Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War Book

I had to give this book three, rather than four stars, from the standpoint of Civil War history... if I were rating it as a case study in applied economics, I'd probably rate it higher. Tarriffs, Blockades, and Inflation is written from very valuable and seldom-considered viewpoint, although a reader with little micro- and macro-economic background will have some slogging to do.

The two items I came away with as being of highest interest were the analysis into the economic pressures to import luxury goods rather than military cargoes or staples (short version: the blockade raised the price of importation on all goods, so that, relatively speaking, the cost of non-luxury goods rose more rapidly than the cost of luxury goods), and the Confederacy's policy of financing the war almost entirely by inflationary measures (i.e., printing more money, effectively devaluing the currency), whereas the Federal government had both more options open to it and a more realistic monetary policy.

Mark Ekelund, Jr. and Robert B. Thornton provide a substantial amount of evidence to indicate that, while the blockade may not have been capable of deciding the war on its own, it definitely applied significant pressure in an area where the Confederacy was decidedly vulnerable, and therefore materially aided the Union's war effort.