The transition from steam to electric power in American manufacturing. Protecting the infant industry: Cosmopolitan vs nationalist economists. Bank lending, interest and monopoly.

摘要

The first chapter--The Transition from Steam to Electric Power in American Manufacturing--deals with the diffusion of electric motors on factory floors at the turn of the century in the United States. The adoption of such machines led to the gradual demise of what had been for nearly a half-century the dominant technological paradigm of American manufactures, namely, steam. The substitution process of one system for another gave rise to one of the most fascinating "technological strifes" in the history of economics.;The final chapter--Bank Lending Interest and Monopoly--addresses fundamental monetary issues: 'how do bankers lend their money?' is the starting question of this "pecuniary" inquiry. The banking routines (that is the simple practices banks engage to carry on their business) and basic principles investigated in the third essay are (1) the analyses carried out to assess the expected profitability of the entrepreneurial ventures which are to be financed by the banks; (2) the interrelationships between banks and industry in the joint management of the economy; and (3) considerations on the impact of financing project that aim at boosting the productive potential and the social welfare of the community at large. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;The second paper--Protecting the Infant Industry: Cosmopolitan vs Nationalist Economists--contrasts the traditional view on international trade developed by British classical thinkers with the almost totally unknown, and yet captivating, theory of nationalists economists. The former were thinkers who had pleaded allegiance to the British Empire and were therefore shaping their arguments in accordance with the commercial tenets of the Crown, whereas the latter were the ideologues of nascent industrial powers who had to defend the interests of their countries in the arena of international commerce.