Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (The American Crisis:Books on...

Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (The American Crisis:Books on the Civil War ... | Robert B. Ekelund Jr. | An unusual, important analysis

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Tariffs, Blockades...

	Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (The American Crisis:Books on the Civil War ... Robert B. Ekelund Jr. SR Books, 2004 - 116 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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What role did economics play in leading the United States into the Civil War in the 1860s, and how did the war affect the economies of the North and the South? Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation uses contemporary economic analyses such as supply and demand, modern market theory, and the economics of politics to interpret events of the Civil War. Simplifying the sometimes complex intricacies of the subject matter, Thornton and Ekelund have penned a nontechnical primer that is jargon-free and accessible. Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation also takes a comprehensive approach to its topic. It offers a cohesive and a persuasive explanation of the how, what, and why behind the many factors at work on both sides of the contest. While most books only delve into a particular aspect of the war, this title effectively bridges the gap by offering an all-encompassing, yet relatively brief, introduction to the essential economics of the Civil War. This book starts out with a look at the reasons for the beginning of the Civil War, including explaining why the war began when it did. It then examines the economic realities in both the North and South. Also covered are the different financial strategies implemented by both the Union and the Confederacy to fund the war and the reasons behind what ultimately led to Southern defeat. Finally, the economic effect of Reconstruction is discussed, including the impact it had on the former slave population.

Thornton and Ekelund have contributed an overdue examination of the Civil War that will impart to students a modern way to better comprehend the conflict. Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation offers fresh, penetrating insights into this pivotal event in American history.

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The actually not dismal science

I bought this book with the intention that it should complement and supplement previously read works on the "Civil War", eg.: Tom DiLorenzo's Lincoln, Jeffrey Hummel's Emancipation and Enslavement, and Charles Adams' When in the Course. It didn't disappoint. Although it is strictly an economic look at the war, it is a Human Action type (self-interest) economics. Stats and graphs add to the text, they don't overwhelm it.

The highlights---Slavery a factor, yes, but as an economic issue, much more than a moral issue. Tariffs a factor, yes, but the uncertainty about future rates, with the election of Republican Lincoln, more than the immediate antebellum rates. The Anaconda Plan worked, yes, but with a great assist from the South with its impressments, embargo, and "luxury" taxes, the Rhett Butler effect. The relationship between the financing of the war (a lot of inflation,yes) and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When one ponders today's current account deficit, the Civil War's economics do not represent the distant past.

All in all, a book of around 160 pages including introduction,index and bibliography full of interesting interpretations of things which I thought I knew so well, yet didn't.

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An unusual, important analysis

The collaborative effort of Mark Thornton and Robert Ekelund Jr., Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation blends contemporary economic analysis and modern market theory with a history of the Civil War era to provide a comprehensive approach to Civil War history. From analysis of why and how the war began as it did to chapters contrasting the different underlying economic concerns of North and South before, during and after conflict, this provides an unusual, important analysis.

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