| 9780691147727 |
| (hardcover |
| : |
| alk. |
| paper) |
| 0691147728 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Summary
Summary
How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat
In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated. Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.
Author Notes
Robert J. Gordon is professor in social sciences at Northwestern University. His books include Productivity Growth, Inflation, and Unemployment and Macroeconomics . Gordon was included in the 2016 Bloomberg list of the nation's most influential thinkers.
Reviews (2)
Choice Review
The Rise and Fall of American Growth is essential reading for anyone interested in economics. Gordon (Northwestern Univ.) takes a new tack on one of the most important questions in economics--why do some economies grow while others stagnate? The book's groundbreaking contribution is to answer this question by examining, in great detail, how (and why) standards of living have changed over time. The analysis is presented in three sections. Section 1 explores changes in American standards of living experienced between 1870 and WW II in areas such as food quality, transportation, and health care. The second section examines changes in standards of living for the same areas in the postwar period. In each section the author discusses not only the changes in standards of living but also the forces that caused them. In the third section Gordon offers his perspectives on why growth rates have differed so dramatically before and after 1970, what we might expect in the years ahead, and, finally, what roadblocks we might face as we attempt to return to the robust rates of growth experienced in the "Special Century" (1870-1970). Summing Up: Essential. All collections and readership levels. --Fred H. Smith, Davidson College
Library Journal Review
Gordon (economics, Northwestern Univ.) indicates that after the Civil War there was an economic revolution that changed the American standard of living, but that the rate of technological change has been slowing down. Coverage begins in 1870; there was little economic growth prior to that, as peasant life remained basically unchanged. Electricity, internal combustion engines, running water, indoor toilets, communication, entertainment, chemicals, and petroleum-these have created a tremendous growth in the American economy. Owing to medical discoveries, the life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 increased from 45 to 72 years. However, that century didn't have an aging population, the increasing debt of college student loans, rising inequality, and stagnating education. The author warns of forthcoming change and increasingly tough times: the younger generation might be the first not to increase their standard of living. VERDICT This specialized book will interest the individual scholar and to a lesser extent the general reader. Patrons might also consult American Economic Growth and Standards of Living Before the Civil War, edited by Robert E. Gallman and John Joseph Wallis.-Claude Ury, San Francisco © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. ix |
| 1 Introduction: The Ascent and Descent of Growth | p. 1 |
| Part I 1870-1940-The Great Inventions Create a Revolution MSM and Outside the Home | p. 25 |
| 2 The Starting Point: Life and Work in 1870 | p. 27 |
| 3 What They Ate and Wore and Where They Bought It | p. 62 |
| 4 The American Home: From Dark and Isolated to Bright and Networked | p. 94 |
| 5 Motors Overtake Horses and Rail: Inventions and Incremental Improvements | p. 129 |
| 6 From Telegraph to Talkies: Information, Communication, and Entertainment | p. 172 |
| 7 Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Illness and Early Death | p. 206 |
| 8 Working Conditions on the Job and at Home | p. 247 |
| 9 Taking and Mitigating Risks: Consumer Credit, Insurance, and the Government | p. 288 |
| Entr'acte. The Midcentury Shift from Revolution to Evolution | p. 319 |
| Part II 1940-2015-The Golden Age and the Early Warnings of Slower Growth | p. 329 |
| 10 Fast Food, Synthetic Fibers, and Split-Level Subdivisions: The Slowing Transformation of Food, Clothing, and Housing | p. 331 |
| 11 See the USA in Your Chevrolet or from a Plane Flying High Above | p. 374 |
| 12 Entertainment and Communications from Milton Berle to the iPhone | p. 409 |
| 13 Computers and the Internet from the Mainframe to Facebook | p. 441 |
| 14 Antibiotics, CT Scans, and the Evolution of Health and Medicine | p. 461 |
| 15 Work, Youth, and Retirement at Home and on the Job | p. 498 |
| Entr'acte. Toward an Understanding of Slower Growth | p. 522 |
| Part III The Sources of Faster and Slower Growth | p. 535 |
| 16 The Great Leap Forward from the 1920s to the 1950s: What Set of Miracles Created It? | p. 535 |
| 17 Innovation: Can the Future Match the Great Inventions of the Past? | p. 566 |
| 18 Inequality and the Other Headwinds: Long-Run American Economic Growth Slows to a Crawl | p. 605 |
| Postscript: America's Growth Achievement and the Path Ahead | p. 641 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 653 |
| Data Appendix | p. 657 |
| Notes | p. 667 |
| References | p. 717 |
| Credits | p. 741 |
| Index | p. 745 |
