This long chapter describes the many facets of the American economy after the Civil War, concentrating on the industrialization and urbanization in the North in the Gilded Age. Factors in economic growth include population growth via immigration, technical change, emergence of large corporations and finance capitalism, and the hands-off policy of the federal government. Special attention is given to the mismanagement of the economy by imposition of the gold standard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a monetary allegory is presented. The period ends with the adoption of a federal income tax via the 16th Amendment and the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the nation’s first real central bank.