The Model T / Shari Eli, Joshua K. Hausman, Paul Rhode.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eli, Shari.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hausman, Joshua K.

Rhode, Paul.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w31454.

NBER working paper series no. w31454

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2023.

Summary:

We ask (1) why the United States adopted the car more quickly than other countries before 1929, and (2) why in the United States the car changed from a luxury to a mass market good between 1909 and 1919. We argue that the answer is in part the success of the Model T in the United States and its relative lack of success abroad. Mass production of the Model T began in 1913; by 1917, more than 40 percent of cars on the road were Model Ts. Cross-state and cross-county evidence suggest that the Model T opened up a new market for cars among farmers and in poorer areas of the country. Tariffs and difficulties producing outside Detroit made the U.S. success of the Model T difficult to replicate abroad, even in Canada.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2023.