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Price V. Fishback

Thomas R. Brown Professor of Economics

• Ph.D., University of Washington, 1983

Current Courses

• ECON 550, Economics for Managers
• ECON 508, Applied Economics Analysis

Research Interests

• Economic History
• Labor Economics
• Political Economy and Regulation
• Law and Economics

Current Research

Professor Fishback is involved in a long-term study of the political economy of Roosevelt’s New Deal during the 1930s that examines both the determinants of New Deal spending and loans and their impact on local economies throughout the U.S. He is continuing his work on state labor legislation during the Progressive Era, and is editing and contributing to a book on the government’s role in the economy from colonial times to the present designed for readers who are not specialists in economics. His past work includes studies of the origins of workers’ compensation, company towns, coal miners, compensating differentials for workplace risks, workplace safety regulation, corruption, labor markets in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, and discrimination in labor markets and by governments.

Publications and Working Papers

Books

• Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers' Compensation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. With Shawn E. Kantor. 
• Soft Coal, Hard Choices: The Economic Welfare of Bituminous Coal Miners, 1890 to 1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Journal Articles

• "The Impact of New Deal Expenditures on Local Economic Activity: An Examination of Retail Sales, 1929-1939"with William C. Horrace and Shawn Kantor. Journal of Economic History (forthcoming March 2005).
• "The Impact of the New Deal on Black and White Infant Mortality in the South," with Shawn E. Kantor and Michael Haines. Explorations in Economic History 38 (2001), pp. 93-122.
• "The Adoption of Workers' Compensation in the United States , 1890-1930," Journal of Law and Economics 41(October 1998): 305-342. With Shawn E. Kantor.
• "Operations of 'Unfettered' Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century," Journal of Economic Literature 36 (June 1998): 722-765.
• "The Durable Experiment: State Insurance of Workers' Compensation Risk in the Early Twentieth Century," Journal of Economic History 56 (December 1996), pp. 809-836, with Shawn Kantor. "Precautionary Saving, Insurance, and the Origins of Workers' Compensation, Journal of Political Economy 104 (April 1996), pp. 419-442, with Shawn E. Kantor.
• "Did Workers Gain from the Passage of Workers' Compensation Laws?," Quarterly Journal of Economics 110 (August 1995), pp. 713-742, with Shawn Kantor.
• "Institutional Change, Compensating Differentials and Accident Risk in American Railroading, 1892-1945," with Seung-Wook Kim, Journal of Economic History 53 (December 1993), pp. 796-823.
• "'Square Deal' or Raw Deal? Market Compensation for Workplace Disamenities, 1884-1903," with Shawn Kantor, Journal of Economic History 52 (December 1992), pp. 826-848.
• "Narrowing the Black-White Gap in Child-Literacy in 1910: The Roles of School Inputs and Family Inputs," with John H. Baskin, Review of Economics and Statistics 73 (November 1991): 725-728.
• "Can Competition Among Employers Reduce Governmental Discrimination? Coal Companies and Segregated Schools in West Virginia during the Early 1900s." Journal of Law and Economics, (October 1989): 311-328.
• "The Quality of Services in Company Towns: Sanitation in Coal Towns During the 1920s," Journal of Economic History 49 (March 1989): 125-144, with Dieter Lauszus.
• "Debt Peonage in Post-Bellum Georgia ."Explorations in Economic History 26 (April 1989): 219-236.
• "Are Estimates of Sex Discrimination Robust? The Use of Never-Marrieds." Economic Inquiry, 27 (April 1989): 271-286, with Joseph V. Terza.
• "Liability Rules and Accident Prevention in the Workplace: Empirical Evidence from the Early Twentieth Century."Journal of Legal Studies 16 (June 1987): 305-328.
• "Did Coal Miners 'Owe Their Souls to the Company Store'? Theory and Evidence from the Early 1900s." Journal of Economic History 46 (December 1986): 1011-29.
• "Workplace Safety During the Progressive Era: Fatal Accidents in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1912-1923." Explorations in Economic History 23 (July 1986): 269-298.
• "Discrimination on Nonwage Margins: Safety in the West Virginia Coal Industry, 1906-1925." Economic Inquiry 23 (October 1985): 651-669.
• "Segregation in Job Hierarchies: West Virginia Coal Mining, 1906-1932," Journal of Economic History 44 (September 1984): 755-774.
• "The Distribution of Income in the Great Depression: Preliminary State Estimates," Journal of Economic History 43 (March 1983): 217-230, with Mark Schmitz.

Working Papers

• "Social Welfare Expenditures in the United States and the Nordic Countries: 1900-2003", NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper # 15982

Awards and Honors

Research

• “Cliometrics Can,” Cliometrics Society Award for Exceptional Support for the Field of Cliometrics, May 2002.
• Paul Samuelson Award, Certificate of Excellence For Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security for A Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers’ Compensation, with Shawn E. Kantor. Award presented by the TIAA-CREF Institute for works published in the year 2000.
• Richard A. Lester Prize for the Outstanding Book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations published in 2000, awarded annually by the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University , shared with Shawn Kantor.
• Cole Prize, awarded for the best article in the Journal of Economic History in 1996-1997, shared with Shawn Kantor
• Finalist for Nevins Prize, 1983, awarded to the leading dissertation in American Economic History.

Teaching

• MBA Distinguished Faculty Award, MBA Program, University of Arizona, 2003-2004, awarded on May 15, 2004 .
• MBA Distinguished Faculty Award, MBA Program, University of Arizona, 2002-2003, awarded on May 17, 2003 .
• MBA Faculty Member of the Year, MBA Program, University of Arizona, 1999-2000, awarded on May 13, 2000 .
• MBA Faculty Member of the Year, Weekend Program, University of Arizona, 1998-9, awarded on August 28, 1999.
• Swift Teaching Award in the Economics Department, University of Georgia , Spring 1984.
• Honors Day Recognition for Outstanding Teaching in the Economics Department, University of Georgia , 1983, 1984, 1986.