Business Cycles Since 1820: New International Perspectives from Historical Evidence

Product Description This book makes an important contribution at the forefront of business cycle theory. The contributors evaluate historical evidence, present new empirical results and suggest that the explanation of business cycle phenomena may, in part, depend on the way in which historical data is interpreted.This innovative book places great emphasis on the complementarity between empirical and theoretical business cycle research. The authors present studies of business cycles concentrating on the Great Depression of the 1930s, early and late nineteenth century American economic history, the United Kingdom before 1914, interwar Germany and Japan, and Canada and the United States during the Gold Standard era. A number of contributions address the Phillips curve and labour markets, and provide illustrations of the use of both macro and micro data. An important finding is the contribution to business cycle research made by hitherto untouched sources of historical labour market microdata. The book demonstrates the importance of the reconstruction of well researched data to our conception and understanding of business cycle phenomena. This book will be useful reading for academics and students of macroeconomics and economic history, with an interest in understanding business cycles. Review 'Business Cycles since 1820, commendably compiled and edited by Trevor J.O. Dick, provides a very interesting sample of recent efforts made in the direction of improving our understanding of (largely classical) cycles, through the compilation and analysis of extended and extensive historical data sets for a variety of countries. I recommend the text to any academic researchers and postgraduate students with specific interests in the historical analysis of business cycles and nominal rigidities, as part of their wider reading and research in the area.' -- Philip M. Bodman, Economic Record About the Author Edited by the late Trevor J.O. Dick, formerly Professor of Economics, University of Lethbridge, Canada