From the days of George Washington through World War II to today, government investments have failed dismally. They not only drain the Treasury of cash but also impede economic growth, and they hurt the very companies they try to support. Why does federal aid seem to have a reverse Midas touch?...

Economic growth before 1860 : revised conjectures / Thomas Weiss -- U.S. financial markets and long-term economic growth, 1790-1989 / Richard Sylla, Jack W. Wilson, and Charles P. Jones -- U.S. migration, 1850-59 / Donald Schaefer -- Economic history and economic development : an American...