Course Homepage

ECON 430: Issues in Economic History
Fall Term, 2010
Monday 11:30 am - 1:00 pm and Thursday 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Macintosh-Corry Hall Room E229

Instructor Contact Information

Ian Keay
Email: ikeay@econ.queensu.ca
Office: Dunning Hall Room 221D
Office Hours: Monday 1:30 - 3:00 pm

Thursday 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Teaching Assistant: Dortë Heger (hegerd@econ.queensu.ca)

Course Outline and Reading List

Announcements

Term Paper available in the Distribution Centre (Thursday, December 9, 11:00 am): Mean = 76%, Median = 77%.

Class Cancelled: Thursday, November 4

Midterm available in the Distribution Centre (Tuesday, November 2, 2:30 pm).

Midterm: Monday, October 25 (in class)

Sample Midterm Questions

Term Paper: Thursday, November 25, 4:00 pm

Don't forget to email an electronic version of your term paper to econ430papers@econ.queensu.ca

Final exam office hours: Tuesday, December 14, 1:00 - 4:00 pm, Dunning Hall Room 317

Overheads

Measuring Solow's Residual

Trends, Cycles and Breaks in Long Run Canadian Real GDP/Capita

Notes on Unit Root Testing

Canadian Natural Resource Industries

Induced Adoption and Innovation

Risk Premia and Market Integration Example

Capital Costs and Sources from North American Steel Firms

Required Readings

A course package with required readings is available on reserve at Stauffer Library.

(* - DL) Solow (1957), "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function", in Review of Economics and Statistics, Pg. 312-20.

(* - DL) Abramovitz (1962), "Economic Growth in the United States: A Review Article", in American Economic Review, Pg. 762-82.

(*) Cuddington, Ludema and Jayasuriya (2007), “Prebisch-Singer Redux”, in Natural Resources: Neither Curse nor Destiny, Pg. 103-40.

(* - DL) Inwood and Stengos (1991), “Discontinuities in Canadian Economic Growth, 1870-1985”, in Explorations in Economic History, Pg. 274-86.

(* - DL) Field (2010), "The Procyclical Behavior of Total Factor Productivity in the United States, 1890-2004", in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 326-50.

(* - DL) Allen (2009), "The Industrial Revolution in Miniature: The Spinning Jenny in Britain, France, and India", in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 901-27.

(* - DL) Keay (2000), “Scapegoats or Responsive Entrepreneurs”, in Explorations in Economic History, Pg. 217-40.

(* - DL) Chandler (1992), “Organizational Capabilities and the Economic History of the Industrial Enterprise”, in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Pg. 79-100.

(*) Atack (1987), “Economies of Scale and Efficiency Gains in the Rise of the Factory in America”, in Quantity and Quiddity, Pg. 286-335.

(* - DL) Williamson (1996), “Globalization, Convergence and History”, in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 277-305.

(* - DL) Bodenhorn (1992), “Capital Mobility and Financial Integration in Antebellum America”, in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 585-610.

(* - DL) Keay and Redish (2004), “The Micro-Economic Effects of Financial Market Structure”, in Explorations in Economic History, Pg. 377-403.

(* - DL) Coe and Emery (2004), “The Disintegrating Canadian Labour Market? The Extent of the Market Then and Now”, in Canadian Journal of Economics, Pg. 879-97.

(* - DL) Rosenbloom (1996), “Was There a National Labor Market at the End of the 19^th Century?”, in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 626-56.

(* - DL) Goldin (2001), “The Human Capital Century and American Leadership”, in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 263-92.

(* - DL) MacKinnon and Minns (2009), “The Impact of School Provision on Pupil Attendance: Evidence from the Early 20th Century”, LSE Working Paper # 116/09, Pg.1-42.

(* - DL) Borjas (1994), “The Economics of Immigration”, in Journal of Economic Literature, Pg. 1667-93.

(* - DL) Bittner (2005), "An Event Study of the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate", in European Economic History Review, Pg. 337-64.

(* - DL) Sachs and Warner (2001), “Natural Resources and Development: The Curse of Natural Resources”, in European Economic Review, Pg. 827-38.

(* - DL) Keay (2007), “The Engine or the Caboose? Resource Industries and 20th Century Canadian Economic Performance”, in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 1-32.

(* - DL) Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001), “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development”, in American Economic Review, Pg. 1369-1401.

(* - DL) Engerman and Sokoloff (2000), “Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World”, in Journal of Economic Perspectives, Pg. 217-32.

(* - DL) Libecap (2007), "The Assignment of Property Rights on the Western Frontier: Lessons for Contemporary Environmental and Resource Policy", in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 257-91.

(*) Keay and Metcalf (2010), "The Impact of Judicial (In)Decision and (In)Secure Property Rights on Long Run Economic Growth", unpublished mimeo, Pg. 1-48.

(* - DL) Grubb (2010), "Testing for the Economic Impact of the US Constitution: Purchasing Power Parity Across the Colonies Versus Across the States, 1748-1811", in Journal of Economic History, Pg. 118-45.

(* - DL) Berkowitz and Clay (2004), "Initial Conditions, Institutional Dynamics and Economic Performance: Evidence from the American States", William Davidson Institute Working Paper # 615, Pg. 1-41.