Economic history

I have long been fascinated by the way politics and economics influence individuals and how decisions made by political leaders can change the course of history. I am intrigued by the historical development of political and economic thought, as evidenced when studying the history of China. Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom provided me perspective on the connectivity of economic and political freedoms needed to strengthen democratic institutions. I also enjoyed Thomas Piketty’s Capital in…

The Jacksonian period in United States history is a rich past of politics and economic importance. Harry Watson’s book Liberty and Power analyzes these important facets of the period, while simultaneously providing evidence of the daily lives of the citizens. This, combined with his ability to eliminate the use of professional history jargon and smooth transitions from one topic to the next, creates an easy interpretation and understanding of the era. Liberty and Power is a rebuttal to a…

Is Karl Marx theory of class conflict relevant for understanding contemporary Chinese society? Since China started the economic reform in 1978, Chinese economic influences and power are stronger than before. But in the meanwhile PRC/CPC governors also felt the great anxiety about rapid change of society structures. The major reason was after the reform, China is not simply made by labor and farmer classes, but more and more people getting wealthy and joined bourgeoisie class. That challenges the…

The history of Latin American, in particular the country of Argentina, can best be described as unstable. The effects of this instability can be plainly noted throughout the history of the country’s development; frequent shifts in political power, economic crashes, and contending social conflicts all occurred periodically. The volatile state of the country can be attributed to its foundation. As a colony of the Spanish, Argentina was divided between regions via specialized economic and…

northwestern part of South America. It is a republic sharing borders with Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru (World Factbook, 2015). Colombia is a diverse country in terms of ethnicity, linguistic differences and geographic features. Colombia has a history of armed conflict since the 19th century which has caused a severe damage to the country in every prospect. However, the armed conflicts had decreased drastically since the government signed a peace treaty with rebel forces in 2005.…

that value is determined by utility and so he focuses on elaborating on this term rather than value. He says, “Repeated reflection and inquiry have led me to the somewhat novel opinion, that value depends entirely upon utility” (Page 434, The History of Economic Thought, A Reader). Utility is the single most important element to value and it is has two dimensions, duration and intensity. Essentially anything that a person is will to labor for and desire for must have some utility because it…

The wealth and Poverty of nations is a book that covers almost six centuries of long economic analysis of dozen of countries. The book has been written in a progression in economics throughout history. The main idea he believes the Western Nations became such wealthy nations because of political, economic institutions but most important social and culture. David S. Landes explains in the book by asking the big question, “why are some nations wealthily and other some nations poor? He explains…

The Industrial Revolution by T. S. Ashton is a story of the emergence of industrial civilization. Ashton was an English economic historian. He was professor of economic history at the London School of Economics at the University of London, and Emeritus Professor until his death in 1968. The Industrial Revolution (1760–1830) is his best known work, and put forth a positive view of the benefits of this era. The industrial revolution has been attacked and opinioned by many. Some say it the cause…

two different views of the Industrial Revolution. This came from a journal called “The Journal of Economic History.” The purpose of this journal was to show the reader the worth of the new endogenous methods to demonstrating economic growth for understanding the British Industrial Revolution. This quotation shows this: “Here we assess the value of the new endogenous approaches to modeling economic growth for understanding the British Industrial…

When I first heard about the Oral History project I did not know what to expect. After reading the assignment in more detail, I was excited to start the project. I immediately knew I would pick my mother for the project. She is my best friend and I wanted to learn more about her growing up with such a big family. After going over the assignment, I called my mother and asked if she would participate in the project and she said yes. I was delighted to hear her say that because I instantly started…