Abstract
This article examines four economic propositions that have been put forth by theorists of the origins of American imperialism: 1) American for eign investment began rapidly expanding after 1870 and particularly after 1893; 2) There was a falling rate of profit over this thirty year time span; 3) The American economy had recurrent realization crises over this time span; 4) There was a strong interaction between the beginning and ending of depressions and the export market. For each of these propositions questions are asked about what data would be needed to examine the proposition, what have been the results of analyses by economic historians which impinge upon that proposition, and the data that are available are discussed and analysed.
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