Hugh Rockoff
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 235531 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Hugh Rockoff |
| PRENOMES | Hugh |
| SOBRENOME | Rockoff |
| ASSINATURA | ROCKOFF H |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4129-1831 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 45 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 139 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 44 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1972 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Reflections on Alexander Field’s The Economic Consequences of U.S. Mobilization for the Second World War
In his persuasively argued and provocative new book, Alexander Field attacks the frequently made claim that there was a series of production miracles in the United States during World War II.He begins with carefully constructed estimates of total factor productivity (TFP).He finds, surprisingly for those of us reared on the production-miracle narrative, that TFP declined during the war.This is a counterpoint to his equally surprising finding that…
O.M.W. Sprague (the Man Who “Wrote the Book” on Financial Crises) meets the Great Depression
When the Great Depression struck the United States, O.M.W. Sprague was America’s foremost expert on financial crises. His History of Crises under the National Banking System is a frequently cited classic. Had he diagnosed a banking panic and called for an aggressive response by the Federal Reserve, it might have made a difference; but he did neither. Sprague’s misdiagnosis had, I argue, two causes. First, the crisis lacked the symptoms of a panic…
Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen
This paper examines the failures or in some cases near-failures of financial institutions that started the 12 most severe peacetime financial panics in the United States, beginning with the Panic of 1819 and ending with the Panic of 2008. The following generalizations were true in most cases, although not in all. (1) Panics were triggered by a short series of failures or near-failures; (2) many of the failing institutions were what we would now c…
Robert Skidelsky Money and Government
Robert Skidelsky, a historian whose fame for his monumental biography of John Maynard Keynes is well deserved, here provides us with a brilliant, well-informed history of macroeconomics stretching from the “British recoinage debates” of the 1690s to today. Money and Government was prompted by the 2008 financial crisis. It is an attempt, Skidelsky tells us, to answer the question that Queen Elizabeth II posed to a group of economists at the London…
On the Controversies Behind the Origins of the Federal Economic Statistics
Our federal economic statistics originated in the economic and political divisions in the United States and the bitter debates over economic policy they engendered at the end of the 19th century and during the world wars and Great Depression. Workers were angry because they believed that they were being exploited by robber barons who were capturing all of the benefits of economic growth, while employers were just as sure that the second industria…
Coping with Financial Crises
An Index of the Yields of Junk Bonds, 1910–1955
We present a new monthly index of the yields on junk bonds (high risk, high yield bonds) for the period 1910–1955. This index supplements the indexes of government bond yields, and Aaa and Baa corporate bond yields economic historians have relied on previously to describe the long-term risk spectrum. First, we describe our sources and methods. Then we show that our junk bond index contains information that is not in the closest alternative, and s…
John Allen James
Why didn't Canada have a banking crisis in 2008 (or in 1930, or 1907, or …)
The financial crisis of 2008 engulfed the banking system of the US and many large European countries. Canada was a notable exception. In this article we argue that the structure of financial systems is path‐dependent. The relative stability of the Canadian banks in the recent crisis compared to the US in our view reflected the original institutional foundations laid in place in the early nineteenth century in the two countries. The Canadian conce…
Parallel Journeys
Adam Smith and Milton Friedman are famous for championing laissez-faire, yet both supported government regulation of the banking system. In both cases their deviation from free market orthodoxy was based on a careful reading of financial history: especially Smith's reading of the Crisis of 1772 and Friedman's reading of the Crisis of 1929–1933. In both cases they based their reading on a complex and nuanced account of human nature. This paper des…
Drastic Measures
When Washington shut down Wall Street
The origin and diffusion of shocks to regional interest rates in the United States, 1880–2002
A Wolfram in Sheep's Clothing
During World War II the United States attempted to prevent Germany from acquiring wolfram (tungsten ore) in Spain by buying it in the open market. Preemptive buying forced the Germans to pay more for and to consume less tungsten, a material crucial for the production of machine tools and armor-piercing shells. The income provided an important incentive for Spain to remain neutral. The naval blockade and the relatively low elasticity of the supply…
Two lucky people
The Gold Standard as a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”
In this article we argue that during the period from 1870 to 1914 adherence to the gold standard was a signal of financial rectitude, a “good housekeeping seal of approval”, that facilitated access by peripheral countries to capital from the core countries of western Europe. Examination of data from nine widely different capital-importing countries, using a model inspired by the Capital Asset Pricing Model, reveals that countries with poor record…
Insider Lending
Journal Article Insider Lending: Banks, Personal Connections, and Economic Development in Industrial New England. By Naomi R. Lamoreaux. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. xii, 170 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-521-46096-4.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 82, Issue 3, December 1995, Pages …
In Honor of Nobel Laureate Robert W. Fogel
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History
The U.S. Banking System From a Northern Exposure
This article asks whether the vaunted comparative stability of the Canadian banking system has been purchased at the cost of creating an oligopoly. We assembled a data set that compares bank failures, lending rates, interest paid on deposits, and related variables over the period 1920 to 1980. Our principal findings are (1) interest rates paid on deposits were generally higher in Canada; (2) interest income received on securities was generally sl…
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth-Century American Economic History
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History
Journal Article Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel. Ed. by Claudia Goldin and Hugh Rockoff. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. X + 491 pp. $60.00, ISBN 0-226-30112-5.) Get access John Joseph Wallis John Joseph Wallis University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 8…
The Modernization of the American Stock Exchange, 1971-1989
Journal Article The Modernization of the American Stock Exchange, 1971–1989. By Stuart Bruchey. (New York: Garland, 1991. xiv + 211 pp. $49.99, ISBN 0-8153-0722-5.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 80, Issue 2, September 1993, Pages 754–755, https://doi.org/10.2307/2080021 Published: 01 Sep…
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth-Century Economic History
The Gold Standard as a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”
In this article we argue that during the period from 1870 to 1914 adherence to the gold standard was a signal of financial rectitude, a “good housekeeping seal of approval”, that facilitated access by peripheral countries to capital from the core countries of western Europe. Examination of data from nine widely different capital-importing countries, using a model inspired by the Capital Asset Pricing Model, reveals that countries with poor record…
The "Wizard of Oz" as a Monetary Allegory
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, perhaps America's favorite children's story, is also an informed comment on the battle over free silver in the 1890s. The characters in the story represent real figures, such as William Jennings Bryan. This paper interprets the allegory of economists and economic historians, illuminating a number of elements left unexplained by critics concerned with the politics of the allegory. It also reexamines Bryan and the case f…
The U.S. Banking System From a Northern Exposure
This article asks whether the vaunted comparative stability of the Canadian banking system has been purchased at the cost of creating an oligopoly. We assembled a data set that compares bank failures, lending rates, interest paid on deposits, and related variables over the period 1920 to 1980. Our principal findings are (1) interest rates paid on deposits were generally higher in Canada; (2) interest income received on securities was generally sl…
A Wolfram in Sheep's Clothing
During World War II the United States attempted to prevent Germany from acquiring wolfram (tungsten ore) in Spain by buying it in the open market. Preemptive buying forced the Germans to pay more for and to consume less tungsten, a material crucial for the production of machine tools and armor-piercing shells. The income provided an important incentive for Spain to remain neutral. The naval blockade and the relatively low elasticity of the supply…
Compliance with Price Controls in the United States and the United Kingdom During World War II
We are concerned here with the evasion of price controls in the United States and the United Kingdom in World War II. The evidence suggests that controls produced less evasive activity in the United Kingdom. After considering several explanations we conclude that the key was the degree of regimentation. The British controlled all stages of production, limited the range of products available at each stage, and allocated relatively more resources t…
Varieties of Banking and Regional Economic Development in the United States, 1840-1860
It is sometimes asserted that a laissez-faire policy toward financial intermediaries tends to deepen financial development and accelerate economic growth. The two decades preceding the American Civil War provide a challenging case for this proposition because they witnessed something approaching a natural experiment. During those years the Federal government withdrew from the regulation of banking, a policy that was the final outcome of Andrew Ja…
Price and Wage Controls in Four Wartime Periods
The debate over wage and price controls has taken a highly stylized form. Advocates of controls stress the direct effect on the obvious problem, inflation, whereas critics stress the side effects. This paper measures and compares the effects of controls during the four periods when controls have been used in the United States in the twentieth century. Although tentative conclusions are drawn concerning the price effects, the size of the administr…
Indirect price increases and real wages during world war II
Regional interest rates and bank failures, 1870–1914
On the Controversies Behind the Origins of the Federal Economic Statistics
Our federal economic statistics originated in the economic and political divisions in the United States and the bitter debates over economic policy they engendered at the end of the 19th century and during the world wars and Great Depression. Workers were angry because they believed that they were being exploited by robber barons who were capturing all of the benefits of economic growth, while employers were just as sure that the second industria…
The management of reserves by ante-bellum banks in eastern financial centers
U.S. National Economic Policy, 1917-1985
Journal Article U.S. National Economic Policy, 1917–1983. By Anthony S. Campagna. (New York: Praeger, 1987. xix + 642 pp. $55.00.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University, New Brunswick Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 75, Issue 2, September 1988, Page 652, https://doi.org/10.2307/1887964 Published: 01 September 1988
Parallel Journeys
Adam Smith and Milton Friedman are famous for championing laissez-faire, yet both supported government regulation of the banking system. In both cases their deviation from free market orthodoxy was based on a careful reading of financial history: especially Smith's reading of the Crisis of 1772 and Friedman's reading of the Crisis of 1929–1933. In both cases they based their reading on a complex and nuanced account of human nature. This paper des…
The origin and diffusion of shocks to regional interest rates in the United States, 1880–2002
The Response of the Giant Corporations to Wage and Price Controls in World War II
This paper reexamines the extent to which the giant corporations cooperated with wage and price controls during World War II, an issue to which Galbraith first drew attention. Two forms of evidence are explored: a sample of court cases involving the Office of Price Administration and large corporations, and the monographs in which former administrators reflected on their wartime experiences. The conclusion is that the compliance record could be c…
Banking Under the Gold Standard
This paper compares the proportion of liquid assets in the portfolios of the major banks in London, Paris, and New York during the heyday of the gold standard. Various hypotheses concerning the determinants of this proportioh are advanced and then tested using data on individual banks over a number of years. The major conclusions concern the effectiveness of the Bank of England in comparison with the systems prevailing in the other centers and th…
American Free Banking Before the Civil War
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The management of reserves by ante-bellum banks in eastern financial centers
Varieties of Banking and Regional Economic Development in the United States, 1840-1860
It is sometimes asserted that a laissez-faire policy toward financial intermediaries tends to deepen financial development and accelerate economic growth. The two decades preceding the American Civil War provide a challenging case for this proposition because they witnessed something approaching a natural experiment. During those years the Federal government withdrew from the regulation of banking, a policy that was the final outcome of Andrew Ja…
Banking Under the Gold Standard
This paper compares the proportion of liquid assets in the portfolios of the major banks in London, Paris, and New York during the heyday of the gold standard. Various hypotheses concerning the determinants of this proportioh are advanced and then tested using data on individual banks over a number of years. The major conclusions concern the effectiveness of the Bank of England in comparison with the systems prevailing in the other centers and th…
Regional interest rates and bank failures, 1870–1914
Indirect price increases and real wages during world war II
The Response of the Giant Corporations to Wage and Price Controls in World War II
This paper reexamines the extent to which the giant corporations cooperated with wage and price controls during World War II, an issue to which Galbraith first drew attention. Two forms of evidence are explored: a sample of court cases involving the Office of Price Administration and large corporations, and the monographs in which former administrators reflected on their wartime experiences. The conclusion is that the compliance record could be c…
Price and Wage Controls in Four Wartime Periods
The debate over wage and price controls has taken a highly stylized form. Advocates of controls stress the direct effect on the obvious problem, inflation, whereas critics stress the side effects. This paper measures and compares the effects of controls during the four periods when controls have been used in the United States in the twentieth century. Although tentative conclusions are drawn concerning the price effects, the size of the administr…
Drastic Measures
Journal Article Drastic Measures: A History of Wage and Price Controls in the United States. By Hugh Rockoff. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. xi + 289 pp. Charts, tables, notes, bibliography, and indexes. $29.95.) Get access Stuart D. Brandes Stuart D. Brandes University of Wisconsin Center, Janesville Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 72, Issue 1, June 1985,…
Drastic Measures
Drastic Measures
Compliance with Price Controls in the United States and the United Kingdom During World War II
We are concerned here with the evasion of price controls in the United States and the United Kingdom in World War II. The evidence suggests that controls produced less evasive activity in the United Kingdom. After considering several explanations we conclude that the key was the degree of regimentation. The British controlled all stages of production, limited the range of products available at each stage, and allocated relatively more resources t…
Origins of the Federal Reserve System
Journal Article Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890–1913. By James Livingston. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986. 250 pp. $27.50.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 73, Issue 4, March 1987, Page 1051, https://doi.org/10.2307/1904119 Published: 01 March 1987
U.S. National Economic Policy, 1917-1985
Journal Article U.S. National Economic Policy, 1917–1983. By Anthony S. Campagna. (New York: Praeger, 1987. xix + 642 pp. $55.00.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University, New Brunswick Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 75, Issue 2, September 1988, Page 652, https://doi.org/10.2307/1887964 Published: 01 September 1988
Crisis and Leviathan
The "Wizard of Oz" as a Monetary Allegory
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, perhaps America's favorite children's story, is also an informed comment on the battle over free silver in the 1890s. The characters in the story represent real figures, such as William Jennings Bryan. This paper interprets the allegory of economists and economic historians, illuminating a number of elements left unexplained by critics concerned with the politics of the allegory. It also reexamines Bryan and the case f…
Accumulation and Power
The Complete Russian Folktale makes available to English readers a rich folk tradition that has not been easily accessible or well known in the West. Compared to other European traditions, the East Slavs have an extremely large number of tale types. Using the Russian version of the Aarne-Thompson index to folktale types, and drawing on both archival and written sources dating back to the early sixteenth century, J.V. Haney has assembled and trans…
Managing the American Economy from Roosevelt to Reagan
History and Economics
Elusive Stability
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History
Journal Article Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel. Ed. by Claudia Goldin and Hugh Rockoff. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. X + 491 pp. $60.00, ISBN 0-226-30112-5.) Get access John Joseph Wallis John Joseph Wallis University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 8…
The Modernization of the American Stock Exchange, 1971-1989
Journal Article The Modernization of the American Stock Exchange, 1971–1989. By Stuart Bruchey. (New York: Garland, 1991. xiv + 211 pp. $49.99, ISBN 0-8153-0722-5.) Get access Hugh Rockoff Hugh Rockoff Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 80, Issue 2, September 1993, Pages 754–755, https://doi.org/10.2307/2080021 Published: 01 Sep…
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History
Strategic Factors in Nineteenth-Century Economic History
In Honor of Nobel Laureate Robert W. Fogel
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