Sources: Government and the Economy: An Encyclopedia

Government and the Economy: An Encyclopedia. Ed. by David A. Dieterle, Kathleen C. Simmons. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2015. 552 pages. acid free $100 (ISBN: 978-1-4408-2903-1). E-book available (978-1-4408-2904-8), call for pricing.

Government and the Economy explores the reciprocal relationship between the American government and the US economy. Oriented with respect to secondary school content standards, this work covers major economic events and policies in US history, with a specific focus on the twentieth century. This work functions as two reference works in one: an encyclopedic overview of major economic events, and an introductory macroeconomics biographical dictionary focused on American economic history. The interrelated and concurrent nature of major economic events is well served by this format choice, as the reader can easily move between essays on major economic events, and entries that outline and explain the economic topics at stake.

The extensive treatment of the relationship between Supreme Court case law and the economy is a noteworthy feature of this work. Citations point to multiple freely available access points for case transcripts, opinions, and facts on the case, simplifying content access to those who are unfamiliar with legal research. An appendix presents timelines of relevant Supreme Court cases for each of the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics (K–12) from the Council for Economic Education. Other features are less helpful: for example, the list of “Legislative Acts with Economic Impact” is simply a list of popular names, many of which are not represented by entries in the encyclopedia, and the list lacks either full citations or suggested strategies for locating bill summaries.

While the encyclopedia is at some points inconsistent in language and tone, the entries are readable for high school and college students. The resources for teachers provide categorized citations to primary and secondary sources that are valuable resources for lesson planning. Government and the Economy would be a useful addition to collections supporting introductory coursework in economics and US government, and those supporting educators in the secondary school environment.—Shari Laster, Government Data and Information Librarian, UCSB Library, University of California, Santa Barbara