The Whaling Industry: A 19th Century Exploration

Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

• SOURCES:
  • Eric Hilt, professor of economics at Wellesley College.
  • Nathaniel Philbrick, writer and historian.
  • Paul Watson, environmental activist and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Calls From the Deep: Do We Need to Save the Whales All Over Again?” by Sophy Grimshaw (The Guardian, 2020).
  • “The Very Small World of V.C.,” by Avi Asher-Schapiro (The New Republic, 2019).
  • “How Nantucket Came to Be the Whaling Capital of the World,” by Nathaniel Philbrick (Smithsonian Magazine, 2015).
  • “Fin-tech,” (The Economist, 2015).
  • “The Spectacular Rise and Fall of U.S. Whaling: An Innovation Story,” by Derek Thompson (The Atlantic, 2012).
  • Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, by Eric Jay Dolin (2007).
  • “Incentives in Corporations: Evidence from the American Whaling Industry,” by Eric Hilt (NBER Working Papers, 2004).
  • In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick (2000).
  • “Productivity in American Whaling: The new Bedford Fleet in the Nineteenth Century,” by Lance Davis, Robert Galiman, and Teresa Hutchins (NBER Working Paper, 1987).

• EXTRAS:
  • “Is Venture Capital the Secret Sauce of the American Economy?” by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • “Is the Future of Farming in the Ocean?” by Freakonomics Radio (2021).