Designs within Disorder: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Economists, and the Shaping of American Economic Policy, 1933–1945 (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics)

New
Hardcover
1996
$130.22

More than any of his predecessors in the White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt drew heavily on the thinking of economists as he sought to combat the Great Depression, to mobilize the American economy for war, and to chart a new order for the post-war world. Designs Within Disorder, published in 1996, is an inquiry into the way divergent analytic perspectives competed for official favour and the manner in which the President opted to pick and choose among them when formulating economic policies. During the Roosevelt years, two 'revolutions' were underway simultaneously. One of them involved a fundamental restructuring of the American economy and of the role government was to play in it. A second was an intellectual revolution which engaged economists in reconceptualizing the nature of their discipline. Most of the programmatic initiatives Roosevelt put in place displayed a remarkable staying power for over half a century.

Synopsis

More than any of his predecessors in the White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt drew heavily on the thinking of economists as he sought to combat the Great Depression, to mobilize the American economy for war, and to chart a new order for the post-war world. Designs Within Disorder, published in 1996, is an inquiry into the way divergent analytic perspectives competed for official favour and the manner in which the President opted to pick and choose among them when formulating economic policies. During the Roosevelt years, two 'revolutions' were underway simultaneously. One of them involved a fundamental restructuring of the American economy and of the role government was to play in it. A second was an intellectual revolution which engaged economists in reconceptualizing the nature of their discipline. Most of the programmatic initiatives Roosevelt put in place displayed a remarkable staying power for over half a century.

$130.22

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 28 Jun 1996
ISBN 10: 0521560780
ISBN 13: 9780521560788
Book Overview: This 1996 book explains how economists helped to shape the American economy during the years of the New Deal and the Second World War.

Media Reviews

'Barber has written a fascinating sequel to his From New Era to New Deal. Together, these books give us a superb - indeed, our very best - history of the role economists played in shaping federal policy between 1921 and 1945. Because he has done his homework in the archives, Barber is able to document the clash of competing ideas within the federal government, to demonstrate the linkages between ideas and policy, and to show us how the experiences of New Deal economists shaped the development of economic knowledge. In the process of explaining how Franklin Roosevelt organized the work of the economists, Barber favors us with a novel interpretation of Roosevelt - as 'an uncompromising champion of consumer sovereignty'.' W. Elliot Brownlee, University of California, Santa Barbara
'A society that grants enormous authority to economists in government had better pay attention to what and how they think. In this fine study, one of our leading historians of economic thought, William Barber, cuts to the core of the connection between economic knowledge and public policy during the New Deal. Barber shows how the dream of a full-fledged 'Fisc' to match the 'Fed' was blighted, and his emphasis on 'economic learning' - theoretical breakthroughs achieved experimentally, through the deliberative processes of governance - adds an important dimension to the typical new institutionalist preoccupation with structural constraints such as federalism. Barber;s shrewd observations about the not-so-positive implications for today of the low-savings, high-consumption lessons the Keynesians taught are thought-provoking. In all, this is an important book for all those interested in the critical debates that shaped the course of modern liberalism.' Mary O. Furner, University of California, Santa Barbara
...[later generations of economists]...will find in it a source of pride at the status their forebearers achieved....Barber has performed a valuable service in synthesizing much that was already known and unearthing much that was new from his study of the archival material. Herbert Stein, Journal of Economic Literature
...highly recommended to all... J. Atack, Choice
William Barber has written an interesting work on the importance of economic thinking during the Great Depression years. In so doing, his efforts remain worthwhile. Michael V. Namorato, EH.NET BOOK REVIEW
William Barber has written an interesting work on the importance of economic thinking during the Great Depression years. In so doing, his efforts remain worthwhiles. Michael V. Namorato, H-Net Reviews
This most interesting, enjoyable book continues William Barber's exploration into the role of economists as they tried to and did influence policy during the Hoover and Roosevelt years....This is a book many no doubt thought of writing. Barber did it and did it well. Frank G. Steindl, Southern Economic Journal
...a well written, intelligently conceived description of how the Roosevelt administration experimented with and then discarded various schools of economic thought, to end up with a domesticated version of Keynesiansim. James S. Olson, The Journal of American History
William Barber has written an interesting work on the importance of economic thinking during the Great Depression years. In so doing, his efforts remain worthwhile. Michael V. Namorrato, H-Net Reviews
...the book accomplishes its goals well and deserves high marks for its scholarship and engaging prose. It should have an interdisciplinary audience of historians of the period, social scientists interested in bringing a historical component into policy analysis, and economists who would understand the evolution of their discipline and its place in Barber's earlier work. Ellis W. Hawley, Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History
This most interesting, enjoyable book continues William Barber's exploration into the role of economists as they tried to and did influence policy during the Hoover and Roosevelt years. Frank G. Steindl, Southern Economic Journal