From Competition to Coordination: The Administrative Turn in American Political Economy, 1890–1920

Authors : Tugce Kaya Kisić

Pages : 60-72

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Publication Date : 2025-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study examines the transformation of American economic authority between 1890 and 1920, arguing that a market-centered order gradually shifted toward a system increasingly grounded in administrative coordination. It aims to show that U.S. economic power was not derived solely from rising production or expanding trade, but from the governance of circulation—the movement of goods, capital, labor, and information. The analysis employs qualitative document analysis, reading contemporaneous public narratives alongside fiscal and institutional developments to trace how stability came to be defined in terms of continuity, predictability, and oversight rather than market spontaneity. Taxation policy, corporate scale, labor-time regulation, logistical and shipping infrastructures, and the institutional design of central banking are examined as interconnected mechanisms through which coordination was normalized and operationalized. The findings suggest that wartime disruption and recurrent crises accelerated the consolidation of coordinated economic management and strengthened the institutional role of fiscal and monetary instruments in stabilizing circulation and mitigating volatility. Overall, the study contends that the rise of American economic authority rested on the institutionalization of administrative capacities that rendered interdependence governable across expanding national and international networks.
Keywords : Ekonomik Devlet, Dolaşım, Koordinasyon, Kurumsallaşma, Federal Rezerv Sistemi

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