Will the Stimulus Package Produce Only Low-Wage Jobs?

One of my readers emailed this excellent question in response to two of my previous posts, “Abraham Lincoln’s Economic Stimulus Package” and “When Deficit Spending Worked Wonders.”  Let me begin with Lincoln and the Transcontinental Railroad, which produced a sizable number of construction jobs that paid reasonably well and a strong  multiplier effect.
The problem was [...]

Posted Under: Economic History
This post was written by Dr. Art Pitz on March 4, 2009 Comments (1)

Abraham Lincoln’s Economic Stimulus Package

The two most perplexing questions about the economic stimulus package that the Obama administration and Congress are working on are:

Will it work?
Where will the money come from?

It is useful to look at historical precedents. What does history tell us about the results of economic stimulus packages? The earliest example that comes to my mind, though [...]

Posted Under: Economic History
This post was written by Dr. Art Pitz on February 10, 2009 Comments (6)