A Prosperous People: The Growth of the American Economy

Business & Money

Walton, Gary M.

PERKINS, Edwin J.

Economics

Pearson College Div

The Economy of Colonial America [hardcover] Perkins, Edwin [May 16, 1988]

The economy of colonial America

Columbia University Press

The colonial era is especially appealing in regard to economic history because it represents a study in contrasts. The economy was exceptionally dynamic in terms of population growth and geographical expansion. No major famines, epidemics, or extended wars intervened to reverse, or even slow down appreciably, the tide of vigorous economic growth. Despite this broad expansion, however, the fundamental patterns of economic behavior remained fairly constant. The members of the main occupational groups – farmers, planters, merchants, artisans, indentured servants, and slaves – performed similar functions throughout the period. In comparison with the vast number of institutional innovations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, structural change in the colonial economy evolved gradually. With the exception of the adoption of the pernicious system of black slavery, few new economic institutions and no revolutionary new technologies emerged to disrupt the stability of this remarkably affluent commercial-agricultural society. Living standards rose slowly but fairly steadily at a rate of 3 to 5 percent a decade after 1650. (Monetary sums are converted into 1980 dollars so that the figures will be relevant to modern readers.) For the most part, this book describes the economic life styles of free white society. The term "colonists" is virtually synonymous here with inhabitants of European origin. Thus, statements about very high living standards and the benefits of land ownership pertain only to whites. One chapter does focus exclusively, however, on indentured servants and slaves. This book represents the author's best judgment about the most important features of the colonial economy and their relationship to the general society and to the movement for independence. It should be a good starting point for all – undergraduate to scholar – interested in learning more about the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The Economy of Colonial America

Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors focuses on the spectacularly successful career of financier Charles Merrill (1885-1956), the founder of Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage and investment firm. Merrill was the most innovative entrepreneur in the United States financial services sector in the twentieth century. He was the most important figure in promoting common stocks as a prudent long-term investment vehicle for members of the middle class across the United States. Opening more than 100 branch offices across the nation by 1950, his firm solicited millions of middle-class households and became famous for bringing "Wall Street to Main Street" in the post-World War II era. Today, American investors hold, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, a greater percentage of common stocks in their financial portfolios than do the citizens of any other country. Based on archival sources, this book is the first biography published about the career of this major Wall Street figure. Edwin Perkins is a professor of history and an expert on the development of American financial services. Author of five books and several journal articles, Professor Perkins has testified before the U.S. Congress about proposed reforms to U.S. financial laws.

Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Cambridge University Press

Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors focuses on the spectacularly successful career of financier Charles Merrill (1885-1956), the founder of Merrill Lynch &amp; Co., the world's largest brokerage and investment firm. Merrill was the most innovative entrepreneur in the United States financial services sector in the twentieth century. He was the most important figure in promoting common stocks as a prudent long-term investment vehicle for members of the middle class across the United States. Opening more than 100 branch offices across the nation by 1950, his firm solicited millions of middle-class households and became famous for bringing "Wall Street to Main Street" in the post-World War II era. Today, American investors hold, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, a greater percentage of common stocks in their financial portfolios than do the citizens of any other country. Based on archival sources, this book is the first biography published about the career of this major Wall Street figure. Edwin Perkins is a professor of history and an expert on the development of American financial services. Author of five books and several journal articles, Professor Perkins has testified before the U.S. Congress about proposed reforms to U.S. financial laws.

A prosperous people: The growth of the American economy

Simon & Schuster Custom Pub

Financing Anglo-American Trade: The House of Brown, 1800-1880 (Harvard Studies in Business History)

Harvard University Press

Financing Anglo-American Trade: The House of Brown, 1800-1880 (Harvard Studies in Business History, 28)

This edited volume includes a broad sample of scholarly publications of Professor Edwin J. Perkins on U.S. financial history and related topics in the fields of economic and business history. Included are journal articles, excerpts from his prominent books, plus three previously unpublished manuscripts. The content is organized chronologically, starting with the colonial era and ending with the second half of the twentieth century. A major highlight of the book is the key role stockbroker, Charles Merrill, founder of Merrill Lynch &amp; Co., played in the evolution and expansion of the nation's equity markets in the twentieth century.

Perkins on U.S. Financial History and Related Topics

Biography & History

University Press of America

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Arts & Photography

Graphic Design

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Books by PERKINS, Edwin J.