies and Their Relation to; the State’ (1894); ‘The Question Of Trusts: How Much Public Control is Possible; and Necessary?’ (1897); Carroll D Wright, The Chicago Strike (1894); Francis Amasa Walker, ‘Restriction of Immigration’ (1896); William Graham Sumner, ‘The Conquest of the United States; by Spain’(1899); John Bates Clark, ‘How the Specific Product of Labor May Be; Distinguished’ (1899); Simon Nelson Patten, The Economic Basis of Protection (1890)
Reviews
'This newest addition to the 'Early Economic Thought' series is ideal for any library wishing to strengthen its holdings in the history of economics...the selections are ideal for students in economic history and theory courses, as they provide a convenient glimpse at the field's evolution and concerns, and the increasing sophistication of economic theory and evidence during this period. Summing up: Highly recommended.'
– R M Whaples, CHOICE