Volume 21 of Research in Economic History is a substantial contribution in several respects. Its heft reflects the continuing increase in quality submissions to this series, which invites (although it does not require) authors to take advantage of less stringent space limitations than is...

In the tradition of the new economic history, this collection includes seven carefully researched papers blending systematic empirical research with consideration of broader theoretical and analytical issues

Exports and the economy of the lower south region, 1720-1770 / Peter C. Mancall, Joshua L. Rosenbloom, and Thomas Weiss -- Quarterly data on the categories and causes of bank distress during the Great Depression, 1929-1933 / Gary Richardson -- On English pygmies and giants : the physical stature...

Introduction / Alexander J. Field -- A Soviet quasi-market for inventions : jet propulsion, 1932-1946 / Mark Harrison -- Network quality in the early telegraph industry / Tomas Nonnenmacher -- The Spanish infrastructure stock, 18441935 / Alfonso Herranz-Lonc(c)Øan -- Have American workers...

Introduction / Alexander J. Field -- From foraging to farming : the so-called "neolithic revolution" / Frederic L. Pryor -- The growth of world agricultural production, 1800-1938 / Giovanni Federico -- The Great Depression as a credit boom gone wrong / Barry Eichengreen, Kris J. Mitchener -- The...

Technological breakthroughs and productivity growth / Harald Edquist, Magnus Henrekson -- New national bank loan rate estimates, 1887-1975 / Scott A. Redenius -- The net effect of railroads on stature in the postbellum period / Ebru Guven Solakoglu -- Growth in a protected environment :...

The argument of this paper reduces to two key propositions. First, legal rules differ where technologies and endowments are similar. Second, diversity matters, in the sense that it exercises an independent influence on economic structure and rates of economic growth, and in ways that have not...

Amongst other European and US focussed topics, Volume 27 addresses: the macroeconomic aggregates for England, 1209-2004; capital accumulation in Spain, 1850-2000; British Estate Acts, 1600 to 1830. Notably there is also a contribution from the late William Parker , who chapter discusses historical...

The events associated with the financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009 continue to unfold. If the output loss from this recession ends up in the range of the 1982 downturn, it will be because Congress and the Federal Reserve moved more quickly and effectively with immediate remedies than was...

In the last decade one of the most successful memes in economic history has been the concept of a general purpose technology. The rapid multiplication of technologies accorded this designation has raised questions about whether the concept has gotten out of hand. My intent in this essay is to...