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On systems of production, consumption, and trade.

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Textile workers in Massachusetts Striking for Wages.

Forces of Labor: The Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage has not risen in over 15 years. We analyze why.
by Esha Krishnaswamy via Historic.ly on July 26, 2024
Illustration of the Georgia Peach.
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The Georgia Peach: A Labor History

The peach industry represented a new, scientifically driven economy for Georgia, but it also depended on the rhythms and racial stereotypes of cotton farming.
by Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on July 1, 2024
Close-up of barcode being scanned.

Happy 50th Birthday to the UPC Barcode – No One Expected You Would Revolutionize Global Commerce

The scanning of a package of gum in an Ohio grocery store in 1974 marked the beginning of an era.
by Jordan Frith via The Conversation on July 25, 2024
Percentage sign written in clouds.

The Federal Reserve’s Little Secret

No one really knows how interest rates work—not the experts who study them, the investors who track them, or the officials who set them.
by Rogé Karma via The Atlantic on June 27, 2024

Exhibits

Exhibit

The Way We Tax

From municipal government to international trade, these writings examine the political rhetoric, economic theories, and changing policies of taxation in the U.S.

Portrait of Julius Rosenwald hanging on a wall.

Finding Philanthropy’s Forgotten Founder

Julius Rosenwald understood that charity is not just about giving, but about fixing the inequalities that make giving necessary.
by Darren Walker via The Atlantic on September 9, 2024
Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
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Michelle Obama Was Right to Clap Back at Trump on 'Black Jobs'

The idea of "Black jobs" owes to 18th and 19th century divisions of labor designed to uphold slavery and white supremacy.
by Whitney Nell Stewart via Made by History on August 28, 2024

The Surprising Origins and Politics of Equality

Should equality, instead of another political ideal, should be at the center of our politics?
by Samuel Moyn via The Nation on August 27, 2024
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in 2009.

The Intractable Puzzle of Growth

The key measure of a healthy economy has long been growth, yet if production and consumption expand at their current rate we risk the health of the planet.
by Benjamin Kunkel via The Nation on August 26, 2024
Bookstore

Are Bookstores Just a Waste of Space?

In the online era, brick-and-mortar book retailers have been forced to redefine themselves.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on August 19, 2024
Eisenhower.
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The GOP's 72-Year-Old Inflation Playbook

Since the 1950s, the GOP has simplified the causes of inflation in order to blame Democrats.
by Johnny Fulfer via Made by History on August 14, 2024
A busy public swimming pool.

The Decline of America’s Public Pools

As summers get hotter, public pools help people stay cool. Why are they so neglected?
by Eve Andrews via The Atlantic on August 12, 2024
Men and women working in a factory during World War 2.

Dispelling the WWII Productivity Myth

Generally speaking, emergencies tend to reduce productivity, at least in the short and medium terms.
by Alberto Mingardi via Law & Liberty on July 30, 2024
Day laborer pumping up tire on tractor on large farm near Ralls, Texas, 1939.
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Stories of the Land: Diverse Agricultural Histories in the U.S.

An exhibit featuring public radio and television programs broadcast over 65 years that explore American agricultural life.
by Mariah E. Marsden via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on July 29, 2024
Textile workers in Massachusetts Striking for Wages.

Forces of Labor: The Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage has not risen in over 15 years. We analyze why.
by Esha Krishnaswamy via Historic.ly on July 26, 2024
Close-up of barcode being scanned.

Happy 50th Birthday to the UPC Barcode – No One Expected You Would Revolutionize Global Commerce

The scanning of a package of gum in an Ohio grocery store in 1974 marked the beginning of an era.
by Jordan Frith via The Conversation on July 25, 2024
Chalkboard in a classroom.

What Are You Going to Do With That?

The future of college in the asset economy.
by Erik Baker via Harper's on July 23, 2024
Wet-nurse strike in Chicago, 1937.

No Money, No Milk

Black wet nurses made a show of militance in 1937.
by Dana Frank via Hammer & Hope on July 23, 2024
A row of colorful houses in New Orleans.

A Forgotten or Simply Erased History of Organized Labor

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans replaced all its public schools with charter schools. A new book recovers the decades of work the storm disrupted.
by Daniel G. Cumming via The Metropole on July 22, 2024
A yuppie surrounded by money and luxury items.

When Yuppies Ruled

Defining a social type is a way of defining an era. What can the time of the young urban professional tell us about our own?
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on July 22, 2024
Jason Epstein.

The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback

On the life and times of Jason Epstein, cofounder of “The New York Review of Books.”
by Michael Castleman via Literary Hub on July 18, 2024
General president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O'Brien speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024.

A Return to Gompers

Sean O’Brien’s speech at the RNC may represent a return to nonpartisan realpolitik for unions. But does that reflect labor's strength or its decline?
by Dustin Guastella via Jacobin on July 17, 2024
Oil on canvas (1993–94) depicting the third signing of the Louisiana Treaty in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Trade, Ambition, and the Rise of American Empire

High ideals have always gone together with economic self-interest in the history of the United States.
by Samuel Gregg via Law & Liberty on July 17, 2024
Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates speak during the 'Gates Foundation' press conference at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 30, 2009" by Remy Steinegger.

Philanthropy’s Power Brokers

An in-depth reckoning with the Gates Foundation as a discrete actor is long overdue.
by John Miles Branch via Public Books on July 17, 2024
Drawing of a classic pirate figure, wtih an earring, a tricorn hat, and a satchel, yelling orders at a crew while a ship burns in the background

Were Pirates Foes of the Modern Order—or Its Secret Sharers?

We’ve long viewed them as liberty-loving rebels. But it’s time to take off the eye patch.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Yorker on July 15, 2024
Nora Kenworthy's book: "Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare".

Crowded Out: The Dark Side Of Crowdfunding Healthcare And Its Historical Precedents

The moral terrain of crowdfunding is fueled by two persistent social ideologies: the dual, and intertwined, myths of meritocracy and the “deserving poor.”
by Nora Kenworthy via HistPhil on July 12, 2024
Engraving of the Battle of Lexington After Alonzo Chappel: American colonists and British soldiers exchange fire at the Battle of Lexington, the first skirmish in the US War of Independence.

Taking Up the American Revolution’s Egalitarian Legacy

Despite its failures and limitations, the American Revolution unleashed popular aspirations to throw off tyranny of all kinds.
by Taylor Clark via Jacobin on July 4, 2024
A wall of tools and cups designed to collect gum for turpentine production.

Turpentine in Time

The hard labor behind what was once one of the nation's most significant industries.
by Sylvia Melvin via Contingent on July 3, 2024
Illustration of the Georgia Peach.
partner

The Georgia Peach: A Labor History

The peach industry represented a new, scientifically driven economy for Georgia, but it also depended on the rhythms and racial stereotypes of cotton farming.
by Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on July 1, 2024
Painting of abstract lines obscuring faces on the cover of "Feeling Asian American" by Wen Liu.
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Racial Hierarchies: Japanese American Immigrants in California

The belief of first-generation Japanese immigrants in their racial superiority over Filipinos was a by-product of the San Joaquin Delta's white hegemony.
by H. M. A. Leow, Eiichiro Azuma via JSTOR Daily on July 1, 2024
Percentage sign written in clouds.

The Federal Reserve’s Little Secret

No one really knows how interest rates work—not the experts who study them, the investors who track them, or the officials who set them.
by Rogé Karma via The Atlantic on June 27, 2024
Zoology plate of parasitic worms.

Is Finance a "Parasite"?

Tracing financial capital—from J. P. Morgan to BlackRock.
by Anna Pick, Scott Aquanno, Stephen Maher via Public Seminar on June 25, 2024
A drilling crew in the Hawk's Nest Tunnel.

On Raymond Thompson’s “Appalachian Ghost”

Black miners were intentionally erased from the record of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster. A new book reinserts them into the narrative.
by Jody DiPerna via Belt Magazine on June 20, 2024
A black and white image of Black farmers on a road with farming vehicles.

Land Theft: The Alarming Racial Wealth Gap in America Today

Brea Baker on Black land ownership, historical injustice, and the hope for Black Americans to own more than one percent of the land.
by Brea Baker via Literary Hub on June 20, 2024
Herbert Hoover breaking ground on a model home in front of a crowd.
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Home Sweet Home

On the early years of the real estate industry, and the racist effort to convince white Americans to buy single-family homes.
by Adrienne Brown via HNN on June 20, 2024
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