Suchergebnisse

Four primary social & cultural preconditions to the economic development of the US are examined: a widely shared value system based on materialism, a flexible social structure in which material success is rewarded by vertical status mobility, a culture of risk-taking entrepreneurship, & the existance of a legal system conducive to economic growth. These preconditions are discussed in terms of their contribution to past economic growth & their ability to sustain growth into the future. The analysis also looks at pre-Columbian America & patterns of white settlement, the aspirations of English settlers, aspects of the colonial economy, the effect of the US constitution on the economy, the rise of manufacturing, & the development of a national market. W. Howard

I suggest here that change in a number of social variables, including values, vertical mobility, political and social power, technology and law, appear to be associated with economic growth or decline and that the study of economic history would be enriched by investigations of the nature and timing of those linkages. Illustrative models of the linkages are drawn for the early Middle Ages in Western Europe and for the colonial and antebellum periods of American history.