This study traces the evolution of several large and powerful trade associations in early twentieth-century Germany and seeks to place them in comparative perspective.

Professor McCraw surveys the state of the art of understanding regulatory commissions in American history, evaluating the relevant literature in history, economics, political science, and law.

Contrary to their traditional image as institutions operated exclusively for “frugal workers,” mutual savings banks in New York were also a haven for the savings of many middle and upper class persons, whose accounts comprised a substantial proportion of the banks' funds. Thus these intermediaries presumably improved the efficiency of the savings and investment process, allowing middle class people to allocate their resources between fixed and liquid assets better than would otherwise have been possible.

This study analyzes the Brazilian experience as a case study in the role of banking in the early stages of economic growth and development.

The appearance of large, integrated industrial firms at the turn of the century encouraged the introduction of innovative accounting practices. Professor Johnson examines the centralized management accounting system that made it possible for one such firm, the DuPont Powder Co., to plan its long-term development and to avoid the internal inefficiency that sometimes accompanies enormous size.

Dr. Lee analyzes the process whereby the relatively unsophisticated accounting practices of the eighteenth century were transformed, by the end of the nineteenth, into something resembling the more regular and consistent methods of today. He concentrates primarily on net asset valuation and profit determination but also on the development of costing techniques.

This study finds that the average degree of concentration in southern industrial markets was high in the period 1850–1860. Although the potential for monopolistic control existed, the authors argue, it does not appear to have been exploited systematically to gain rates of return exceeding those in less concentrated industries.

Public policy, grounded in the conception of urban transit as a private business and of the automobile as a public good, played a crucial role in the decline of public transportation and the triumph of the automobile in Chicago.

Despite attempts by the state legislature to fashion the charter of the Pennsylvania Railroad in such a way as to insure a high degree of managerial accountability to the board of directors and to make the corporation broadly accountable to the public, things turned out very differently. The volume and complexity of managerial decisions quickly brought a centralization of power in the hands of the road's professional managers as the board atrophied, and the economic and political power of the road and its dominant figures (J. Edgar Thomson and Thomas A. Scott) negated much of the principle of public accountability.

Professor Buxton examines the importance during the 1930s of the “new” industries in Britain (vehicle manufacturing, electrical engineering, rayon, non-ferrous metals, and paper, printing, and publishing) and finds that their role has been exaggerated by earlier interpretations.

Professor Durie examines the significance of the “chemical revolution” of the eighteenth century in the expansion of the Scottish linen industry.

Although some scholars argue that the United States government's procurement policies in World War II resulted in greater industrial concentration, this study indicates that such was not the case in the aircraft industry.

This study describes the 1920s movement (spearheaded by Herbert Hoover) to reduce unemployment by reducing fluctuations in business production and investment. Although the efforts had very limited success, they anticipated later attempts to manage prosperity for the economy as a whole.

Applying a formulation devised by Burton G. Malkiel to stock prices prior to the market crash of 1929, this study finds that descriptions of the period as a “speculative orgy” are misleading.

This study indicates that profit rates in western river steamboating were typical of the returns earned in other antebellum business activities, and that returns were much higher on tributary than on trunk steamboating routes.

Professor Rosenberg describes an unsuccessful attempt by four international businessmen to obtain oil concessions in Iran during a period of concern about oil supplies. The incident illuminates some of the hidden politics of international business activity.