An Overview of the U.S. Economy:
--Population Growth Dynamics
--Income Growth
--Changes in Education and Literacy
By
Farley Grubb
Economics Department
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
grubbf@lerner.udel.edu
http://myprofile.cos.com/grubbf16
Graph and Table Sources:
Figure 1: Rate of Growth of the U.S. Population. Atack and Passell, p. 213.
Figure 2: Immigration into the U.S. Atack and Passell, p. 233.
Figure 3: The Natural Rate of Population Increase (Births – Deaths). Fogel, p. 124.
Figure 4: U.S. Birthrates. Atack and Passell, p. 215.
Figure 5: U.S. Life Expectancy. Atack and Passell, p. 226.
Figure 6: Urbanization of the U.S. Over Time. Atack and Passell, p. 243.
Figure 7: Population Density in the U.S. 1790 and 1850. Atack and Passell, p. 240.
Figure 8: Population Density in the U.S. 1900. Atack and Passell, p. 241.
Figure 9: Growth in U.S. per capita Income (Table). Atack and Passell, p. 4.
Figure 10: Interpretations of American Economic Growth. Atack and Passell, p. 9.
Figure 11: Growth in Commercial Banking. Atack and Passell, p. 89.
Figure 12: U.S. Exports and Imports. Atack and Passell, p. 117.
Figure 13: Colonial Adult Literacy Rates. Grubb (1990), p. 453.
Figure 14: Colonial Adult Male Literacy Rates. Grubb (1990), p. 454.
Figure 15: European Adult Male Literacy Rates. Grubb (1990), p. 456.
Figure 16: European Adult Male Literacy Rates. Grubb (1990), p. 457.
Figure 17: Types and Amount of Education by Age, 1787-1804. Grubb (1992), p. 372.
Figure 18: Growth in Population versus Published Imprints. Soltow and Stevens, p. 41.
Figure 19: Rates of U.S. Illiteracy, 1799-1894. Soltow and Stevens, p. 53.
Figure 20: Wealth and Book Ownership. Soltow and Stevens, p. 70.
Figure 21: Growth in Newspaper Circulation per Person. Soltow and Stevens, p. 76.
Figure 22: Schooling Enrollment Rates. Soltow and Stevens, p. 121.
Figure 23: Illiteracy Rates for Married Women, 1860-1870. Soltow and Stevens, p. 158.
Figure 24: The Geographic Variation in Illiteracy, 1870. Soltow and Stevens, p. 168.
References:
Jeremy Atack and Peter Passell, A New Economics View of American History (New
York: W. W. Norton, 1994, 2nd Edn.).
Robert William Fogel, Without Consent or Contract (New York: W. W. Norton, 1989).
Farley Grubb, “Growth of Literacy in Colonial America: Longitudinal Patterns,
Economic Models, and the Direction of Future Research,” Social Science History, vol.
14, no. 4 (Winter 1990), pp. 451-482.
Farley Grubb, “Educational Choice in the Era Before Free Public Schooling: Evidence
from German Immigrant Children in Pennsylvania, 1771-1817,” Journal of Economic
History, vol. 52, no. 2 (June 1992), pp. 363-375.
Lee Soltow and Edward Stevens, The Rise of Literacy and the Common School in the
United States (Chicago: university of Chicago Press, 1981).
See also the standard economic history texts:
Jonathan Hughes and Louis P. Cain, American Economic History.
Gary M. Walton and Hugh Rockoff, History of the American Economy.