Jewish Economies is a two-volume set of texts by Nobel Prize winning economist Simon Kuznets (April 30, 1901 -July 8, 1985). I recently finished indexing volume II “Comparative Perspectives on Jewish Migration.” Volume I, which has recently been released, deals with the economic structure and growth of Euro-American Jewry. Both volumes share the same preface and introduction.
The Jewish contribution to the study of economics is briefly explored in the introduction, with insight into why it has been that so many Jews have been drawn to the field. Also in the introduction, the reader learns the personal background of Simon Kuznets, who was a refreshingly humble man and an objective, careful scholar.
As an immigrant from what is now Belarus, Kuznets embraced American assimilation so completely that he refrained from speaking to his children in Russian or Yiddish, and he took pains to give them a secular childhood. He didn’t want anti-Semitism to be a part of his children’s experience, and he also didn’t want it to stain his professional work. As a contributor to the scientific study of economics Kuznets wanted to be seen as an absolutely neutral authority. He felt if it was widely known that he did research on Jewish issues, he might be seen as having some sort of bias and that his work might be questioned. So, he didn’t promote his writing on Jewish topics, and many of his papers were either left un-translated or weren’t published at all. Now, decades after his passing, the neglected parts of his cannon are finally being released.
The first selection in Volume II of Jewish Economies explains the US census process and provides general information on immigration to the United States. The reader learns of the discrepancies and errors in census taking and what steps were taken to reconcile data. This first section doesn’t really highlight Jewish immigration in particular - that is left to the third chapter, which details the immigration process of Russian Jews to America. There the reader learns that the bulk of US Jewish immigrants came from the Russian Empire, which had its borders drastically changed after the Great War. Within that Russian group, it was Lithuanian Jews from the northwest region of the Pale that made the most moves, and it was New York City which drew them, especially since they were able to transfer their skills to create success in the clothing industry.
The middle section of the text highlights the economic success of Israel and explains the reasons for Israel’s high GDP and GNP. The immigrants to Israel tended to be highly educated and tremendously motivated. Recent Israeli immigrants soon matched the status of “veteran immigrants” so that the country did not experience a great gap between the rich and the poor. This made them unique, and Kuznets provides many tables to illustrate the amazing triumph of the Israeli economy.
Kuznets was careful to stick to facts and numbers in his work and refused to go too far into speculation. So, although Kuznets brings up many interesting points in the text he leaves it to future researches to explore them further. Jewish Economies is a great starting point for those wishing to study the Russian Diaspora, Israeli success, and the history of immigration in the United States.
Jewish Economies Volume II will be released in 2012 by Transaction Publishers.
