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This article presents the minutes of the executive committee meetings of the American Economic Association in New York City and Pennsylvania. On April 16, 2004, association secretary John J. Siegfried presented a proposal to spread the seven 6-year appointments to the Honors & Awards Committee over six years, with each president appointing one member to the committee and one president every sixth year appointing two members. The second meeting of the executive committee in January 2005 discussed the association's possible cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and economic associations from OECD countries in organizing a one-time meeting in Paris, France.

This article uses American merchants' papers to identify the leading English textile exporters to New York and Philadelphia (1750–1805). It shows that Yorkshire and Lancashire took the initiative from London after 1783. The north's ascendancy stemmed from refinements to a well-functioning trading system rather than from the creation of wholly new channels of trade. The emergent exporters of Leeds and Manchester were driven as much by the dictates of sales as of manufacturing; their factory investments were just one component of a series of connections with production. American importers retained their role as intermediaries between English exporters and backcountry retailers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bank notes were the largest component of the antebellum money supply despite losses as high as 5 percent in some years. Using a comprehensive bank-level panel of note discounts in New York City and Philadelphia, I explain this contradiction by showing that the secondary market reduced losses by accurately discounting notes based on their individual risk of default. Note discounts were almost exclusively sensitive to those factors which increased a bank's probability of default: specie suspensions, falling bond prices, and undiversified portfolios. Thus, by accounting for a bank's composition and environment, the market protected noteholders and allowed notes to circulate throughout the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article addresses the magazine "Harper's Weekly," a popular illustrated magazine which began publication in 1850. The changes in the demographics of society, the industrialization of the major cities and the labor conflicts and spread of large corporations provided material for the largely conservative magazine. In depth analyses of the immigrants, industries and technological developments in major urban areas such as New York City and Pennsylvania were provided. The magazine presented a variety of thoughts and impressions, which represented the diversification felt throughout the country.