Department of Economics

Professor Rotella specializes in the economic history of the U.S. and in labor and demographic economics. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on economic history and on economic issues related to women. Much of her research has examined the role of women in the U.S. economy. In her book, Professor Rotella specializes in the economic history of the U.S. and in labor and demographic economics. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on economic history and on economic issues related to women. Much of her research has examined the role of women in the U.S. economy. In her book,From Home to Office: U.S. Women at Work, 1870-1930 (UMI Research Press, 1981) she analyzes the growth of female labor force participation and the transformation of clerical occupations from all-male to all-female jobs. She has published articles on women in the labor force in the Journal of Economic History and Explorations in Economic History as well as in other journals and in edited books. Currently she is working on the history of savings and debt. This research looks at the ways that urban working class families used savings, borrowing, and insurance to smooth consumption. She uses data from household budget studies and business records to examine saving and borrowing behavior. Among the institutions she examines are savings banks, mortgage lending, and pawnbroking. Her research in demographic economics includes a survey of the relationship between fertility and nuptiality in LDCs and an ongoing project which examines the relationship between municipal expenditures on sanitation and mortality from water-borne diseases. In 1998/99, Professor Rotella spent a year in Sweden as Fulbright Professor of Economic History and American Studies at Uppsala University. She spent 2004/05 at l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.