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Why, Indeed, in America? Theory, History, and the Origins of Modern Economic Growth

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  • Romer, Paul M

Abstract

When they are used together, economic history and new growth theory give a more complete picture of technological change than either can give on its own. An empirical strategy for studying growth that does not use historical evidence is likely to degenerate into sterile model testing exercises. Historical analysis that uses the wrong kind of theory or no theory may not emphasize the lessons about technology that generalize. The complementarity between these fields is illustrated by an analysis of early industrialization. The key theoretical observation is that larger markets and larger stocks of resources create substantially bigger incentives for discovering new ways to use the resources. This simple insight helps explain why the techniques of mass production emerged in the United States during the first half of the 19th century. It also helps explain how a narrow advantage in the techniques of mass production for a small set of goods grew into broad position of industrial supremacy by the middle of the 20th century.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 86 (1996)
Issue (Month): 2 (May)
Pages: 202-06

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Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:86:y:1996:i:2:p:202-06

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  1. Gregory Mankiw, 1995. "The Growth of Nations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 275-326.
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Cited by:
  1. Ian W. McLean, 2004. "Australian Economic Growth in Historical Perspective," School of Economics Working Papers 2004-01, University of Adelaide, School of Economics.
  2. Pope, Clayne, 2009. "Measuring the distribution of material well-being: U.S. trends," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 66-78, January.
  3. Jonathan Temple & Hans-Joachim Voth, 1996. "Human capital, equipment investment, and industrialization," Economics Papers 22 & 116, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
  4. Barbier, Edward B., 2004. "Agricultural Expansion, Resource Booms and Growth in Latin America: Implications for Long-run Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 137-157, January.
  5. Arora, Ashish & Fosfuri, Andrea & Gambardella, Alfonso, 2001. "Specialized technology suppliers, international spillovers and investment: evidence from the chemical industry," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/13456, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
  6. Philip Auerswald & Stuart Kauffman & Jose Lobo & Karl Shell, 1998. "The Production Recipes Approach to Modeling Technological Innovation: An Application to Learning By Doing," Working Papers 98-11-100, Santa Fe Institute.
  7. Diewert, W. Erwin & Fox, Kevin J., 2008. "On the estimation of returns to scale, technical progress and monopolistic markups," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 174-193, July.
  8. Davis, Lewis S., 2008. "Scale effects in growth: A role for institutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 403-419, May.
  9. Ren, Liqian & Rangazas, Peter, 2003. "Retirement saving and development traps," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 119-132, February.
  10. Ogunleye, Eric Kehinde, 2008. "Natural resource abundance in Nigeria: From dependence to development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 168-174, September.

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