Development of the American Economy
Organized by Leah Platt Boustan and William J. Collins
April 6, 2024
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA (Parkview Room)
Format: Authors will be given the full 50 minutes of each session, with questions during the presentation.

Saturday, April 6

Coffee and Pastries

9:00 am

Interest Groups, Ideology, and Indirect Lobbying: The Rise of Private Health Insurance in the United States

Marcella Alsan, Stanford University and NBER
Yousra Neberai, Harvard University
Xingyou Ye, Princeton University

Break

10:00 am

Like an Ink Blot on Paper: Testing the Diffusion Hypothesis of Mass Migration, Italy, 1876-1920

Yannay Spitzer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ariell Zimran, Vanderbilt University and NBER

Break

11:00 am

Financial Scarring and the Failure of the Freedman’s Saving Bank

Vellore Arthi, University of California, Irvine and NBER
Gary Richardson, University of California, Irvine and NBER
Mark Van Orden, University of California, Irvine

Lunch - Somerset Room

1:00 pm

The Empire Project: Trade Policy in Interwar Canada (slides)

Markus Lampe, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Lorenz Reiter, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Yoto V. Yotov, Drexel University
Kevin O'Rourke, Sciences Po

Break

2:00 pm

The Roots of the Modern American Presidential Campaign

Francisco Pino, University of Chile
Laura Salisbury, York University and NBER

Break

3:00 pm

McCarthyism, Media, and Political Repression: Evidence from Hollywood

Hui Ren Tan, National University of Singapore
Tianyi Wang, University of Toronto and NBER

Adjourn