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Globalization in Historical Perspective
Globalization in Historical Perspective, edited by Michael D. Bordo, Alan M. Taylor, and
Jeffrey G. Williamson, will be available from the University of Chicago Press this spring for $95. This
volume collects eleven papers and comments and a panel discussion, and presents a comprehensive
view of globalization. The volume is divided into three parts: the first explores how the progress of
globalization should be measured in terms of the integration of various markets; the second places
this knowledge in a wider context, examining why divergence rather than convergence has been the
more predominant outcome of globalization efforts, with special attention paid to the effects of
technology and geography; the third studies the role of the financial sector, including exchange rate
regimes, financial development, financial crises, and the architecture of the international financial
system. Overall, the contributors show how an earlier global system was established during the 19th
century, and how a new system has evolved following the disruptions of World War I, the Great
Depression, and World War II.
Bordo, Taylor, and Williamson are all NBER Research Associates. Bordo is also a professor
of economics at Rutgers University. Taylor is associate professor of economics at the University of
California, Davis. Williamson is the Laird Bell Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
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Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past
Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past, edited by
Dora L. Costa, is available from the University of Chicago Press this spring for $75.
The rise in life expectancy and retirement rates in the twentieth century has had dramatic
effects. Forecasting future trends in health and retirement rates, as we must now do, requires that we
investigate underlying long-term trends and their causes. To that end, this volume draws on new data
-- an extensive survey of Union Army veterans who were born between 1820 and 1850 -- to examine
the factors that affected health and labor force participation in the United States in the nineteenth
century. The contributors consider the impact of a variety of conditions -- social class, wealth,
occupation, family, and community -- on the morbidity and mortality of the group, and also address
several more specialized topics.
Costa is an NBER Research Associate and the Ford Career Development Associate
Professor of Economics at MIT. She is also the author of The Evolution of Retirement: An American
Economic History, 1880-1990.
Feenstra and Shapiro are Research Associates in the NBER's Program in
Productivity. Feenstra is a Professor of Economics at the University of California,
Davis. Shapiro is a Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan.
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The Economics of School Choice
The Economics of School Choice, edited by Caroline M. Hoxby, is available now from the
University of Chicago Press for $75. Since the U.S. Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs
constitutional, the many unanswered questions about the potential effects of school choice will become
especially pressing. Contributors to this volume investigate the ways in which school choice affects a wide
range of issues, presenting evidence on the impact of school choice on student achievement, school
productivity, teachers, and special education. They also tackle such difficult questions as whether school
choice affects where people decide to live, and how choice can be integrated into a system of school
financing that gives children from different backgrounds equal access to resources. There is a discussion of
the latest findings on Florida's school choice program, as well as on voucher programs and charter schools in
several other states.
The resulting volume not only reveals the promise of school choice, but examines its pitfalls as well,
showing how programs can be designed that exploit the idea's potential but avoid its worst effects. With
school choice programs gradually becoming both more possible and more popular, this book stands out as
an essential exploration of the effects such programs will have, and a necessary resource for anyone
interested in the idea of school choice.
Hoxby directs the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research
and is a professor of economics at Harvard University.
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