American Economic History, Vol.2: 1914 to Financial Crisis

This textbook is the second volume of “American Economic History” and introduces undergraduate and advanced undergraduate students to the economic foundations of America. It covers the period from World War I and the founding of the Federal Reserve to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and explores major macroeconomic theories, policy shifts, and social transformations.

Topics include the Great Depression, World War II, urban change, the Cold War, stagflation, and the rise of the service economy. Students will also examine the evolving role of women, the Southern economic resurgence, and the causes and consequences of financial crises. Drawing on the author’s lectures and previous works, the book provides an insightful foundation for understanding America’s modern economic evolution.

John F. McDonald is an Emeritus Professor of Economics, at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), USA. He is also the Emeritus Gerald W. Fogelson Distinguished Professor of Real Estate at Roosevelt University, Chicago, USA. McDonald received his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1971 and joined the UIC faculty that year. Between 1988 and 1990 he was the Director of Research, NCI Research, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, USA. He is the author of 12 books, including Postwar Urban America (2015), Chicago: An Economic History (2016), Rethinking Macroeconomics (2022), Urban Economics and Real Estate, with D. McMillen (2012), Fundamentals of Urban Economics (1997), and Economic Analysis of an Urban Housing Market (1979). McDonald also served as editor of Urban Studies and the Journal of Real Estate Literature and was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Economics. He was elected a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International in 2008 and was awarded the David Ricardo Medal by the American Real Estate Society in 2013.