Concrete Economics: The Hamilton Approach to Economic Growth and Policy

For almost two hundred years the United States government followed Alexander Hamilton’s pragmatic approach to shaping and guiding the economy. Concrete Economics takes readers on a historical tour of those two centuries, showing how government policies were instrumental to the growth of the United States and its becoming a world superpower – and how the policies of the last three decades, pursuing ideology instead of concrete goals, are leading to its decline on the world stage.

This book makes bold statements that will offend just about every political ideology for one reason or another. During fairly distinct eras – Hamilton; Lincoln to FDR; Eisenhower – the country followed certain types of concrete policies, with direct, recognizable results. Although they admit corruption and carnage, on the whole, the authors seem positive about the U.S. economy over this time period. They are most frustrated about the recent bloating of the financial sector and the loss of real outputs. The book is easy to read, and extremely informative; the authors support their conclusions with solid analysis. Whether or not you agree, it is a worthy look at the history of the U.S. economy, and how and why it has grown as it has.