------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Published by EH.NET (October 2007)
Price Fishback et al editors, _Government and the American Economy: A
New History_. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. xix + 613
pp. $35 (paper), ISBN: 978-0-226-25128-8.
Reviewed for EH.NET by Gavin Wright, Department of Economics,
Stanford University.
Dedicated to Robert Higgs and prepared by a group of his friends,
colleagues and former students, _Government and the American Economy_
differs substantially from the conventional academic festschrift.
Rather than inviting scholars to submit original papers and then
tortuously pounding them into a theme to please a publisher -- the
most common scenario in our profession -- this group has assigned
time periods and specialty topics to individual authors, so as to
generate a comprehensive historical survey of government in American
economic history. The result is a series of stimulating cameos by a
distinguished assemblage of economic historians.
The lead editor is Price Fishback, the Frank and Clara Kramer
Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona, who contributes
a dedication, an introductory chapter, and three substantive essays
-- on the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Post-World War II
period. Another two-time contributor is Gary Libecap, who covers both
"Property Rights and Federal Land Policy" and "The Federal
Bureaucracy: From Patronage to Civil Service." The rest of the cast
is as follows: Stanley L. Engerman on Government in Colonial America;
Robert A, McGuire on the Founding Era (1774-1794); Richard Sylla on
the financial system since 1789; John Joseph Wallis on the National
Era (1790-1860); Jeffrey Rogers Hummel on the Civil War and
Reconstruction; Robert A. Margo on government and race; Mark
Guglielmo and Werner Troesken on the Gilded Age; Sumner La Croix on
Labor, Education and Health; Robert Higgs on the World Wars; Randal
R. Rucker and E.C. Pasour Jr. on farm programs; and Lee Alston and
Joseph P. Ferrie on the role of the South in shaping U.S. welfare
policy.
What general themes emerge from this 600-page, four-century inquiry
into the role of government in the American economy? In truth,
unifying themes are not easy to find. In light of Bob Higgs'
well-known libertarian position, one might have expected to encounter
skepticism and perhaps even hostility towards government actions, and
such perspectives are indeed represented in the volume. But
Fishback's dedication is careful to say that not all the contributors
fully share Higgs' views on government, and it appears that the
writing process (as opposed to the assignment of topics) was highly
decentralized. Thus Sylla paints a generally positive picture of the
evolution of the U.S. financial system to its present status as "just
about the best financial system in the world" (115), albeit a record
punctuated by misguided policy reversals. Wallis emphasizes the
active growth-promoting policies of state governments in the
antebellum era (during which economic growth accelerated towards
modern rates), and notes that the appropriateness of this activism
was "never seriously challenged" at that time (182). Margo notes that
governments have often been hostile, but at other times beneficial,
to the wellbeing of African-Americans (249-50). Thus, the essays in
the volume reflect a diversity of conclusions and perspectives on the
impact of government policies at various times. Unfortunately, these
variations or differences of opinion (if that is what they are) are
not really joined or confronted explicitly in the volume.
Although the introductory material does not quite say so, the essays
seem addressed mainly to students or to general-interest readers,
rather than to specialists. If there is a general weakness, it is
that many of the essays have a textbookish character, bending over
backwards to be "fair and balanced," and referring the interested
reader to the literature (often the author's own work) rather than
making a forceful case for a favored interpretation. Personally, I
prefer the more argumentative, provocative chapters, such as Jeff
Hummels' argument that the Civil War marked the decisive transition
in the rise of State power, or Bob Higgs' similar case for the
lasting impact of the World Wars in the twentieth century. Virtually
any of the chapters can be assigned as a reliable guide to the
literature, but if you want to provoke response and discussion from
students, I recommend Hummels and Higgs.
The same might be said for the concluding chapter by Price Fishback,
"Seeking Security in the Postwar Era," whose opening footnote
generously credits Bob Higgs for much of the organization and many of
the insights. The central theme is that "after World War II the
demand for government protection rose to new heights, and the
corresponding loss of individual economic liberties proceeded apace"
(508).
There is an interesting progression in the three Fishback chapters.
The Progressive Era is interpreted as "interest group politics writ
large," sometimes with Win-Win outcomes, as in the case of Workers'
Compensation -- the subject of Fishback's prize-winning book (joint
with Shawn Kantor). On the New Deal (another object of his own
research attention), Fishback's conclusion is judiciousness itself:
"There were so many changes and so many programs and so many problems
that it is hard to sort out how successful the New Deal programs were
at resolving these issues" (417). Thus, Fishback does not contend
with the major interpretive syntheses of the New Deal, such as David
Kennedy's _Freedom from Fear_. When it comes to the postwar era,
however, the chapter portrays an inexorable extension of government
regulation and power, with no end in sight other than those set by
the consideration that "an increasingly voracious predator must
ultimately destroy its prey and therefore its means of sustenance"
(546). The positive government-assisted economic and social
achievements of the postwar era -- expanded educational
opportunities, improved access to home ownership, virtual abolition
of poverty among the elderly, social and economic liberation for
African-Americans, women, and other minorities, and dramatic
improvement in environmental conditions, to list just a few -- are
barely or grudgingly mentioned. (Environmental gains are
acknowledged, but the main focus of this section [537-542] is on the
inefficiency of much environmental regulation.)
There are at least two possible ways to interpret this pattern. One
is that the country really has been on a long downward slide, so that
the mixed outcomes of governmental activity in earlier eras
ultimately gave way to the grimly oppressive reality of more recent
times. Another possibility, however, is that in those subject areas
on which Fishback has himself conducted careful, detailed, empirical
research, he is more inclined to see the full range of successes,
failures, and trade-offs that comprise the historical record.
These observations are only meant to say, however, that the chapter
succeeds in capturing attention and provoking responses. Like the
volume as a whole, it can be recommended with confidence to scholars,
students and interested readers.
Gavin Wright is the William Robertson Coe Professor of American
Economic History at Stanford University. His article, "The Economics
of the Civil Rights Revolution," will appear in Winfred O. Moore, Jr.
and Orville Vernon Burton, editors, _Towards the Meeting of the
Waters: The Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina_ (University of
South Carolina Press).
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Published by EH.Net (October 2007). All EH.Net reviews are archived
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