Since its inception, supporters of the Jones Act have claimed that the law is essential to U.S. national security. Although indefensible on economic grounds, Jones Act advocates argue that its restrictions promote the development of both a U.S. merchant marine and shipbuilding and repair...

Using data from the US commodity flow surveys, we show that the historical Union-Confederacy border lowers contemporaneous trade between US states by about 16 percentrelative to trade flows within the former alliances. Amongst one million placebos, thereis no other constellation of state...

This paper outlines the evolution, structure and operations of US railroads. It traces the evolution of the railroad network and the regulation framework. The current industry structure is also examined along with organization and operational characteristics. The strategies underlying the...

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus by policymakers on rural infrastructure in the United States, including most recently tax credits to encourage investment. Previous work has documented the importance of railroad expansion for nineteenth century development, and demonstrated...

Electricity is a general purpose technology and the catalyst for the second industrial revolution. Developing countries are currently making huge investments in electrification, with a view to achieving structural change. What does history say about its impact on the structure of employment? We...

Media pundits and some politicians would have us believe that industrial production has been declining in the United States. Some would even say that “we don't make things anymore.” However, the statistics show a different picture. This paper examines the trade statistics for the United...

Today, evolving technologies have enabled scientific breakthroughs in innovative wind turbine designs, including taller wind turbine towers and longer blades. These breakthroughs will enable utility-scale wind turbines to reach higher into the atmosphere, access stronger winds, and produce...

This paper examines the integration between the prices of different types of physical (upstream/end-use) and futures contracts of natural gas in the US for the period of June 1990-Dec 2014. To examine the equilibrium relationship between physical and futures prices, several cointegration tests,...

This paper traces the process of deregulation in the US natural gas market in the 1970s and 1980s and the restructuring of the gas market in the 1990s. I review the politics behind deregulation and the actions of the FPC and FERC to first regulate the market and then implement the Natural Gas...

During World War II, the U.S. government's Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) undertook one of the largest public investments in applied R&D in U.S. history, entering into thousands of contracts with firms and universities to perform research essential to the war effort. Using...