MARK ALDRICH ECONOMICS 285B SMITH COLLEGE SPRING 1985 AMERICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY Description This will be both a lecture and discussion course. For the 1870- 1920 section, I will lecture on the introductory material, and on the section on the industrial revolution. You should feel free to ask questions at any time, and I will ask questions of you occasionally. Some of the material on labor and on social changes is best covered more informally. I hope to do 80 via questions and discussion. The part of the course from 1920 on will be similarly broken up. Class time will not simply repeat the readings, although what we do will obviously be based on them, and will sometimes explain them. Consequently, you are obliged to do the relevant reading before coming to class. Texts J.R.T. Lughes, American Economic History M. Friedman, The Great Contraction F. Piven and R. Cloward, Poor People's Movements Requirements A short (5-8 pp. plus bibliography) explanation and assessment of Milton Friedman's analysis of the depression of the 19306; medium- length (10-15 pp.) research paper on some aspect of women's economic history. The following is a list of possible topics: The impact of World War I (or II) on women's (or black women's) employment and earnings. The role of labor and women's groups in early protective legislation. Women inventors. The effect of household technology on women's work. Contemporary and modern explanations for women's low wages. The impact of World War II on women's employment. The contribution of farm women to the family economy. Class and gender: The Women's Trade Union League Why aren't women organized? 1910 and 1980. The New Deal as Raw Deal for women workers. historical origins of comparable worth. The impact of the Depression (or war) on women's relative earnings. The economic consequences of protective legislation. Economics 285B Public sanctions on women's work: the Depression and WWII. What did you do in the war, grandma? (Interview women of the WWII generation and set their experience in context.) Economic explanations for the decline of domestic service. The economic argument between early ERA supporters and the protective legislation movement. Women's role in the great Northampton silk strike. Black women's work: 1910-1980. The impact of technological change on farm women's work. Immigrant women's work: did ethnicity make any difference? Equal pay for equal work during WWII? Course Outline 1870-1920 Development of a Modern Economy I. Jan. 28 - Feb. 8 Method and Interpretation. Reading: E.H. Carr, What Is History?, chs. 1 and 2; J. Schumpeter,Capitalism. Socialism, and Democracy, Part II, Prologue and chs. 5-8 (see also R.V. Clemence, The Schumpterian System, chs. 2-4); W.W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth, chs. 2-4, 10; M. Aldrich, "Accounting for Economic Growth" (mimeo); J.R.T. Hughes, American Economic History, ch. 7. II. Feb. 11 - 15 The Economic Impact of the Civil War. Reading: Hughes, ch. 13; P. Temin, "The Post Bellum Recovery of the South and the Cost of the Civil War," Journal of Economic History (December 1976); R. Ransom and R. Sutch, "The Lock-In Mechanism and Over-Production of Cotton," Agricultural History (April 1975). III. The Industrial Revolution and Its Results A. Feb. 18 - March 1 Industry and Agriculture. Reading: Hughes, chs. 14, 15, 17, 19, 20; L. Jenks, "Rail- roads As an Economic Force in American Development," in F. Lane, Enterprise and Secular Change; N. Rosenberg, Technology and American Economic Growth, chs. 1, 2, and 4. . B. March 4 - 15. Growth of the Working Class and Labor Movement. Reading: Hughes, chs. 16, 21; Gerald Grob, "The Knights of Labor and the Trade Unions," Journal of Economic History 18 (June 1958): 176-192; David Brody, Workers in Industrial America, ch. l; Claudia Goldin, "The Work and Wages of Single Women, 1870-1920,g and discussion by Pamela Nickless, Journal of Economic History 40: 81-88, 96-97; S. Carter and M. Prus, "The Labor Market and the American High School Girl, 1890- 1928," Journal of Economic History 42 (March 1982): 163-172. 18 Economics 285B C. March 25 - 29. Social and Political Changes. Reading: Hughes, chs. 18 and 22; D. Parsons, "The U.S. Steel Consolidation," Journal of Law and Economics (April 1975); J. Weinstein, The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State, Introduction and ch. 2, or G. Golko, Triumph of Conservatism, pp. 98-110 or 242-254. 1 920-1 980 The Rise of Welfare Capitalism I. April 1 - 12. The Twenties, the Depression and the New Deal. Reading: Hughes, chs. 23-25,27; R. Cohen, ''The Industrial Revolution in the Home," Technology and Culture 17 (January 1976): 1-25; Brody, ch. 2; J.K. Galbraith, The Great Crash, chs. 6 and 10; M. Friedman, The Great Contraction (entire book) and Free to Choose, ch. 3, or Capitalism and Freedom, ch. 3; F. Piven and R. Cloward, Poor People's Movements, Introduction and chs. 1-3. II. April 15 - 19. The Great War and Post-War Boom. Reading: Hughes, chs. 26, 28-30; Sheila Tobias, "What Really Happened to Rosie the Riveter?"; Piven and Cloward, chs. 4-6; T. Weisskopf, "The Current Economic Crisis in Historical Perspective," Socialist Review (May-June 1981). III. April 22 - May 3. The Climateric of American Capitalism? Reading: Hughes, chs. 31-32; Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism. and Democracy, chs. 11-14; "The Reindustrialization of America," Business Week (June 30, 1980), entire issue; Roger Noll, 'Government Policy and the Productivity Predicament," California Institute of Technology Working Papers in Social Science 433 (July 1982); H. Stein, "Don't Fall for Industrial Policy," Fortune (November 14, 1983): 65-78.