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This is a second-year graduate level course. The course is based on selected and (mostly) recent empirical research papers focusing on particular aspects of the economic history of the United States, paying particular attention to the topics of internal and international migration, cities, innovation, and culture. Beyond providing students with an in-depth understanding of the frontier in research in the field of US economic history, the course will focus on developing skills in developing, communicating, presenting, and evaluating research ideas and causal research designs in applied economics more broadly. This course is the first of a two-course sequence, and a pre-requisite for taking either of the courses “Economic Development and Institutions” (V. Korovkin) and “Quantitative Economic History” (Ch. Ochsner) in the next spring semester. The course will meet for two lectures of 90 minutes each week. Provided below is broad outline of the content covered in each week, details on grading, and a detailed list of papers covered.
Poslední úprava: Papariga Anna, Mgr. (15.09.2022)
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Readings by week (*=mandatory readings, + = presentation and discussion papers)
Lecture 1: Why care about and conduct research in (US) economic history?
Lecture 2: Methods of applied economics and economic history in particular.
a. Shapiro, J. How to Give an Applied Micro Talk. b. Gentzkow, M., & Shapiro, J. (2014). Code and Data for the Social Sciences: A Practitioner’s Guide. c. Berk, J. B., Harvey, C. R., & Hirshleifer, D. (2017). How to write an effective referee report and improve the scientific review process. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(1), 231-44.
Lecture 3: Accounting for the Economic Rise of the United States
Lecture 4: Early Engines of US Growth – Agriculture and Railroads
a. Olmstead, A. L., & Rhode, P. W. (2001). Reshaping the landscape: the impact and diffusion of the tractor in American agriculture, 1910–1960. The Journal of Economic History, 61(3), 663-698. b. Olmstead, A. L., & Rhode, P. W. (2002). The red queen and the hard reds: Productivity growth in American wheat, 1800–1940. The Journal of Economic History, 62(4), 929-966. c. Fogel, R. W. (1962). A quantitative approach to the study of railroads in American economic growth: a report of some preliminary findings. The Journal of Economic History, 22(2), 163-197. d. * Donaldson, D., & Hornbeck, R. (2016). Railroads and American economic growth: A “market access” approach. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(2), 799-858. e. + Smith, C. (2020). Land Concentration and Long-Run Development in the Frontier United States. Mimeo.
Lecture 5: Slavery and the Civil War
Lecture 6: Reconstruction, Redemption, and the Great Migration
Lecture 7: Selection and (Economic) Assimilation
Lecture 8: Immigrant’s Effect on the Economy
a. + Sequeira, S., Nunn, N., & Qian, N. (2017). Migrants and the making of America: The short-and long-run effects of immigration during the age of mass migration (No. w23289). National Bureau of Economic Research. b. * Lafortune, J., Lewis, E., & Tessada, J. (2019). People and machines: A look at the evolving relationship between capital and skill in manufacturing, 1860–1930, using immigration shocks. Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(1), 30-43. c. Ottinger, S. (2020). Immigrants, Industries, and Path Dependence. Mimeo.
Lecture 9: Education
a. Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2003). The" virtues" of the past: Education in the first hundred years of the new republic. b. * Xiong, H., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Sectarian competition and the market provision of human capital. Working Paper. c. + Bandiera, O., Mohnen, M., Rasul, I., & Viarengo, M. (2019). Nation-building through compulsory schooling during the age of mass migration. The Economic Journal, 129(617), 62-109.
Lecture 9: The Changing Role of Women and Children
a. * Lleras-Muney, A. (2002). Were compulsory attendance and child labor laws effective? An analysis from 1915 to 1939. The Journal of Law and Economics, 45(2), 401-435. b. Goldin, C. (2006). The quiet revolution that transformed women's employment, education, and family. American economic review, 96(2), 1-21. c. + Hazan, M., Weiss, D., & Zoabi, H. (2021). Women's Liberation, Household Revolution. Mimeo.
Lecture 10: The Rise of Factories
a. * Atack, J. (1985). Industrial structure and the emergence of the modern industrial corporation. Explorations in Economic History, 22(1), 29. b. Langlois, R. N. (2003). The vanishing hand: the changing dynamics of industrial capitalism. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12(2), 351-385. c. Atack, J., Margo, R. A., & Rhode, P. W. (2019). " Automation" of Manufacturing in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Hand and Machine Labor Study. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(2), 51-70. d. + Hornbeck, R., & Rotemberg, M. (2019). Railroads, reallocation, and the rise of American manufacturing (No. w26594). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Lecture 10: Innovation
a. + Sarada, S., Andrews, M. J., & Ziebarth, N. L. (2019). Changes in the demographics of American inventors, 1870–1940. Explorations in Economic History, 74, 101275. b. * Moser, P. (2012). Innovation without patents: Evidence from World’s Fairs. The Journal of Law and Economics, 55(1), 43-74.
Lecture 11: Culture in the 19th century United States
a. +Dippel, C. (2014). Forced coexistence and economic development: evidence from Native American Reservations. Econometrica, 82(6), 2131-2165. b. * Bazzi, S., Fiszbein, M., & Gebresilasse, M. (2020). Frontier culture: The roots and persistence of “rugged individualism” in the United States. Econometrica, 88(6), 2329-2368.
Lecture 12: Culture in the 20th century United States
a. + Fouka, V., & Tabellini, M. (2021). Changing In-Group Boundaries: The Effect of Immigration on Race Relations in the United States. American Political Science Review, 1-17. b. * Giuliano, P., & Tabellini, M. (2020). The seeds of ideology: Historical immigration and political preferences in the United States (No. w27238). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Lecture 13: The Location and Dynamics of Cities
a. * Bleakley, H., & Lin, J. (2012). Portage and path dependence. The quarterly journal of economics, 127(2), 587-644. b. + Nagy, D. K. (2020). Hinterlands, city formation and growth: Evidence from the US westward expansion.
Lecture 14: The Origins of Racial Segregation in the US
a. + Shertzer, A., & Walsh, R. P. (2019). Racial sorting and the emergence of segregation in American cities. Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(3), 415-427. b. * Logan, T. D., & Parman, J. M. (2017). The national rise in residential segregation. The Journal of Economic History, 77(1), 127-170.
Lecture 14: World War I and Prohibition
a. * Fouka, V. (2020). Backlash: The unintended effects of language prohibition in US schools after World War I. The Review of Economic Studies, 87(1), 204-239. b. + Andrews, M. (2019). Bar talk: Informal social interactions, alcohol prohibition, and invention. Alcohol Prohibition, and Invention. Mimeo.
Lecture 15: The New Deal and World War II
a. + Kline, P., & Moretti, E. (2014). Local economic development, agglomeration economies, and the big push: 100 years of evidence from the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Quarterly journal of economics, 129(1), 275-331. b. * Moser, P., Voena, A., & Waldinger, F. (2014). German Jewish émigrés and US invention. American Economic Review, 104(10), 3222-55.
Lecture 16: The Causes of Post-War Suburbanization a. * Baum-Snow, N. (2007). Did highways cause suburbanization?. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(2), 775-805. b. + Boustan, L. P. (2010). Was postwar suburbanization “white flight”? Evidence from the black migration. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 417-443.
Lecture 17: Inequality and (Social) Mobility
a. * Molloy, R., Smith, C. L., & Wozniak, A. (2011). Internal migration in the United States. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3), 173-96. b. + Piketty, T., & Saez, E. (2003). Income inequality in the United States, 1913–1998. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1), 1-41. c. Song, X., Massey, C. G., Rolf, K. A., Ferrie, J. P., Rothbaum, J. L., & Xie, Y. (2020). Long-term decline in intergenerational mobility in the United States since the 1850s. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(1), 251-258.
Poslední úprava: Papariga Anna, Mgr. (15.09.2022)
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Requirement and grading
Participation: Before each lecture, students will have to read one paper (mandatory readings, labelled with an * in the readings below). Students will have to submit a brief summary of each paper, and highlight a strength and a weakness of these papers before each lecture (via on online form; link to be provided).
Presentation of research paper: Each lecture, a student will present a paper (presentation and discussion papers, highlighted with a + in the readings below). The presentations should emphasize the main research questions, the paper’s contribution, and provide a succinct overview of methods, results, and main robustness. Presentations take 30 minutes, and each student will have to present two papers in the course.
Discussion and referee report: Each lecture, a different student than the one presenting a particular paper, will critically discuss that paper (presentation and discussion papers, highlighted with an + in the readings below). The discussions should briefly summarize the paper and highlight one major shortcoming in detail, with a fully-fledged argument of why and how it constitutes a shortcoming. Discussions take 10 minutes, and each student will have to discuss two papers in the course. After the discussion during the lecture, the student who discussed the paper will have to submit a mock referee report elaborating on the main shortcoming in more detail (max. 3 pages).
Research proposal: Students will have to develop an independent research idea in applied economics, preferably – but not necessarily – in the field of (US) economic history. By Week 3, students will have to submit three research ideas, and provide a succinct overview on one page for each of these ideas. I will provide feedback on these and help select the most promising one, which the students will present in week 4, receiving feedback from the class and myself. Based on this feedback, the students will then develop this idea into a research proposal of 12 pages (excl. references, figures, and tables. Times New Roman, font size 12, 1.5 line spacing), and present the proposal in week 12 to the class. Final proposals are due at the end of Week 11.
The following grading scheme applies:
Participation 10% Presentation of research paper (2x) 20% Discussion and referee report (2x) 20% Research proposal (i) Early proposals (3 ideas,1 page each) 10% (ii) Presentation of one early proposal 10% (iii) Presentation of final proposal 10% (iv) Final proposal (12 pages) 20% Poslední úprava: Papariga Anna, Mgr. (15.09.2022)
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Broad course outline (see below for details)
Poslední úprava: Papariga Anna, Mgr. (15.09.2022)
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