ECON210L - Innovation in the Hudson Valley

3 Credit(s)

Liberal Arts
Reviewing primary and secondary source materials, the course will examine the early history and recent contributions of innovations in the Hudson River Valley, including technology, government, business, and communication. Beginning with Alexander Hamilton’s design for the U.S. dollar and Central Bank, the development of Fulton’s North River steamboat, and the Parrott cannon, the course will also include Morse communications, Edison’s inventions and the company he founded, railroads and the related corporations, banks and finance, as well as transistors, semiconductors, and the grid at IBM, and nanotechnology at Yorktown Heights and Albany. Students will learn about research methods, as well as the policies and conditions that foster innovation. Literature regarding the role of regional industry clusters in the global economy will be incorporated to assist in raising the issues regarding the role of the Hudson River Valley in particular in innovation in a global context.