ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 342: THE MARITIME ECONOMY
1995-1996
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Marilyn Gerriets, 314 Nicholson Hall, 867-3848
email: mgerriet@juliet.stfx.ca
Textbooks:
Urban and Community Development in Atlantic Canada 1867-1991, by The Carleton University History Collaborative, (Ottawa, 1993).
Farm Factory and Fortune, edited by Kris Inwood, (Fredericton, 1993).
Course requirements:
Essay 20%
Participation and assignments 10%
Mid-term 20%
Final examination 50%
TOTAL 100%
Organization of the course:
The overall goal of the course is to gain an understanding of the economy of the Maritimes at the present time. In order to gain this understanding, we will study the evolution of the Maritime economy chronologically from Confederation to the present. In this way, the causes of the weak industrial development, reliance on primary production and low incomes which characterise the region can be understood. We will then explore the current stresses, challenges and opportunities now facing the region. Students are requested to select a sector of the Maritime economy they would like to study in depth, such as primary production, industry, government policy etc. Students will write an essay on that sector. Core readings will be assigned to all students. In addition, all students will undertake readings specific to the sector they select. Students will be expected to contribute to class discussion by sharing their in depth understanding of the sector in which they specialize with the entire class. An Outline of topics and goals of the course:
I. Overview
Gain a general overview of the events in the evolution of the Maritime economy and an understanding of the issues relating to that evolution.
II. Expansion within Confederation: the Maritimes from 1867 to World War I
Examine the nature of the maritime economy at the time of Confederation and the impact of the transportation and tariff policies on that economy.
The Maritimes had significant industry which grew under the stimulus of the National Policy tariffs and railroad construction and competed successfully in Central Canadian markets. However, poor and scattered agricultural resources lowered incomes, reduced population densities and limited the total population of the region. As a result the scale of industry was smaller than in Central Canada at Confederation.
III. The Maritime economy between the wars
The Maritimes never enjoyed a 'Roaring Twenties'. Instead, the primary sector (except for pulp and paper) suffered from declining prices and very difficult economic circumstances. Most dramatically, manufacturing contracted dramatically in the region causing considerable hardship. The depression of the 1930's was a worsening of difficult times rather than a dramatic change in economic conditions.
IV. War, post-war expansion and the Maritime economy
The stimulus of war time demand ended depression in the Maritimes during World War II as in the rest of Canada. Industries revived, and prices improved for primary producers. Nonetheless, the Maritime economy failed to keep up with the rest Canada. By the 1950s income per capita in the Maritimes was substantially below that of the rest of Canada, and basic infrastructure such as health care, education and roads was backward.
The dramatically rapid growth enjoyed by Canada and other developed economies from the 1950s to the mid 1970s permitted considerable improvement in the economy of the Maritimes. By the 1960s, federal policies of transfers to individuals and to provinces dramatically reduced the backwardness of infrastructure. Regional development policies were implemented which failed to develop an industrial structure which would have allowed the region to become independent of federal transfers.
V. Restructuring at the end of the century
The Maritime economy must adjust to difficult economic times. The strong growth of the post-war period ended with the stagflation of the 1970s and since that time, growth in per capita income has slowed throughout the developed world. Slower growth, and the associated rising interest rates have greatly reduced the ability and willingness of the Canadian federal government to transfer funds to individuals or provinces. Disenchantment with regional development policies is general. The collapse of some fish stocks has created added difficulties in specific areas. In spite of these difficulties, the development of computers has led to dramatic and continuing technological change. While economic times are difficult, and the smaller scale of business, the decline of trade barriers may offer new opportunities for the Maritime economy. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books on Reserve:
James Bickerton, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, and the Politics of Regional Development, (Toronto, 1990).
The Maritime Provinces: Looking to the Future edited by Donald J. Savoie and Ralph Winter, (Moncton, 1993).
Restructuring and Resistance from Atlantic Canada, edited by Bryant Fairley, Colin Leys, James Sacouman, (Toronto, 1990).
Fish versus Oil: Resources and Rural Development in North Atlantic Societies, edited by J.D. House, (St. John's, 1986).
Trouble in the Woods: Forest Policy and Social Conflict in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, edited by L. Anders Sandberg, (Fredericton, 1992).
E.R. Forbes, Challenging the Regional Stereotype, (Fredericton, 1989).
Shock Waves: The Maritime Urban System in the New Economy, edited by George J. De Benedetti and Rodolphe H. Lamarche, (Moncton, 1994).
Readings organized by topic:
Items on reserve
*Required for all students
I. Overview
*Urban and Community Development in Atlantic Canada, 1867-1991, The Carleton University History Collaborative, (Ottawa, 1993), chs. 1 and 5.
James Bickerton, 'Development and Underdevelopment on the Periphery: Competing Perspectives', Nova Scotia, Ottawa, and the Politics of Regional Development, (Toronto, 1990), pp. 11-34.
E.R. Forbes, 'Looking Backward: Reflections on the MaritimeExperience in an Evolving Canadian Constitution', The Maritime Provinces: Looking to the Future, pp, 13-38.
*Kris Inwood and James Irwin, 'Canadian Regional Commodity Income Differences at Confederation', in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp. 93-120.
David Alexander, 'Economic Growth in the Atlantic Region, 1880-1940', Acadiensis, 8 (1978), pp. 47-76.
Atlantic Canada: Facing the Challenge of Change: A Study of the Atlantic Economy, by DRI for ACOA. (Government document)
Maurice Beaudin 'Les Province Maritimes: Profil conomique', The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 39-68.
II. Primary production
*Urban and Community Development, pp. ch. 3.
A. Agriculture
Beatrice Craig, Agriculture in a Pioneer Region: The Upper St. John River Valley in the first half of the 19th Century', in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp.
*T.W. Acheson, 'New Brunswick Agriculture at the End of the Colonial Era: A Reassessment' in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp.
Marilyn Gerriets, 'Agriculture and Development before Confederation', unpublished manuscript.
*Tom Murphy, 'From Family Farm to Capitalist Agriculture:Food Production, Agribusiness, and the State' Restructuring and Resistance, 203-226.
B. Fishery
Rick Williams with Theriault, Gilles, 'Crisis and Response: Underdevelopment in the Fishery and the Evolution of the Maritime Fishermen's Union' Restructuring and Resistance, pp. 104-29
Martha MacDonald and Patricia Connelly, 'A Leaner Meaner Industry a Case Study of "Restructuring" in the Nova Scotia Fishery' Restructuring and Resistance, 131-49.
R.W. Heber, 'Fish and Oil: The Cultural Ecology of Offshore Resource Activities in Nova Scotia', in Fish versus Oil:
Resources and Rural Development in North Atlantic Societies, edited by J.D. House, (St. John's, 1986), pp. 162-75.
C. Forestry
L. Anders Sandberg, 'Introduction: Dependent Development and Client States: Forest Policy and Social Conflict in Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick' in Trouble in the Woods: Forest
Policy and Social Conflict in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
pp. 1-21.
Bill Parenteau, 'The Woods Transformed: The Emergence of
the Pulp and Paper Industry in New Brunswick, 1918-1931',
Acadiensis, 22 (1992).
Bill Parenteau, "In Good Faith": The Development of
Pulpwood Marketing for Independent Producers in New
Brunswick, 1960-1975", Trouble in the Woods, pp. 110-141.
Peter Clancy, 'The Politics of Pulpwood Marketing in Nova
Scotia, 1960-1985', Trouble in the Woods, pp. 110-141.
Peter Clancy and L. Anders Sandberg, 'Conclusion: Maritime
Forest Sector Development: A Question of Hard Choices'
Trouble in the Woods, pp. 212-224.
Trevor J.O. Dick, 'Canadian Newsprint, 1913-1930: National
Policies and the North American Economy', Journal of
Economic History, 42:3 (Sept. 1982), pp. 659-87.
III. Industry
*Urban and Community Development, pp. ch. 2, 4.
*!T. W. Acheson, 'The National Policy and the Industria-
lization of the Maritimes, 1880-1910', Acadiensis, 1 (1972),
pp. 3-29.
*Kris Inwood, 'Maritime Industrialization from 1870 to 1910:
A Review of the Evidence and its Interpretation' in Farm
Factory and Fortune, pp. 149-170.
Kris Inwood, 'Local Control, Resources and the Nova Scotia
Steel and Coal Company', Historical Papers, of the Canadian
Historical Association (1986), pp. 254-82.
David Frank, 'The Cape Breton Coal Industry and the Rise
and Fall of the British Empire Steel Corporation',
Acadiensis, 7 (1977), pp. 3-34.
McCann, Larry D. 'The Mercantile-Industrial Transition in
the Metal Towns of Pictou County, 1857-1931', Acadiensis 10
(1981), 29-64.
*!E.R. Forbes, 'Consolidating Disparity: The Maritimes and
the Industrialization of Canada During the Second world
War', Challenging the Regional Stereotype, pp. 172-199. Also
in Acadiensis, 15 (1986).
Benjamin Higgins, 'Sydney: The Devastation of a Nineteenth
Century Industrial Heartland', Shock Waves, pp. 183-205.
George J. De Benedetti, 'Saint John: Are its Strengths its
Weaknesses?', Shock Waves, pp. 207-29.
IV. Transportation and other infrastructure
*!E.R. Forbes, 'Misguided Symmetry: The Destruction of
Regional Transportation Policy for the Maritimes'
Challenging the Regional Stereotype, (Fredericton, 1989),
pp. 114-35.
*Ken Cruikshank, 'The Intercolonial Railway, Freight Rates
and the Maritime Economy' in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp.
171-196.
*!E.R. Forbes, 'The Triumph of Ideology: Transportation
Policy and the Atlantic Provinces in the 1980s', Challenging
the Regional Stereotype, pp. 136-47.
P.J. Wylie, 'When Markets Fail: Electrification and the
Maritime Industrial Decline in the 1920s', Acadiensis, 17
(1987), pp. 74-96.
V. Banking and financial institutions
Gregory P. Marchildon, 'John F. Stairs, Max Aitken and the
Scotia Group: Finance Capitalism and Industrial Decline in
the maritimes, 1980-1914' in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp.
197-218.
*Neil C. Quigley, Ian M. Drummond and Lewis T. Evans,
'Regional Transfers of Funds through the Canadian Banking
System and Maritime Economic Development, 1895-1935' in Farm
Factory and Fortune, pp. 219-250.
Shiela Dow, Financial Markets and Regional Economic
Development: The Canadian Case, (Aldershot, 1992).
Sheila C. Dow, 'The Treatment of Money in Regional
Economics', Journal of Regional Science, 27 (1987), pp. 13-
24.
VI. Policy
James Bickerton, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, and the Politics of
Regional Development.
*E.R. Forbes, 'Cutting the Pie into smaller Pieces: Matching
Grants and Relief in the Maritime Provinces during the
1930s' in Farm Factory and Fortune, pp. 251-273.
E.R. Forbes, 'The Atlantic Provinces, Free Trade, and the
Canadian Constitution', Challenging the Regional Stereotype,
pp. 200-16.
Pierre-Marcel Desjardins, 'Veni, Vidi, Vici: Le Cas des
Efforts de D‚veloppement R‚gional au Canada Atlantique?',
The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 101-21.
Ralph Winter, 'Federal Provincial Fiscal Relations and
Maritime Union', The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 215-29.
Herman Bakvis, 'The Maritimes: Looking to Ottawa with
Clout', The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 251-81.
Donald J. Savoie, Maurice Beaudin, 'Public Sector
Adjustments and the Maritime Provinces', Shock Waves, pp.
121-58.
VII. Economic restructuring
Rodolphe Lamarche, 'The Maritime Provinces in an
Information Economy', The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 69-97.
*!Dorothy Downing, 'High-tech in Small Towns', Shock Waves,
pp. 141-159.
Benjamin Higgins, 'Entrepreneurship and Economic
Development: The Case of Cape Breton', The Maritime
Provinces:, pp. 125-56.
Benjamin Higgins, and Andrew Breau, 'Entrepreneurship and
Economic Development: The Case of Moncton', The Maritime
Provinces:, pp. 157-87.
Donald Savoie, Regional Development: The Case of Prince
Edward Island', The Maritime Provinces:, pp. 189-212.
Rodolphe Lamarche, 'A Changing Maritime Urban System:
Facing Restructuring and Integration', Shock Waves, 43-74.
Benjamin Higgins, 'Restructuring without Tears in a Free
Trade Environment', Shock Waves, pp. 101-20.
Donald J. Savoie, Yves Bourgeois, 'Moncton, Making the
Transition: Myth or Reality', Shock Waves,, pp. 231-65.
J. Frank Strain, 'Charlottetown: A Peripheral Centre at the
Crossroads', Shock Waves, pp. 267-96.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 310
CANADIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY
1994-1995
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Marilyn Gerriets, 314 Nicholson Hall, 867-2113
Texts: Kenneth Norrie, and Douglas Owram, A History
of the Canadian Economy, (Toronto, 1991).
Douglas, McCalla, ed. Perspectives on Canadian Economic
History (Toronto: 1987).
M.H. Watkins and H.M. Grant, Canadian Economic History:
classic and Contemporary Approaches, (Ottawa, 1993).
Course requirements:
Projects and debates 20%
Term tests 20%
Christmas examination 15%
Major Essay 20%
Final examination 25%
100%
COURSE OUTLINE
I. The settlement of Europeans
Norrie and Owram: 20-94
A. Approaches to understanding economic history
M.H. Watkins, 'A Staple Theory of Economic Growth',
from Canadian Journal of Economics and Political
Science, 29 (1963), pp. 141-158, reprinted in
Watkins and Grant, pp. 19-38.
H.G.J. Aitken, 'Myth and Measurement: the Innis
Tradition in Economic History', Journal of
Canadian Studies, 12 (1977), pp. 96-107, excerpted
in Watkins and Grant, pp. 39-50.
B. The early Atlantic economy
1. The fishery
Rosemary Ommer, '"All the Fish of the Post:" Resource
Property Rights and Development in a Nineteenth-
Century Inshore Fishery' 10, Acadiansis, (1981),
pp. 107-23, reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp.
61-78.
2. Agriculture
Rusty Bitterman, 'The Hierarchy of the Soil: Land and
Labour in a 19th Century Cape Breton Community',
Acadiensis, 18, pp. 33-55.
3. The timber industry
4. Diversification
Eric W. Sager and Lewis R. Fischer, 'Atlantic Canada
and the Age of Sail Revisited', Canadian
Historical Review 58:2 (1982), pp. 125-50,
reprinted in McCalla, pp. 97-117.
C. Central Canada
1. Fur and Quebec in the 17th and 18th centuries
H.A. Innis, 'The Fur Trade in Canada' reprinted in
Watkins and Grant, pp. 53-60.
2. Agriculture and timber
F. Lewis and M. McInnis, 'The Efficiency of the French-
Canadian Farmer in the Nineteenth Century',
reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 103-126.
T.J.A. LeGoff, 'The Agricultural Crisis in Lower
Canada, 1802-12: A Review of a Controversy',from
The Canadian Historical Review, 55 (1974), pp. 1-
31, reprinted in McCalla, pp. 10-36.
Marvin McInnis, 'Marketable Surpluses in Ontario
Farming, 1860' Social Science History, 4 (Fall,
1984), pp. 395-424 reprinted in McCalla, pp. 37-
58.
3. Early diversification
Angela Redish, 'Why was Specie so Scarce in Colonial
Economies? An Analysis of the Canadian Currency,
1796-1830', Journal of Economic History, 44
(1984), pp. 713-28, reprinted in Watkins and
Grant, pp. 85-102.
II. Government policy and industrialization
A. Trade and tariffs in the Maritimes
B. Trade, tariffs and railways in the Canada
C. Industrial development before Confederation
Paul Craven and Tom Traves, 'Canadian Railways as
Manufacturers, 1850-1880', Historical Papers,
(1983), pp. 254-81, reprinted in McCalla, pp. 118-
143.
III. Economic growth from Confederation to the 1920's
A. The National policy
Peter George, 'The Rates of Return in Railway
Investment and Implications for Government
Subsidization of the Canadian Pacific Railway:
Some Preliminary Results', Canadian Journal of
Economics, 1 (1968) pp. 740-62 reprinted in
McCalla, pp. 144-165.
B. The Wheat boom and industrial development
K.H. Norrie, 'The Rate of Settlement of the Canadian
Prairies, 1879-1911', Journal of Economic History,
35:2 (June 1975), pp. 410-27, reprinted in
McCalla, pp. 168-81.
Edward J. Chambers, and Donald F. Gordon, 'Primary
Products and Economic Growth: An Empirical
Measurement', The Journal of Political Economy,
74:4 (Aug. 1966), pp. 315-32, reprinted in
McCalla, pp. 201-220.
IV. Interwar economic disturbance
A. The turbulent 1920's
Buckley, K.A.H. 'Capital Formation in Canada, 1896-1930'
reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 211-222.
David Alexander, 'Economic Growth in the Atlantic Region,
1880-1940' reprinted in Watkins and Grant, pp. 239-266.
B. The depression
D. Mole, 'Financial Development and Capital Formation'
(Ph.D. University of Toronto, 1987), ch. 3, reprinted
in Watkins and Grant, pp. 223-238.
V. Post war prosperity
Norrie and Owram, pp. 539-621.
A. The business cycle and government stabilization policy
David A. Wolfe, 'The Rise and Demise of the Keynesian Era in
Canada: Economic Policy, 1930-1982', Modern Canada
1930-1980's edited by Michael S. Cross and Gregory S.
Kealey, (Toronto, 1984), pp. 46-78.
B. Resource based growth
C. Manufacturing
D. Trade and the Canadian economy