A great leap forward : 1930s Depression and U.S. economic growth / Alexander J. Field.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Field, Alexander J.

Series:

Yale series in economic and financial history.

Yale series in economic and financial history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Depressions--1929--United States.

Depressions.

United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945.

United States.

United States--Economic conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2011.

Summary:

This bold re-examination of the history of U.S. economic growth is built around a novel claim, that productive capacity grew dramatically across the Depression years (1929-1941) and that this advance provided the foundation for the economic and military success of the United States during the Second World War as well as for the golden age (1948-1973) that followed. Alexander J. Field takes a fresh look at growth data and concludes that, behind a backdrop of double-digit unemployment, the 1930's actually experienced very high rates of technological and organizational innovation, fueled by the maturing of a privately funded research and development system and the government-funded build-out of the country's surface road infrastructure. This significant new volume in the Yale Series in Economic and Financial History invites new discussion of the causes and consequences of productivity growth over the last century and a half and on our current prospects.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Century

2. The Interwar Years

3. The Second World War

4. The Golden Age and Beyond

5. The Information Technology Boom

6. Fin De Siècle: The Late Nineteenth Century in the Mirror of the Twentieth

7. Procyclical TFP

8. The Equipment Hypothesis

9. General-Purpose Technologies

10. Financial Fragility and Recovery

11. Uncontrolled Land Development and the Duration of the Depression

12. Do Economic Downturns Have A Silver Lining?

Epilogue

Appendix: A Brief Description of Growth Accounting Methods

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613096227

9781283096225

1283096226

9780300168754

0300168756

OCLC:

719377502