Climate change threatens the economy of the United States through increased flooding and storm damage, climate-driven changes in crop yields, disruptions in labor productivity, crime, and public health and heat-related strains on energy systems. Combining current data with state-of-the-art...

Until the early nineteenth century, "risk" was a specialized term: it was the commodity exchanged in a marine insurance contract. Freaks of Fortune tells the story of how the modern concept of risk emerged in the United States. Born on the high seas, risk migrated inland and became essential to...

Alongside unprecedented improvements in longevity and material well-being, the twentieth century saw the rise of fascism and communism and a second world war followed by a cold war. Governments with market economies won the battle against these competing systems by combining growth and...

Main description: Why did sustained economic growth arise in Europe rather than in China? The authors combine economic theory and historical evidence to argue that political processes drove the economic divergence between the two world regions, with continued consequences today that become clear...

Listen to a short interview with Philip T. Hoffman Host: Chris Gondek ] Producer: Heron & Crane Financial disasters often have long-range institutional consequences. When financial institutions--banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, stock exchanges--collapse, new ones take their place,...

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Editors' Introduction -- Authors' Preface -- CHAPTER 1. PIONEERING AN INDUSTRY: The Lowell Manufacturing Company, 1828-1852 -- CHAPTER 2. PIONEERING AN INDUSTRY: The Connecticut Companies, 1825-1854 -- CHAPTER 3. PIONEERING AN INDUSTRY: Three Younger Companies,...