Overview

This class will examine the past to uncover the roots of current economic dilemmas. What determines American economic growth? We'll examine the causes of growth such as population, technology, and industrial structure. Then we'll see how that economic growth was distributed across different regions of the United States and across different groups in the economy. We'll also examine one of the solutions to the problems caused by economic growth: the rise of big government.

The readings for this class are

1.

Atack and Passell, A New View of American Economic History, available at the bookstore

2.

a packet of readings available at Graphic Arts

All items are available at the reserve desk at Dewey.