The Government in the American Economy, 1815–1902: A Quantitative Study

Casual perusal could easily lead one to conclude that “the government” represents one of the most thoroughly researched areas in American economic history; however, there is something quite unsettling about a more careful scrutiny of its historiography. While the list of historians who have made their reputations by studying the importance of government through its impact on land policy, transportation, business, etc., etc., etc., is almost too long to enumerate, those authors who have attempted to measure the dollar value of these contributions have come to the conclusion that they must have been quite small. This paper provides no final resolution to this apparent paradox, but it does suggest at least one possible solution. It examines the spatial distribution of governmental activity and indicates that while, in total, that activity was almost always small, there were significant differences between the level of activity in different regions, and these differences may have contributed to differentials in regional growth patterns.