The Economic and Business History Society

Editors of the Essays in Economic and Business History announce the publication of John H. Perry’s In Press article forthcoming in the May 2018 printed volume of the journal.

Colonial Transatlantiques: The French Line in Algeria, 1880-1940

John H. Perry

France’s largest and most prestigious company, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique—known colloquially as the French Line—is best-known for its North Atlantic ocean liners. However, after 1880, it added the Mediterranean to its sphere of operations connecting Marseille with Algeria—the jewel in the crown of the French empire. The French Line’s move into colonial waters at first glance seems a strange move given its sphere of operations on the North Atlantic. However, the company founders, the Pereire brothers, and succeeding presidents that hailed from Marseille were deeply interested in Algeria as a market from the company’s founding and it formed a significant sphere of operations within the French Line and an important institution of colonial Algeria. This article brings to light the hidden colonial history of the French Line and its experience as a servant and shaper of empire.

Editors of the Essays in Economic and Business History announce the publication of Ann Carlos’s In Press article forthcoming in the May 2018 printed volume of the journal.

Global Trade and Development: The Good, Bad, and Unanticipated 1600-1800

Ann Carlos

This paper focuses on two aspects of global trade. First, I explore how the growth of long-distance trade affected consumers in different parts of the world—I place particular emphasis upon indigenous consumers in sub-arctic Canada. The expansion of long-distance trade in the aftermath of the voyages of discovery made a large array of new goods available to indigenous peoples in the Americas, thus reducing labor expended in home production. The second aspect discussed is the positive impact of using transferable, limited-liability shares to finance companies and the growth of the capital market.

Editors of the Essays in Economic and Business History announce the publication of Louis Galambos’s In Press article forthcoming in the May 2018 printed volume of the journal.

The Entrepreneurial Culture and the Mysteries of Economic Development

Louis Galambos

Culture is easy to study but difficult to specify. This essay attempts to pin down this illusive subject by linking it to entrepreneurship—that is to specific efforts to combine land, labor, capital, and knowledge in the creation of economic activity that has some aspect of novelty. Entrepreneurship is important because of its central role in capitalism. Culture is important because it influences the willingness of individuals to take the risk of exploring possibilities for entrepreneurial ventures even though the most of them will be unsuccessful in the long-run. In search of entrepreneurial culture in America around 1800, this paper examimes immigration, agriculture, commerce, and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the US. These insights are then employed in an examination of the post-WWII efforts of the World Bank—most of which failed—to promote economic growth in nations that had not yet experienced “modernization.”