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Andrew S. Terrell
HIST 6393
Spring 2010
Political Economy Annotated Bibliography

Barber, William J. Designs Within Disorder: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Economists, and the
Shaping of American Economic Policy, 1933-1945. Historical perspectives on modern
economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

The 1930s called into question many preconceptions of economic practice and policies.
Economics as a discipline went through a period of heavy scrutiny and review, and many
economists sought employment wherever they could find it as they lost their way in academia. It
so happened that President Franklin Roosevelt was seeking counsel from professional
economists for his New Deal proposals. Barber expores the interplay of professional economists
and the FDR administration in Designs Within Disorder. The author asserts the Great Depression
era allowed economists to test theories in real time as if the period was a laboratory for ideas.
The monograph is largely based on archival study at the FDR Presidential Library and economic
journals from the period and Barber expertly balances both historical and economic
methodologies.

Collins, Robert M. MORE: The Politics of Economic Growth in Postwar America. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.

Robert Collins asserts that the pursuit of economic growth from the end of the New Deal
era through the Bill Clinton administration was a challenge for successive policymakers. Collins
outlines the battle in Washington between expansionists and price stability advocates in the
1950s, the return to “growthmanship” in the Kennedy administration, and shows how the
changing trends allowed for Johnson to push through Great Society legislation. The author also
traces retraction from the liberal growth philosophy in the Nixon and Ford administrations
culminating in Reaganomics that was little more than an adoption of the liberal growth ideas
presented with more “flair and fanfare.” This monograph serves best as a synthesis of economic
growth policies throughout the second half of the twentieth century rather than a reexamination
or new approach to established lessons.

Gavin, Francis J. Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations,
1958-1971. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

To Franis Gavin, international monetary relations is central to understanding the Cold

War. The author points out how European support for the dollar was the basis for international
security. The quagmire in Vietnam, however, opened the eyes of many European powers and
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some, like France, called for a removal of the Bretton Woods monetary system. The move to
floating exchange rates went smoothly in Gavin’s point of view because international monetary
relations made states interdependent fundamentally. The majority of this monograph focuses on
the politics of the Bretton Woods system and does not sufficiently balance in individual
economic forces inherent in international financial studies. Nonetheless, it remains an important
vantage of Cold War and political economy history.

Hamilton, Shane. Trucking Country: The Road to America's Wal-Mart Economy. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2008.

Shane Hamilton writes the definitive history of the independent trucking industry from
the 1920s through the twenty-first century. At inception, the trucking industry sought to help the
overproduction problems of the early Great Depression not by limiting output, but by reducing
the freight fares. The largest contribution to political economy studies is Hamilton’s assertion
that the deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 also marked the end of New Deal
liberalism. To Hamilton, the culmination of events surrounding the trucking industry led to the
so called “Wal-Mart Economy” in his subtitle; there was a direct correlation between the rise of a
low wage, low price, consumer driven economy and the successful expansion of the trucking
industry. This modern work challenges many standing beliefs of middle class America as well.

Matusow, Allen J. Nixon's Economy: Booms, Busts, Dollars, and Votes. Lawrence: University
Press of Kansas, 1998.

Allen Matusow asserts Nixon’s desire to win reelection at any cost was a blight upon
economic stability. Nixon’s “New Economic Policy” implemented a temporary calm through
wage and price controls, floating exchange rates, and new import quotas. This policy and open
lending from the Federal Reserve lessened inflation, reduced unemployment thereby allowing
Nixon to win his reelection bid. However, the mass inflation problems from the early 1970s
ended up being a direct result of Nixon’s decision to lift controls. Any attempts to remedy the
deteriorating situation was inhibited by the Watergate scandal, much like any other domestic
policy agenda. Matusow’s work stands as a defining examination into how politics can repress
larger economic issues.

Thompson, Michael. The Politics of Inequality: A Political History of the Idea of Economic
Inequality in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

Thompson asserts that the “new inequality” as experienced in modern times is traceable
to the early 1980s when there was massive increases in income inequality due to abysmal
earnings of lower class Americans, income stagnation for a large majority of American families,
and a tremendous increase in upper class incomes. From the 1980s to the present, wages have
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grown more unequal as a result of unemployment, inflation, declining union influence, and the
dollar’s exchange rate in the global marketplace. The widening gap between rich and poor has
greater ramifications because it is accompanied by a segmentation of housing and public access
to goods such as education and environmental standards-all basic commodities ensured to the
public at large. These dramatic shifts, Thompson contends, has created an “American apartheid”
where separation of racial and social class groups becomes insurmountable by the current
generation. This societal approach to the effects of economic policies is well-researched and
contains many understated yet easily understandable nuances of modern America.

Urofsky, Melvin I. Money and Free Speech: Campaign Finance Reform and the Courts.
Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005.

Famous legal historian, Melvin Urofsky begins his recent monograph by stating that in
the course of his studies, he changed his opinion of campaign finance limitations. Urofsky
asserts that money is essential to the American political system and is, to him, a form of speech.
From this argument, Urofsky traces the history of campaign finance legislation from George
Washington to McCain-Feingold concluding that while McCain-Feingold may have had
idealistic goals, it did not take into account realities other than abuses into consideration: the
realities of how politics are financed, how the political economy has operated for many years,
and how many factors go into decisions to vote. The personal thesis and assertions by Urofsky
are convincing, but many may have trouble accepting the cynical reality of campaign finances.

Irwin, Douglas A. Free Trade Under Fire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

In this contemporary monograph, Douglas Irwin attempts to bring free trade history up to
date by examining previously ignored dimensions of the practice such as environmental concerns
and labor standards. Irwin’s work focuses on the United States’ role in international institutions
of trade and provides a careful survey of globalization debates. Irwin asserts free trade has a
potential to alleviate income disparities. He goes on to show how institutional constraints limit
the advantages of free trade to combat world poverty. Irwin’s contribution to globalization
literature lies not only in his approach, but his exemplification of globalization as an instrument
for global economic prosperity.