Depression, War, and Cold War: Studies in Political EconomyOther books exist that warn of the dangers of empire and war. However, few, if any, of these books do so from a scholarly, informed economic standpoint. In Depression, War, and Cold War , Robert Higgs, a highly regarded economic historian, makes pointed, fresh economic arguments against war, showing links between government policies and the economy in a clear, accessible way. He boldly questions, for instance, the widely accepted idea that World War II was the chief reason the Depression-era economy recovered. The book as a whole covers American economic history from the Great Depression through the Cold War. Part I centers on the Depression and World War II. It addresses the impact of government policies on the private sector, the effects of wartime procurement policies on the economy, and the economic consequences of the transition to a peacetime economy after the victorious end of the war. Part II focuses on the Cold War, particularly on the links between Congress and defense procurement, the level of profits made by defense contractors, and the role of public opinion andnt ideological rhetoric in the maintenance of defense expenditures over time. This new book extends and refines ideas of the earlier book with new interpretations, evidence, and statistical analysis. This book will reach a similar audience of students, researchers, and educated lay people in political economy and economic history in particular, and in the social sciences in general. |
Contents
Institutional Antecedents of the Modern Military Procurement System in the Rearmament Program of 194041 | |
A Reassessment of U S Capital Formation in the 1940s | |
The American Transition 194547 | |
Opportunity Costs Ideology and the Politics of Crisis | |
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Common terms and phrases
accounting actual administration American analysis annual anthracite Appropriations armed forces Army authority bases billion budget Bureau capital changes civilian coal Cold Committee companies Congress congressional considered consumer continued contractors contracts corporate costs Deal defense spending Department Depression dollars early Economic economists edited effect especially estimated expected facilities federal figure finance firms force growth Higgs History important income increased industrial Institute interest investment investors Journal Kuznets labor less measure military Mobilization noted Office operated output percent performance period plants political postwar present president procurement production profits prosperity public opinion purchases relation remained Report Representative respondents risk Robert Roosevelt Senate share shows Smith sources standard substantial unemployment United University Press wartime Washington World York