Essays in economic history and the history of economic thought (David Ricardo, Robert M. Solow)

My first paper, "The Descriptive Validity of the Ricardian Growth Model" explores the relationship between David Ricardo's and Solow's growth theories. In the absence of sustained technological change, Ricardo predicted a steady state with no growth in output, population, or wages. Ricardo acknowledged the possibility that technology could alleviate this problem, leading to a second Ricardian growth model that is strikingly similar to Solow's: per capita GDP only grows due to exogenous technological increase. The steady state predictions of the three models are compared econometrically using Bayesian methods, with the result that the Ricardian models compare favorably to Solow's.; "The Movement of Quality-Adjusted Slave Prices and Quantities" is an application of current hedonic indexing techniques to a long-standing historical problem. Slave heterogeneity can complicate the analysis of the slave market. To address this complication, two hedonic price indices are computed using Fogel and Engerman's dataset from Time on the Cross . From these indices I compute quality-adjusted quantities, which provide a clearer picture of how slave quality was changing over time. I find that, having adjusted for slave heterogeneity, slave prices did not rise as much as previously thought. This is due to an increase in slave quality, especially during the earlier 1800s. Further, I show that once the effects of the prohibition of slave importation in 1808 are taken into account, there is evidence of a decline in slave quality.; The final paper, entitled "The Fallacy of Wage Cuts and Keynes' Involuntary Unemployment", is an exercise in the history of economic thought. In the General Theory, Keynes argued that unemployed workers may be unable, as a group, to reduce wages and correspondingly, reduce unemployment. To think otherwise is to fall victim to a fallacy of composition. This fallacy of composition was analyzed by Richard Kahn in his multiplier paper. I provide a narrative account of the influence of Kahn's article on Keynes and his subsequent analysis of involuntary unemployment. It was the multiplier that enabled Keynes to fully utilize the circular flow idea in positing a solution to involuntary unemployment.