Economics 375

1. Economics 375 American Economic History Prof. Kenneth Ng ng.csun.edu kenneth.ng@csun.edu

2. Books to buy • Textbook--Attack and Passel, A New Economic View of American Economic History. • Paul Johnson, A History of the American People. • Thomas Sowell, Ethnic America. • Robert Fogel, Without Consent or Contract. • William McNeil, Plagues and Peoples. • Other readings available online at ng.csun.edu or in the Reserve Book Room of Oviatt Library.

3. Administrative Details • Class website: ng.csun.edu. • Reading List. • Exam Archive. • Assignments. • Slides from lectures. • Slides will be updated immediately following class. • Grade Roster. • Listserv: ngeconomics@yahoogroups.com • Register email address at groups.yahoo.com/group/ngeconomics • Use the listserv to contact other class members.

4. Grading • Grades will be based on series (4 or 5) of exams and/or take home writing assignments. • Samples on ng.csun.edu. • Each major section of the course will be followed by an assignment. • As an upper division elective, the grading scheme used in business core classes will be abandoned. • Anticipated grade distribution: • 20% A’s • 30% B’s • 30% C’s • 20%-D, F’s, failed to drop, did take exams or turn in assignments, etc.

5. Course Objectives • Course mostly about the contributions of the “New Economic History” or Cliometrics-demonstration of the power of economic reasoning and statistics properly applied to historical questions. • Actually not that new. Began in the late 1960’s w/economists applying economic theory and modern statistical techniques to questions traditionally addressed solely by historians. • Rather than relying on traditional primary sources—journals, letters, and other personal writings, the New Economic History relies on quantitative data-numbers. • Dovetails with the Social History Movement in historical research. • The Social History Movement attempted to understand the life of the common man. Previously, historians had concentrated their efforts on understanding the lives and decisions elites. • Application of economic theory has overturned or substantially modified many dearly held central tenets of traditional historians. • Because of lag between research and dissemination and because many of the new findings are not politically correct, they have not filtered down to high school history classes. • Recently acknowledged by the award of the Nobel Prize to Robert Fogel and Douglas North in 1993.

6. Course Objectives (2) • Will seek answers to the following questions: • Why are we rich? • The causes of economic growth in the United States. • Why do we live so long? • The causes of extended life • Why do people want to come here? • Causes of immigration. • Experience of immigrants in the U.S. • Why has government become so large? • Show how the New Economic History has changed our understanding of the past. • The Civil War, Slavery, and Race Relations. • Possible Bonus Subject: The Changing Role of Women in the United States. • How have the events above effected the life of women in the United States?

7. Course Objectives (3) • Introduction to graduate level economic research • Will read a variety of professional journal articles. • Will see how graduate level research is written and produced. • Teach how knowledge is produced through academic debate. • Tutorial on how science is conducted in the real world. • How the propagation of theories with testable hypotheses are put forward and tested using historical data. • Examine how several debates in economic history have unfolded. • Interplay between ideology, theory, data, and debate. • Just because ideology is involved does not mean that scientific debate is just he said/she said. There is a difference between argument between your mom and intellectual debate.