Prohibition (1920-1933) in the United States is generally viewed as a period with a defined beginning and end. When one factors state and local bans into the discussion, however, the issue is much more complicated. Local prohibitions began in the 1830s andstate-level bans appeared in the 1850s....

In their 1993 book, Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway contend that US unemployment during the twentieth century can be largely explained by movements in the "adjusted real wage rate", that is, the real hourly wage rate divided by labor productivity. In particular, the authors suggest that...