20080827 Econ 113 Handout

Economics 113: August 27: Introductory Lecture: Handout

Lecture Notes: http://tinyurl.com/dl20080827
Course Syllabus: http://tinyurl.com/43sufu

J. Bradford DeLong; [email protected] Evans 601: Lecture: MW 4-5:30 4LeConte
Andrej Milivojevic; [email protected]: Sections: T4-5 87 Dwinelle, W8-9 61 Evans
Marc Gersen; [email protected]: Sections: F2-3 55 Evans, F3-4 55 Evans
Matthew Sargent; [email protected]: Sections: M9-10 85 Evans, Th1-2 45 Evans

Economics 113 is an upper-division economics course in the study of the history of the U.S. economy that satisfies the political economy major historical context requirement. We will survey over three hundred years of history, but inevitably focus more intensely on those incidents that the instructor finds particularly interesting. This is an economics course: we will spend most of our time looking at events, factors, and explanations, using economics to understand history and history to understand economics.

We have a textbook--Walton and Rockoff. Auxilliary books: Blinder and Yellen, and Friedman. Articles and web readings as well...

---

• Administrivia
• Overview of Course
• Why Are We Here?
  • The Role of the University
  • Relevance of Economic History
  • Studying Economic History
  • Framework: Economic Growth & Development
• Assignments and Cleanup

---

Administrivia:

• Final exam: Th Dec 18 8-11
• Enrollment
  • If you want to take the course, do all the assignments starting now
  • Enrollment through Telebears only
  • Attend sections!
• Grading
  • Exams:
    • Final: 20%
    • Midterms: 20% each
    • We will grade hard, but drop your lowest
  • Problem sets, 1500 and 500 word paper, et cetera: 20%
    • Assignments due Wednesday at lecture...
  • Lecture reactions: 10%
  • Section participation: 10%
    • Section week starts Thursday morning...

Overview of Course:

• Overview (Aug 27)
• Before the Civil War (Sep 3-22)
• Instructor-Reality-Check Midterm 1: September 24
• America Becomes an Industrial Society, 1870-1950 (Sep 29-Oct 15)
• The Triumph of Social Democracy, 1950-Present (Oct 20-Nov 10)
• Midterm 2: November 12
• The Crisis of Social Democracy (Nov 24-Dec 10)
• Final Exam (Dec 18)

Why Are We Here?

• The Role of the University
• Relevance of Economic History
  • Economic theory in general: theory is crystalized history, boiled down, and it is important to check that the right ingredients have been thrown into the mix
  • The economic history of the United States is particularly interesting for two reasons:
    • We are here...
    • It has been for two centuries a very special country: people, economic institutions, politics, and wealth
• Studying Economic History
  • Representative cases
  • Interconnections and patterns
  • Abstraction
  • Modelling
• Framework of Questions: Growth, Distribution, Markets, Institutions, and Politics

---

For you to do before your first section:

• Write a one-page paper in which you introduce yourself to your GSI
  • Include your name (and anything else you want him to know)
  • include a photo if you can
  • Submit at section (and via email)

For you to read before class on September 3:

• Walton and Rockoff, "The American Economy in Historical Perspective"
• Six Families Budget Their Money, 1884
• Walton and Rockoff, "Founding the Colonies;" *Bartholomew Gosnold Sails Along Northeastern North America, 1602:;
• Jared Diamond (1987), "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race," Discover;
• Jared Diamond (2008), "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?"

For you to think about over the next week:

Roughly 14000 years ago rough 100 humans made it to the Americas across the Bering Land Bridge.

A Malthusianly-unstressed preindustrial human population with reasonable access to food (whether hunter-gatherer, herder, or settled agriculture) roughly doubles in a generation of 25 years or so.

If the incipient Amerindian population had remained unstressed, how many American Indians would there be today?

What implications does this have for how we think about the human history of the Americas between ca. 12000 BC and 1492?

For you to do before midnight:

• Surf to http://tinyurl.com/dl20080827
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page
• Send me a comment as feedback on this lecture, telling me what was the most interesting, boring, or confusing thing you heard--or what you did not hear that you expected to--this afternoon.

Comments

[Megan MacDonald]

I learned today that it would not be a good idea for me to take quantum physics (even though the subject is interesting to me) because I am a History and Economics double major. I was also fascinated that in the year 1000 a single book would have cost the equivalent of a luxury car in today's economy. Lastly, I am very excited for this course because I am double majoring in Economics and American History and hope to write my thesis on something pertaining to both fields. Thus this class is extremely pertinent to my focus and should be very valuable.

[Kristy Wen]

I really liked the anecdotes you included in the lecture, which made it much more interesting and enjoyable. I was expecting a dry lecture on American Economic History, but thankfully it was anything but.